Casey's Semester Abroad in Europe: First Week In Rome

View of the Vatican from the dorms

I landed in Rome a over a week ago and have already fallen in love with this beautiful city! Rome, Italy by far exceeds my love for Paris. From the moment we stepped foot on the Italian soil the atmosphere was already more inviting, happy and colorful. The campus here is much bigger than that of Paris. Because St John's offers a graduate program and semester program in Rome, there are a lot more students, bigger facilities and more staff. Emily and I are roommates again. Our room is bigger and we have a nice view into the courtyard. Our friends' room across the hall has a view of the Vatican, it's pretty awesome!
Speaking of the Vatican, we are only a 15 minute walk from it. I have already visited Vatican City 4 times since being here. One of the most special visits we made there was on February 27th. We saw Pope Benedict XVI give his farewell speech. We got there over an hour early so we managed to get a decent viewing. But being 5 feet tall made it hard to see over anyone regardless. At first I couldn't see the pope behind all the tall people including the 6'6" German man next to me. I kept jumping up trying to get a peek and then the tall German man asked me if I wanted to see. I shook my head yes and before I knew it he had lifted me up above the crowd so I could see! I caught a quick glimpse of the pope and then he set me down. It was such a nice gesture of him! Little did we know that he was going to drive around on his Pope-Mobile right in front of us. I was literally 8 feet away from him when he did! That was something I will never forget!

First meal in Italy

Nothing can really top seeing the first Pope in 600 years resign but, Rome has been filled with many jaw dropping experiences! I visited the Colosseum and Roman Forum. No words can describe what I saw besides...ANCIENT! I couldn't believe how old everything was. All of the sights I have seen are what I see in the movies. I still have to pinch myself sometimes to realize it's real life!
The food here is beyond yummy! It is definitely a carb-filled country. Nothing but pizza, pasta and gelato.... yes, I've had gelato just about everyday so far! It doesn't help that there is one directly across the street from campus. We have found a few great places for lunch and dinner. We are given meal vouchers that we can use at restaurants around Italy since they don't provide food on campus here. The food around campus is relatively cheap and taste amazing. I am just starting to get sick of the pizza after eating it almost everyday so far. Luckily we do have a kitchen on campus we can use so we often make family dinners for our group of friends. One of our guy friends Anthony is a master chef so he makes us great meals!
Being walking distance from just about everything cool in Rome makes for quick fun adventures during the day. My class schedule is a little rough with a morning and then early evening class so we try to get out during the afternoons when we can. We are 20 minutes walking distance from the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and other cool monuments. I cant wait to explore more in Rome and Italy itself. More adventures to be posted soon!