Adv 6. When in Rome....

...You must walk out in front of cars, to cross the road and pray they stop for you

Thur 2 Feb
I am still on the train, but it is morning now, another beautiful sunny day, and the landscape of Italy is very nice. The other people in my compartment have all gotton off at other stops. I am looking forward to being in Rome. My goals for this place is to learn some basic Italian and eat good food and see all the famous paintings and places that we keep being taught at art school. First impressions of a place are very important, they are the basis of your opinion of a place. My first impressions of Rome were mainly a comparision of Paris, and i can tell you, Rome is MUCH nicer. The landscape is more beautiful and greener, the air is cleaner, the streets appear cleaner, the buildings have more character, more colour, more lively. There are trees here that are more interesting and they are still green. The language has more character, the people here are more fun :) even the graffitti is cooler. And the temperature is much warmer here. I met Nomes and Laura before lunch, it was so good to see them and be in Rome together. In the afternoon we went out of the city centre and went to the catacombes underneath St Sebastions basilica. It was a really fascinating tour. There are so many tunnels under the ground, really comprehensive and economical way for the Christians to bury their dead, and a great place to meet and worship together. Its amazing to think of the history that is in Rome, where the early church planted its roots and where my beliefs have come from. We learnt all about St Sebastion today, i never knew about him before, he was a very brave man to renouce himself as a Roman soldier and proclaim christianity. This was an amazing experience. The metro in Rome is very basic, and the bus system appears very disorganised, so we had to wait quite a while for a bus to come. but we meet some nice australians. Then we wanted to get to the Pantheon, we got a little lost walking and then we had a lot of fun jumping on and off buses, wondering where it would take us, hoping it was the direction of the Pantheon. They dont check tickets which i found to be really bizarre, but when in Rome... By the time we got to the Pantheon it was dark, the basilica was really quite cool,the biggest dome of its time! Then we walked the Roman streets, and found the Trevi Fountain, also really beautiful, but full of people trying to sell roses and other nic naks. I had my first Gelato and a nice place, and i got my first kiss from an italian!!

Fri 3 Feb
Today we walked around Ancient Rome, it was very fascintaing and amazing to think how long ago it was built. All around the Roman Forum and Colloseum we went and soaked in the history, Nomes bought a guide book of Rome and told us what everyhting was, she was a brilliant tour guide. We bumped into an American group a couple of times and listened in to their tour guide. They were really passionate about it and it was great to hear about the Christian martyrs killed in the colloseum and try and understand a little of what it was like back then. It was a really good day.

Sat 4 Feb
Today is my 21st birthday and i am in Rome, Italy. this is so cool!!
We met a very cool Australian, Danielle, in the morning as we were checking our bags for the day, she had just arrived in rome and so she came with us to the vatican. We went to the Vatican museum where the sistine chapel is. It was really amazing to see all the art of Michelangelo and Raphael and so many others. So much to take in there, ancient art, modern art, sculptures and architechure. To get to the Sistine Chapel takes a while, you have to pass through a labriynth of other rooms. There were so many people in there, it was insane. But very intersting. We had a picnic lunch in St Peters square, with Bread and cheese and wine and sun dried tomatoes and left over vege dahl. It was a feast!!!! and such a great way to celebrate my birthday, with cool people, and good food, and good conversation.

My 21st challenge was to get 21 kisses from Italian guys. Well i made a sign in Italian and got a few kisses, sadly not 21 though, to be honest i was more interested in the art, but there were a few good ones ;)

After that we went into St Peters basilica, it is huge!!! Very cool cathedral, i would rate it as one of the best. We didnt have any more time unfortunately to do any more exploring, i think one could easily stay in Rome many more days and explore the history and the culture, but never mind. i will definitely come back here another day. Nomes and Laura are catching a plane to Spain. Danielle and I had coffee and then i caught a night train to Paris. I feel so blessed to have come to this place and had a good time and have been kept safe, meet some really cool people, and to now be 21 years old. Life is Good!

Sun 5 Feb
Today is a travel day, so many trains , so many hours to get all the way to Utrecht, The Netherlands. but i am nearly there! I am very excited about this exchange and how much i can learn and all the people i wil meet. :)