Monday: We had our first day of classes today. The program is set up so we have a two-week intensive language class and then I start the rest of my classes at the beginning of July. I go to class all morning, have a break for lunch, and then I have an afternoon activity. I am trying really hard in Italian because it is so helpful to communicate with people around here…people speak less English than I expected. We then spent the afternoon at the Vatican. We had a great [...]

On Friday March 16th, our program (UMN, Colorado, and a few of the visiting faculty ) went on a day trip to Pompeii and Naples. We left our houses very early in the morning to be able to meet at Termini Station by 7am. Watching the lush Italian countryside flash by through the glass window from the comforts of my train seat was the highlight of the journey there. Once we arrived in Pompeii, one of the professors, Pia Kehl, took charge and taught us everything she could fit in [...]

This past weekend was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  On Friday morning, our group, led by my Art History professor, Pia, met to take a (very nice) bus for to Naples and Pompeii for the day.  In Naples we visited the Naples Archeology Museum.  Here I saw the original statue of Atlas holding up the world, and several other very beautiful and famous pieces.  We have been in a lot of museums lately, but what really set this one apart was the artwork they had from [...]

I wanted to write another post wrapping up my trip.  I plan on keeping the blog up so I can look back on my trip, almost as a journal as well… I miss Rome a lot. It was a truly amazing experience that I will never forget. I met some great people, and even though I didn’t speak Italian often or step too far outside of my comfort zone, I learned a lot. The course itself was great. Having a combination of lecture and site visits made learning interesting, and [...]