My Life in London: I ate pasta and pizza for a week- Italy!!!!

Well I can't believe it is already March and my time here in Europe is winding down. I have been thinking a lot lately about all the experiences I have had and I feel truly blessed to have this opportunity. This was my last trip in which I had to completely book everything for myself. All that is left is my field trip and my grandparents visit!!!!! Booking European trips is really an experience just one that I'm glad is over. No more e-mails reminding me to check in and book hotels, yay!
Although there is much trouble in the planning and booking of the trip, this Italian trip paid off. For the first two days we were in Venice. The city with no streets, well at least I didn't see any. I really wanted to go on a gondola but the weather was freezing and getting in a gondola would have been a chance for you to freeze. It was so cold that on our second day it started snowing. SNOW, in Venice, I'm not sure if that is normal especially in March, but we were cold. My favorite part of Venice was the shopping. There were so many cute shops with a lot of beautiful Murano glass. I knew that it was real because the island of Murano is just off of Venice. I also bought a real carnivale mask since it was carnivale while we were there. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be though because we were there on weekdays and the temperatures were really low, not a great mix for carnivale. On that Thursday night we got on a 7 hour night train to Rome.

Venezia

Gondola? no thanks

We got to Rome around 8am and headed to our bed and breakfast. It was a kinda sketchy B&B but I made it out alive and with all my belongings so that is good. We started off the morning by visiting the Colosseum. It was amazing but would had been ten times better if the sun was out. It rained for our entire trip in both Venice and Rome. After visiting the Colosseum we went to the Pantheon. That was really cool to see because I had studied its architecture my senior year of high school. I got to see the coffered ceiling and the hole in the center of the dome. The hole was a lot larger than I thought it would be, but the buildings been standing for a really long time so I guess it doesn't interfere with the buildings stability. After that we went to the Trevi fountain. This was the one place that I had been anticipating the most. I was really hoping that once I threw my coin in the fountain a famous pop star would come and ask me to sing with him- Lizzie McGuire style, but sadly that didn't happen. However the sky did clear momentarily so that was a good sign. Our next stop was the Gelateria to get our first Italian gelato. So my favorite ice cream flavor back home in the states in Mint Chocolate Chip so what flavor do I choose for gelato..."menta." It was green and chocolate chips so I thought it would be perfect, false. It was like eating two packs of double mint gum in every bite. My mouth was burning with an intense flavor of mint. I guess I will just stick to my Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice cream from now on. I can never see mint chip the same. The next day we dedicated to the Vatican. I would like to start off by saying that I basically walked across an entire country. I can check that off my bucket list. We started with the Vatican museums which were amazing. My favorite part was seeing the School of Athens- a frescoe done by Raphael. And I had already seen Raphaels tomb the day before at the Pantheon. At the end I got to see the Sistine Chapel which to me, is a once in a lifetime experience. I just stood there in awe. There were so many masterpieces and all in one room. This was by far the best part of my trip to Rome. After we went through the museums and the chapel we headed over to St. Peter's Basilica. We started underneath the church and I saw the tomb of Pope John Paul II. Once we got in the basilica I got to see Michelangelo's La Pieta, another piece of art that had studied in art history. I also got to see the dome that I had read about over winter break of my senior year in high school. That was a tiring day of standing in lines and basically walking for 7 hours so after that we called it a day. On our last day in Rome we went to the Spanish steps and then the Villa Bourghese. It was finally sunny out but we only had a half day there- go figure. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe Rome (we had enough pasta and pizza by then) then got our bags hopped on a train and then a plane and then we were back in London. After this trip I can now tell you the going rate for a Margherita pizza as this was my food of choice for the whole trip. I don't think I will eat pizza again anytime soon, well other than tonight because that is what Pepperdine is feeding me. Rome was an amazing city, one that I would gladly go back to, preferably in the sunshine!