rome: day two

we found love in a roman place

Today our adventures were all about Ancient Rome.

We saw the Palentine Hill, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Roman Capitol, and many other wonderful sites! Lizzy, Elena, and I bought lunch at a panini stand and ate sitting in front of the Colosseum. How many times do you get to do that?

We have walked so much - my calves will be so buff by the end of these two weeks. I am actually excited for class to start so that we have some structure in our schedules. But site seeing is also a blast.

For dinner we stopped by a small ristorante and while we were eating they played quality musica americana ("Wrapped Around Your Finger - The Police and "School's Out For Summer") I laughed because we had been talking about that earlier.

A few things I have learned about Romans

1. Everyone wears one of those puffy winter coat with the little puffy squares

2. Sometimes speaking English gets you good things and sometimes it gets you bad things

3. One man was wearing a Yankees hat today

I bought a postcard from the Colosseum today! Time for bed

Ti voglio bene,

Grace

il primo giorno a Roma

Ciao!

Today was our first day in Roma - what an adventure!

First, our group took our first flight from Boston to Frankfurt, Germany. It was so interesting hearing German as the primary language on the flight. We had fun watching movies, sleeping and eating some quality airplane food. Next, our second flight was from Frankfurt to Rome. Upon landing in Rome and getting our bags, we waited for our Professor and then took a bus through the center of Rome to our hotel.

The hotel is this really small bed and breakfast kind of place where you turn in your key every time you leave and the staff is very friendly and willing to help you speak Italian. After taking a nap and having a group meeting, a majority of us headed off into the city for dinner and walking.

Walking around the city was such a cool experience right off the bat. You start walking and as soon as you turn the corner, there are ancient ruins to your right and museums to your left. For dinner we found a sit-down pizzeria and ate some great pizza. My body was exhausted after the 3 flights in 3 days and walking and not eating for two days. (yeaa...)

And we saw the Fontana di Trevi! It was gorgeous and humungous and so awesome to see in person. After dinner, we had to eat gelato - of course! That was the cherry on op for me. Such a cool first night in Rome. Tomorrow is Epiphany, a national holiday, so stores will be closed. But we can walk around and have a ball.

It is great being here with everyone. I am excited for class to start and becoming more comfortable with the surroundings. What an amazing opportunity this is!

Buona notte,

Grace

stop: checker time

After a wonderful night at Institute, Kendrick and I decided to continue our not-doing-homework streak and instead, we played a nice game of Checkers.

It was great!

Life has been so busy and wild lately - I loved taking some time out of the day to have a bit of fun

count those blessings

Today, more than a lot of day, I felt a need to count my blessings.

I am blessed to be living

I have a beautiful, wonderful, loving family

I am a member of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints

I know that my Savior knows and loves me

I attended one of the best liberal arts colleges in the nation

I have incredible close friends

I have food, water, and shelter

I recently got a car

I can see, hear, speak and walk

I have been given certain talents and gifts

Life.

Veggie Tales

This year one of the classes I am taking is entitled "English 281: American Drama and the Musical". In this class, our Professor (Professor Rosenwald) lectures the class on things pertaining to said title of the course. So far this class has been quite interesting - especially this past Monday.

While observing the class and consequently not listening to the lecture, I noticed something interesting about a certain girl's bottle of water. There was a cucumber in it. Now, some may not think that this is strange -- but I certainly do.

I just, for the life of me, could not understand why someone would take a single cucumber from one of the dining halls and put in their water bottle so that everyone could see it. I turned to my friend Gina, made her aware of the situation and then our conversation (on paper) went a little like this.

Gina: Maybe she thinks that's classy

Grace: Do you like the taste of vegetables in your water, gurl?

Grace: You could call that "Cuwater"

.......

Gina: "HCuO"

For some reason that chemistry/vegetable pun made me laugh incredibly hard and I was forced to suppress my fit because we were sitting in class. For the rest of the day I kept thinking back to that and periodically laughing

"HCuO"

saturday is a special day -- it's the day we get ready for sunday

I had a super cool Saturday that I thought I'd blog about. And seeing as though I have not blogged in ages, this must have been a really rad Saturday to make me want to blog about it!

Early Saturday morning, (early meaning 7 o'clock) the Wellesley LDSSA and I went to the Greater Boston Food Bank to participate in Wellesley's Day of Service. At the Food Bank, each of us stood in front of a long , circular conveyor belt and sorted lots of products that came by. I was in charge of sorting meals, like ravioli and ramen, and coffee/tea. It was an awesome feeling to have done meaningful service on a Saturday. I know that so many people and families will benefit from our work. Doing service always makes me think of the "Golden Rule" -- do unto others as you would have done unto you. I would certainly want and need others to help me when I am in need, and by me serving others now, I receive blessings and comfort from our Heavenly Father as I serve my Boston community while simultaneously serving Him.

After the Food Bank, we went back to Wellesley and I took a nap. It was divine. Something about taking a little break on the weekend just to sleep, makes everything so much better.

--And this is where I begin making bad, not horrible, decisions.

For the entire previous week, I had wanted to go to a craft store so I could buy things to put my pictures up on my dorm room walls. Now, even though I had a TON of homework to do, Stubborn Grace just could not think about anything else besides this picture wall. I tried to read, and I just couldn't. All I could think about were my pictures. So, it being impossible for me to read, I called up my friend and fellow Tupelo Lizzy, and we were off to Michael's Craft Store. I bought ribbon, craft glue dots, and even Halloween Peeps and was ready to go back to Wellesley and start homework.

Let me explain HOW MUCH homework I had, pity me for at least a milli-second.

(2) 2 hour movies to watch and analyze

65 + pages of a variety of readings

A take home Italian test to complete

and a 3 page response paper on Jeffersonian ideals of freedom

--Now, you may say that doesn't sound like an absolute ton, but with only really Saturday night and late Sunday night to do work, it was.

And then after Michael's, our friend Sarah called and told us to come out to dinner with her. This is where I should have said "No, I'm going back to Wellesley" and instead, me being the party animal that I am, went to dinner. Then after dinner. Did I do hw? A little. Should I have done more? Yes. I read a little but then the craft supplies were just begging me to use them! So I completed my picture wall - not my homework.

As you can guess, my Sunday night then consisted of reading, writing, crying, and wishing that I would have not left all of this work for one night. I truly learned a lesson this past Sunday night. I need to figure out all that is due and expected of me, before it is Monday. Sunday should really be a day of pondering and rest. I have always managed my work load well enough to never have experienced this. And now, I am trying to become more organized and know I will manage my time in a better way.

Sundays are wonderful. So are Saturdays. and so is Service.

This life is a great one, if we try our best and live with a pure love for others

I'm trying to do that, in many little ways.