Hello everyone,

I am sorry I haven't kept this updated; however my internet situation has proven to be quite challenging. Dilit, our language school, is our only connection and their hours are less than desirable. No internet after 8pm, on weekends, and their newest addition, no internet from 1-2:30pm to leave room in the dining area for those who actually wish to eat. It seems fair but when it takes you a half hour to get to school and have so many people to keep updated online, it quickly becomes inconvenient. I am actually pre-writing this post at 9:00am sitting on the couch in the living room of our apartment. Well, enough complaining about internet.

Rome is beautiful as I am sure you can imagine. There are things to see around every corner and though I do not yet know the history of some of the buildings, monuments, etc., you can almost feel their significance. I am surprised by how small Rome seems. I think this is due to the fact that in most big cities there are skyscrapers and even apartment buildings look a mile high. Here, everything is lower to the ground and maintains a rather consistent height of a few stories.

My apartment is located only a few blocks from St. Peter's Square which is amazing to see at night when the crowds have left and you feel like you have the whole Piazza to yourself. We go there at night sometimes with our gelato (which, by the way, is a million times better than ice cream) and eat it on the steps. I don't think I could ever get bored of doing that.

We started our first classes on Monday the 15th. It will be nice to get into somewhat of a routine and start learning the history of everything. I think Senior Seminar which is about ethics, and morality, and all that jazz, will be pretty easy but interesting. We watched a movie about Freud's nephew Edward Bernays who basically was the creator of the media's manipulation of consumers. It was all psychology based so thus far the class seems to be right up my alley. My language class is going well. I know the alphabet and the numbers along with a few various conversations in Italian. I've found that if I listen closely to the language teacher, I can often figure out what they are trying to get across; however, this revelation sometimes doesn't translate to the real world when it would actually be most beneficial.

I need to be going though. One of my roommates and I don't have class today until 2:30 but we are going to the market to get food for the week… I'll tell you about the market some other time and I'll have more pictures later. I hope this finds everyone well.

Ciao,

Kristi