Well I finally find myself with some down time so I will go into a little more depth about my adventures over the last week. First off I got up early one morning to go to the Vatican, which was amazing. I can't remember exactly what day it was, days are starting to just blend together in my head. I arrived around 8:30 and immediatly got in line to go up into the dome, by far a great decision. It costs 5 Euros to walk up and 7 to take the elevator half, I figured I would walk it, THERE ARE A LOT OF STAIRS!!! Before you actually get to the top of the dome you walk around the top of the Basilica, I took some wonderful pictures from the vantage point. Finally getting to the top was quite exhilarting, I took a few deep breaths before finally walking over and looking straight down into the square. I spent a good 20 mins up there taking in all of Rome. After that the stairs take you back down into the Basilica, so I walked around there for about a half hour, snapping pictures of course. Then I decided that I wanted to go below and see the tombs of the Popes. Little did I know you weren't suppose to take pictures, I ended up with som good shots and even one sly picture of Pope John Paul II tombs, which is all lite up and people were kneeling to pray. I ended up spending about 4 hours there. By the time I headed over to the Vatican Meuseum to see the Sistine Chapel the line was terrible so I scrapped that and will go probably tomorrow. Last Friday our group got invited along with the design kids to tour some areas around Rome. We first went Subiaco which is the home of several Monasteries dedicated to the patron saint of lawyers (that actually exists!!!) We spent several hours walking around and touring the ornate insides. I apparently was feeling spendy that day because I went in with the Professors and enjoyed a five course meal of everything you can imagine and some things you can't ;) The meal wass wonderful I had anti-pasti Misto which is a little bit of everything, including melon and ham, artichoke, bread with cheese, some other things I didn't recognize, etc. Then we had good size portions of pasta, the first was homade in red sauce and the second was lasagna YUMMM! Then came the meat, which was ribs of some sort and the boar, having never eaten boar I found it quite good kinda like buffalo. And then some sort of pastry for dessert. I also had a few glasses of red wine, not as good as the stuff I had in Florence but by the time we left I feeling really good and relaxed. From Subiaco we traveled over to Tivoli and spent 3 hours int eh gardens at Villa D'este. Some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. I got a ton of fantastic pictures, this place was incredible, I would really like to go back again some day. On Sunday Mark, my rromate, and I went to Naples. We got up at 5:30 and caught a 7:10 train down to naples where we then took the local metro to ercalano the stop for Vesuvius. Again the sight was incredible not mention I was struck with because I was actually climbing the Mount Vesuvius. From there I continued on to Pompeii while Mark went back to explore Naples. I spent 4 hours in Pompeii and could have easily spent a couple of more days. I was so tired and hott staying out there that long but I was worth it. I found a small hill that overlooks pompeii and Sorrento and took some video and pics there as well. All in all it was a wodnerful trip that I am glad I made, it also gave a chance to get away from the group which I really needed. We got home around 10 pm and literally just crashed. Also last week we visited a local law school, it was pretty much you what you would expect from a law school tour but still very interesting nonetheless. We also met with Hands Off Cain, an international human rights group started by the radical party to oppose capital punishment, this to was very informative and the representative was very willing to share her thoughts and expierences with us. I think with that I am all caught up, if you would like to hear more about any of these adventures just ask I would love to talk with you. Ciao!