Katie's Italian Adventure: "Marry me, no money"

Since my last post, I have been getting pretty accustomed to life in Rome. Together, my roommates and I have made it to the grocery store multiple times, the art supply store, and to various monuments without even using a map! I have also learned a lot of lessons for how to survive in Rome...

1. Weigh your fruit before going to the check-out line. I didn't know that I was supposed to do that, and when I got to the checkout the man held up my apples and said, "balance?" a bunch of times. When he realized that I had no idea what he was trying to say he jumped up and said "I'll do it!" and ran over to the fruit aisle to do it for me. oopsie.
2.Don't hand money to people. You have to put it in a dish and they will take it from there. I still don't understand this rule.

Today was one of my favorite days so far. I went with Meagan and Laura (2 of my roommates) to walk around and see the monuments of Rome. We headed towards the Colosseum but before we got there we found the Roman Forum. We couldn't find the entrance right away so we just walked around the perimeter and took pictures. I can't wait to go back and actually walk around inside.

The Roman Forum

By the time we were done admiring the Forum, it was time to meet friends at the Pantheon. We knew the general direction to head in and we made it to the Pantheon without a map and without getting lost! (can you believe it??) The Pantheon was amazing! It is huge and beautiful and made me feel really tiny. I remember learning in one of my history classes that the circumference of the building is equal to the height, and the perfect proportions definitely had a powerful effect in this building. I loved it. Outside of the Pantheon, a man dressed as a Roman warrior offered to take a picture with each of us for one euro each. When we refused he said, "marry me, no money!" So... I'm married now. :)

This was outside of the Pantheon. I thought it was so cute!

From the Pantheon we walked through some very touristy streets and had our first taste of gelato in Italy-- yummmmm. We also went to McDonalds (yes, they have a McDonalds in Rome) to see if the rumor is true that Coke tastes different in Europe. It's false. It tasted exactly the same as the Coke in the US! We also went to see the Trevi fountain, which was beautiful. We shopped for a while and then headed back to our apartment to make some dinner and get ready for classes to start tomorrow.