I awoke at 8:00 AM and headed down to the lobby for breakfast with Chloe and Margaret. I had a croissant covered in powdered sugar and a roll, since I’m a sucker for any type of bread product.

After everyone finished up, we took a bit of a hike to the Pontifical Universitas Urbaniana, where we would have your class for the day. Our scenery was a bit different this time, since we were walking through a subway station. Dr. Stark talked about the origins of Judaism and Zoroastrianism, and Mr. Hesting lectured about some of the topics we covered in our online discussions and it basically led to, “domestic policy = foreign policy”. Class was over at 12:00 PM and Mr. Hesting told us about a window outsie the restrooms that had one of the best views of Rome you could capture on a single camera. We all took our pictures and then took a quick walk to the University’s cafeteria, just to orient ourselves with where it is. We ended up just going back to the hotel and not eating anything there, but seeing the fresh food they offer is pretty sweet.

After finishing a nap, I went to go get a sandwich from the nice Internet cafe down the road from our hotel. The process of ordering was sort of strange and complicated for us Americans. First, we came to the counter and ordered what we wanted (in Italian). I had a little trouble figuring out how to pronounce some words, but the girl at the counter kind of got the idea of what I wanted when I had said enough. Then, we went to another counter and paid, which is a pretty good idea, since you don’t want the person who is making your food holding your dirty money (because money is always kind of dirty). Then we went back to the other counter and picked up our sandwiches. Mine was pretty good, and it was the first time I had ever had dried tomatoes, which I was not expecting, since it didn’t say that on the menu. I will definitely be going back there.

When we got back to the hotel, I took yet another nap. Shortly after, it was time to tour the Forum and the Colosseum with Molly, our guide.

The first building we saw after getting off the bus was the “wedding cake”. People in Rome call this building the “wedding cake” because it’s made with extremely white stones that don’t exactly match the color of the rest of the city. It’s beautiful, but considered ugly by those who compare it to the rest of the city.

We bought tickets to visit the Forum and the Colosseum, and Molly told us a lot of interesting facts about both of the amazing places. For instance, the Forum had to be excavated from a grassy area where cows grazed, since the Tiber River flooded more than a few times and brought over soil where the grass grew. Another interesting fact was that in the Colosseum, seawater could be used to fill up the arena, just so gladiators could battle on boats there. Also, the entire stadium was made so that 70,000 people at a time could evacuate the premises in the event of an emergency.

After our tour, Molly led us to the restaurant where we would eat dinner. We were all handed menus, but they were taken back quickly, as Molly and the restaurant staff decided they would pick our food for us. Needless to say, everything they had chosen was delicious. There was this bowl of eggplants that were chopped up and kind of mushy, but it was addicting. Bruschetta with tomatoes also tasted pretty good. We were also given a plate of meats and cheeses. I’ve been shying away from meat recently except hamburgers and chicken, but the cheeses were delectable, especially the buffalo-milk ricotta cheese (but where did they find the buffalo?).

We were stuffed after dinner, but we were still able to get gelato at OldBridge. There was a big line for it, so we had a feeling it would be good. While eating, we did some people watching and noticed how perfect most of the Italian people looked. Like they just wake up on the right side of the bed every morning. Mr. Hesting proposed further research into who had the best gelato out of the two places we tried, Lemongrass or OldBridge, and everyone agreed that they would participate in research (read: eat more gelato).

I still have yet to buy any souvenirs since I haven’t figured out which shirts and postcards to buy. I’m hoping I could try to haggle the prices so I get a deal I want.

Tomorrow, we are climbing to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica!

Until then,

Summer