Day 17

I started Day 17 by making my own little breakfast of a toasted bagel half and cream cheese, all of which I got from the grocery store. The bagel was basically rock solid, but it was satisfying enough. Also, I'm pretty sure they have less fat in their cream cheese here, because it really wasn't that flavorful, but that's probably for the best I suppose.

Then, Katie, Gina, and I grabbed some hot chocolate and coffee (guess who got the hot chocolate) before heading off to Piazza Navona for our City of Rome class site visits of the day. We were the earliest to arrive by far, which was no surprise to us. We just sat and admired the lovely weather and the even lovelier Four Rivers Fountain.

Two groups gave presentations: one on Piazza Navona, and the other on the Pantheon. (Katie, Gina, and I present on St. Peter's Square next Thursday). Other places we visited as a class were Campo de'Fiori, the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, and the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere. I had never been in either church (to my memory...we did so much in so little time on my EF tour), and both were just incredible. It was especially exciting to see Caravaggio's three paintings on St. Matthew in San Luigi dei Francesi after watching the movie about his life and their creation. He really was a master at capturing life on campus. Comparing his figures to others in other paintings in the church showed this even more; there really was no comparison.

At the end of "class," we all sat on some benches and got our test reviews for Monday's MIDTERM (so soon! so crazy!). Prof. Locatelli saw a couple people she knew, which was funny and cute to witness.

We had a nice, somewhat lengthy walk back to campus from Trastevere. I wanted to pop into a pharmacy because I've kind of been having acid reflux problems (I blame all the tomatoes I've been eating), and I wanted to see if I could get something like Nexium. Luckily, they had actual Nexium, which made any language barrier no big deal. And yes, I also plan on trying to eat a little better. But really, I don't know why I didn't anticipate this happening. Italy is maybe the worst place for a person with acid reflux to go! (Don't worry, though, Mom, I am fine and will give you updates).
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Katie and I also popped in to this store called Tiger to look for combination locks to use at our hostel in Florence this weekend. Luckily, they had some, and in cute colors! They also had lots of school supplies and random trinkets. It was a fun store to look around in. Also, after playing some lively Jewish-sounding instrumental music, Only You by the Platters came on! I was VERY excited, and was apparently not the only one. At least two other people were singing along, which I thought was very weird, but I was cool with it.

I was very pleased with the outcome of those two quick errands, but was not very pleased to go to Theology. It was another boring lecture. AND our term papers are due in two weeks. These 5-week classes are no joke! And now I'm going to be taking Philosophy in only FOUR weeks in Paris...should be interesting. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

We had dinner at a restaurant that actually DID take our meal tickets, so that was nice. I got what I thought was going to be a vegetarian lasagna, but really ended up being two pieces of battered and fried eggplant with cheese in the middle. It was weird, but good!

So, I've got another 5:30 am morning tomorrow. Joy! But, like yesterday, I have a feeling tomorrow will be pretty amazing. #FlorenceBound!