Didn't think so :) It is officially ok to start being jealous, the weather today was beautiful. Warm enough that I wore a t shirt out and wasn't even the slightest bit cold. After waking up and eating my economical cornflakes, Becca and I set out for the Spanish Steps, One of the big tourist attractions that we hadn't seen yet. Getting there was a bit of an adventure, we didn't get lost, but one of the buses we took was a tiny one. I've seen these buses around before, I thought they were strictly for the old and handicapped, wrong. This tiny little bus was cute until we crammed twenty five people inside, then it was cut and hilarious. Once at the Steps I was amazed at exactly how many people were just hanging out on them. I read in several of my guide books that the steps are always crawling with people, and they aren't kidding. I've also heard about their perfect architectural design, and though my knowledge on the subject is limited, I can understand where they're coming from. They were beautiful, especially when I imagined them not covered with people. We climbed to a couple of different levels for pictures (including the building and obelisk at the top), and while we were at the top I found some sketch artists.
I was given a stipend specifically for getting my portrait done, and I now know where to go. We didn't stay for very long, instead we moved on to the Piazza del Popolo, another beautiful area in Rome. We looked around for a bit before clambering back onto Tiny bus and heading for the tram that would take us home. When we got to the tram, there were an unusual amount backed up, even for the end of the line. We decided to get gelato first as we obviously didn't have to worry about having to wait for a tram. I got stracciatella, which is chocolate chip, and almond. People raved about the stracciatella, but I wasn't super impressed, it might have been because the almond was amazing, do delicious. I need to return to the big gelateria from the second night here, and order coconut and almond, I might explode from taste bud pleasure overload. After the gelato, the trams still weren't moving, we sat on one for about ten minutes before we got off and decided to walk. At this point I had ten minutes to get to class on time, and I would have been late if I had taken the tram and didn't have to wait for the bus that goes to school, by the time we made it to the bus that would have taken me to school I had missed the first forty minutes of class, because it was my Italian culture class, and Becca had already been, I passed. It was beautiful, and I don't regret it for one moment. On our 
way back we found the broken tram, and watched a very large truck pull it away, I assume this rarely happens as even the Italians were staring. Instead of going to class I went back to the apartment and had lunch (at four thirty:) before heading to Testaccio, the neighborhood across the river, to sit in a park (pictured at right) and read for class. I read ten pages, and people watched, headed into the church (pictures below) to give a quick thanks for the awesomeness that is my life, and walked home along the river. Once home I sat on my balcony for awhile, it was so gorgeous outside, the perfect amount of wind, I'm not used to it being warm this early in the year. While I love snow and winter, in a city that I want to explore sun is more than welcome.Tomorrow will be my first travel experience, we're leaving for Florence at nine. We found out that the bus drivers are going on strike tomorrow, so we will have to walk
to school, it shouldn't take much more than thirty or forty minutes, I walk most of the way everyday, but tomorrow we'll have our weekend bags, and it's supposed to pour in Rome and Florence. Which reminds me that I got an email from mother saying she put some money in my account, and to use it to buy an umbrella :) made me smile. I've been productive this evening, talked to my sister for the third night in a row :D awesome, and just finished eating a delicious sandwich for supper at eleven, I'm definitely turning into an Italian, they eat very late. I've decided not to take my laptop with me for the weekend trip, so this will be the last entry until Sunday. I'm bringing a journal so I can record what I do each day, and I'll transcribe them into posts when I get back :) Have a wonderful night everybody, I'm thinking of you all :)
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