Cambia de pais: change of country

This statue greets you as you approach the bridge nearest Vatican City
San Pietro and Monica

We were enjoying our down time...obviously

Special view

Inside of the Cupola...gorgeous

REALLY inside the cupola...not so gorgeous...

but definitely worth it!

Sean Mon Rob and Vic atop the Dome

Vic heading back down to roof level

meeting up with the group after braving the claustrophobia-minded spaces

Interior of San Pietro

Bob...doing the "Tom Pose"

Tom and the plastic bag... Tom's hair

Roma in the rain

Roma a continuacion: Rome continued

ESPQR: Roughly translated to mean property of Rome...it's EVERYWHERE!

St. Ivo...Baroque architecture. The facade is actually curved concavely from where the photo is taken and the dome isnt quite round, but has 6 different "points" like a jewish star, with half rounded and the other half points.

After a quick stop in Piazza Navonna (sp?) Ben and I loaded pics on Christi's comp, then did some wandering:

Chariot atop a large bldg.

The Pope's fortress...you know, in case of emergency or something.

St. Peter's...I'm not quite sure where Rome ends and the Vatican begins...

An old church-Ben would know a bit more about these sites than I...as I was being his shadow in order to avoid sitting in the apartment all day while everyone else was at the Vatican to see the Pope speak after mass.

One of the bridges connecting the city--the sculptures were awesome

La isglesia di Quattro Fontane...The church of the 4 fountains. I asked 4 policemen where it was, and they could only tell me where the street named Quattro Fontane was...each corner of the intersection has a different sculpture/ftn...hence the name.

Front column and stairs of the church.

We are such good kids.-Out in front of Quirinale, another Baroque-ish church

Next, we headed through the twisting streets to Richard Meier's Ara Paci Augustas, which I really liked for its ability to separate itself from the street through white noise of the ftn, while offering a great place for enjoying the day, the city, a book...or the building and its many planes of structure, facade and screen.

Soy irlandesa, y tu?: I'm Irish, and you?

The Rome students are gone which means we are officially living in their apartments at Campo de Fiore. Today was one of my favorite yet...the old stuff. haha.

Not too much to say, especially not anything that could explain what people have tried to understand for thousands of years...

Colosseum

Just hanging out...siesta in Roma

Oh you know...just some crumbled columns from God only knows when...

The Forum...well--a view toward the city from the Forum.

The day is coming to an end...a silhouette at Forum

Forum

After Forum, we climbed the steps to Piazza del Campidoglio to sketch. We were super-tired but it was a good time, just the same.

Soon thereafter it was time for some dinner...so we used our super-tracking skills to find the grocery store sans the help of the native Rome students...I thought the vegetable section had quite a unique look to it.

Who doesn't have italian food on St. Patty's day?! We were eating like Kings, or something, to the sounds of the raucous outside in the square...which some brave souls were courageous enough to enter into.

I decided to play the "lookout" from above.

Apparently St. Patrick's Day means the same thing no matter what country you are in...especially when Ireland beats Italy in Rugby the same day!

ROMA-dia completo...o no: ROME-full day...or not

So--BCN got royally screwed up this am attempting to navigate the Rome metro system solo...which caused a rift in the whole day--ugh. Piazza Marcini will haunt me for the rest of my European life! I really enjoyed Piazza del Popolo, however, where I spent about 4 hours sunbathing as I sketched a perspective of the plaza churches and the roads that lead into the plaza. SUNBURN like whoa--but, as per usual, the sunlight was worth it. When the group met up with us, Dave took us on a quick walking tour of the highlights.

TREVI FOUNTAIN--pretty sweet, especially because it looks like the builing grew from the fountain, which grew from the stone...I really appreciated this fountain--I want to go back if we have time at some point--there was just something captivating about it.

THE SPANISH STEPS: A disappointment in that I was always told it is a very popular place for people to just sit and eat lunch...being the cultured kids that we are, a few of us tried to sit and eat our italian pizzas on the steps, and got yelled at for eating on them...what the heck?! :(

THE PANTHEON: Ummm. There is now much more to say than WOW. Even with all of the people, this monument is huge, and it definitely lives up to it's design to surprise the viewer as they enter, not having seen the full height of the dome from the exterior.

It looks fake...most of these things do. I don't know why, exactly. I think it has to do with the surreal feeling that I am traveling around the world seeing things I never imagined I would see outside of other peoples' pictures, and now--you're looking at MINE! I would love to come here all alone on a day when the rain was pouring through the oculus, to just sit and write and watch and listen...I think that experience would be extremely moving and memorable. It's supposed to rain at the end of the week...I guess we'll see!

Vic, Bry, Bob, and Jake!

How I've missed the Rome kiddos-we had a good time just enjoying their company for our little tour (and free icecream on Dave!) I love hearing about their experiences in Rome, and comparing and contrasting them to the abroad experience we are having in Barca. Life is cool.

Group dinner at Pizzaria da Baffetto!

This is approximately 35 americans in an italian restaurant...I just don't think this kind of a crowd would fit in a restaurant in Barca--there are TONS of them, but they are all very small-I think that's how they survive!

Will, Chris, Evan, and Adam--Waiting for Brochetta(sp?) and PIZZA!

So...we almost forgot in the process of the day that at midnight, we all become leprechauns--I mean...it's ST PATTYS DAY! Vic and I are loving it-Heart her!
"We don't think we're any better than other people I St. Patty's Day...we just acknowledge that God invented beer so that we wouldn't take over the world"-Anon.

Too bad I don't like beer...

HAPPY ST. PATTY's-Thanks for having us Rome Kids!

El 15 de marzo: The ides of March!

WE MADE IT TO ROME! HOLY COW!

While Tom and Bob ran back inside to get a sketchbook left in the terminal, the rest of us chilled in our personal van-cab! This led to one of the craziest car rides of my life--and I was already sick this morning! We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and headed to Campo de Fiore to catch the tail end of the Rome students' jury. Stanley gave us a brief overview of the project then I peaced out with Vikki for a walk to her apartment, then back to the apartments at Campo to get Adam and some other kiddos for dinner at L'Ensalata Rica.

Afterwards...what else is there to do on the Ides of March in Rome? TOGA PARTY, CLARO!

Tom, wearing his Care-bear-esque Toga!

The Laurens and myself! So classy!

Bri y yo-practically the same as Ancient Romans, no?

HAHA-These are the hardcore, Caesar's assasins type of Romans...Benja y Spiro

...what can I say? typical Duffy, confusing Rome with Sparta, apparently

Mo, Amy, and Adam showing off their ridiculous arm muscles...just in case the BCN kids decided to get rowdy!

Roomies for life-Conster and me!

Aww, chiquitas romanas! Me, Mo, Vik, and Amy!

Benja, enjoying a game of cards with the Italian teacher and co.

Tomas y Conster, all Toga-ed out!

So, we made it through...and we're in ROMA! Hopefully every day will be this fun, even after the Rome students leave Friday morning. I'm insanely jealous that they live in an apartment building full of students--some of the other students came down to the toga party, and seemed like cool kids. Luck of the draw I guess!

Girona a Roma: Girona to Rome

Wasn't feeling well this morning for no apparent reason. Victoria took care of me, though. Two bottles of water, a gatorade, and 3 hours of sleep later I was feeling much better.

I met up with Christi, Mon, and Gisela in the lobby at checkout time and we headed across the river to a jewelry store where they sold all sorts of handmade bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and rings from wood, stones, and shells...pretty nice, and really inexpensive, too!

From there we headed back to the hotel, grabbed our things and went to the bus station where we grabbed taxis to the airport. Had to run through security in order to be in time for our priority boarding...aren't we special?! haha. Oh RyanAir...you are so...Brightly colored and stuff...ROMA here we come!