Recovering from the stressful horror that was part of last weekend (minus the trip to Orvieto and San Lorenzo), the first half of the week, per usual, was not that exciting. We had an Italian midterm on Thursday for which I had to prepare a lot because there are just too many congiuntivo tenses to sort out in my head, but I think it went just fine. The weekend to follow was one of the best so far, though, and I'm happy to be back in a good mood.

Friday was just the most perfect day. Waking up a little bit early, waiting for the tram, and just catching the bus I needed to take to Villa Borghese. A lecture in Galleria Borghese in front of beautiful Renaissance paintings by Titian, Correggio, Raphael, and standing in awe of Bernini’s masterpieces, especially the Rape of Persephone and Apollo and Daphne. A stroll through the park, fresh lasagna from Franchi for lunch, a couple hours of reading. Listening to the man play the accordion down on the street from the 5th story kitchen window. A trip to Piazza Bologna and a tour around one of the Sapienza campuses. Chilling out on the school roof and in the gardens with our Italian intern friends. Aperitivo with bellinis and amazing buffet of pizza and caprese and mixed grains and all delicious Italian cocktail hour foods. Hours of laughing along with a group of good people. Adding friends on Facebook. A relaxed evening in, a quick-paced walk back, a convenient tram ride, and a nice, quiet room to come home to.

Saturday was also really great as my friends and I decided to have a picnic at the Giardino degli Aranci (Garden of Oranges) on the Aventine Hill. I accidentally made a wrong turn on my way there and ended up passing through Teatro di Marcello which is the site of an ancient theater and some columns among ruins near Piazza Venezia, where I cam across beautiful poppies growing in the grass (I'm so happy that spring is finally here!!). My friends and I met up at mercato di Campagna Amica which is a slow food market (it has a 0 km rule, meaning that everything sold there comes from the Lazio region and is super local) where we bought panino con porchetta (pork sandwiches) and a woman recommended a sweet, sparkling Roman red wine to wash down the food with. We took a short trek up the hill passing across Circo Massimo and arrived at the most adorable garden of orange trees. There's even a lookout over the Tiber and out across towards Trastevere and Prati! We sat in the shade on the grass, chatting and eating and drinking the really good wine as people around us also did the same and little kids played with excavation kits in the sand. One of our friends was determined to climb a tree so she did just that and threw down some oranges, which actually tasted pretty awful. So much for being a famous garden of oranges!

We then popped into some of the churches atop the hill (one of which the Pope had paid a visit to last week) and waited in a short line for our turn at the famous key hole. It's actually just a small key hole in the door leading to a garden, but if you peek through it there is a direct view of St. Peter's Basilica. I wasn't sure what it would look like in person (I saw footage of it in La Grande Bellezza, which was screened at the study center on Tuesday night -- interesting film, I think I want to watch it again because it was a lot to process but it's interesting hearing the Italians' reactions to it), but the view was way cooler than I had anticipated because you can literally see the dome framed by the perfect hedges and it looks super huge even though it's pretty far removed from the Aventine. I then spent the afternoon catching up on reading in Villa Sciarra, one of my favorite parks (and the one closes to my apartment) filled with mythological statues everywhere. Rome has some really neat little quirks like this which makes me want to explore every nook and cranny while I'm still here.

To take a mental health break from all of the midterm stress my friend and I decided to make a Sunday morning out of walking through the Porta Portuense flea market which is right in front of our neighborhood. There are just so many clothing stands with €3 or €5 signs for anything you can find that you like from the piles and piles of used garments, little men with antique furniture, charming vintage book stands, jewelry booths, and more. It's pretty overwhelming, and I think it keeps expanding as the weeks go by and the weather gets better. We did manage to find the fabled Brandy Melville table where they have piles and piles of shirts and sweaters and skirts and whatever else you can find from Brandy for a flat price of €5 per piece (which is a super good deal considering crop tops start at around €20 each in stores). I think they just get hauls of rejects such as ripped and stained items along with random excess pieces because a lot of the stuff was actually in perfect condition with the tags still on. We probably spent around 40 minutes digging through the stuff and I managed to score some comfy loungewear for the spring and summer, hurrah! But then the fun was over and we decided that it would be best to return back to our studies... and so I feel like I've basically been studying since then (which is 90% true minus eating, sleeping, and walking to class). Despite being slightly tweaked about my impending midterms, the weekend was one of my favorites so far and I am extremely excited that the weather is starting to brighten up because the sun just makes everything better, and what's not to love about Rome in the spring time?