Ciao famiglia e amici! I'm currently siting on a train ready for a day trip to Orvieto! It's an old medieval town up on a hill in the Umbria region of Italy (north of Rome) and it's known for it's deliciously sweet white wine (yum!). Traveling to Orvieto was recommended by one of my sister's that traveled here last summer (same one that recommended Cul De Sac) and many others. I'm so excited! I still haven't told you about my 4 week in Italy yet, though! It was way better than my 3rd, that's for sure, and it has only gotten better and better with every day since then. Words can not even describe how happy, thankful and blessed I am to be here, how I have fallen in love with Rome more and more each day I spend here, and how much I want everyone in the world to experience even just one of the things I have experienced since being here. Seriously, if you are ever able to travel, DO IT. Save up. Go without buying that dress from target you want so badly. Spend a few extra weekends working instead of going to the beach with your friends. I promise it will be worth it. Don't get me wrong though, spending time with the people around you and experiencing things at home are important too and shouldn't be taken for granted. I have just realized how much there is to learn from the world around us and traveling is one of, if not the best ways to learn, grow and experience everything this great world has to offer. Traveling has even made me want to learn more about and explore the country I live in too. I think that too often we are ready to complain about something our country does that we don't necessarily like, or think that there's nothing that great to see where you grew up, you must go to Europe etc. to really gain something. But that's not true. Traveling to Italy has not only made me want to travel the world, but even America. There is so much to see and learn no matter where you are. I apologize for the tangent, but as I have been looking back on the 5 weeks that I've been here (wow, 5 weeks already!) I have realized what a great world we live in and how blessed we are to have the endless opportunities to learn about it and see it if we are willing and able and I felt that I needed to share that feeling with others. Now, back to week 4! :) That Monday morning I woke up for class, after getting hailed on the day before and really getting to go see Rome on my own time. Class went well and it was an overall really relaxing day. After class, Jordan, Tim, Daniel, Ashley, Dena and I decided that we wanted to go to the mosulyum and go see Vatican City at night (again). We took roads that I had never been down before and walked to parts of Rome I had never seen. I was already extremely happy just walking because that's all I had been wanting to do: just see parts of Rome that I hadn't already seen and weren't just tourist areas-- let's be real though, almost every inch of Rome is a tourist area. Well, we got to the mosoleum and it was closed, unfortunately, but then we saw a fountain just a few meters down from it (anyone else notice that?- meters) and decided to go enjoy it. It was fun. We took pictures, put our feet in and danced around. We even decided that before we leave we are coming back there and running through it, clothes and all! We were getting hungry so we decided to walk towards the Vatican and find some food. After walking for a while, Daniel remembered that he knew of a place right outside the Vatican walls that was pretty good and he had been to with a good friend of his (Joan Lewis) a few nights before. We decided to head over there and see if they had tables. Luckily, they did! and guess who was sitting there when we walked up? Joan! -- just a little background about Joan, she is a reporter on everything Vatican as the bureau cheif for EWTN (Rome) news and previous English language writer and editor for the Vatican Information Service in the Holy See Press Office. We got a table inside, ordered pastas, water and wine (you can never forget the vino) and enjoyed our delicious meals. The service and atmosphere were great and I was really enjoying myself. As we were just finishing up, Joan came up to our table, took a seat and started talking with us. As she talked she began to tell us about some experiences she has had traveling, what she has learned, how she met the owner of the restaurant we ate at years and years ago and now they are like family --(great thing about Italian restaurants is that people do remember you if you keep going back and you remember them. There are always the same people working lunch and night--there's not a swap of workers or a different person every time-- and they actually want to let you sit and enjoy your meal for as long as you want, enjoy the company, and won't give you your check until you ask for it. This may seem weird at first, but once you get used to it you fall in love with this concept. Nobody is rushing you to leave and if you get to know the servers/owners you can sometimes get free desserts etc. out of it :)). Joan also asked us about our experiences since being in Rome, and what we were hoping to gain from coming here. As we all shared our stories I just remember feeling like "yes, this is the reason I came here. These are the kind of experiences I was hoping to find." I was almost in tears the entire time we were taking because I was just that happy to be sitting there enjoying everyone's company and the aw of being in Rome (yes, even after 3-5 weeks it's still not real to me that I'm here). -- I can't even count the amount of times I've almost been in tears. Even sitting here right now my eyes are getting watery just thinking about how thankful I am that I have gotten to experience everything that I have and how blessed I am that I even had the opportunity to do something like this (thank you mom and dad and I guess UF for having the program). After talking with Joan for what had to have been 2 hours (we were there from 7:30 until almost midnight and after the restaurant had closed), we wanted to get some gelato. Of course since Joan lives in Vatican City, she knew of a great place to get gelato that was right next to her apartment. She walked us down the road, showed us the gelateria and continued to talk with us as we devoured our gelato. We finally said our thank you's and goodbyes, gave hugs and walked over to St. Peter's Basilica. As many times as I've seen it, it still never gets old. Every time seems like it's more beautiful than before. It was getting really late and we needed to go to bed because we were going to see the crypt of the capuchin monks the next morning before class. It was a long walk home, but we finally made it back around 1:30am and went to bed. After a few hours of sleep, Jordan, Ashley and I met Tim, CeCe and Daniel at the tram stop to go to the crypt. I wasn't exactly sure what the capuchin monk crypt was, but I figured there is always more to learn, so why not? As we were on the tram over to the crypt, I kept feeling someone bumping into my backpack. I kept looking back, but it seemed like nothing (the trams are always crowded and people bump into you all the time). Suddenly, though, I started to hear the velcro pocket on my backpack open behind me. I turned around to see an older lady telling the lady behing me to not steal out of my bag! I couldn't believe it! I almost was pick pocketed! Granted, nothing was in that pocket but baby wipes and pens and it is nearly impossible to get inside the main part of my bag since I no longer have zipper "handles" on it from Cinque Terre, but I still couldn't believe it! I just thanked the lady that scolded the woman trying to steal from me, and watched the other woman get off the tram. Ugh, people sometimes! After a lot of walking from the last tram stop, we finally made it to the crypt. Although it was kind of morbid in the part where they have all the dead monks' bones displayed, I actually really enjoyed the museum/crypt as a whole. It was interesting and something I wouldn't have known about or ever seen, otherwise. After, we took a taxi to class and went about the rest of our day. I was pretty tired, and class definitely dragged on, but what can you do? There was good news in our classics class, though: class was cancelled the next day. Our teacher wanted to give us an opportunity to spend a say in Rome working on our projects before we left for Ischia on Thursday. So that was great news! I can't really remember what exactly my roommates and I did after, but I know we didn't do anything that night because we were pretty tired from staying out late the night before and getting up early that morning. I made chicken, pasta and zucchini for dinner and I'm pretty sure we just relaxed and went to bed early after that. On Wednesday, I got up for class as usual, sat through 2 hours of Italian and headed back to my apartment to get lunch and freshen up with my roommates. After relaxing for a little bit, we made our way over to Castel Sant'Angelo (Hadrian's Mausoleum). Again, I wasn't really sure what to expect with this, either, but I was so happy I went! Castel Sant'Angelo, is the [former] mausoleum emperor Hadrian decided to build for himself and his successors in the early 100's AD and one of the few things Hadrian actually put his name on. It then turned into the Castel Sant'Angelo around the 10th century and was used to protect the Vatican. Outside of it is the most beautiful bridge (I think) in Rome, the Ponte Sant'Angelo, which you can see from the top of the castle. You can also see the entire city of Rome from the top of the castle. It is an absolutely breathtaking view. I think my favorite part of the castle, though, is the 'viaduct' (raised passage way) that links the castle to the Vatican. This whole building is absolutely amazing! After being in the castle for a hour or so, we decided to walk over to the Vatican again and get some gelato from this place Daniel had recommended. Although I didn't get any, I tried Jordan's and it was very good! After they finished their gelato, we decided to head back home. We had been out for a few hours and our bodies were still so tired. After four weeks of being on the go, go, go, our bodies needed some rest. Especially since we were leaving for Pompeii/Ischia the next day! Once we got home, we packed, ate some dinner, showered, and watched "Friend's with Benefits" before heading to bed. We had to get up really early the next day to make our 6:30am meeting time at the train station. Alla prossima! Cassidy