More Snow!

In my last post I mentioned some snow. Said snow did not stop until Saturday morning, when I woke up to  this:

Since I grew up in Montgomery County, naturally my first reaction to this sight was "NO SCHOOL!" I soon reminded myself that it was Saturday, and besides that school here would not require leaving the building and thus snow would be irrelevant. My excitement soon returned, though, when a few of us embarked on a snowy adventure; our goal- sledding on the Circus Maximus. Because what else are 2,000 year old monuments here for?
So we started walking down to Trastevere, which unfortunately required going down some very slippery steps. (I will say now that during this entire excursion I managed not to slip once, though there were a few close calls.) On our way down we were throwing many snowballs at each other, but in Trastevere we found ourselves in the center of a piazza-wide snow ball fight. Unfortunately there were some casualties.
As we crossed the Tiber and made our way to the Circus Maximus I was amazed over and over again by the beauty of Rome in the snow. Seeing those orange-y mediterranean buildings and ancient temples covered in snow is unreal.

I don't know what this is. It's ancient and snowy, though. (ed: I learned today that this is the temple of Hercules Victor!)

Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin

There were also some comical sights such as the huge line outside the sporting goods store where one could presumably find snow boots, and all the unnecessary chains on car tires. 

Eventually we reached the Circus Maximus, which was packed. Kids, tourists, adults, dogs, everywhere! 

Unfortunately we did not have sleds (though really, who in Rome has sleds?) but we came to the C.M. to sled, and sled we did! The guys in the group all decided to dive down the hill face-first. I decided to be slightly safer and go down feet first. After a challenging climb back up the hill and an encounter with a very very friendly dog we decided, feeling accomplished (I successfully disrespected an ancient Roman site I learned about just last week!), to continue down (up? I don't know geography) to the colosseum. 

Never having seen the colosseum before (Hey, I've only been here 2 weeks), seeing it in the snow was breath-taking, despite the obscene amount of people around. How many people come to Rome and have the chance to see the colosseum covered in snow?? Amazing.

Proof that I was there

After this we walked a bit farther, took some pictures by the Victor Emmanuel monument and had a quick lunch. We also saw an old man putting testicles on a snow penis. Amazing.

Then we boarded the bus and got back to Monte Verde, where four of us continued on to a quick thrift store visit, and then some hot chocolate with Baileys (how have I ever drunk anything else?).  Saturday night some people went out, but I decided against struggling down the hill and stayed in. Around dinner time Franco, our program director and most amazing man on earth, warmed up some tortellini soup for us and made sure we were all wearing socks before going home for the night. We spent the rest of the night playing board/card games, in my opinion a wonderful activity for a cold snowy night. 

I spent this morning doing homework and studying for our weekly quiz. I also walked/ice skated down to the coffee bar ('my' coffee bar, as that is the one I've become 'loyal' to) and the supermarket to buy some necessities like real laundry detergent and Fanta. So far, the most exciting thing that has happened today was our discovery that the library has a heater, which means I will no longer be studying at outside temperature.