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26 September

I didn’t write an entry yesterday, and I wholeheartedly apologise, because it was a very wonderful day. We went to the beautiful Capitoline Museum, near the Forum, where we met Richard Heizer, the director of this whole shindig. I can’t begin to describe to you the wonders inside. Sculptures I had only seen in photographs were merely metres away from me, sometimes even closer. Yesterday was a bit slow, to compensate for everyone’s jetlag, but today was full on. We started it bright and early at 07:00 and from breakfast we walked to the Forum. My favourite was the Arch of Titus. I sketched it a bit, but we had to continue on. I’ll be perfectly frank: it was overwhelming! The sheer wonder of seeing marvel after marvel… Ruins everywhere… It was extraordinary. After that we separated for lunch. I ate my composite leftover meal right in front of the Arch of Constantine. Once the group gathered, and after watching a hilarious skirmish between street vendors and the police, we did the standard tourist event. We went to the Colosseum. I cannot say anything more poetic than the last person, but it was amazing. This wonderful day closed perfectly with a frolicking night in the empty Pantheon amongst what I can tell are going to be quite great friends. A bloke could get used to this.

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Awoken by Italian bickering and glass bottles shattering, I decided to draw at 03:00 this morning. As quiet as I tried to be, I unfortunately woke Becca and Melissa. When I came back into the room from drawing in the study, the two girls were in their beds talking. We all stayed up talking until 08:00 or so, when we fell back asleep. After catching up on our sleep, we checked out of the hotel and ventured out, in search of the Residencia Zanardelli. We wandered up and down the streets but finally discovered that the large wooden door we had passed several times was in fact the entrance. When we got up the stairs we, at last, discovered some familiar faces. Students from Rocky Mountain College were there. Ben, my flatmate for this adventure in Rome, needed to get art supplies, as he had been travelling elsewhere before Italy. So we all went out and, after getting some margherita pizza, explored the streets, looking for art supplies. Although the art store was closed, we weren't too disheartened, for merely around the corner we stumbled upon the Pantheon, completely by accident! We then got gelato and retired back to the hotel. Jim Baken, one of our professors, arrived, but the other professor and nearly half the group had not yet arrived. We waited all night. We got dinner without them and then we got back to the hotel and they finally got there! There were many various complications with their travels, but they made it!