When in Rome...: First weekend out and about

My favorite thing has to be the long weekends. We do not have classes on Friday so Thursday night we all decided to go out as a group. It was a little bit tricky trying to find our way around the city without any help and very few of us speak any italian. It was nice to see everyone dressed up to go out and we had such a great time! We found our way to a Piazza that was outside of a Bar and there was a bunch of people just outside hanging out. It was almost the complete opposite of the club scene which I really appreciated. The only downside to the night was waiting for a bus home for an hour at one of the bus stops. Because of this we didn't make it back home until 4 in the morning... All of us fell asleep immediately when we got back. What I liked most about the night was (buying my first "legal" drink) and experiencing italian night life first hand. Since being here I've realized that the times I most enjoy myself are the times I am thrown into random situations and have to find my way around with no help. This way you are truly immersed in italian culture and learn more about the city. This is exactly what me and a couple other people did on Saturday. We got off at the metro stop that the Trevi Fountain is at and had to find our way to the fountain. It took us about an hour to get there but the journey there was incredible. We saw so many different sights and somehow wound up back at the pantheon after seeing the fountain. Unfortunately, I didn't have my phone on me and have no pictures. FORTUNATELY, I'll be here for a while and have plenty of time to go back and take pictures. Saturday was one of the best trips because none of us had any idea where we were going and we were able to explore the town without an instructor telling us where to go. It is also so great that all eight of us get along extremely well! This trip for me has so far been perfect. New friends, new places, new everything and I love all of it.
On Sunday we went to Appia Antica which is one of the oldest roads in Rome and we rode bikes for about 3 hours. We had a "piccolo picnic" (a little picnic) made for us by Monica and we ate it along the way. Biking was difficult at times because the road was so old and had huge flag stones that made up the road. It was nearly impossible to ride comfortably during those points. Along the way there were many beautiful sights to see and I definitely want to go back to view the scenery more than I could while I was on a bike. After the bike ride we stopped into a church that had a copy of Jesus's footprints at the center of the church. It was so cool! Afterwards we were all very exhausted and I fell asleep trying to do my homework for classes today. Thankfully classes today were relaxing and I could settle down after the very long weekend.