We have some catching up to do...

Good day one and everyone-
As I'm a brat and am getting tired of repeating my travel stories to all billion people that want to hear them, I will now be blogging every so often (hopefully at least once a week) to keep anyone that's interested in-the-know. I arrived in Rome (specifically a location called Montemario in the Balduina neighborhood) on the 9th of January w/ very little knowledge of locations outside of the U.S. and even less knowledge of the language. My background in Spanish has both helped and hindered my learning the Italian language as many words are similar but the grammatics are quite different.
The great part about the John Felice Rome Center (the school I'm at through Loyola Chicago) is that they do a 4 day orientation involving trips around the immediate neighborhood as well as travels to locations in Montecassino (about 2 hours away), Hadrian's Villa (about 1 hour away), and most importantly Sienna (in Tuscany, about 3 hours away).
Here is a condensed version of what has happened so far. The subsequent entries will be less formal and far more interesting I'm sure:
blessed by the Pope at the papal audience on Wednesday 1/21/09 (he sneezed and my friend said "God bless you." It was a riot. He speaks in about 5 different languages which is quite a bore but also funny because his English may as well be Italian because he has a very heavy accent.
Visited Trevi Fountain, got lots of gelato, haven't been blown away by the pizza in Italy quite yet, the Spanish Steps, the Roman Forum and Collaseum (yes, I had CLASS at those two places).
I just got back last night (early this morning) from Interlaken, Switzerland which is the most beautiful place in the world, probably, or at least that I've ever visited. I skiied in the Swiss Alps, had some Absinthe, danced my ass off in a happenin' club/pub, went skydiving over the mountains, and ate the best pizza I've ever had in my life. Also met several ridiculously hot guys - the German/Swiss people absolutely love Americans. When we went skiing it was on a day they have a ski race called the 'Inferno' which only happens once a year. Basically a bunch of middle-aged men do cross-country and downhill skiing for the whole day and then get wasted and rowdy at the base of the mountain afterward. After my trip skiing a friend and I ate cheese fondu at the base of the mountain and had an espresso/ice cream/whipped cream dessert. YESS. As you may've guessed I have overdrafted from my bank account and now need to settle the spending down (this is the first time my parents have heard this: Sorry!)
We also celebrated my birthday the first week which I was kind of dreading. Luckily by then I had made an amazing..absolutely AMAZING group of friends that helped me celebrate by buying me drinks at a pub called The Abbey and then proceeding to care for my vomiting self as I celebrated a birthday the only way you're supposed to (American-style). I probably won't get that drunk again here as I'm really starting to adapt the one glass of wine at dinner mentality.
That should do for now. Check back soon for an update - I actually quite enjoyed writing it and hope you got through to the end!
-Elise