By Kate Winderman

A gorgeous view from San Marino

Even after being here for a few days, it still didn’t hit me that I was actually here. We had so many school-related activities scheduled; meetings, classes, papers to fill out, etc. that it didn’t truly register that I was actually in Rome.

But when we got onto the metro, a violinist was playing a traditional song to which everyone else was singing. There, I felt it! And spit out onto La Piazza di Spagna, home of the Spanish Steps, I felt it! When we meandered through the city at night with a bottle of wine and 5 plastic cups towads the Trevi Fountain, I felt it! And when I made a wish there, as all visitors must do, I felt it! I like it here.

The school took us on a few trips this past weekend, ones that I definitely would not have visited otherwise. We saw Assisi, Ravenna and San Marino, all beautiful little cities in Italy. We stayed at a Holiday Inn, which was something none of us had been used to considering it had air conditioning, decent water pressure, and television. It didn’t seem possible, but each of the cities seemed to be more quaint than the last. Winding streets that could only fit pedestrians and cyclists, hills to make your calves burn and many, many churches. After careful consideration, I decided my favorite place that we visited out of the three locations was San Marino, winning by the breathtaking views from old castles. At first, I was hesitant to go on a trip with 175 American tourists to such small towns, but after considering the places we saw, the people I probably would not have met, and the Italian that I got to practice, it was absolutely worth it.

By Kate Winderman

I have never been as updated and informed about celebrity gossip as I am today. Things like this tend to happen when you spend eleven hours in various airports, 8.55 hours on a plane to Italia, and have nothing to do but catch up on the latest of the Brangelina saga.

What a day. Getting to the airport, I don’t think I’ve ever been that nervous. I had a pretty relaxed attitude about my upcoming Romeventure, but as soon as I set foot in the airport my belly became the temporary residence of a large family of butterflies and my teeth chattered as if I had a sudden bout of hypothermia.

But of course it has also been a very exciting travel experience. I have met some lovely people already and have mastered falling asleep sitting up (thanks to Sufjan Stevens). I even got so excited on the plane about the free wine and my sudden confidence to say “vino rosso per favore” that I totally forgot that consuming alcohol and taking sleeping pills isn’t exactly recommended. Which explains this stream of consciousness-esque blog for which I don’t even apologize.

But I bet that if you were on your way to spending the next four months in the middle of a beautiful, spaghetti-eating boot, you’d be deliriously excited, too.

This actually exists. A giant pink rabbit in the hills of Italy. My first weekend trip?

Image source: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/357884-giant-pink-rabbit-can-be-seen-from-space

By Amanda DeLuise

On Tuesday, my roommate Manoa flew in from Atlanta for the week.  We were randomly assigned to each other freshman year and we got along better than anyone else.  We became best friends and lived together sophomore year, too.  This year she had to transfer back home to Georgia State (the story I wrote for last week’s blog!) and it’s been so weird thinking I won’t be living with her this year.

The first thing she wanted to do in the north, naturally, was go back to New York City.  It’s one of those places that has a weird magnetic force around it that just attracts people to it.  Especially having lived there for almost two years, Manoa was aching to go back.

We drove my car in and first walked through NYU’s Campus, tried to get lunch at our old favorite dining hall (which ended up being closed) and then went to check out my new apartment and eat at the best cupcake joint in the city (it’s better than Magnolia, despite what everyone else thinks).  Then we walked around passed the building we lived in freshman year and we almost wept.

Here it is, on the corner of tenth and Broadway.  Mainly we got so emotional because we thought about fall semester freshman year and how it was undeniably the best time of our lives and we had no idea.  We were so carefree and caught up in being new city residents that we would do things like hop over church fences, even though it meant that Manoa broke her arm.

I think this time of year, the almost-school-but-still-summer time, where you’re this weird mix of nervous and excited and sad to go back , is the most nostalgic for me.  Walking up to the corner of tenth and Broadway and seeing the building, thinking of how a new group of kids are about to experience what we experienced almost two entire years ago, made me want to knock on every door on every floor and tell whoever was there to enjoy it.  And take a lot of pictures, they’re fun to look back on.