Roma para Semana Santa!

For Easter, I decided to visit Rome. Not only was there free lodging with friends studying abroad, but why not go chill with the Pope for Easter. Getting there was quite the adventure, but once we were there, all the stress was lifted. We had nothing to do but enjoy ourselves. Lauren was nice enough to let us stay in her apartment, which is located in Campo de Fiore. Although the area is quite touristy, it was nice to see the campo transform into a temporary market every morning and to see the locals enjoying meals at the outdoor cafes.
The first evening in Rome, Dave Pilkenton took Kaety and I to Piazza Navona before going to the Old Bear for dinner. We then visited Dave's apartment. It was nice to see Jon and Alex.
The next day, Kaety disappeared quite early to see the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, and all of the Piazza del San Pietro. Dave and I took a nice long walk down to the Tiber, past the Colosseum and Roman Forum, and the Pantheon. We enjoyed some natural gelato and had the most delicious pizza in the area. That night Dave cooked a wonderful meal of pasta and eggplant for us.
On Saturday, I spent the morning sketching and relaxing in the campo. I did a little shopping as well. Lauren and I had lunch with Matt and Pat at Magnolia, while watching the futbol game. That night I cooked my grandmother's secret meatball recipe and pasta for Kaety, Lauren and Dave.
Sunday morning, we startd early and walked over to the Vatican with Pat and Matt at 7:30am. We had tickets for the mass and wanted to make sure we got a decent seat, which we certainly did. The mass, despite the fact that it was very chilly, was beautiful and it was so nice to have mass with the Pope again. Between groups of asians getting communion 3 times, an Italian man on his cell phone all throughout the mass, and a couple passing their 5-year-old daughter over 2 rows of chairs several times to some family members, we definitely had an interesting experience. The rest of Easter was spent warming up in the apartment, napping, and watching "Funny Face" with Audrey Hepburn. For a goodbye Easter dinner, we went back to the Old Bear and had a relaxing meal.
Kaety and I left separately the next day and it was definitely a long travel day. But visiting Rome was a great last trip for me. I really enjoyed seeing everyone studying there and talking about what we liked and didn't like about our programs. It was a nice change for the weekend.