Busy days in Rome

The last few days have been packed with adventure.  We left Paris on our overnight train to Milan and then transferred for our trip to Rome.  You may have heard the stories from the students...yes, Mr. Graansma did share his cabin with an interesting character for a short time, we did stop in Switzerland and the students did receive a 1am visit from border patrol.  Possibly the most interesting part of the story is that, when we asked, our porter informed us that this was a totally routine trip.  I quote "lots of interesting characters on trains".  The students were great, the bunks were surprisingly comfortable and the travel was relatively quick and fun...a successful journey.

We have settled into our lovely hotel and begun to explore the eternal city.  Lots of ancient sites including the Pantheon and Spanish steps, lots of shopping, our evening at the Opera and today, the Vatican.  The business students did their cultural presentations yesterday on Sweden and Italy.  Both groups captured the culture of their relative country perfectly and our Italian experience is mirroring the students' presentation.  The main message is "be flexible and go with the flow".  The Trevi fountain is under construction so we will visit the beautiful 'four rivers' fountain in Piazza Navonna.  The orchestra for the opera was on strike but the performance went on and they refunded much of our money.  My plan is to use the refund to pay for the boat excursion for these students in Sperlonga.  This trip to visit the caves and swim in the Mediterranean is often the highlight of the trip for the students.  The sets were stunning, projections of famous art work on screens and the baths, I have never seen anything like them.  The singers were wonderful and English subtitles were provided.  Unfortunately, this served to highlight the relative weakness in the plot.  As Sarah pointed out, it only passed the Bechdel test because the two named female characters discussed a muff at the end rather than only discussing men.  A fun night, nevertheless, and the walk home past the lights of ancient Rome was awesome.