Ok, so it has been a long time since I last posted but I have a lot to say now. :) About a week ago we had a two day break and a group of us decided to go to Rome. It was a whirlwind but totally worth it. On the first day we stopped outside of the Vatican just to check it out. We didn't go inside, though, mostly because it just was not something that we were willing to wait in line for when there were other things that we wanted to see and do. We then headed to our hostel to drop off bags and have lunch. The hostel was a campground that had platform tents with bunks in them. It was really nice for the price except that it was pretty out of the way, which meant that we had to take the bus to go back and forth. Luckily, we really only had to take it twice so it didn't get too expensive (not that the bus is that expensive). Once we had dropped our stuff off we headed into town where we walked to an apartment of one of our friend's friend, Lucy. We didn't know which apartment number she was so we just yelled up the building. We did that for about five minutes before we gave up and just as we were heading across the bridge we turned around to look back and there she was just heading back to her apartment. It was perfect timing. So, her and her roommate came with us to the Trevi and the Pantheon before they had to head out to meet some other people. We said our goodbyes and headed to the spanish steps where we bought some roses (mine was 40 cents) for good luck and just sat for a little while. Once that got old and we started to get hungry we set out on a search for food. Conveniently, there are a bunch of restaurants in that neighborhood so we grabbed some great food (I had pesto pasta) and continued on our journey. Our next stop was the four rivers fountain which was where we did our big photo shoot. The rest of the group was wanting to head to a bar so we looked around and found one not too far from where we were and while they went and drank one of the other girls and I went back to the square by the fountain. As we were sitting there an old man came and sat at our bench and asked if we minded if he smoked, we said no and continued our conversation. Every so often the man (whose sister lives in Cali so he knew english) would talk to us and by the end of the night we had some great wisdom passed onto us and we were told that we were distinguished young people. We then went back to our friends because we wanted to head back. Three of them wanted to stay but one of the guys was ready to go so we headed back. It was really nice to go back with a guy and he wasn't very drunk so it made us feel much safer and we were able to leave the other guy with the girls so everyone would be safe. It turned out to be a great night. The next morning we headed to the Colosseum for the morning and did the tour witch was nice and then we headed to the forum to eat our lunch before we had to head back to the train station and go home. The next day we left for Tuscany.....

Day 1-

Lots and lots of driving but we stopped at the “fossil” forest. I say “fossil” because the tree stumps are not actually fossilized. They were buried in clay so they did not get a chance to rot or fossilize. It was pretty awesome. We stopped mid-way to stay the night and the place where we stayed had some kittens so everyone was happy.

Day 2-

I woke up early so I went for a walk and met a new kitten who was orange and purred the moment I picked her up. It was hard to let that one go. In the morning we stopped at a thermal hot-spring and our rainy days started. We then headed to the oldest geothermal plant and learned some stuff. Then we drove some more. At one of our bathroom stops we were about to see the leaning tower from afar which was pretty cool. Then we drove some more, got lost, kept driving and eventually we made it to the place where we stayed. We are pretty sure it used to be a monastery or something similar but it was nice and that was really all that mattered. At dinner they served us a ridiculous amount of food including soup which we were all excited about.

Day 3-

9am breakfast!!! Yes, we got to “sleep in” all week. We saw the general geology of the are and at night we had a girl talk time. It was great.

Day 4-

Hot chocolate at breakfast!!! Then we went out into the field and looked at sheering vs. folding and I understood what was happening first. It was pretty great. Lunch time came up and we stopped in an old medieval town where I climbed up to the highest point, that I could get to in the time allowed, and just sat there all alone, which was exactly what I needed at the time. Then we headed to the marble quarry which was amazing and HUGE. It was pretty crazy. I think we were all just dazed and amazed (like my rhyme?). In the afternoon we played ultimate frisbee and I learned the flick, which is a type of throw. I am still working on it but it is way better than the first time I tried. For dinner some of the food that was served was lasagna (so amazing) and fries (which actually tasted like potatoes, who knew?)

Day 5-

On our last day in Tuscany we saw some oceanic crust which was pretty cool because, well, usually it is under water. Around lunch time we hiked down a sketchy wet trail down to a river where we looked at more rocks but these rocks were much more mysterious because no one really knows exactly where they came from. We went back up the hill to have lunch next to an old steam engine train. In the afternoon we went on a hike up to the top of a mountain where we looked at the entire region. It was incredible. On our way back we had a race between the two vans which was great. We were safe about it don't worry. Then we had our final Italian class which was our test. It was super easy and most of the questions said something like put what you remember. After the test we went to the top of the hill and had champagne in celebration. That night I think the group went through 10L of wine and some people even went to the bar afterward. I think our group may have a slight drinking problem......... (don't worry grandma and grandpa I am not included in that generalization)