When In Rome...by Brittany and Shannon S.

Today was our first day to sleep in...we didn't have to get up until 8:15 so that was nice! We spent a couple hours walking around the small town of Comunanza and many of us bought some souvenirs in one of the small shops, 'Ciao, Ciao!' We loaded the bus to head to Rome at 10:30 and travelled through the windy roads in the mountains. The scenery was beautiful but the turning roads turned our stomachs! Four hours later, we arrived in Rome. We were surprised to see so many walls covered in graffiti as we entered the city. We also noticed that it was very, very crowded. The architecture was beautiful and very historic.
After checking into our hotel, Hotel Assisi, we had lunch at a place next to the hotel. Our favorite part was the trays of fresh mozzarella and really good pizza. Next, we headed out for some Roman sight-seeing. We had a bit of a stressful time trying to figure out the metro system, which was also very crowded. We also had to be very conscious of pick-pocketers and creepers. :) The first thing we saw was a gorgeous fountain with huge statues all made of stone. We went on to the Spanish Steps. We learned that they were designed and built by the Italians in the early 1700's and were paid for by Spain. At that time, many people (models) would get dressed up and come to the Steps until an artist chose them to model for their paintings. Today, there is still a huge fashion show every April on the Steps. We also saw the Trevi Fountain, which was massive and gorgeous. From there, we broke into groups and toured more sites. Of course, gelati was involved. There was lots of shops, especially expensive stores like Dior and Gucci.
We met back at the hotel for dinner where we had our first Italian spaghetti. It was delicious! We ate outside and right after we finished it began pouring rain and hailing. The two of us had to run three blocks through the weather to get to a computer with Internet. I hope it was worth it! Now we are all going to shower and head to bed to gear up for a big day tomorrow. We are going to the Roman Coliseum and everyone is really excited!
Sorry that there are no pictures today, but the computer we are using at the Internet cafe is old and doesn't have uploading capabilities. There is no Internet access at our hotel so our email will be limited for the next few days.