While we were on our flight back from Prague, there was a (supposedly) peaceful demonstration near the Colosseum here in Rome. It was one of the Occupy demonstrations, which have been happening all over the world, including the United States. It turned very violent, ending with police tear gassing some of the protestors and a car catching fire. I've never seen that kind of violence in the United States, and its kinda scary that it was so close to where we've living. I've noticed that the economy and government here are really unstable, and I keep seeing signs for various protests and seminars for various political parties. The violent demonstration on Saturday is probably just the beginning. I've also been hearing rumors about the euro being unstable, and the possibility of it completely collapsing (or of Italy and Greece being kicked out of the EU) because all of the economies of Europe are so inconsistent. Eesh. You don't realize how other countries function until living there. I don't really believe that America is as stable as it seems either, but I'm positive that we're better off there than here. The value of the euro has been dropping steadily since we've been here. Its gone from about a $1.50 to a $1.30. As much as I'm enjoying not losing tons of money in money conversions, I don't think that's really supposed to happen in such a short amount of time.
Find out more information and photos here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/15/501364/main20120893.shtml?tag=cbsContent%3BcbsCarousel
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/16/501364/main20121114.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;2
To anyone concerned, we're all fine. We're at least a twenty minute walk away from the Colosseum and most major landmarks where they would protest. Most of us weren't even in Italy when the protests on Saturday happened.
Also, blog post about Prague is below. I just split into two blog posts because it was getting ridiculously long. Yes, I know I talk too much. Enjoy.
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