When in Rome . . .

Hello everyone! We had an excellent past weekend and I'm excited to tell y'all all about it! After our 10-12 hour bus ride from Catania to Rome . . . I'm not sure exactly how long it was because we tried to sleep for most of it . . . . we arrived in Rome! Between the 4 of us (Wes, Eric, Jordan, and I) we had packed a ton of snacks - pringles, pasta, grilled chicken, spicy nuts, chips, chocolate almonds, fruit, hamburger patties, dr. pepper, etc. When we finally got off of the bus, we snacked a bit (it was still pretty early), and I hung out/put make-up on/brushed my teeth while the boys stretched and got ready for their game. The game was very exciting! About 2 minutes before halftime the elephants were down . . . until Jordan returned a kick for a touchdown! Whoo hoo! I was so proud! Unfortunately, this stroke of luck seemed to anger the gods who immediately sent rain down from the sky :( At halftime I found my rain jacket (I checked the weather before we left!) and then was very kindly invited to sit on the elephant's sidelines underneath some cover so I wouldn't get so wet! Yippee! Let me tell you, it's so much fun to sit on the sidelines and be so close to the team! I loved it! In the end, the elephants pulled out an impressive victory over the Lazio Marines to make their record 8-1 . . . still in first place, baby! Jordan's brother, James, and his friend, Adam, had been in Florence the days before the game and were supposed to make the trip down to Rome to see Jordan play. Unfortunately, the trip took longer than they thought so they showed up as the teams were shaking hands afterward. Oh well, at least they get to see the game this weekend!

After the game was over, Eric & Jordan showered and we hitched a ride from some friends of a teammate back into Rome. We arrived at our hotel which was quite nice, put our stuff down, and headed to the store to get some supplies. After our shopping was done, we headed back to the hotel for a short nap and then got ready to go out. We settled on kebabs for dinner and then walked to a bar that Eric had found on the internet. Let me just say that walking through Rome at night is pretty awesome . . . ancient builings being backlit makes for some pretty gorgeous scenery. When we finally arrived at the bar (Scholars), we discovered that it was an Irish pub . . . and that it was full of Americans! Whoo hoo! We made lots of friends - some Houston folks, a fellow Baylor alum, a loud irishman, and some study abroad students, and we even sang karaoke . . . 'Friends in low places' by Garth Brooks never gets old :)

The next day we woke up and headed out to do some sightseeing. The boys really wanted to see the Colloseum and the Roman forum so that's where we went! We got a guided tour of both places and it was pretty incredible! Even though I've been to both of these places before, I definitely learned some new information!

Our second day in Rome was just as much fun as the first . . . except it rained. We managed to see the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain before the rain really started, and we saved the Vatican/St. Peter's Basilica for last! The boys really loved our first two stops, but I loved seeing their faces/hearing their comments when we walked through the Vatican museum and the basilica! Incredible! Even though I've seen it before, I still think it's so unbelievable! After our tour guide was done showing us around, we decided to pay the extra 7 euros to make the trip up to the cupola of St. Peter's basilica. OH MY GOSH! WHAT AN AWESOME CHOICE!!! Although it was a long and arduous journey to the top, it was well worth it! Being able to have a 360 degree view of the city of Rome is something that I will never forget!



That's all for now!
Ciao Ciao!