The End

To all who have read my blog:

I'm sorry this took so long for me to finally post, but it was crazy coming home and getting everything in order. I wrote the post below on my flight home. I hope you enjoy it.



As I sit in seat 33K of British Airways flight 0113 to JFK, I can't help but to reflect on these past four months that have just passed. The things I have seen, done, and accomplished are above and beyond anything I could have ever expected when I touched down in Rome on January 10th. I have learned more, done more, and seen more than many people ever have the chance to. What i have learned, however, was not from a textbook or from a professor. What I learned was from my travels and from the people I encountered. So 4 months, 4 countries, and 11 cities later, what have I learned?
I have learned that 8 people can have a conversation in 3 languages, and somehow all share a laugh without understanding a single word. I have learned that being American is an amazing blessing...and an amazing curse. I have learned that sometimes a balcony, some homemade wine, and a guitar is all you need to fill up a whole afternoon. Too often the world moves fast...and too often Italy moves too slow, and on that note, America doesn't know anything when it comes to good coffee. I have learned that Germans hate Italians, Italians hate the French, and the French hate just about everybody. I have learned that I will always look American, no matter how much I try to change that. I have learned that soccer is a way of life, and that I should always take pride in my food. I have sat on the steps of the Vatican for hours, made amazing friends that feel like family, and had the experience of a lifetime.
There is so much more I want to write about, but words can't do it justice. To everyone from St. John's Spring '08, thanks so much for making this semester so amazing. You guys are the ones that made this trip what it was. "May the wind always be at your back and the sun upon your face, and may the wings of destiny carry you aloft to dance with the stars." To my friends and family who kept up with me the whole time, thank you. You all made this experience easier when I missed home. To my mom and dad, I want to thank you two the most. Without your support, love, and of course, money, I never could have had half of the things I am lucky enough to have in my life. You two are the most important people in my life, and I can never thank both of you enough for everything you have done for me.
This post marks the end of my semester, and the end of the most amazing four months of my life. Ironically enough, a very fitting song by Trace Adkins just began to play on my iPod. The small bit of lyrics I will post is something that went through everyone's head this semester, yet no matter how much we told each other, we couldn't believe it until now. The lyrics are:

Just slow down
Cause you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

I'm happy to be back in the states with everyone, and I can't wait to catch up with all of you soon. I wish everyone from Rome well, and I hope that you never forget everything you have learned over these four months. Forza Roma!

~Mike

Canyoning in Cascata delle Marmore

Yesterday was probably one for the best days that we've had since we've been here. Five of us decided to go about an hour north to Terni, which is in the Umbria region of Italy to go canyoning near the largest waterfall in Europe. Canyoning is when a group of people go through canyons by repelling down rocks and waterfalls, swimming, and hiking. None of us had ever done it before, but we all are adrenaline junkies and thought it would be fun. The canyoning place that we went to was amazing. When we got there they gave us full wetsuits, all of our harnesses and gear, and gave us a little explanation of how to repel with the ropes. Soon after that we were on our way up the back roads of the mountain and parked on the side of a small dirt road. We got out of the car and hiked up the rest of the way for about a half and hour until we reached an open field on the top of the mountain where we could change into our wetsuits and gear. We changed and were quickly on our way again to the canyon we would be going through for the rest of the day. We repelled for the first time, which was only about a 10-foot drop that allowed us to get the feel of it before we hit bigger spots. From there we began going down the river, and quickly hit another waterfall that we went down, which was only our second one before we got to go down the biggest one of the day. The biggest drop was a waterfall a bit down the canyon, coming in at about 98 feet tall. We got to the edge of the massive waterfall, looked over the edge, and started to repel one-by-one. When it came to be my turn I got locked in and climbed out onto the ledge of the waterfall and began to repel down. The drop was amazing! At one point the rocks actually are out of reach so you have to let yourself freefall a bit, which is even more amazing to do. When I reached to bottom, the coolest feeling was looking back up at the 98-foot waterfall that I had just done, and watched some of the other people in my group go down it as well. From there we all celebrated for a minute, and then continued through the canyon to the next waterfalls...all 9 of them. Some of them from that point on were about 75 feet high, and some were as small as 20 or 30 feet. The entire journey of climbing, repelling, sliding, and swimming lasted a total of 4 and a half hours.
We finally reached the end and walked back into a small town where we had parked our cars. The "town" consisted of about 5 homes carved into the mountain. Our guides took us to a restaurant that was run by a local, which was really just his house with tables outside. The owner was one of the nicest people I've ever met, and served us dinner, all of which was homemade, consisting of: red wine, break, cheese, sausage, pork, salami, quiche, and desserts. At one point we ran out of wine, and the guy jumped on his moped and went to his vineyard to get us some more fresh from the barrel. As we sat around the table in this small village on the side of a mountain eating everything that was made from scratch, I couldn't help but look at everyone and say "This is Italy. Rome, Florence, and Venice have nothing on this. This is Italy." The Italians we were with thought that was amazing that we as Americans finally understood what the real Italy was like. We all left knowing that we had experienced Italy in it's truest form. We saw the Italy that only Italians see, and just in time before we went back home. While eating dinner our guide, Stefano, uploaded all of the pictures he had taken with his waterproof camera throughout the day, and offered for all of us to buy a CD of them, which we did, making us happy that we had even better memories of our trip. On our way back to the main shop that we went through, our guide asked us how we got there since we didn't have a car. When we told him we had taken a cab from the train station, he immediately insisted that he drive us back, saying that there was no need to spend money on a taxi. The trip ended up being one of the best things I have done in Italy so far, and only reinforced our ideas that we had about how amazing Italy and it's people are, and how welcoming they can really be.
This last week is definitely going to be hectic. Tomorrow is a study day for me, and then I have two finals on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, and then I'm done with classes here. After finals all of us plan on enjoying the city as much as we can before we finally leave on May 5th. Monday the 5th I leave to come home in the morning, and will be back in New York at 6:10 P.M. local time. Although we're all excited to see the people that we miss, we all know that we're really going to miss it here. I can't wait to see everyone soon, and hope that all is well back in the states.

~Mike

Mountain Biking in Torbole

As time winds down here, we keep trying to find some things to do that are less what tourists would do, and more what only locals would know about. That is what brought three of us to go mountain biking in Torbole, a small town on the edge of Lago di Garda (Lake Garda). The area is in beautiful northern Italy. The lake is surrounded by mountains and towns that make the area look like paradise.
We left Rome for Torbole at about 10 o'clock Saturday night. We caught a night train that brought us directly into a small town called Rovereto. The ride wasn't bad at all, and we all managed to get some sleep on the way. We arrived at around 7:15 in the morning to Rovereto station, where we caught a cheap bus for 2.50 euro to Torbole. When we got to Torbole we had some time to kill before the bike shop opened, sow e started to walk around. The second we reached the edge of the lake we knew it was going to be an amazing day. The sun was rising over the tops of the mountain, and the sky was clear blue. The water was so peaceful, and the small town looked amazing. We made our way over to the bike shop where we each rented a bike for the day. The bikes were brand new 2008 Cannondale mountain bikes (one still with plastic on it!). The shop charged us a mere 20 euro to rent the bikes for the day, and helped us plot out a route to take based on our time schedule. We began by going through the small town, all the way over to the other side of the lake. I forgot to mention that this lake is 32.25 miles long, and 10 miles wide at the widest spot; not the smallest little pond in the world. We made it to the other side and found the trail we wanted to be on. After making sure we were ready to go we all took a deep breath and began our trek up the mountain. Along the way we saw the most beautiful views that I have ever seen in my life. The entire area was beautiful, with snow-capped mountains, waterfalls, and amazing trails. We arrived at our first destination in about 2 hours, which was a small town atop the mountain named Pregasina. We biked around the town for a bit, and then decided to try to find some other spots to go to. We went about halfway back down the mountain until we found the trail we wanted and started heading back up again. Although this trail was supposed to lead us to another lake, it was poorly scaled on the map, and 2 hours into the trail we had not made it halfway. We decided to turn around and explore the area around Lago di Garda some more.
After a while of biking, we rode all the way back down the mountain into town and grabbed something to eat. The town is just as beautiful, full of small shops and places to relax. The area is known to be a good place to go for extreme sports, and there were tons of people mountain biking, kayaking, windsurfing, rock climbing, hiking, and scuba diving. Had we had more time we would have made every effort to do more, but unfortunately we couldn't stay longer than one full day. We relaxed for a bit by the water, enjoying some of the most beautiful weather we have had so far in Italy. Around 6 o'clock we took the bus back to the train station, got some dinner, and hopped on a 9:45 train back to Rome. Unfortunately the train ride coming back was not as good at the one when we went there, since it ended up being packed about halfway through and seats were hard to come by. We finally did make it back to Rome, however, at around 6 AM, somewhat tired from an amazing experience.
This week marks my last week of classes here in Rome. This coming Saturday a few of us are going canyoning in Terni, Umbria just north of Rome. Next week is finals week, and then we have the weekend to get ready to come home. None of us can believe how fast it's flying by, and now all we're trying to do is see everything we can see before we have to leave. I hope all is well back in the states. I'll see everyone soon.

~Mike

Side Note - The pictures below give an idea of the trails. The first picture is the view from the top of the mountain. The red circle marks where we started from.













The second picture is the view from where we started, with the red circle marking the town Pregasina, the highest point we went on the first trail.

London

So this weekend, me and a couple of my friends made the trip up to London for a couple of days. We left Rome on Thursday morning on a 6:30 AM flight, putting us in London at around 8:30. We got settled into our hostel, which ended up being a really nice place. The hostel had two nice common rooms, one of which had computers and a large projection screen to watch movies on, which became a great way for us to meet people. That first day we began to explore London as much as we could as three people who had never been to the city before. We walked around and ended up seeing Big Ben, Westminster, and Trafalgar's Square. We found a good place to have lunch right near the square, and of course had to have some fish and chips for lunch. We went back to our hostel for a little while and rested before going to catch our reservation on the London Eye at sunset since we had been told it was the best time to go on it. The view and "flight", as they call it, was amazing. It's so amazing to be above London in a fully glass capsule as the sun sets over Westminster Abby, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace. After our flight we went out for some dinner at a pub near our hostel, and then called it an early night since we had been up all night the night before to catch our flight.
Friday morning we had heard about a free tour that left from Greens Park tube station at 11 Am, so we decided to give it a shot. The tour ended up being awesome. Our tour guide Gregg was the owner of the company, Nonstoplondon.com, and started it recently because he didn't like the way that other tours were run. All tours are tips-only at the end, and he worked for every pound that he got. he took us through the parks, to Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard, St. James, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar's Square, Westminster Abby, Big Ben, 10 Downey Street, Churchill's Bunker, as well as many other places. The changing of the guard was fun to see, and we managed to get pretty close. He gave an excellent 3-hour tour, and we quickly became friends with the people that were on it. A few of us decided to get together again later in the night for Gregg's Jack the Ripper tour, which was also amazing. Before that tour we went to the Tower Bridge and explored the city some more. On the jack the Ripper tour, we followed the footsteps of the infamous serial killer and learned about the top suspects and the victims in detail. After the tour was over, Gregg offered to take us to the pub that Jack and most of his victims believed to frequent. The pub was left the same as it was at the time of Jack the Ripper, with tiles on the walls that are hundreds of years old. We enjoyed seeing the pub and talking to everyone that we had met, and eventually made it back to our hostel to rest up for our third day in London.
Saturday we woke up pretty early and headed to the Globe Theater, which has been reconstructed to look exactly like it did in Shakespeare's day when he put on his plays there. From there we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, which was beautiful to see. We ran over from there to the one spot we all insisted on going to, which was Abbey Road. We saw the Abbey Road Studios, and made our own desperate attempt to imitate the cover of the album by walking across the road, even though it didn't come out too well because we were trying not to get hit while doing it. We grabbed some lunch at the original Hard Rock Cafe, and made sure to act like tourists and take pictures of all of the memorabilia. Since we were in the right area, we then went over to Hyde Park, and Harrod's. Hyde Park was amazing, and reminded me so much of Central Park in NYC, but it was not as good in my very biased opinion. Harrod's was amazing as well. We all were stunned by the store that was really the original one-stop shop, with everything from cars, to clothes, to steaks, to electronics. We spent some time in there before heading back to our hostel to relax for a bit. After a nice nap, we all met up with our friends from our tour the previous day at a nice pub, and talked about our travels. We ended up saying our goodbyes and going back to our hostel to grab our luggage and head to the airport, since we had to catch a bus to the airport at 2:40 in the morning for our 6 AM flight. We got back to Rome around 9 AM and ended up sleeping pretty much all day.
Although London had the worst possible exchange rate and was insanely expensive, we had an amazing time, and managed to live on a budget pretty well, although that meant not going into some of the places that cost 10 pounds for entry. As of today, I have exactly three weeks until I land back in New York, assuming I manage to make it through Heathrow's Terminal 5 in one piece. This coming weekend one of my friends and I are going mountain biking in the Dolomiti Alps, and next weekend five of us are going canyoning in Terni in the Umbria region of Italy. Time is really flying by now, and I hope that all is going well at home. I'll see everyone soon.

~Mike

Congratulations

Before I post another blog, I need to post this to congratulate Private First Class Marc Gibson for graduating from Boot Camp as a United States Marine. Congratulations man, we're all proud of you.

Semper Fidelis.

Two Weeks "Free"

As time beings to wind down here and the exchange rate continues to go up, us students living on the dollar-to-euro lifestyle have become more and more accustomed to trying to find anything that is mildly cheap. Lucky for us, March 25-31 was Cultural Week in Italy, meaning that all of the nation's monuments, historic sites, and parks had free admission. As you know from reading the post below this one, we already took advantage of going to Pompeii for free on the 25th. We decided, however, to take advantage of this week during the beautiful days we had a few more times.
The first place that we went was Castle Sant'Angelo. The castle has an amazing amount of history, offering a beautiful view of the city. The castle was originally built in 135 AD as a mausoleum for Hedrian. In 401, the building was converted into a military fortress, and remained as such until Pope Nicholas III converted it into a castle for him to escape to in the 14th century. From the Pope's residence in the Vatican down the street, there was (and still is) a bridge that ran all the way to the Castle, allowing the Pope to safely escape into a fortress when the public became upset with him. The castle is beautiful, and has an amazing amount of history. The fact that the building is still standing as strong as the day it was built is amazing, and the views that it gives is amazing.
From there we went over to the Palantine Hill, and the Circus Maximus which is one of the most historic spots in Rome, right next to the Roman forum, the Imperial Forum, and the Colosseum. Recent excavations have shown that people were living on the hill as far back as 1000 BC. The hill is also the site where Augustus' Palace was. The hill has amazing views of the city, as well as parks and ruins that are amazing on a bright sunny day.
That same day, we went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is a massive building filled with Italian military history, as well as a symbolic tomb flanked by two eternal flames, and guarded by soldiers at all times. Although most Italians tend to not like the building's design and form, it provides great views of the city, as well as a great museum showing the Italian military history that can't be seen anywhere else.
Lastly, there have been some great free concerts that we have seen around the city. One of the best of these was in the center of the city this past week, honoring the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King. The ceremony was very nice, but the chorus and the band that honored them was even better. The Chorus was the Life Water International Chorus from the United States, and the band was a fusion orchestra with amazing talent.
When it comes to other events happening here, I also was lucky enough to get to go see the Roma vs Manchester United soccer game this past week. the game was a Champions League game, meaning that it was very important as to how far Rome gets to go in the finals. Security was very tight at the game, and the stadium was more fired up than I have ever seen it. Manchester United fans are known for being pretty insane, and I can tell you from experience that they lived up to that title. Unfortunately, Roma did not win the game, although they do still have a shot to advance if they win by enough this coming week.
It does appear as if I might not be living the "free life" for much longer, as I'm about to travel to London this coming weekend, where the exchange rate is even worse than the one in Italy. I'll update everyone as soon as I get back from London this weekend. I hope everything is going well back at home. The weather over here is getting nicer by the day, and as the weeks wind down, we're all doing our best to enjoy the outdoor aspect of Rome as much as we can. I'll see everyone in just a few more weeks. Keep in touch.

~Mike

Pompeii

So today was two days after Easter, but since classes got messed up this week anyway, my professors had decided to cancel class for today as well. Since myself and some of my friends didn't have class, we decided over the weekend that we would go to see the ancient city of Pompeii today. Pompeii is one of the most amazing places I have been to so far. The city itself is about a 3 hour train ride south of Rome through the beautiful countryside of Naples and Campania. On the ride the train passes amazing mountains and volcanoes while following the Gulf of Naples. The even better part is that this week is "Cultural Week" in Italy, so all historical and cultural places are free.
For those that are reading this that don't understand why Pompeii is so important, here's a little history lesson. Pompeii is an ancient roman city, nestled right next to beautiful mountains on the Gulf of Naples. The city, however, is also right next to the Mount Vesuvius Volcano. In the year 79 A.D. on August 24th, the volcano erupted for two days straight. The eruption killed all the residents of the city, while completely burying all evidence that a city even existed. For nearly 1700 years the city was a lost mystery, until in 1748 the city was accidentally discovered. Excavations have been going on since that point, and still continue today.
When we arrived at Pompeii, we were all a little surprised at what we saw. After visiting quite a few places in Italy and being familiar with architecture, we have been used to seeing very few high and intact buildings, let alone full roads, original drainage systems, and preserved bodies (thanks to the volcanic ash). The city is massive. In about four hours we saw most of it, and that was moving fast. Many frescoes survived for so many years, as well as tools that they had used, their full stadium/theatre, palaces, factories, and houses. As you walk down the street you are often times walking on original pavings, and since the buildings were so well preserved, you are often able to go into the buildings. There are mosaics on the floors and the walls, as well as courtyards with fountains that show us how brilliant the people of the time were. The part that I found to be the most amazing was the people that had been preserved thanks to the volcanic ash in the exact position that they were in when they had died. Although the volcano had harmed the city before, it had never done serious damage, and rarely caused this type of destruction and death. the first Pompeii was actually built around 800 B.C., but is believed to have been harmed many times by various eruptions. What was different about this eruption besides the fact that it lasted for two days is the fact that there were actually three waves of eruptions. Many of the people had believed that they were ok since they had survived the first and second eruption of the three, but the third one was much more destructive. Bodies are frozen in positions as if they had been shielding themselves, some as if they had been hurt, and some as if they were praying as they died.
Walking down the streets of Pompeii actually brings you back to the time of 79 A.D. The city is brought to life, and it makes you seriously think about the history of everything in this world, that this city was around when Christ was around, and 2,000 years before any of us were even born. Today, Mount Vesuvius is still a very active volcano, with it's last eruption taking place in 1944. It is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the dense population of 3,000,000 residents in the immediate blast radius of the volcano, the highest density of any volcano blast area. Although we didn't get a chance to climb to the top of the volcano, I definitely plan to go back someday. Pompeii was one of the most amazing places I have ever seen in my life, and pictures cannot do it any justice.
I hope everyone had a great easter back at home. We had fun here, although Rome experienced downpours and hail. Time is still flying by faster than ever, but I'm enjoying every second of it. I hope everything is well back in the states, and keep in touch over my last 4-5 weeks here.

~Mike

Venice

This week was nice, but kind of weird since it was Holy Week, and Rome seems to be swamped with people. So to get away, on Thursday morning I went to Venice for a couple of days. Venice is a little over a 4-hour train ride from Rome via the Eurostar trains, which are very nice and very high speed trains. I left Rome at 6:50 in the morning, arriving in Venice at about 11:10. Thursday was beautiful, and was really the perfect day to just walk around the city and explore. I first went to my hotel, which was very nice, situated about 5 minutes away from San Marco, which made getting places very easy. I went to San Marco and explored the square and the shops, as well as the Basilica. The basilica is beautiful, and although it's smaller inside than one would imagine, the decoration of gold everywhere makes it stunning. I explored a little more in that area, and ended up going to grab some lunch. I caught one of the waterbuses right after lunch, and took it up to the Academia bridge. The Academia area was beautiful, and since it was not nearly as crowded, I spent some time up on top of the bridge overlooking the Grand Canal and thinking about how amazing Venice really is. What surprised me while I was up there was really something that I had never thought about, and that was that since the city has no roads for cars, everything has to be on boats. Now I know this seems obvious, but it's very weird (for me at least) to see an ambulance, polizia, DHL, and Telecom Italia boat instead of cars or trucks, but it's just the way it is there. I walked around a little more, and eventually found myself at the Rialto Bridge. The bridge reminded me a lot of the Ponte Veccio in Florence since it had so many little shops on it and in the surrounding area. The only difference was that rather than having leather goods and gold, this one was covered with things made out of Murano Glass. The bridge and the surrounding Rialto Market was a lot of fun to walk around, and reminded me a lot of the open air markets here in Rome. I walked around a little more and found myself back at my Hotel. I found a nice place to go to dinner, although found that what everyone says about the food in Venice was true, and that the food is nothing like real Italian food. It very much caters to the enormous amount of tourists that the city gets. After dinner I was pretty tired from a long day, and went back to my Hotel to relax for the rest of the night.
On Friday morning I got out early to explore before going back to Rome. I went back to San Marco to go to the top of the bell tower which is the tallest point in the city. The views from the top are spectacular, but unfortunately you can't see all of the little canals that weave through the city from the angle that the tower is at. I walked through the city to see everything one last time, and ended up spending some extra time at the Rialto Market since the food looked amazing this time around. As I was walking back the city was putting up raised pieces of wood on all of the sidewalks and buildings since the city (just like the rest of Italy) was expected to get rain from Friday afternoon until the following Wednesday, meaning that the city would be flooding. The raised pieces of wood act as makeshift sidewalks and walkways during the flooding, which seems like it would cause problems, but the people in Venice are very used to this, as it happens regularly. I took the 1 o'clock train back to a very rainy Rome Friday afternoon, and got back in Rome around 5 o'clock since we got delayed due to a stalled train in front of us.
Tomorrow is Easter, and myself and another friend of mine are making dinner for about 9 of us. She's making the meat and dessert, while I'm making some stuffed artichokes and soup. We're all looking forward to a relaxing weekend, since we don't have class on Monday either. I hope everyone is doing well back in the states, and continue to keep in touch. Buona Pasqua!

~Mike

Florence

While my parents were here, we went to Florence for a couple days. Florence is a little under a 2 hour train ride from Rome, so it really wasn't bad at all to get to. We arrived in Florence on Thursday, March 6th in the afternoon. We had an awesome hotel about 2 blocks from the Duomo, and it was a nice change from the hostels I've been staying in here. We walked around a bit for the first day, but it was raining and windy, essentially raining sideways, so we decided to avoid the weather for a bit. On Friday morning we had a private guided tour by a guide named Elvio, who my dad had heard about through a friend of his. Elvio was an amazing tour guide. He lead us through all of Florence on a walking tour of buildings, museums, and the city, which you can tell he really loves. He first explained ot us where we were staying and the history being the piazza in front of our hotel. We stayed very close to the Academia, so we walked there first to see Michelangelo's "David", which was an amazing thing to get to see. I had never realized that it was 17 feet tall, and had such spectacular detail work. it really is hard to believe. from there, we went to the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio, which are both awesome. The Duomo is massive, and is amazing to see. There is nothing in the world like the Ponte Vecchio either, and it's just such a cool bridge to be on with all the little shops and history that it has. Elvio took us to a nice place where he works on weekends for lunch, and then we walked over to the Basilica of Santa Croce, which was amazing. In the Basilica is where Michelangelo is buried, and it is filled with tombs throughout the floor, which is absolutely fascinating. We then walked over to our last stop, which was the Uffizi, which houses many works by Michelangelo, Raphael, and many other famous artists. It was an amazing museum to see, and the works that are there are beautiful. That night we found a nice restaurant to eat at, and called it a night early so we could see everything we wanted to still see the next day. On Saturday we woke up early and climbed to the top of the Cupola on the Duomo, which gave us an amazing view of the city. Florence is surrounded by hills on three sides, and from the top of the Cupola, you can really see what makes Florence so beautiful. We did a lot of shopping since Florence is known for it's amazing leather and gold, and all of us found something leather to get. The leather is perfect, and really makes you realize how bad the stuff is we have back at home. We had a great meal at night, after stumbling upon an open air market full of leather and cashmere, all of high quality for low prices. On Sunday we returned back to Rome, which even for my parents became like coming home. It was a great place to visit, and the history is just as amazing as Rome's. On Thursday I'm going to Venice overnight, so I'll make sure to let everyone know how it is. I hope all is well back at home, and I'll update everyone again soon.

~Mike

Sicily

Sicily has to be hands down one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited in my life. From the second the plane lands next to a beautiful mountain, you know that it will be an amazing place. My parents and I arrived in Palermo, Sicily on Sunday, March 2, which was a beautiful day. We rented a car, and began our trek to where we were supposed to be staying. We got a little lost on the way, which was the best part of the drive. The rolling hills and the small towns are not to be believed. It's really as if this part of the country never even moved forward in time at all and is still how it was when our ancestors left it. The day got a little interesting, however, when we arrived at the place we were supposed to stay. The beautiful pictures of the place had been very deceiving, and it lacked heat and any real accommodations. We decided not to even stay there, and left to explore the island. We saw nothing but beautiful grassland that went on for miles, crystal clear blue oceans, gorgeous beaches, and very small towns. We explored the area pretty much all day, and as it got late we started to look for a hotel. As we were looking, we decided that they would really like to spend more time in Rome, and that we got to see a lot of Sicily for the time of the year (it's really more a beach vacation). We went back to the airport, and they got us on a flight back to Rome, allowing us to have just a taste of Sicily, but giving my parents much more time in Rome, which was great. It is definitely a place everyone has to see at some point during their life. Hope all is well back at home.

~Mike

The Parents Visit Italy

So it's been about three weeks since the last time I was able to have enough time to sit down and blog about my semester...that's because 2 1/2 weeks ago, my parents flew to Rome to visit. While they were here, we visited everything there is to visit in Rome, as well as Sicily and Florence, both of which I will post about soon. Let me first tell everyone about my parents' visit.
On Friday, Feb 29 my parents landed in Rome. They got settled in their hotel room right down the street from my residence, and we decided to explore. I took them to the Pantheon, the Vatican, and the Trevi Fountain before we decided to go and grab a bite to eat and call it an early night since they were jet lagged. On Saturday morning, we first went to the open air market down the street from my residence, which my parents really enjoyed. We then went to the Colosseum. It's always nice to see the look on people's faces when they see some of these buildings for the first time. From there, we walked around the Roman Forum and the Imperial Forum, which are both right next to each other. They seemed to enjoy the little history lesson I was able to give about everything. That evening I took them to Trastevere, which is a section of Rome what is full of old streets, small restaurants, and an excellent group of people. We had a very good dinner there, and came back early to sleep since we were leaving for Sicily the next morning. I will talk about Sicily in a separate post...feel free to read it above.
The day after we got back from Sicily, we all walked around all day. We went to the Spanish Steps and did some shopping, and also walked to the Barberini section of town and did some shopping there as well. That evening we ate at Dino e Toni, which was a restaurant that had been recommended to me. The restaurant was amazing. it had no menu, and the food was whatever was fresh that day. The place was very deceiving, and run by a few guys who clearly know how to make some of the best food in Italy, which is really saying a lot. On Tuesday we had to go to the Vatican to pick up tickets for the Papal Audience that happens on Wednesday from a Priest I had met here who works in the Vatican. Before that, however, we finally went into St. Peter's Basilica. Both of my parents could not believe the size of it, nor the beauty that is held all within one building. We then saw the tombs of the popes, and climbed to the top of the dome, or the Cupola. The climb wasn't too bad, and it was worth every step once you saw the views of Rome. The views are really not to be believed, and cannot be compared to anything else like it in the world. After climbing back down, it was time to pick up the tickets, and Father Grous welcomed my parents into his office that overlooks St. Peter's Square, which is a magnificent view. We relaxed for much of the day after that, and found a nice place to eat at night. Wednesday was the Papal Audience. The Papal Audience is held every Wednesday for thousands of people who go to the Vatican to be blessed by the Pope, and to listen to the message that he has to give that week. Because Father Grous was able to get us such good tickets, we were only 13 rows back from the front, which was an amazing experience being that close to Pope Benedict. People have a tendency to go a little crazy at this event, but that only makes it even more fun. We spent the afternoon walking around the city, and doing a little more shopping since the Italian stores are so great. Thursday morning we left for Florence, which again, you may feel free to read about above in a separate post.
Sunday we came back from Florence and relaxed for a bit, before going out to find some dinner. Monday was the start of classes again for me, but my parents went to Venice. They fell in love with the city, and said it is truly impossible to believe how beautiful it is. When they got back on Wednesday evening, we walked around a bit and went out to dinner before calling it a night. Thursday was our catch-up day. We saw everything that they had not been able to see yet, and also returned to the Trevi Fountain. Thanks to the help of Father Grous, we also managed to get tickets for the three of us to go see the excavations of the original basilica under St. Peter's, which only about 150 people get to see per day. The original basilica was discovered by accident in 1939 when construction work was being done on the modern one. When ti was found, the excavations were originally ordered to be in secret by the Pope, since it was during the time of WWII, and he did not want the Nazis to find out about it. The search all began because the Pope wanted to know if he could find St. Peter's Tomb, which is supposed to be directly under the altar. Stepping into the excavations is like going back in time to 127 A.D. You are walking down streets and going into buildings that are 2,000 years old, learning history and seeing things that most people will never get to see. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. The tomb was discovered, but it was found to be empty. They realized soon why, and found out that at one point they were afraid of people trying to harm the bones, so they had been placed in a wall next to the tomb. Once they were found, they were analyzed and determined to be the bones of St. Peter. The bones were put back where they were found for respect purposes, but this time in a special container that would prevent them from being harmed. It is really a fascinating thing to see, and is truly a humbling experience to stand next to the bones of St. Peter. Thursday night we had a great last dinner, and relaxed for the night, since they had to pack for the following morning. On Friday morning we took one last stroll around, and drove back to the airport. It was hard to say goodbye, but I only have less than 6 weeks left here as I write this, so it won't be long until I see them. I hope that everything is going well back in the states, and keep in touch,

~ Mike