June 15th's Blog Post.

Well I had this blog ready to go yesterday, and then the Ercoli power went out for five or six hours, which caused the internet to go down, soo.. yea.

Here are the rest of the pictures I was going to upload Thursday:

A pretty fountain in the Villa d'Este.

Cool tree that I HAD to sit in/get a picture in.

Another pretty fountain.

After Tivoli, we headed back to Rome but made a pit stop at a section of the ancient aqueducts that still stand. Along the remains, there are huge fields where people just come out and ride bikes, run, hang out, picnic, and play music. It was such a neat little part of Rome. I would LOVE to have something like this in Georgia. 

On the right hand side is a golf course. 

Inside the hole, there would have been a pipe that contained the water. 

Today, we went to the Capitoline Museum for the second time to cover stuff that we didn't cover the first time. 

Inside the museum, there was a great view of the Roman Forum. 

The bust of Cicero, a famous orator and poet.

Brick stamps.

A lot of times, archaeologists will be able to date a building by the stamp that is on the bricks. They usually have the names of consulships or emperors.

A dying Gaul.

One of very few busts of the emperor Domitian. He was hated so much that after his death, most of his statues were destroyed.

The original Marcus Aurelius statue that stood on the Capitoline Hill. Now it is a marble replica. But it took over ten years to restore this beauty.

Fragmented remains of a massive Constantine statue.

Mars the Avenger.

The bust of a Flavian woman.

Three busts of the infamous Homer.

Hadrian's Villa and Tivoli.

Today we went on a day trip to Hadrian's Villa and the nearby town of Tivoli. Hadrian was emperor of Rome from 117 to 138 AD. He had this Villa so he could experiment with things architecturally, things that were not common among the Roman way of building, styles that he picked up on when he traveled around. He combined these styles, drew up plans and buildings himself, and then had slaves construct what he planned. He visited a few times a year just to see how they turned out and to tell them what to do differently. Hadrian's Villa had an elaborate hydraulic system that ran to huge fountains, streams, and pools, just to keep it cool on hot summer days. 

The Canopus.

Remains of the "hotel" he had in his Villa with Tivoli in the background.

The Maritime Theatre. 

This wasn't even a theatre, it just got that name as archaeologists were excavating the site. Some believe that the island inside of the moat was Hadrian's "escape room" -- a place he liked to go and not be disturbed with the hassles of being emperor.

The CUTEST turtle I've ever laid eyes on. Cristina was feeding it pieces of apple and it would try sooo hard to get out, sometimes it fell back in and then other times it made it up.

Sorry Brandon, but I'm in love with someone else now -- Hadrian's boyfriend, Antinous. All of his sculptures are so extremely attractive, and I wish I could've taken a picture with him in the Museum, but photos weren't allowed. I figured this would suffice.

After Hadrian's Villa, we went up to the town of Tivoli where the Villa d'Este Gardens are. This Villa was inspired by Hadrian's Villa, so it gives you more of an idea of what his was like. It's gorgeous.

The rest of my pictures aren't uploading at the moment, so I may just add them on to tomorrow's blog. Today was a really fun day and I loved being outside in the gorgeous weather. God's creations never cease to amaze me.

Churches Full of Caravaggio.

Since I didn't post photos from Ostia Antica yesterday, here a few:

This is one of many mosaics in the market that told what the store sold. This one in particular sold fish sauce that was produced from a variety of fish.

This is one of the few insulae that remain standing. They were just apartment like buildings that easily caught fire.

More purple flowers! I'm especially obsessed with this one.

These are remaining columns from where a window once was that looked out into a garden from the baths of the forum. 

Another pretty flower. 

Today was such a long day, and I don't even know why. We went to a lot of churches to see Caravaggio paintings and also to the Pantheon!

Marcus Aurelius Column. 

There are 22 bands of war stories carved around his column from his campaign to the Danube. 

The Pantheon.

The ceiling of the Pantheon.

I just thought it looked cool. 

The Calling of St. Matthew, St. Matthew and the Angel, and the Martyrdom of St. Matthew by Caravaggio in the San Luigi dei Francesi.

Madonna di Loreto by Caravaggio in the Sant' Agostino.

After class, Cristina and I went further down Via del Corso to shop around. Then we finally wore ourselves out, came back to the Ercoli, and I napped for a little bit. Buttttt, today is a special person's birthday -- happy birthday, Brandon Chase Tucker!! I'm so happy you're turning 21 and I desperately wish I could be there to help celebrate. But I know you'll have fun the next few days. :) And please survive until I get back! I love you, kiddo, and I'm so happy you're in my life! 

Home Sweet Rome -- Florence Escapade.

Sooo many amazing things happened this weekend -- from buying beautiful leather goods for people to running back to our hotel in the pouring rain. These past three days have been some of the most fun, eventful and exciting days I've had in awhile... just some good ol' girl and shopping time. 

Saturday, we had class like usual except the weather was not on our side. It was sprinkling, overcast, and super windy so Dr. A let us out early. 

The remains of the Imperial Forum and Trajan's marketplace.

Since our train to Florence wasn't departing until 3:15, the girls and myself went back to the hotel to shower, pack, and eat lunch. We left the Ercoli at 2 o'clock sharp because we wanted to have plenty of time getting there without being rushed, and especially because we had no clue what we were doing or where we were going. So we get there, "check in," and try to find our train on the board. It finally shows on the screen and tells us it will be departing from platform 1es... which is completely different than platform 1.. so we found out. It's like 3:07 and there was still no sign of a train. I was worried anyways about the whole "es" part, and there was a sign pointing to another part of the station that said "Binary 1 est e 2 es," so I suggested we walk down to see what that was all about. Well, needless to say, we wind up running to our train as whistles are blowing, doors are shutting, and we barely make it in. I'm serious when I say it was like a movie scene. All of us were running with huge backpacks and pulling a carry on suite case behind us. It must have been a sight. After three and a half hours of train time, we arrive in Florence and find Hotel Boston. It's a cute little hotel run by an older couple. I loved it a lot and would probably stay there again just to talk and hangout with the couple. So Saturday night, we just found somewhere to eat and then got gelato afterwards. Everyone went to bed pretty early except me -- I got the lovely opportunity to talk to Brandon for awhile on Skype. It was by far one of our best Skype dates because we hadn't seen each other in awhile and we had so much to tell each other. :)

The BEST dinner I've ever had -- gnocchi with a salmon cream sauce. And yes, I'm still taking pictures of my beautifully prepared meals. 

Sunday morning we had breakfast at Hotel Boston and set out for the Academy around 8:20 am. The line wasn't long and we got in relatively fast. I'm in loveee with David! He's absolutely beautiful and I could stare at him for hours. After the Academy, we went to the Uffizi. There were a ton of famous pieces there, it was almost overwhelming. We ate lunch right afterwards and then hit the street markets. I could shop in Florence for forever if I had to. The smell of leather as you're walking down the street was probably my favorite part about the town. But anyways, I was so excited to buy things for people using my handy dandy list I made -- yes, I am my mother's daughter. After shopping for hours, we went back to the hotel and chilled for awhile. Then we decided to go out for a late dinner. As we were walking out of the hotel, it started sprinkling, and we decided not to go back and get umbrellas or anything. During dinner, it starts pouring rain and it never let up. So needless to say, we ran back to our hotel in the rain. The whole time we were laughing and screaming like crazy people. It was so much fun and I will honestly never forget that moment. My clothes were soaked, my hair was dripping, and I was semi-out of breath, but I didn't give a care in the world.

I snuck a picture of Davidddd!

The Duomo.

Monday morning we woke up for breakfast again, packed, and checked out. We set out to shop some more... a few hours later we were all grumpy, overwhelmed, starving, and tired. I'm pretty sure pizza is all of our favorite default foods because that's how we base prices of restaurants and that's usually what we all get. Lunch was much needed, especially because I was able to move into my new leather wallet I had just got -- my big girl wallet. Afterwards, we explored Florence some more and were sad to leave. The train ride back went by faster than I thought it would, and I was so happy to be back in Rome. We got McDonald's for dinner! My first "American" meal since I've been here and it was soooo good! Also, walking back to the Ercoli from the train station must have been another sight to see because we were all struggling so hard with all of our bags. My shoulders are sore from it, not even lying.

The Tiber in Florence.

Our weekend ended last night, as class was this morning.. bright and early at 8:30 am. Everyone was exhausted from their little trips -- some people went to Venice and some just explored more in Rome. We went to Ostia Antica today, which was Rome's old port city. (I'll upload pictures tomorrow from today.) It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and all I could think about was the beach which was two stops down on the Metro. After class, we all pretty much went to the beach and I passed out. Next thing I know, the girls were waking me up because a huge storm cloud had rolled in and I was so bummed. Today was a struggle though -- I'm at the point where I'm so incredibly ready to be back at home with family and friends, but at the same time I do not want to leave. We have exactly two weeks left with three finals at the end and I might die. I'm definitely going to start studying tomorrow and getting things prepared for them. I refuse to stress out hardcore at the end to the point where I won't be able to enjoy my last few days in Rome before I leave. Meehhh. Time flies when you're having fun, I suppose.