Assisi

My first week of school flew by!! So far I'm liking all of my classes. I am taking beginning Italian, Film and Mafia (a class during which we watch movies about the Italian mafia), Art Therapy, Sketchbook Rome, and a literature class. My two art classes are my favorites by far. I don't spend a single day in a classroom for my Sketchbook Rome class. Instead we meet up at different spots of the city and spend the time sketching different things! This week we drew different items we liked in a cathedral and we also sketched what we saw in the Piazza del Popolo. 

Even though classes started this week I have still been getting out to explore the city. I also partook in a wine tasting workshop at my school on Monday.

On Friday my friends and I decided to venture outside of Rome so we took a day trip to Assisi. Assisi is this little town north of Rome. It's famous for its stone houses, narrow streets, stunning views, and patron saint; St. Francis. In order to get to Assisi my roommates Mackenzee, Mackenzie, Shannon and I took the train. All four of us fell in love with the tiny town. Because this time of the year isn't prime tourist season, we pretty much had the town to ourselves. We saw several smaller cathedrals but we ended our day with a visit to the famous Cathedral of St. Francis. The basilica was beautiful and we even got to see St. Francis's tomb (he's buried underneath the church). 

After our encounter with St. Francis my friends and I went back to the train station to wait for our train home and to grab some dinner. We ended up at eating at McDonald's because every other restaurant we came upon was closed! The menus at Italian McDonald's are pretty different than the menus at McDonald's in the U.S. Here in Italy they offer a "Taste of America" menu. This features several different cheeseburgers all named after major U.S. cities like Chicago and New York, mozzarella sticks, star shaped chicken nuggets, and waffle fries. Oh and Italian McDonald's also make you pay for ketchup. Not cool McDonald's. Not cool.

The girls and I got back to Rome around 11pm Friday night. On Saturday morning I got up early and went to the Vatican Museum. That was spectacular. For those of you who don't know, I LOVE museums. I can spend all day in one, and actually that's exactly what I did on Saturday. Ryan was the only one of my friends who wanted to go with me, so the two of us spent over 4 hours exploring all of the different exhibits the Vatican has to offer. One of these exhibits was the Sistine Chapel. That place blew my mind. I wish I could have taken pictures to show everyone but taking pictures of the art on the walls in the Sistine Chapel is strictly forbidden. Ryan and I saw several people get kicked out for trying. After seeing the Vatican Museum Ryan and I wanted to go into St. Peter's Cathedral but the line was way too long. I do plan on going back sometime soon though and I hear you can take pictures inside there.

I saw Britt twice the weekend! We spent a lot of time planning our trip to visit our friend Cora who's studying in England. That was pretty much it for this week. Enjoy the latest pictures and I'll update again soon!!