The Final Countdown

Hi everyone! It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN!

Today is our second to last day in Rome! In about an hour we will be leaving on a bus to travel 45 minutes to Tivoli, where we will have our farewell dinner. It's supposed to be a beautiful place and we will walk through the gardens there and be entertained by some musicians. And I just realized I don't have any coins left over to tip them with besides 5 cent coins. Uh oh.

Yesterday I had a very boring day, but it was much deserved. We hadn't had a day to just chill in about a week, and I need that. After we got back from our walking tour of the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva church and some surrounding monuments, I fell right back asleep. My sleeping habits have been messed up, and all of the walking and the rising temperatures and the people and the bus/metro system wears you out, believe me. When I get home I won't have to deal with that, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. After I woke up, I ventured out of the dorm to find some food, scavenging my options that took credit cards because I strategically used up all my Euros so I wouldn't have to transfer them when I got back home. I settled on the grocery store, where I decided to consume something that wasn't straight carbs and bought a salad and some fruit. WHOA. Those things are hard to come by in Italy. So I ate them back at the dorm and proceeded to be a total hermit for the rest of the day. There was free food in the lobby left over from a meeting so we all swarmed that, but then it was back to being a hermit. I watched so many YouTube videos. So many.

This morning I started packing up my stuff. At first I was worried about everything not fitting, but it looks like everything will fit. I don't even think my suitcase will be overweight... maybe only by a pound or two. It was 47 pounds on the way over. For every souvenir I've bought, I've thrown away something that is probably of equal weight. My carry-on, however, is going to be pretty heavy because of my laptop. But that was the case on the way over too. As long as I can get through the Atlanta airport without cutting off the blood flow to my arm from carrying the bag, I'll be good. :)

I can't believe these 6 weeks are basically over! It's scary how fast time is going. Before I know it, I'll turn 21 and my senior year of college will begin. Make it stop, I want to stay in college Anyway, here's a picture to make the thumbnail more interesting. You may recognize it from my Facebook. But it's artsy and stuff and works for every aspect of my trip. It was taken in Massa Marittima from the edge of the hill that our hotel was on, where the view was incredible. Looking back, I think Massa was my favorite city we visited!

As much as I'm going to miss Italy, I think I'm missing America more. Here's my tentative itinerary of what I'll do when I get home. At least food-wise.

Monday, June 20th
5:30 pm - Land in Atlanta (hopefully, if everything goes to plan). Go through customs, do all that nonsense, and then RUN to Starbucks. Purchase an iced coffee with cream, 3 pumps of classic and 3 pumps of white mocha. Savor and cry tears of happiness.
10:15 pm - Land in Jax (hopefully). Exhaustedly reunite with my family and then probably pass out on the drive home.
Tuesday, June 21st
Whenever I wake up - Get in my own car and drive to Firehouse Subs and get an Engineer with extra pickles.
For dinner - Go to Moe's and get a stack. Eat it messily.
After dinner - Andi promised me she'd take me to Yobe. So, go to Yobe and eat frozen yogurt :)
Wednesday, June 22nd
Daytime meal - PANERA. Oh Lordy, Panera.
Nighttime meal - Something with steak. I miss steak so much.
Thursday, June 23rd
Daytime meal - PDQ CHICKEN TENDERS AHHHH
Nighttime meal - Something healthy. Not pizza or pasta. Maybe my mom's meatloaf... hint hint.
Friday, June 24th
Daytime meal - A PUB SUB OMG
Nighttime meal -  I don't know. That's all I've got planned so far. Maybe I should have just organized this as foods I must eat when I get home.

I've clearly thought about this too much. But anyway, it's close to time to go. So CIAO! I'll be home really soon!!
~Dani

Three more days??

Buona serra a tutti! (At least here. Buon giorno for everyone back home.)

I'm happy because I'm officially done with my two presentations for my two art history classes! This morning our Art History on Site class presented St. John Lateran to the rest of our group and basically acted as guides through the church and the surrounding monuments, such as the Baptistery, the Obelisk, and the Holy Staircase. It was really cool! That doesn't mean I'm done though... when I get home I have until the end of July to complete my final exam for the Ancient Roman Art and Architecture class and I have to create a travel journal/scrapbook for the Art History on Site class.

The east facade of St. John Lateran!

The basilica of St. John Lateran

We only have three days left! Tomorrow the Art and Culture of Italy class is doing their presentations and our morning meeting place is at a church near the Pantheon and the name is escaping me right now. After that, we are basically done with actual "classes"! On Saturday we are going to Tivoli for our farewell dinner, and then on Sunday we have a free day for packing and farewells. We may also have a "last lunch" on Sunday. It feels like the last 6 weeks have gone slowly and quickly at the same time. The day we landed in Rome and traveled to Ostia feels like it was ages ago, but every day has been so full that the weeks have flown by.

We will take off from the Rome Fiumicino airport at 12:15 pm on Monday, and by the time we land back in Jax, it will feel like it is 4 am on Tuesday but it will really only be 10 pm on Monday. If I've learned anything on this, it's that time is a relative concept. But I have decided as soon as we touch down at the Atlanta airport for our connecting flight, I am bolting to the nearest Starbucks and getting the biggest iced coffee I can. I am so ready for that. :D

Today we also visited Centrale Montemartini, a power plant that was converted into a museum. It was cool seeing the industrial backdrop of the plant with the ancient Roman sculptures. So yeah, that was cool.

Centrale Montemartini

The floor mosaic in Centrale Montemartini

After tonight, I only have three more showers in these dorm showers! Huzzah!!

Hmm... Speaking of showers, I have made a definitive ranking of all of the showers I have encountered during my time here, and I feel like I should share them with you innocent bystanders. I've written them out below, #1 being the worst and #5 being the best (which may be backwards but I don't care, I run this). They've been real weird.

#1) The worst was probably the sit-down shower in the hotel in Massa Marittima. The "shower" itself was a small tub with a built-in slope that made it impossible to stand in, so you were forced to sit. And even if you could stand, the shower head couldn't attach to the wall in any way, so you had to hold it and deal with showering that way. The shower curtain was also too long, but you had to keep it inside the tub so the water wouldn't go everywhere, so you were essentially sitting on the shower curtain. The rod holding the shower curtain wasn't the sturdiest either, and I almost pulled it down multiple times. However, the water pressure was good and the water was pretty warm except for one especially cold night. The hotel didn't have the radiators turned on and the whole place was tile so I was already freezing cold, and the water just could not get warm enough for me. That night I slept with my jacket on. All in all, 4 out of 10, would not recommend. It was hard choosing the worst, but I think Massa won.

#2) If Massa was the worst, the second worst was definitely the shower in the Naples hotel. The shower itself was large and you could actually stand up in it, and the shower head was actually attached to the wall. The water pressure was okay, not great. It actually would have been fine, except the light in the bathroom was automatic (which was odd to begin with) and the shower was closed off in such a way in the bathroom so no motion was detected and the light kept turning off. So half of my shower consisted of me sticking my hands outside the glass shower door and waving them around to turn the light back on. It definitely could have been worse, but the whole thing was really strange.

#3) From here on out the showers are okay but still not the best. The next would probably be the Florence hotel shower, solely because of the water pressure and the position of the shower head. The shower head was on the wall, but it was on a pole on the wall so every position put it at a weird angle and made the pressure weak. The tub was large enough to stand in, so that was a win. All in all, not bad, but it could have been better. 6 out of 10.

#4) I think I need to put the St. John's University showers here. The water pressure is good, and they are definitely the most normal showers out of all of them, but they're communal showers, which makes everything awkward. Carrying all my shower stuff from my room to the bathroom every day is no bueno. Also, the shower stalls are just small enough to make changing in them really not okay. Long story short, I would not have lasted in a dorm with communal showers for an entire year.

#5) This decision for the best shower may have been influenced by the fact that the one and only time I used this shower I was just so happy to be taking a shower and I was so sleep-deprived I was delusional. This shower iiiiiis.... the shower in the Ostia Antica hotel. Coming in after a 9+ hour red eye flight and trudging around the dusty ancient ruins in Ostia Antica, that shower was the best shower of my entire life. It was a small stand-up shower stall, no tub. And the drain was partially clogged. But the Lord knows that shower and I formed a loving bond that will stay with me all my life. Congratulations.

ANYWAY... that was weird. But don't even get me started on European toilets. O_O

Okay, enough of that. Talk to you all soon! Buona notte!
~Dani