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Hello avid readers,

Due to really poor Internet connections recently here in Rome, I have been unable to post photos...at all. So, I thought it might be good if I at least wrote something down. Two weeks ago I got back from Fall Break. I travelled with my roommate Chris and three girls that we're all friends with. The first three days we were in Barcelona, Spain right near the main drag of Las Rambas. The next three days were spent sipping port wine in Porto, Portugal. It was a very relaxed town with barely any tourists (yes I have photos and yeah I'll get them up ASAP). Also, being able to practice what little Portuguese I retained from 3 semesters of it was fun. The last two days were spent pub crawling in Dublin, Ireland. It was really a great experience and I got to see countries that I never thought I would.

School is really in full-swing here though. The workload is somewhat heavy, especially for study abroad. Currently, I have a 10 page paper to write on Ambrogio Lorenzetti's "Analogy of Good and Bad Government" which is a fresco I saw in Sienna. Google it; it's very cool. Also, I have about 50 film photos that need printing for my b/w photo course here so that will be taking up much of my free time.

I don't have any plans to do much travelling any more as of yet. I do think though, that I'll go spend a weekend in Venice possibly in December before I go home.

Well, other than that Rome has been pretty much uneventful. Class excursions, homework, socializing, and sleep have been my life the past few weeks. I think this weekend I will go out and wander Rome with my camera and try and get some unique views on things. It should prove good...if I can get them posted. But, you will all see my photographs eventually.

Ciao Ragazzi.

Portugal

Here are some photos from Barcelona, Spain and Porto, Portugal. I ran out of memory once we hit Dublin, but you're not missing much seeing as how we mostly just wandered around the pubs there.

Pompeii

Sorry for the huge delay in posting...I've been really busy with up-coming events that I haven't found the time to make an accurate posting. These photos are from a visit to Pompeii two weeks ago. It was really amazing to see how the entire town was still basically intact. We had many laughs there about how the town was basically a big brothel. Anyway, here are the photos:

Communist Rally

Cinque Terra

Hello! Yesterday, or actually today really early in the morning, I got home from the Cinque Terra. The Cinque Terra are a series of small towns located north-west of Rome along the coast. Upon arrival by train (which took about 4 hours) we didn't have any place to stay. The guys (Chris, Mike and I) were planning to rough it on the beach the first night and see how we did. The girls decided to book a room at a small condo for the night. The first day we spent most of the time wandering around Monterosso (one of the five towns), had dinner. Then towards bedtime we realized that it was going to be extremely cold out and decided to fit 9 people into a 2 person condo. I slept on the floor the first night...actually sleeping isn't quite right. That night I laid in pain on the floor the first night.
The second day was when we really started to explore the area. There are hiking paths all along the somewhat mountainous areas from town to town. It's about 8 miles of rough hiking but it was completely worth it. Each town was unique and separate from the others. That night we hung out on the beach in Vernazza swapping stories with each other. Sunday was our last day there. We went back to Vernazza that morning and stayed on a really craggy beach where we swam in the ocean and got slammed onto rocks by heavy waves. I had the unfortunate experience of having a wave throw my pelvis onto a rock so I have a little souvenir from that. We then left the Cinque Terra around 6 pm and arrived back in Rome slightly after 11 PM. The pictures are in a post below.

Cinque Terra Pictures

The Pantheon at Night

Last night a group of us went to go see the Pantheon. It was probably the most overwhelming thing I have seen since I arrived in Rome. The sheer size of it is staggering and it looks like something out of a video game. I was absolutely amazing even though it was closed so we could go inside. It just looms out of nowhere in a residential neighborhood. Very awesome.

Vatican Again

Went back to the Vatican again right around sunset.

Rome - Street shots

I went out today and decided just to wander the streets near my residence and shoot some street photos. This is what I got.