there are no fat people in rome

seriously, there aren't... everyone here is tan, tall, and thin... minus the fat lady who was covering herself with just a scrap of fabric (not enough) and no underwear and bathing in the fountain... not ok. its beautiful here, i've been doing lots more exploring, i've taken some pictures but i cant post them until we have real internet... so like 2 more weeks. we started classes, and its not so bad, it just seems like from now on all our days will be jam packed pretty much until i get home. theres so much shopping around here, so many stores... i did some exploring yesterday just around the camp dei fiori where we are living and nothing really caught my interest, but there is lots more to check out...
speaking of checking things out, if you know matt, you should check out the link to his blog, he had an accident the other night, and will be on his way home soon... its probably best to get the story in his own words. im sad matt is leaving, but very happy that hes ok. we're all very happy he's ok... its like a little family here now... i was worried about not being friends with everyone, but now i know it doesn't matter... we're all friends now whether we like it or not!

when in rome...

so i've been in rome for 2 days, and things are ok... we're all settling in and getting used to things... learning to speak a bit more italian... we have a welcome party tonight at Cinzia's and then tomorrow begins with our tour and then studio, or as much studio as we can have without a building to do it in... tomorrow we all have to give presentations of all the research we've been doing... or really not doing, and having a much more difficult time doing now that we dont have internet... thats right, no internet... im in some crazy internet cafe right now where its like 2,90€ for a half hour.... crazy i know... i should probably do some research while im here haha since i really need a bit more information than i have right now... but whatever, ill get to that in a minute...
yesterday i went on an adventure to see my research site, the Piazza di Spagna... which is apparently in some state of construction... it looks like its probably really beautiful when its not being worked on... on the way we stopped in Piazza Navona and at the Pantheon! The Pantheon was crazy... like i was not prepared for how huge it was... totally unreal... i have pictures but since im not on my computer i wont be able to post them... so hopefully i'll find somewhere i can hook up to wireless on my own computer
for now i need to go, its about 95+ degrees here, and well over 100 in the sun... so enjoy your air conditioning back in the states, apparently in Rome you keep cool using the water fountains on the street to splash water on your face... crazy i know
time to go, my internet card is running out!

Almost There!

Yesterday was a big day. At like 8am I went to drop off my sister for her trip to track camp for the very first time. I was sad leaving her, she's starting high school in september and i just wish i was going to be more available to her... but i'm sure she'll be fine... shes really smart. She's running cross country, my favorite season, but i wont get to see her race (i wouldn't get to see her race if i were at RPI either)... hopefully she'll take lots of pictures for me.
Camp ended yesterday too. It's the first job ive had that i actually looked forward to going to every day. But look at the kids (in the picture, thats Carly and Emma)... if you were going to work every day to play with cute kids like that, wouldn't you be excited? After a long summer of running in the sprinkler, having lunch conversations about Disney Princesses, and doing lots of arts and crafts, im almost sad to have only adults to interact with now. Kids are pretty cool.
I can't believe that summer is over. It went so fast, it's like my birthday bash was just yesterday. Exactly 24 hours from now i will be on the plane leaving for italy. Wish me luck!

goodbye troy :-(

so last week i went to troy to meet up with dani and make our room beautiful, as you can see by the picture... the new house is almost done, it made me really sad that i wont be there this fall to see anyone... its almost like now that ive been to troy and come home, its real that im not going to be there this fall... which obviously is both really cool and really sad because theres so much im going to miss at school, but theres going to be so much other awesome stuff in rome... ive started packing, it stinks... but i should get back to that... in the meantime, enjoy the pic of the most gorgeous room ever!