I'm Finished!

With my paper, that is. I no longer have to worry about school, unless I decide to actually study for the final. Nah. (*wink*)

And now I have a few pictures to show you. First of all, I finally managed to get a good picture of my other two roommates. Courtney on the left, Molly on the right:

As you can see, our entire apartment is full of American cuties. I took this picture last night, when we went out to eat for Courtney's birthday. Unfortunately, we ran into torrential rain while we were waiting for the bus, but we did the best we could and counted our blessings. Rain may get you wet, but in Rome it's wonderful because it cools the place down! I had a soggy sleeve by the time we got to the restaurant, but whatever. At least I hadn't bothered to curl my hair. And sometimes you make friends with random people that you share your umbrella with. :)

Later, we had a very good meal at a little place in Trastevere--my lasagna was heavenly. I don't even like lasagna back home, but here in Italy it's to die for. And the restaurant is located in one of my favorite places in Rome, the Piazza di Santa Maria In Trastevere. It's a great, people-friendly square with a nice fountain to sit around, live music most nights (but not ridiculously loud, so you can ignore it if you want), and various interesting things that happen. For instance, last night during dinner we were watching this ninja-type guy who was doing all sorts of cool things with fire. The piazza is also great during the day. Just a while ago I was sitting by the fountain to eat my snack, and lo and behold, they're having a book fair. Most of the books are in Italian (of course), but I found a really cool one that I'm debating going back for. It's a nice collection of 14th to 19th century engravings of the ancient Roman monuments--you know, the kind of thing that people did back in the days before photography so the people back home could see what they were talking about. We study those a lot in class to see how the monuments have changed over time...they're really cool...and the text is in Italian and English...but I don't know if I will get it. The good thing is, in Trastevere nothing stops until 11:00 at the earliest, so I can go back tonight if I decide to. People like to hang out late this side of the Tiber.

So anyway, that was last night. Today Nancy and I decided to go explore a part of Rome that just looks like a big green spot on our map...and it turned out to be a nice big park. A lot of the land turned out to be part of the property of the Villa Medici, which we saw. It was huge, but I didn't take a picture because it was too big, and it's right up against a severe drop-off, so there was no way to scoot back to get a decent shot. Anyway, the villa is of course huge, and the grounds are very nice to wander around in...a little grove right in the heart of the city. It was nice and cool and shady. I enjoyed it, and Nancy did too, although she classified our sight-seeing today as "Granny stuff" because it wasn't particularly exciting. Haha I'm an old lady on the inside, so it suited me just fine.

Right on the edge of the park, there's a nice view:


And here's a picture of one of the roads through the area.

Later, we found a big round fountain that people supposedly swim in all the time. No one was there when we got there, but Nancy hopped in and I took her picture for her. She smelled like chlorine and algae for the rest of the day, but she figured it was worth it for such a great new Facebook picture. :)

Then she took me to this little place, just off Via Margutta, which is kind of an artsy shopping street. Supposedly this is Gregory Peck's apartment in Roman Holiday.


I have never seen Roman Holiday, so I wouldn't know. I recorded it off TCM before I left, but never felt like watching it. I suppose I'll watch it when I get home, though. Maybe I'd better do it alone, because I can imagine that I would be absolutely obnoxious if I watched it with someone else, yakking through the whole thing saying stuff like, "Hey! I've seen that!" blah blah blah. In fact, I'm probably just going to be obnoxious in general for a week or so after I get back anyway, so let me just apologize in advance. I'll try to keep a lid on it...

Last but not least, I thought you ought to see how ubiquitous those soccer players are. Ever since they won the World Cup, you see them everywhere:

They're fairly good looking, though, so who's complaining?

Alright, it's time for dinner. I have been wanting to try the pizza at a little place here close to the school, and I think tonight's the night. I'm celebrating! No more papers! ...for, um, a few weeks. :)