Culture Week

Since 1998, Rome has hosted something called "Culture Week", or as the Italians call it, "Settimana Della Culture." Oh, the fabulous festivities that are about to occur in the city I've been calling home for the past seven months! Allow me to elaborate. Culture week begins on Saturday, April 14th and ends on Sunday, April 22nd. For one whole week, every single monument and museum offers free admission. This includes the National Museum of Rome, the Vatican museum, the Colosseum, Castle St. Angelo, and so on and so on. Although I don't exactly feel like I'm lacking any culture at the moment, I refuse to miss out

on the opportunity to soak up more Italian exposure that I would normally have to pay over 10 Euros for. I've already been to the main targets in Rome, but I'm going to revisit them and sprinkle in some new museums along the way. The only way that this could possibly get more exciting is if all the gelato shops were free all week as well. I know its an unrealistic idea, but a genius one, in my opinion.
Unfortunately, the weather in Rome right now is less than perky. It scheduled to rain for the next three days, which I feel like I should be upset about. Of course I would rather be spending my afternoons reading on the rooftop, jogging in the park, and walking around the city with friends while snapping pictures and stopping for pizza. In reality, it isn't really so bad (unless it doesn't stop by the time Culture Week starts). Instead of being outdoors, I'm going to spend a couple days writing in this blog, reading up on information and deadlines for the University of King's to prepare myself for the fall, and read the last two copies of Cosmopolitan magazine that I saved from when my parents brought them to me in March.
But not to fear... My older sister, Nicole, will be bringing more magazines upon her arrival in Rome. Which is coming up really, really soon. It hasn't hit me yet how soon she's going to be here, in my favourite city in the entire world, with me. I haven't seen Nicole since the day we said goodbye at the Toronto airport on September 11th and saw her cute little tanned face disappear from the crowds as I passed through the gate. She had her dark brown hair in a messy side braid, and she was wearing the cool ivory coloured tank top I bought her from American Eagle for her 21st birthday. So after seven and a half months, I'm going to see her. Her plane takes off on Wednesday, May 2nd, and then I'm picking her up at the airport the following day. Do you know what its like to go nearly eight months without seeing your one and only sibling?!