Rome'in around

yesterday was super exciting on a few different levels as classes started and i toured some of the city! my first class (wine and the drinking culture in classical antiquity) was cancelled because my teacher was stuck in traffic... which let me tell you can get brutal. i would never want to drive here. EVER. i now understand why everyone drives vespas and bikes, but even that seems like its annoying. my second class of the day was italian, where my teacher spoke only in italian for the majority of the class. luckily, it is so similar to spanish that i had a pretty good idea of what was going on even though i walked out of the class with a super big headache.  then after that i had time to nap (thank god) and then my final class of the day which was the american 20th century which was comprised of mostly italian natives, which was pretty cool. then some of my roommates and i got dressed up and we went to dinner a place nearby where we had already been and loved (i got the same pasta with mozzarella and tomatoes as the other day). after that, we made the trek to the trevi fountain, which i must say is so so so so SO much prettier in person. luckily they have steps you can sit on and just stare at. half of the building that the fountain is apart of is even under construction but it still looks breathtaking. i got to throw a coin into the fountain too and make my wish (pictured below)! the only thing that is bothersome about some of these places/around the city in general is the fact that these people (generally indian men) illegally walk around and try to take your picture/sell you roses in order to make money. the worst part is that they are extremely pushy and even come into restaurants and come up to you while you are eating your pasta. needless to say, "no grazie" (no thank you) is one of the very few phrases i have perfected. from the fountain, we stopped and grabbed gelato (picture right) and some drinks before heading to the spanish steps, which were also very cool. at about 150 steps they provide a beautiful view of the city and a direct overlook of one of the classiest streets in rome (im talking louis vuitton, prada, fendi, gucci, pucci, burberry, dior, to list a few). what was also interesting was that some spanish speaking guys from argentina asked us to take their picture and i was the only one who knew how to translate! for once my spanish was directly useful which was different. we then stumbled upon the fountain of four rivers which was also super cool as it was in a plaza that is a perfect oval with two smaller fountains as well. it was overall a really awesome night and a great way to forget the summer is "technically" over.