Fun fun fun

Where do I even begin? 

Ahhh, I guess where I left off. 

Wednesday, I had a few different places I had to go to for independent study. One of them was a new street food restaurant called Trapizzino. There they make a pocket of pizza dough and fill it with different Italian dishes you would only find in restaurants. The chef was trying to cross street food with elegant food! It was delicious. 

I also finally was able to try a suppli! It is day old risotto formed into a ball with mozzarella cheese in the middle, then rolled in bread crumbs, and fried. It was delicious! This would be a huge hit at the state fair!

So on Thursday, I spent my day exploring Rome! I wanted to get to know the city even more! 

I started off just taking the tram to the end, Piazza Venezia, one of the main piazzas in town. I was just strollin around and stumbled upon this!

The original Romulus and Remus sculpture. So. Awesome. But also so tiny!

From there, I went around to take a gander at the forum and colosseum again and then made my way to Piazza del Popolo, or the people's square. It was so poppin! There were people everywhere and street performers and food trucks, well Rome's version of food trucks. 

They also have these two churches that they call twin churches because well, they look the exact same! 

Friday I went back to Castel Gandolfo with my roommate and the director of this program. 

She took me to a pasta workshop where I got to watch them make fresh pasta and then the director bought me some to cook at home that night. It was so flavorful and delicious!

The director brought her dad's puppy along for the day and he was so cute! His name is Spritz, like the popular drink in Rome, and is so sweet!

It was so fun getting to play with a puppy!

Saturday, my roommate and I took a day trip to wine country!

We went to the little town of Siena, which is located in the Tuscany region!

We explored their huge basilica, 

walked up a bunch of stairs to get a bird's eye view of the gorgeous town,

watched some kind of sprint competition in the huge town square,

and of course, tried some of their wine!

It was such a fun day trip! I think I will definitely be back to the Tuscany region to go on a winery tour/tasting!

Today was incredible. I finally got to see Pope Frances and try to understand what he was saying in Italian!

It was so so crowded! 

Before:

After:

(notice the line of people on the left waiting to get into the basilica, boy, am I glad I got in line earlier)

Afterwards, I went to mass at the main altar of the basilica. It is breathtakingly gorgeous.

My favorite thing about Sundays in Italy (and most of Europe) is that everything shuts down. It's a day meant to rest and be with your family and worship God. You don't get a choice on whether to do this or not here. 

My week was super packed and fun and I am ready for this next week to begin! I hope everyone is having a great week as well! 

Stay tuned for more adventures!! Here is a picture of me in our cute and tiny elevator up to my eighth floor apartment!

Arrivederci!