When in Rome...

Don't "do as the Romans do" or you may develop lung cancer at the age of 14 or may never acquire hi tips as a waiter. It seems like EVERYONE in Rome smokes... I may even seen a baby with a stogie... It could just be a city thing, however, I do not recall ever having seen so many people smoking in San Fran, Sacramento, or New York. And the wait staff in two out of the three resteraunts/cafe's I have been to have not been so accomidating or understanding. Maybe i will have better luck in Florence (heading there tomorrow).
I explored the Vatican yesterday. Pretty fantastic architecture and paintings all over the wall--however, it seems like the Roman Catholics excessively adore the Pope. I saw more of the Pope than I did of Jesus. Semi-disappointing, but whatev.
St. Peter's Cathedral was AWESOME! You walk in the great doors and can't help but whisper "Whoa". It's THE biggest church I've ever been in... including Bayside and Adventure. :P Again, though, lots of Pope worship.
After the Vatican yesterday, we explored Italy be ourselves. Oh, I'm typically with Maddie, Brittney, Natalee, Emily, Nick, Dustin, and KJ. We went to the Trevi fountain, were kicked out of the Pantheon (a former Pagon church) for laughing a little too loud, we asked a hot Italian working in a fancy hotel if we could access the roof garden (he said yes, and it was a BEUTIFUL view), we went to lunch at a cafe' that was decent (I ordered the Caprese salad [tomato, mozerella, and basil] and concluded that Suzanne makes it WAY better. Then we went to dinner as a big group where I legally had three glasses of Red wine (got a bit tipsy, but my group and Miss Koester and Mrs. Luci made sure I was okay). Our whole group of 47 then walked a few miles to a park where over a thousand people were watching the World Cup on a big screen. I'll tell you what, Italians LOVE there football (soccer). I've never seen people get so excited about a sport! Pa, you would have fun here for that aspect--the love of soccer. I went home early with Koester and Luci cause I was tired and I crashed in my bunk bead right away. Oh I'm on the top bunk and I swear it's gonna collapse on poor Kylie underneath me... just one more night.
I've shared one room with 7 other girls... and one bathroom. Let me tell ya, it's a little difficult, but we are getting by. Again, one more night. :)
TODAY! Today we started out exploring the palace and ruins by the Colleseum. Up until today it's been humid and 80 degrees everyday; today it was rainy and 75 degrees, so a little better. :) At first I didn't want a tour guide for the ruins, but it was totally worth it. This guy had a miz between an Italian and Australian accent and over-pronounced every word like it was epic. The history behind the structures and ruins we were looking at was pretty vital for the effect I desired going into this area in Rome. Really intriguing fact that I learned: the marble on the floors of the ballroom of the public part of the palace is a rare Egyptian (I think) marble that today sells for 80,000 per kilogram. The Vatican contains this marble and many more bacause the Vatican is made up of much of the marble of the ruins of the palace... kinda lame. They should've left it there. So yeah, now a majority of the Palace is stripped to just the bricks. Bummer; but I was able to use my imagination. :) It would've been pretty.
The Colleseum, to me, wasn't as neat as the palace and such (maybe just cause I had seen and heard about it before). It was still large and fun to hear the stories of what occured there (20 elephants v. 100 lions and such), however, I started dozing off during that tour guide... not nearly as enthusiastic as the AustrItalian dude. RIGHT after the tour, I headed straight back to the hostel by myself (made it on the metro okay) and took a four hour nap. I was exhausted. A nice nap. ;) We've been getting up at 7 and going to sleep at 12 on top of jet lag--no good. I caught up, though. When I woke up I went with part of the group to head to dinner by bus.. our group of 15 was 7 minutes late, but we still ate and it was good! I had Cantollini* with spinch and feta? I don't recall, but it was delish. I had gelato yesterday, too. Way tastier than the gelato in the mall. :d After dinner we went back to the Trevi fountains for a night look and we went back to the market area! Totally forgot to mention that about yesterday. We went to this rectangular market area wear people were sleling there art and there was a big fountain right in the middle... This black french guy came up to Britt and Em first and I guess kissed their faces and made them bracelets, well then the girls took the rest of us over and he made us bracelets and flirted with us, too. He kindly noticed and respected my guard and didn't kiss me, which I appreciated. ;)
Anyway, that's about all so far. Off to Florence at 7:30 and again going to bed at 12ish right now. lol I'm having a lot of fun and really feel like I know my way around Rome now, I've only seen like 1/10. :) The metro system is easy to use once you get the hang of it. Cool beans.
Oh wait, one more thing! I threw in 10 Euro cents and made a wish at the Trevi fountain--Mom, I bet you have a good idea of what I wished for. ;) Mom, you'll love it here when I take you one day.