Hi there!
I had a much needed, relaxing weekend in Rome filled with villas and parks. On Friday, Jacqui and I learned how to take the cable car 🙂 We went the opposite direction of the Colosseum/all the tourists and rode to Villa d’Oria Pamphilj, which is the largest park in Rome. It was beautiful!
On Saturday, we mastered the metro/train. We took the city bus to Termini Station… From there, we took the metro to Tiburtina (a few stops after Termini) and took the train from Tiburtina to Tivoli. It was about 20 mins to walk from the Tivoli station to their downtown area. Jacqui and I got lunch at a pizzeria and then went to Villa d’Este (the main reason why we went to Tivoli). We got to the villa around 4pm and it was 11 euro to get in. Definitely worth your money. It was SO peaceful and quiet, I wish I could do my homework there. Why did we randomly decide to get up and go to this villa? Well. We heard it’s beautiful. Also, most of you know I’m obsessed with The Lizzie McGuire Movie… Villa d’Este is one of their shooting locations….. 🙂 So of course I had to go!!!! Another (small) reason is because it’s where Hadrian lived… Yet another dude who influenced Ancient Rome in some way 🙂 The villa was just simply breathtaking.
I have to say, I love traveling, but it was nice not boarding a plane this weekend and just taking it easy. What’s on the docket for the next couple weeks, you may ask? This coming weekend, our friend from St. Mike’s, Caroline, who is studying in Ireland this semester, is visiting Rome with her friends. They arrive here tomorrow (Thursday) and are staying till Saturday night. Jacqui’s friend from home, Meghan, who is studying in Spain this semester, is also visiting us this weekend. Meghan and her roommate are coming on Friday and staying till Sunday. We are very excited for our friends to come!! It’ll be nice seeing faces we haven’t seen in awhile.
Next Tuesday (Oct. 21), I have my Digital Photography midterm, which shouldn’t be hard at all. A couple multiple choice questions and he said he’s going to give us photos to edit, so there’s no right or wrong answer LOL. Next Thursday (Oct. 23), I have a presentation in my Ancient Rome class. Everyone has to present on a monument/artwork/subject and you have to present right in front of the monument! Pretty cool huh? No need to make a PowerPoint. You just need to know your facts and make a one page handout for everyone in the class. I signed up for the Column of Marcus Aurelius. I’ll be happy when this presentation is done!
The 23rd is not only a big day because of my project, but also because…. MY PARENTS WILL BE HERE!!!!! I’m SO SO SO excited to see them as I am a bit homesick. They will be here for two weeks and two days!!!! I cannot believe how fast this semester is flying by. October 19 marks the half way point! It seems like just yesterday I finished filling out my study abroad application. There are so many trips left, which is going to make my time here go by so much faster 😦 Here’s my finalized weekend schedule:
Oct. 24-26: Florence with my parents and Jacqui
Oct. 31-November 2: PARIS with my parents and Jacqui!
Nov. 8-9: Seville, Spain to visit Jacqui’s friend Meghan
Nov. 14-16: GREECE with Jacqui and her parents
Nov. 21-23: Actually staying in Rome because Maya’s visiting with her API group!
Nov. 28-30: LONDON to visit Paige (one of our good friends from SMC)
Dec. 6+7: Finals start! (I have two finals on Tuesday the 9th, one final on Thursday the 11th, and one final on Friday the 12th)
Dec. 13: HOME.
Everything is booked except somewhere to stay in London. It took a while to figure out where and when to go, because there are so many places TO GO! Just like anything, you have to book flights and everything EARLY. It’s best if you have a list of where you want to travel to prior to coming abroad, and then comparing with your roommates/friends when you get here. My other roommates booked their trips too last minute and either paid a lot OR didn’t even book it. So book early or you’ll be disappointed!
I am very excited to see what the last half of my weeks here bring 🙂
That’s all I’ve got for tonight… Time to hit the hay!
Thanks for reading,
Jenna
JennaRoma 
Great pictures Annoush
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You are living the life…so happy. Slow Mommy and Daddy down a bit….they may not be able to keep up your rigorous pace for 16 days..LOL….nah…they’ll be fine. I certainly would have problems….You will be in Greece on Auntie Carol’s birthday…I’ll take her to a medeterranian restaurant so we can feel like we are with you.
Love Uncle Art
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