Time is flying by as week one of my half semester in Rome comes to an end, I now have forty-one days left in Europe. Not much happened this week because I took some time to relax and recover from my ten-day travels. We had one day of orientation, during which we were given a tour of the city, given grocery shopping advice, and learned how to use the metro system in Rome (which is pretty easy because there are only two lines – the A and B lines). I saw the Tiber river and a bunch of gorgeous fountains that I cannot remember the names of.
On Saturday, a group of us went on a wine tasting tour in a small town outside of Rome called Frascati. This town sits on an inactive volcano and overlooks the city of Rome, giving us an unbelievable view while we tried a variety of wines that were made directly at the vineyard we toured. My favorites were a red wine that had a bit of a spicy after taste and a white wine that was as sweet as honey and paired so well with the sheep cheese they offered. After our tour, we had some time to walk around the town before we had to catch our train back to Rome. I loved how quiet the town was, it is always nice to get away from the big city life, even just for a couple of hours.
Today is for productivity and letting myself recover from all of the wine drinking festivities that have taken place the past three days. I am looking forward to seeing more of the city this week and going on a class excursion to Padua on Friday. After Padua, many of us are taking a train to Venice and staying there for the weekend. So far, I am loving Italy and I cannot wait to see more of it. Enjoy a photo of the Vatican below!
