I Came. I Saw. I Conquered.

I cannot even begin to describe how fast this trip has gone by. Finals are done and over with, thank Jesus, and my plane leaves for America in less than nine hours! It truly is such a bittersweet feeling because I'm sooo ready to be home, yet I'm still not quite ready to leave Rome. 

I've been thinking and while I've been here, I've definitely had some firsts:

- eaten veal, gnocchi, pesto, and buffalo cheese

- swam in the Mediterranean 

- eaten pasta every single day for six weeks

- went to a black sand beach

- had an espresso shot

- purchased leather like it was nobody's business 

- been away from my family and loved ones for six weeks

- ordered a drink legally and without having to show an ID

- used public transportation as my ONLY means of getting around

- used a bidet as a foot-washer  

- lived with two other girls in one room for six weeks

- the longest time I've been without Chick-Fil-A or mexican 

There are probably a lot more that I can't think about, but point is, Italy has been one of the best experiences of my life. I've enjoyed every single second of it and if I could do it all over again, I know I would in a heartbeat. Thank you so much to those who have supported me and encouraged me to come here, because I will never forget this. 

Our flight home tomorrow leaves the FCO at 9:40 AM and will be arriving in Atlanta at 2:55 PM. It's an 11 hour flight, and I might go insane. I am legitimately going to be the most anxious person to get off that plane, because my family and Brandon will be waiting on me at baggage claim and I'm dying to see them! Hopefully we'll go to Chick-Fil-A for dinner, yummm. :) And then on Wednesday, I'm getting my hair cut and a pedicure! My feet are so gross from all the walking I do here, just saying. And on Wednesday night I get to see my lovely grandparents. I'm so excited to show everyone my pictures and tell them about my adventures. Yayyy for being home!

But as the title of this post says, and the name of my blog says in Italian, I most definitely came, saw, and conquered this beautiful city that once was the central power of antiquity -- the Roman Empire.

Orvieto, Yesterday's Class, and Ostia Antica Round 2.

Okay, so here are a few pictures from Orvieto:

This is what every other store looked like. I've never seen so much decorated, hand-painted pottery in my life.

I fell in love with this store -- handmade, wooden kitchen supplies! I bought three different kinds of spoons and a cutting board. One of the best decisions ever.

The Duomo in Orvieto.

While we were there, we did the underground cave tour and when we were walking to the side of the hill, this was the view. 

Etruscan underground caves. Apparently they are underneath the entire city and have been used since the 4th century BC.

Little bug on a beautiful flower. :)

I wouldn't mind living in the castle in the background.

Such a gorgeous view.

And here are some pictures from yesterday's class:

The columns inside the Church of Saint Mary of Angels and Martyrs are the original columns standing in their original places from the Baths of Diocletian. It looks like they end at the base, but really they extend another 6 feet below the church. Michelangelo added stucco to the "bottom" so it would appear as if they ended at the base. 

St. Peter's Basilica.

The baldacchino inside.

Selfie in a lookout window at the Castel Sant' Angelo.

The view from on top of the Castel Sant' Angelo.

 Today, we went back to Ostia Antica to look at some of the early cults that formed in Rome. 

The Temple of Hercules, most likely, with a statue of Gaius Cartilius, a mayor for Ostia who was elected eight times.

One meeting place of the cult of Mithras that met in an underground passageway under a bath complex.

The remains of one of the first Christian basilicas in Rome.

Seven Days Till Takeoff Part 2

Well this was supposed to go up yesterday, soo... pretend like I posted this on Tuesday.
I'm pretty sure it seems like I got to Rome a few days ago... Uhh where'd the time go?! It's been a full month and I cannot believe it. We have exactly seven more days left until we return back to good ole 'Merica, and it's such a bittersweet feeling. I'm so excited to get back to all the people I love and care about, yet I'm so sad to leave the city, country, and culture I've fallen in love with. I want to post pictures from yesterday's day trip to Orvieto and today's class; however, uploading pictures to this blog can be super slow and annoying. And since finals are coming up on Saturday, I'm not sure how often I'll be uploading pictures, or blogging for that matter. We have class tomorrow down in Ostia Antica again, and then Thursday and Friday's classes combined on Thursday since public transportation on Friday will not exist. The ATAC (Rome's bus and metro company) workers are doing some sort of strike, I don't know.. Point is, from Thursday night around 9 pm to Friday afternoon, there will likely be no busses or metros running. So Dr. Anderson decided to have two class sessions on Thursday, and I'm perfectly fine with that -- just means I'll get to study more on Friday before two of the three finals scheduled for Saturday. 

Yesterday, we went to Orvieto and I have well over two hundred pictures. It is such a cute little town on top of a mountain. Maybe on Saturday after both of my finals, I'll post pictures from this cute Medieval town. We had such a blast.

Today, we went to the Baths of Diocletian -- the largest imperial baths built, only slightly larger than the Baths of Caracalla. Inside of the ruins exists the Church of Saint Mary of Angels and Martyrs. After that, we traveled to St. Peter's Basilica and got to explore the beautiful basilica designed by many people that took over 200 years to complete. Visiting St. Peter's was by far the most people I've had to deal with on this trip.. even more people there than at the Colosseum it seemed like. When we were done there, Dr. A led us to the Castel Sant' Angelo, or the Castle of the Holy Angel. This used to be the Mausoleum of Trajan and Hadrian. Around Medieval times, it was converted into a lookout post for the Vatican. On the top of the Castel, there is a wonderful view of the city of Rome. I promise I'll post pictures soon though. :)

Septimius Severus Snape.

Okay, everyone on this trip has an obsession with Harry Potter. So of course when we started the Severan dynasty with the emperor Septimius Severus, he inherited the nickname "Septimius Severus Snape." Anyways, other than that, class was kind of boring yesterday. I'm a huge fan of early antiquity, as in the Julio-Claudian and Flavian dynasties, but not late antiquity. 

The Arch of Septimius Severus in the Roman Forum.

It depicts battle scenes, rather than triumphal processional scenes like the Arch of Titus does. There are also personifications of the places that Severus conquered during his campaigns.

Arch of the Money-Changers/Silversmiths/Bankers -- the Latin word "Argentariorum" has a lot of meanings. It was completed in 204 AD, and in the 7th century it was incorporated into the side of the Church of San Giorgio de Velabro.

The Church of San Giorgio de Velabro.

On the night of July 27th, 1993, a car bomb destroyed the facade of the church. It was intended to be somewhere else, but the person had set the timer wrong. They quickly rebuilt the front exactly how it had been. Thank the Lord it was late at night and no one was around or injured -- unlike its original intention.

The Baths of Caracalla.

Caracalla was the son of Septimius Severus who built these baths as an imperial gift to the people. They are massive -- 20 to 24 football fields could fit into these baths! In the front part, they are setting up for the Rome Opera that is held every summer. I wish we could go to a performance, but they don't start until June 30th.

People restoring and fixing the floors of the baths.

I thought this was pretty cool. How awesome would it be to say that you restored something that had been built centuries ago?! ...oh no big deal.

More ruins of the baths.

The Tiber Festival!

Last night, a few of us went to explore the festivities by the river. It was by far one of the coolest things I've been to here. There are restaurants, shops, arcades, and couches lined down the Tiber. They hold it every summer and is a big deal in Rome. It would be a perfect date night spot, just saying.

I got to sleep in this morning and it was a grand feeling!! Nothing interesting happened today for the most part, other than studying for finals.. mehhh. We bought train tickets to Orvieto for tomorrow and I'm really excited to go there. I hear it's absolutely beautiful and the underground caves are really cool. I'm hoping to post pictures tomorrow night when we get back, if it's not too late. Because starting Tuesday, we have four more days of classes left. I cannot believe this trip has gone by this fast. But hey, time flies when you're having fun/the experience of a lifetime!

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!