Gelato Two-A-Days

Greetings from Italy!

Today was only the first day of classes but so much has happened already! Since getting off the plane last Wednesday, I feel like I have been constantly busy adapting to my new surroundings. I don’t feel like I’ve experienced complete culture shock but it will take some time to get used to the culture here. On the first night I arrived, we went on a walk around the neighborhood to check out the local sights. All the stores around campus were closed by 8 o’clock. This was strange since I’m used to the 24-hour superstores in the U.S. Over the past couple of days there have been tons of orientation activities and I’m excited to get into a regular routine where I’ll have some extra time to explore Rome and other parts of Europe.

We went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum a couple days ago. It was cool to see the buildings that I had only previously seen in pictures. I also found out that many of the structures had been excavated less than one hundred years ago. Some of the buildings at the Forum were even more dilapidated than I expected. I also wish there had been more signs about what the structures were, so I would know what I was specifically seeing.

There was also a group trip to the beach yesterday. I love being outside in the sun so it was a really good relaxing day before the beginning of classes. I definitely want to scope out more beaches in the area during my time here.

Finally, tonight after dinner we took a quick trip to the Trevi Fountain. It was really pretty at night and I made sure to take a lot of pictures. I also got some great Tiramisu gelato across from the fountain. I already bought some earlier today on the way home from the grocery store, but I love Tiramisu so I couldn’t resist!

That’s it for today- I’ll make sure to keep updating this with details soon!

Ciao!