"It's hard to be modest when you are the best!"

Ciao!

This quote is from our tour guide yesturday morning in Florence! She had just finished telling us all of the works that had been written in Florence (like Pinocchio and all of Dante's Devine Comedy) and at the end of her speel she took a deep breath, put her hands on her hips and said, "(Sigh) I hate-ah to brag...but eet ees hard to be modest ween you are tee best!" Sooo cute!

Backing up a little- I am officially moved in to Florence! We arrived Wednesday (May 21st) around noon! They dropped us off at our apartment and then told us to enjoy the city until 6:30!! It was a little over whelming to be thrown into the situation like that, but now that I have had a full day and a half to explore the city I feel very comfortable. In hindsight I am glad they gave us the chance to grasp what a big adventure this is going to be!

I really enjoy my roommates (there are 6 of us in this apartment, I share a room with Hannah). They are all very sweet girls and we will all be here for the next nine weeks so I am sure you will be hearing about them and that we will become good friends! When we walked in to our apartment we died, It is HUGE and GORGEOUS! Upto this point we had been told not to expect very much room, sparce walls...basically a hole in the wall and this place is anything but! It's very long and narrow, but our room is huge! I love it. I am not comfortable sleeping in it yet, but I guess that always takes a day or so. Soon it will be a home away from home.

Before I begin telling you about Siena ( We took a day trip there today) I would like to tell you about our last day in Rome, Tuesday, and what we were able to see!! On Tuesday we got up fairly early, had a cappucino and a croissant and got on a bus to the Vatican City! We were able to tour St. Peters Basillica, which of course was gorgeous (I have some pictures of it in the slide show) and incredibly ornate. I have no idea how they envisioned these things much less built them! It was a very fun tour, and we had a great tour guide (Fabrizio, the same one we had on Monday) which makes all the difference! After St. Peter's we walked down the street to St. Angels Castel. This is a fortress that was built to protect the Vatican and of corse the pope. I believe the 3rd Pope Paul lived there (dont quote me on this, Fabrizio is a fast talker and his accent is thick haha) and there is a corridor running from the Castel, down the street underground and into the vatican incase the Pope needed to make any fast getaways. I loved the castel, it was very very very old and rustic. The bottom floor we entered in was very dungeion like, thin halls, dank lighting and iron chains, but as we climed up in the castel it almost got palace like with its high ceilings and frescos. There were amazing veiws of the city if you walked along the edges. The picture in the slide show of the green vines and little chairs and a stone walk way was taken at the castel. The reason it is called St. Angels is because there is a HUGE Iron Angel (Michael the Archangel) Statue standing at the very top of the castel. The original one was stuck by lightning and is in a little courtyard lower down in the castel. We were able to go up on the roof and look at the amazing veiws. It was incredible! Unfortunately it was raining all day :(.

From the Castel we were free for the night so some friends and I went to find a bar and have some lunch. Keep in mind when I say bar I mean a coffee bar, not a drinking bar haha. This is a highlight for me of this past week because I was able to order in Italian and was actually complemented on my use of the language!! That was one of my goals and it was accomplished so early! Crazy!!! I am by no means a good speaker but atleast I am making progress, I am excited to see how far I have come after nine weeks!

Our last night Emma Lee and I just walked around Rome in the rain and looked at the Trevi Fountain all lit up. It really is my favorite thing in Rome. We had some dinner and The two kind of artsy pictures of the outside caffe and the white collumns were taken during that night!

This has become a really long post so i am going to save Florence and Siena for tomorrow's post ! So check back soon! I miss you all and love you so much! Below is an little caption for the slide show so you know what everything is!

Pictures:
1. Emma and I at Baries having Sangria the first night in Rome
2.St. Agnes Church in Piazza Navona (Rome)
3.The Pantheon (Rome)
4. Emma, Lee, Me and Anna at The Spanish steps
5. The Colosseum-
6. Inside the Colosseum- This is my favorite view of it!
7.Aggies in the Colosseum- All of the aggies on this trip!
8. St. Peters Basillica- inside
9. St. Peters Basillica- inside
10. The Canopy Bernini Designed to mark St. Peters grave
11. The outside view of St. Peter's Basillica
12. The walkway in the top of St. Angels Castel
13. A cool building pic the last night in Rome
14. A Picturesque Street Caffe in Rome
15. My Room in Florence
16. Our living room balcony view
17. our living room
18. our dining room (and anna)
19. the view from our dining room window
20. our cute LITTLE kitchen
21 our entrance hallway
22. my first glance of the Duomo (Cathedral) in Florence! Gorgeous

Ok Ciao everyone! And stay tuned!!! Love you! BYE!

Mary K