Rome

In my program, we get a week off in the middle as a travel week to go anywhere we want. You just have to go with at least two other people and let the professors know where you're going and where you're staying and be back in London at a certain time. I have been wanting to go to Rome for as long as I can remember so when I heard we had a travel week, I didn't have to think at all about where I wanted to go. My dad served an LDS mission in Rome and all growing up he would talk about his mission and how much he loved Italy and I always wanted to go so badly! He and my mom have gone numerous times, and I was always so jealous when they got back and told me about their adventures. I was so excited to finally go and experience it for myself!

The first thing we did was see the Colesseum

Pondering our lives while gazing at the Colesseum

I touched it! My arm felt tingly because I couldn't believe I was actually there, touching the Colesseum!

Palatine Hill/Roman Forum

My first plate of real Italian pasta

Trevi Fountain! It was everything I imagined it to be.

These are the girls I was with. We had so much fun together!

Random street

Pantheon

Spanish steps

Right down the Spanish Steps, there are the really fancy shops. I was drooling as I walked down the street.

For those of you that know me well, you know I don't like cheese. But I promised myself I would eat pizza with the cheese on it in Italy. Reaction:

I was proud of myself that I did it!

Cultural Heritage Building

Tiny Italian car

We went to this beautiful village called Trastevere. It was exactly what I imagined Italy to look like.

We stumbled across this little playground. There were little kids speaking in their cute little voices in Italian. It was the cutest thing ever.

Trastevere is also near the River, which can be beautiful, as long as you walk on the non gross side of the river.

Piazza Navona was beautiful

After that, Vatican City!

St Peter's Visilical

Vatican Museum

Sadly, there is no photography allowed in the Sistine Chapel. But it was amazing. What I kept thinking the whole time I was in Rome was how visually overwhelming it all was. I would see something, and it would be so detailed and so intricate that it felt overwhelmed because there was so much to look at! But in the Sistine Chapel, I decided I wanted to leave a piece of me there, so I pulled out a strand of hair from my head and left it on the floor. Ha.

The next day, we were off to Sperlonga, the beach town. It was GOREGOUS

We took a train to this town, and we passed through the countryside on the journey. You haven't seen a country side until you've see the Italian countryside.

I can't even describe how cool it was to be in the Mediterranean Sea.

This was the best trip of my life. Rome was everything I imagined it to be. I had so much fun and it was so exciting to be in the city I had wanted to go to my whole life. I loved Rome and was so sad to leave. It was nice to come back to London though, this place feels like home now. Ciao!