Campo dei Fiori

Campo dei Fiori (a piazza of "flowers") is famous in Roma, especially to college students and young people. My neighborhood is just across the bridge from it (an extremely short walk). During the day, the piazza is full of vendors who sell flowers (hence, the name), fruit, vegetables, and sometimes even homemade trinkets. At night, all of the bars (not like a typical American bar - they often have some food and lots of kinds of drinks that are non-alcoholic) and discos (what a typical American club would look like) open up and people fill the piazza to talk and have a good time.
Yesterday, we were on a tour with the University to see "The Fountains of Rome" and came to Campo and saw TONS of polizie (police). They had shields and their normal guns and pepper spray, or whatever they hold in their police belts. As we turned towards the center, there were banners flying and a man speaking into a HUGE megaphone about anti-facism. Apparantly, the police had heard about the rally and decided that they needed to be present. Of course, we got out of there as fast as we could because we didnt know when people would start protesting but on all of the off-shoot roads there were also lots of police blocking things in (not normal citizens, but in case there was a problem). We think that it was because lots of tourists gather there during the day that there was such a police presence, but it was quite an experience to see something like that. A few hours later, people were out there for the normal nightlife, so there must not have been must of an uprising, but its interesting how facism is such a sensitive topic in Italy, as compared to the States. There are lots of differences politically between the two countries and the history is so different, as well.
In other news, things are going well here. I like my roommates even though I often feel that they have more of a connection than I have to either of them. They have the same habits (like, smoking for example, yuck) and have had similar life experiences, but we all get along and have a good time. We eat meals together and have the same group of friends. I am really ready for classes to start tomorrow for the fact that I like school and also because I am ready for a routine again. I feel like Ive been on vacation forever and even though thats nice, its something I get tired of. Wish me luck tomorrow!