Day 6

Another beautiful day in Rome! It was sunny and almost 60 today. I got to sleep in a little bit since I didn't have class until 1:30. Marie had to get some work done at the school early so I took the metro all by myself for the very first time! So exciting, I have to say I am pretty proud of myself, even if I was just doing what I do every day. We got a cafe before class (naturally) across the street. I had business ethics again which I enjoyed better this time. The book we're reading, The Pope and the CEO actually isn't bad. It's written by a man who was a swiss guard under John Paul II and how his experiences shaped his life and in particular his business practices. Parts of it are a little slow, but overall a pretty good read, and easy.

After class we went towards the Spanish Steps because we had Italian at four. As I walked across the Spanish Steps I thought to myself again just how crazy it is that I'm actually here. That my walk to class includes walking across the bottom of the Spanish Steps. I'm so lucky to be here.

 Marie and I and our friends Sophie, Lara, and Nicole ended up eating at a little trattoria on one of the side streets. It was pretty good but nothing super special and a bit overpriced. Then we got another cafe next to the Italian school and went in for our daily three hours of Italian class, which, as I'm sure you can imagine pretty rough. It's hard to spend three hours straight focusing on anything much less a language you don't speak very well that requires a lot of concentration. That being said though, these classes are way better than any language classes I've taken. It's structures so that about 10 of us just sit around and speak in Italian, and only Italian. We do some worksheets and listening activities as well but that is the bulk of it, and I think it's really helping and I've only had two days.

I finally located a hair dryer! Thank GOD because my hair has been a weird poofy mess since I got here. I made the woman at our local Farmacia get it from the window because it was their only one I guess...woops.

When we got home Maria Grazia was waiting for us with dinner almost ready. Tonight we had a great pasta soup with chick peas and lots of rosemary and garlic. She also had a huge salad and bread and this incredible cheese she got in the mountains over Christmas. We have fruit almost always after dinner and the tangerines she's been getting are out of this world. She went to bed and Marie and I got up to do the dishes and a few minutes later she came back out and hugged us and said "I forgot to give kisses!" She's wonderful.

Tomorrow I have my first Papacy class and we are actually meeting at a basilica not to far from my house called San Giovanni Laterano which I'm excited about. More tomorrow!

Ciao!

xoxo