Copenhagen!

I got to Copenhagen on a Monday night. My friend Emily picked me up from the airport and we went back to her place. Two of our other friends were visiting from the states so I got to see them too!

The next day we slept in a little and then Allie, Julia, and I went to the Rosenborg castle. We splurged so we could walk around the inside. It was pretty cool, but not phenomenal. I mean, it was only a summer castle... hehehe. Then we walked around Copenhagen; stopped at a cafe for lunch. We hung out at Nyhavn, which is the street that will show up on google images if you were to google Copenhagen. There is a canal that is lined with pretty boats and different colored buildings. Met up with Emily, since she had class, and went to the grocery store to buy food to make dinner. That night we met up with Julia's friend Freddy who lives in Copenhagen. She met him because he did an exchange at her high school and she kept in touch with him. We went to a few bars with him and one of his friends.

The next day we had to wait for Julia to get back because she slept at Freddy's, which was kind of a bummer since we didn't get to leave until like 3, but it ended up not mattering too much. Allie, Em, and I went to Dyrehavn, which was the royal hunting grounds back in the day. In english it is called deer park! There were just a bunch of deer running around. It took us a little while to find them, but once we did it was so cool! They had really big antlers and were so pretty. Then we went to the beach which was right across the street and sat on some rocks and ate ice cream. From the beach you could see Sweden! Later while Emily was supposed to be writing a paper, Julia and Allie took me to Christiania. Christiania is a a freetown. I think the miliatry used to be there, but once they moved out people started squatting there and then made a neighborhood of their own. I was bummed I couldn't see it during daylight because everyone said it is wicked cute and pictures prove it, but at night it was a little sketchy. There is an open cannabis trade so you can buy weed on the streets there and smoke it. It seems like the government has gone back and forth between ignoring it and enforcing drug laws there. You aren't allowed to take pictures or run in Christiania. There was a lot of pretty art and murals on the buildings.

Wednesday night we went to bed relatively early because the next day we were off to Berlin!

P.S. Sorry it sounds like a 10 year old wrote this. I am feeling very scatterbrained today.

Amsterdam!

It's getting harder and harder to write blog posts! So this is probably going to be a brief summary of my spring break broken into 3 parts. Maybe soon I'll do a blog post of all photos since it takes really long to upload them all.

I started out spring break on March 16th. I had to wake up at like 3am to start my journey. Got to the airport with no problems and got on my flight for Amsterdam. When I got in I met up with my friend Natasha who goes to Maryland and is studying in Amsterdam. First thing we did was got pancakes! I got a tomato and cheese pancake which was huge. And absolutely delicious. You put maple syrup on it just like a normal pancakes which I thought was going to be weird, but it was not at all. Then we went and picked up the bike that I was renting for the weekend. It was only 5 euros a day and Tash was jealous because my bike was way more authentic than hers is and I didn't look like a tourist. I was nervous at first because my roommate told me biking is crazy there, but I didn't have any big problems assimilating to the bike traffic. For anyone possibly going to Amsterdam, I would highly recommend renting a bike. I think my view of the city would have been completely different if I didn't have one.

Tash gave me a quick biking tour and we went back to her place so I could drop off my stuff. Then we went to a photography museum and a bag and purse museum because it was also in the area. Natasha gets a "museum card" from her program that gets her into all the museums at no extra cost and I was able to borrow her friend's card. We made mexican food for dinner and then went to a bar with her and some friends. And we all rode our bikes. I was a little nervous about biking and drinking, but didn't fall or anything! Apparently they call it "BUI" for biking under the influence but no one cares unless something bad happens.

The next morning we went to breakfast and got BAGLES.Which was really exciting because it's something you can't get in Roma. Then we went to a market by her apartment. It had a lot of random stuff and some pretty good food. I got dried fruit, a stroopwafel (which is kind of like a wafer cookie, but round and soft instead of crunchy with maple syrup inside), some awesome cheese, and fries. We were all feeling a little hungover so we went back and I napped while Tash did some homework. Later in the afternoon we walked around the redlight district and went to a "coffeeshop." Made curry veggies and rice for dinner. Then went to a few different irish pubs since it was st. patty's day, but didn't stay out too late.

Sunday we went to Zaanse Schans which is about 20 minutes outside of Amsterdam. It was really cute! It was really reminiscent of the days when Holland was all about trading. There were a bunch of mills and cool museums. We saw a pewter demonstration, went to a clock museum, spice mill, and cheese maker (where I got awesome cheese and the best honey mustard I have ever eaten), a clog maker, and a museum about the history of the area.

Monday was kind of a fail on my part. Natasha had class so we dropped off my bike (since I was struggling around on it with my big backpack), then I walked around. I wanted to go to the Frank house, but I couldn't with my pack. Then I was going to go to the Van Gogh museum, but it was just a little too expensive for me and Natasha had forgotten her museum card. I walked around, found another outdoor market and ate some more awesome food. Then met up with Natasha to say bye and get on my plane to Copenhagen.

I really really liked Amsterdam. It was so pretty and the people seemed so happy. I really wish Rome or DC had that kind of bike culture. It is so easy to get around via bike! But I am planning on buying one when I get home to have in Burlington this summer and will probably take it to school next year.

Almost bed time (it's not even 9pm). I am exhausted because my friend was here for the weekend! It was fun and I will post about it soon!

Barcelona

Last weekend I went to Barcelona to visit my roommate from Maryland who is currently studying there. I have to make this brief because I have homework to do, so here are the highlights:

Let me preface this weekend with the fact that I think I had an ulcer! I ate too many oranged on Wednesday and my stomach hurt incredibly from Wednesday night until this morning. I finally made a doctor's appointment today and of course I am feeling infinitely better.

Got to see my friend Jess too! She is studying in Paris and came for the weekend too.

Went to Parc Guell on Friday. IT WAS SO COOL. I absolutely love the work of Gaudi. If you don't know his stuff, you should probably google it right now! So much color! The weather was beautiful and there were a bunch of small children who had the cutest uniforms going on field trips in the park. We walked around and shopped a little. And got sushi! Which was extremely exciting.

Vicki lives above a hostel and the hostel people go out everynight and bring the guests. We went out with them on Friday so we could get into the club for free. First we went to a bar and I had the tastiest shot ever! It was a mojito shot and it had lime juice, rum, mint, and sugar. It did not taste at all like alcohol (and probably didn't have much in there- mostly sugar). Then we went to the club. It was one the beach which was cool, but Vicki had never been to it and it ended up being kind of lame so we were home by 3am.

Got a good 7+ hours of sleep and were out the door by 11. Walked down to the beach and walked along it. Then we went to my favorite part. Barcelona Beer Festival! It was the first time they had this festival and it was amazing! Entry was free, and then inside you would pay for a glass and then tokens. Each beer was a different amount of tokens. I ended up getting 18 tokens and got to try 7 different types of beer and spent less than 20 euros. The atmosphere was perfect; it felt like summer. My favorite beers were Meantime (London) Cranberry Stout and the same brand's Yakima Red. There was a really interesting one from Denmark by Cervesart called Cat Porter that had hints of chocolate and coffee but was SMOKED which gave it a really interesting taste. We got empanadas too! Which were delicious, especially since we were all a little drunk.

We didn't do anything Saturday night because when I got home my stomach started hurting pretty badly again! I had totally forgot about my condition and had drunk a glass of sangria at dinner. The citrus fruit in it made my stomach go crazy.

Sunday we just lazed around La Ramblas.

It was a grade A weekend and next week I will be in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Berlin! Yay spring break!

Cows on parade

This was the type of weekend that confirms why I wanted to come to Italy.

So, Leah and I decided we wanted to get out of the city, so after doing some research we found a farm stay near Sora, which is nearby the Abruzzo National Park. We got to take a double decker bus! Which was so much fun, but extremely bizarre, because it would stop in places that seemed completely random. Like on the side of a busy road, or someone’s house. We could not figure out the system for it. We made it to Sora and had to go to a pizza place that the owner of the hostel told us to go to, where they would get us transportation. We figured they would be calling us a taxi, but when we got there a large man, who only mumbled, presumably named Frederico (it was Ferderico pizzeria) asked us if we could wait 10 minutes until his wife got back with the car.

We had no qualms about going with him, because the hostel told us to go there. But about 5 minutes in after driving through this creepy driveway worries started seeping in. Is this going to be where he kills us and chops us into tiny pieces? There are only two doors on this car, I would have to break a window to escape… But of course, two minutes later we arrived at the farm stay and he greeted Antonello as simple Nello and all was well. Antonello showed us our room and told us he saved us some dinner. We had rigatoni with white beans and sauce, carrots, salad that had oranges and raisins, and the best wine I have had in Italy thus far. We “settled up” and chatted about what we were going to do the next day. We decided to do a hike to a waterfall and he gave us a detailed map.

Woke up bright and early on Saturday and had a typical Italian breakfast- bread with jam and NORMAL coffee. Leah and I had 3 cups each. Then we went on our way.  We had to walk from the farm stay into town, and then find the trail. It usually takes about 45 minutes or so to get into town. This particular morning was extremely foggy. As we were walking into town on a sort of busy road a woman pulled over. I was thinking she was going to ask for directions, but then was like, “Dove vai?” So we said Pescosolido, then she was basically like get in the car. Leah and I looked at eachother and the woman was saying, “Vai, vai!” Like, let’s go! So Leah was like, just get in the car and I did. This woman was probably around her late 60s wearing sunglasses (even though it was foggy?) and a leopard print hat. We were quiet for a while, but then started conversation. She is an artist and sometimes goes to New York or Detroit to display her work. Here’s her website! http://www.tizianamonti.com/

She invited us in for a cappuccino, which in hindsight, we should have accepted, but instead told her we must be on our way. It took us a while to figure out where we were supposed to be going because the fog was so bad. We could probably see 10 meters tops.

So much fog it looks like a gray background!
Thanks Padre Pio, for showing us the way.

On the way back. Look how it cleared up!
There is actually life!

 It started to clear up a little right as we hit the bottom of the trail and were surprised with… COWS.

First cow sighting.
We didn't know what was to come...

It was kind of scary actually. I know cows aren't usually thought of as scary, but they kind of were. Someone had just fed them, so they were all walking up to the trough.

Cow parade.

Once they all started mooing at each other and staring at us we figured we should back off and let them do their own thing. We watched from afar for a little and then followed behind them.

Our view during the hideout.

The hike was GORGEOUS.

ABOVE THE CLOUDS.
SO PRETTY.

Making friends with the possibly wild horses on the path.

This was the most nerve-racking part of the hike.
No, my camera is not tilted.

What we looked at while we ate lunch and thought about our options.
Also, from here we could HEAR the waterfall.
So depressing.

But when we were about 30 minutes away from the waterfall, we found a tree on the extremely narrow path with no way to get around it, without the possibility of falling to our deaths in the gorge. FOILED AGAIN.

Stupid tree. I hatechu.

The cows were a lot less scary on the way down, because they weren’t feeding although we did feel like we walked into a party we weren’t invited to…

Cow party.

Had dinner at the farm again. Pasta with a chickpea sauce and a little pasta with pesto, broccolitini, and salad. Leah and I got a half litre of wine and found out that the snow was really devastating! Besides downing a bunch of trees (which got in the way on our hike the next day, also), it totally ruined a bunch of crops. Usually the farm produces about 400 litres of wine, but this season they only expect to produce 60. That is 15% of their normal production! We also had a nice long chat IN ITALIAN with the hostel owner's friend. This made me extremely happy because it reassured me that I know Italian and can keep a conversation! The language is so much a part of the culture here, I am happy that I know it because it really allows me to understand not just the people better, but Italy itself better.

We also met a family from San Diego that is living in Napoli (the wife is in the navy) and since Leah was planning on going to Napoli next weekend now has somewhere to stay! Meeting people really is the best thing about travelling. I’m getting sort of lazy and have to study so I’ll make the rest short.

We hiked to a castle! And it was really cool.

The whole hike down we had to traverse fallen trees.
Most of them were worse than this.

Going to Barcelona next weekend to see VICKI. And I am unbelievably excited about it.

Study time... or bedtime. Ciao.

Oh Italy...

Just now I was telling Leah how I went to the post office, but couldn't figure out how to buy stamps. She told me to google it and I found this (it may be horrible writing but it is incredibly accurate). I don't know if it will be funny to you, but this is exactly how Italy operates and is the exact scene I witnessed today in the post office.


"If you just want a few stamps it'll probably be easier for you to just buy them at a 'tabaccheria' and then drop your postcards in the nearest postbox; because of the incredible popularity of cell phones in Italy, there's not much actual posting goes on at the Italian post office anymore. Then again, it's so inefficient, we doubt if there ever was.

Go into any post office in Rome and you will encounter two or three incredibly long queues - All the people in these queues are queuing for the same thing - Not postage stamps, but in fact something called the Conto Corrente. The Conto Corrente is the Italian version of the Giro credit, and it is how most bills are paid in Italy. One delightful feature of the Conto Corrente payment slip is that it's about ten minutes work to fill one in. You then queue for about forty minutes to pay it, as there's only ever two or three clerk's windows open, and the clerks operate at a ridiculously slow pace.

A recent sophistication of our local post office is a client-number waiting system - You know, same as they have at busy delicatessens these days - You go in, pull a numbered ticket out of a machine on the wall and wait until your number is displayed above the teller's window. This sounds like a good idea, but in practice the service is even slower than before - All it does is accomplish the devious psychological feat of making the customers feel as if they're gonna be attended to soon - In fact all it does is take the immediate pressure off the clerks, so that they now operate at an even slower pace, with no motivation to speed up. Typical Italian solution. Eventually this service will fail, not because anyone will complain about it, but because one day the numbering machine will break down and no one will ever make the effort to come out and fix it - So they'll go back to the old system of long, slow, angry queues while forty-thousand dollars of taxpayer's money tied up in the failed numbering hardware will sit rotting in a dusty corner of the post office.

If you do attempt to buy postage stamps in the post office, you'd better buy plenty while you're there. That's if you ever figure out which queue to get in - I never do because nothing's ever sign-posted properly. We don't advise you to post anything of value in Italy actually - it's unlikely to reach its destination intact, if at all, even inland, let alone international post."

Ho trovato tutti gli italiani con barbe!

As the title says, I found where all the beardy men hang out! Which you don't see too often in Roma. Last night Leah and I trekked to Circolo degli Artisti to see the band blouse. It took us two buses and 45ish minutes to get there and it was SO WORTH IT.

We found it pretty quickly, and although we thought it was going to be in a sketchy area it wasn't bad. We got in for free because it was before 20:20, otherwise it's 5 euros, which isn't bad. It is so beautiful! There are a bunch of gardens with trellises and vives! And a bunch of tables. There is a bar in each garden area. I really can't wait to go there when it gets warmer. It will be an awesome place to just go and chill for the evening/night. We scooted to the bar to buy a beer between all the guys watching the soccer game that was being projected on a screen. I don't even think AS Roma or Lazio was playing... They sure do love their soccer here. Then Leah and I went into the venue area which was smaller than I was expecting, so I was happy about that.

The first band was an italian post-punk band, who I actually got kind of into! It was fun and everyone knew the words to the songs. Then Blouse came on and they were adorable. After the show, the place turned into a club. In between Blouse ending and the DJ starting they played good music! Like neon indian, m83, and beck! Then the DJ started and it got pretty packed. We left around 1:15 so we could get some sleep and it only took us an hour to get home, which was nice. All of my past experiences with the night buses have been negative.

This morning we slept in and then went to meet Mel to say bye. Then Leah and I went to Castroni, an international grocery store. I got pb! and refried beans! And brown rice! I am so pumped about it. Leah found some great boots. I have yet to make any big purchases.

This weekend has been awesome. The apartment has been quiet and clean and the weather is beautiful! Hopefully I'll finish my homework and will go shopping tomorrow morning! It's supposed to be 65 on Wednesday!

Buona giornata!

Pompeii!

Today I went on a field trip to Pompeii for my on-site architecture class. Had to wake up bright and early (6am), which I was not happy about because I ended up staying up pretty late last night... watching La Dolce Vita for my italian cinema class. Sprinted down the gianicolo hill to Piazza Trilussa where the buses were leaving from.

Pompeii was gorgeous! Let me start by setting the scene: sunny, not a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze, upper sixties, birds chirping, and the smell of freshly cut grass. Yup. Pretty much perfect. My professor is amazing. I cannot get over how much information he knows. I really don't understand how one person can accumulate all the dates and people and names of buildings and recall it at a moment's notice! In my state of panic about being late and missing the bus I forgot my camera, but I will be back in Pompeii later in the semester so I will hopefully post pictures later.

We got to see the amphiteatre, shops, houses, the forum with all the temples and markets, and a huge villa. The forum was absolutely amazing because looking towards one end is an awesome view of Vesuvio and looking towards the other end is beautiful mountains! We got to see some of the plastered people. So Vesuvio erupted twice in AD 79. The first time it wasn't bad at all; nothing was really damaged, but people knew what was coming so they began to evacuate. It was the second day that really did people in. About 10% of Pompeii perished almost instantly after the eruption because of the sulfuric gas that was emitted from the volcano. And so what happened with the people was they were covered in volcanic ash which preserved them. Eventually the flesh deteriorated and what was left was bone. When archaeologists were digging and would hit caverns, they figured out they were actually corpses and would fill them with plaster. The casts are really creepy because you can see bone! And the positions they were in when they died. The houses and villas were so pretty. I love that they would all have gardens on the inside like a courtyard.

There are a bunch of adorable stray dogs. At one point we were sitting in a theatre and someone was giving a report on it. A dog just walked in. Looked at us and wagged its tail a little. Then flopped down to lay in the sun. All the dogs we saw were so friendly and non of them looked malnourished! And I just read (which would be so nice if it was true) that the guides of the ruins pool their money to buy them food. I also saw a silly stereotypical moment: there was a dog who was walking towards us and then took off. I looked towards where it was running and there was a cat! That scooted right up a tree and into safety.

For if you want to adopt a dog from Pompeii... http://www.icanidipompei.com/english/progetto_cave_canem.html
How cool would that be?!?!

After hours and hours of walking around I was ready to go home. Of course on the way home we got stuck in traffic for over an hour. But when I finally got home, I found bruschette on the table with Leah whipping up something yummy in the kitchen and Kristen making banana cupcakes. I almost rallied to go out and meet Mel who is visiting from Firenze, but then made the mistake of laying in my bed. I guess I'll just see her tomorrow.

Buona notte!

A very Roman situation

I was walking home from school the other day and ran into a situation that I felt was very typical.

I live on the edge of a piazza, and there is a large parking lot in the middle. It is a square and two sides are one ways, so there is an entrance on one side and an exit on the other. A car was blocking the exit, while another car was trying to get out and the woman trying to get out was honking like crazy. As I got closer to the cars I easily realized that the car blocking the exit was empty, and I'm sure the other woman could tell, but she was still honking. And I'm talking laying her hand on the horn for 30+ second intervals. This went on for as long as it took me to get into my building and walk up four flights of stairs and into my apartment and then some.

That's Rome for ya.

Firenze

Last weekend we went to Firenze with my program. It started off a little rough. Leah, Sam, and I went out Thursday night for once. We went to dinner at a phenomenal place called Dar Poeta. It has the best pizza. I got a salmon pizza and Sam and Leah both got buffula, which had mozzarella, tomato, and basil. I am definitely getting that one next time I go. Then we met up with her friend Joe and went to a bar that she went to the other night. We got a big pitcher that consisted of a little lime juice, some ice, and a lot of vodka (?) for 15 euros. Leah didn’t want any so we drank it between the three of us. Then for some reason we decided to get another.  This one was the same, only with tequila. They were kind of deadly. We used the bathroom at the bar and were on our way. We met up with some other people who were going to a bar called Abby, but Leah, Sam, and I went to La Maison, a club. We were there for probably 30 minutes and got bored because there was no one there! Then we went back to Abby, and had a shot called a Scooby snack, which was delicious and called it a night. Got about 3 hours of sleep and woke up the next morning at six to go to Florence.

Highlights include-

Friday:

We stopped at a rest stop about two hours north of Roma. As I was coming out of the bathroom I was scanning the line looking for Leah when I see what I think is a familiar face- was it really my XC friend Jamie? So I basically stop, turn towards her, and we are staring at each other not saying anything for 5-10 seconds (you may not think this is a long time, but when you are making eye contact with someone while standing in front of them not saying anything, it is). Then I realize it is her! And she realizes it’s me! We were both just so baffled to see each other at this random place! It was really funny.

We got a walking tour of Firenze! Which is not that big at all and makes me appreciate the size of Roma even though at times it can be extremely overwhelming.

The duomo! A picture does not do this justice

View from the Ponte Vecchio.
On this bridge there are like 689508 jewlery stores.

Went to a chocolate festival! It was so stressful picking something to eat because there were so many options. I ended up getting chocolate covered strawberries and Leah got a chocolate covered banana. Then after we ate that we got hot chocolate. IT WAS PRETTY MUCH A MELTED BAR OF CHOCOLATE. You just can’t get stuff like that back home…

Hiked the duomo! All four hundred and something steps! There was a gorgeous view.

You can see la basilica di Santa Croce in the background.

Had what might be the best dinner I have had in Italy. We got fried carciofi (artichokes) and then I got gnoochi al pesto and Leah got THE BEST PASTA EVER- ravioli type pasta filled with cheese, maybe ricotta, and pears in a white sauce. I am drooling just thinking about it.

Met up with my friend Mel (Jamie and Michael’s best friend from Umass) and her friend that was visiting. We just hung out at her apartment because she was going to Venezia the next morning.

Saturday:

Cooking lesson! We made tagliatelle from scratch (two types of flour and egg) with a tomato-garlic sauce, an antipasto (eggplant, mozzarella, tomato, olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano), and tiramisu! They gave us the recipes so hopefully I can make pasta from scratch when I get back to the states!

Leah and I went to the Boboli Gardens, which are part of the Palazzo Pitti. The gardens were beautiful and it was nice because right when we got there, the sun came out. We walked around the gardens for about 3 hours.

Zeus and Ganymede
I know all about this thanks to my mythology class
so useful, right?
oh wait, not useful outside of touring gardens with greek statues...

ZOMG NATURE

Stop number two at the chocolate festival. Got a (cylindrical) waffle on a stick covered in chocolate. And as we were eating, we got to see a parade of drums, trumpets, and flag wavers go by signifying the start of Carnivale!

When dinner rolled around we had scoped out a place we wanted to go. Somehow our dinner came out to be about 20 euros cheaper than it should have been. We were surprised about the price when we got the check and then added it up later and were like hmmmm. But anyway, I got a caprese salad, then ribollita soup, which is a Florentine specialty. It is a soup made from vegetables and bread and it is boiled twice! For desert we got vin santo, which is another Florentine specialty. You get a glass of wine and these biscotti things and dip them into the wine. Leah and I were a little nervous because the biscotti-wine mixture tasted kind of brandy like. After we finished the biscotti we were nervous to drink the liquid because we didn’t know exactly what it was. The waiter walked by and said, “Drink!” so I had a sip and it was sweet! It was really good.

After dinner Leah and I strolled around a little and found out the chocolate festival was still open! I got hot chocolate with amaretto.

Then after almost going to bed, we rallied and met up with one of Mel’s roommates. We went to one bar called the old stove or something along those lines and got a drink, then went to a bar-club hybrid called Red Garter. There were three different rooms: one for the bar, one for dancing, and one for karaoke. We got a booth in the bar part and met two guys from Holland. They were really nice and they convinced us to go to a club with them; Mel was getting home from Venezia around 1am, so we planned to meet up with her too. On the way we stopped at “the Secret Bakery.” It was an actual bakery, in a sketchy back ally open from 2am till 5am. What happens is, someone will open the door and you hand them money (1 euro for a pastry) and tell them what kind of pastry you want. They close the door and reemerge with a white paper bag with your pastry in it. it’s funny because there is a sign that says, “Please be quiet” and while you’re standing in line every once in a while someone will be like “shhhhh.” It was the best pastry I have had in italy! We met up with Mel and Norah and were on our way to the club. Meagan got a little confused, so we ended up going in a circle. By the time we got to the club it was about 2am, so since Leah and I had to wake up at 8 the next morning we just decided to head home.

Sunday:

Went to Pisa, but didn’t really care too much about it. It was cold and rainy and I just wanted to be back in Roma. We went in the duomo and baptistery and then headed to a pizzeria for lunch. Had a really good margherita pizza, which had a thicker crust; Roman pizza usually has a thinner crust. And we got some house wine. Two pizzas, a half liter of wine, small bottle of water, and espresso for both of us cost 20 euros total.

All in all it was a splendid weekend. My only issue with the whole weekend was I DIDN’T BUY ANYTHING. We went shopping every day we were there and I was so ready to spend money, but nothing ended up catching my eye! Oh well, so I decided maybe I’ll just go shopping tomorrow morning. Ciao!

Some funny Roman things

Today some silly things happened. I don't want to give too much away, since some people will be receiving them. I have been meaning to buy postcards since I've gotten here, but always put it off. Today I had some time to kill before meeting Leah and Sam for lunch and I stopped by a store that has a billion postcard displays outside the store. I started to walk away when I saw they were forty cents each, but then I saw a bunch of postcards with CATS. They are so funny; I laugh just thinking about them. They all have normal touristy Roman sites, with cats (I'm assuming) photoshopped in! I want to keep them all for myself, but I guess I'll send them to some special cat-loving people.



Also, last week Leah and I were walking down via del corso, a main street in Rome, when a big chunk of plaster? concrete? falls from the top of a building and smashes on the concrete. Luckily no one was under it. That would hurt big time. Two days ago, there were a bunch of areas of sidewalk partitioned off. But I could not figure out why. Today, they put up scaffolding and I figured out (after walking over the sidewalk and crunching on building) that parts of the building are crumbling! I wouldn't put it past them to just leave the scaffolding there and forget about it. That would be the Roman way. It seems like occurances like this are normal here?

Last, but not least today I had the most expensive and best orange juice of my life. On the way to lunch I walked by cafe arancia (or something like that) in Piazza della Santa Maria in Trastevere which was PACKED with everyone sitting with huge goblets of some orange liquid people watching in the sun. My mouth literally dropped open. At lunch I told Leah and Sam about the glorious looking orange liquid. Sam proposed we go, so we did! Povera Leah though, she had class. We got our orange juice and were so happy! Pretty sure the juice was from blood oranges. Then we started contemplating how much it was going to cost, which we hadn't even thought about. We were both thinking 4-6 euros. It ended up being 7.50! Which is almost $10! BUT IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY. I am definitely going back. Maybe not every week, but it is that good.


This is a pic from google, but doesn't it look delicious?!?!?!

Curse you, Siberian Winds

Last Friday Leah and I woke up bright and early at 5am so we could go to Bordeaux, France! To get to the airport we had to take two buses to get to termini, the train sation, and then catch another bus from there. We got to Termini fine, but in perfect italian fashion, the bus that was supposed to come at 7, didn't end up coming until 7:30. Which made us a little nervous, since we had never been to Ciampino airport and didn't know how busy it was going to be. Everything ended up fine.

We got into Bordeaux at about noon. Once in town, we got lunch. Baguette sanwiches! They were delicious. The bread basically melted in your mouth. We did some window shopping and went on a quest to find a hotel. The one we ended up finding was pretty close to the city center, and 24 euros a night! Score. The room wasn't too pretty, but the bed was SO COMFORTABLE. Actually, the most comfortable I have slept in since I've been home. We then went back out and walked around more. It was pretty easy to get our bearings. We found a chocolate store, which was AMAZING. I ended up spending about 25 euros on chocolate and macaroons for the weekend. We went to the store everyday and bought more...

Found a cute little place on a restaurant filled street and went with the tourist menu, which was nice since we have never had French food before and were on a budget. I got a goat cheese salad with honey, then salmon, which came with rice and a quiche, then got an apple tart for desert. We ordered a Bordeaux red wine, and they served us a glass of rose which was sweet and REALLY good. My dad would have loved it, since he likes the "wussy" wines. We thought about going out after dinner, but were just way too tired. But on the way back we saw a movie theatre and ended up buying tickets to see Star Wars episode 1 in 3D! In french. We were a little confused about the 3D glasses because we didn't see any. When we got into the theatre everyone had them, but we still couldn't find them! Leah asked someone and he ended up giving her attitude and wasn't very helpful, so we just watched the movie without them, which was fine.

The next day we woke up a little later than planned, and headed out to find coffee. Mind you, in Italy, you can see about 5 bars from anywhere you are standing. France was a little different. It took us forever to find somewhere to get coffee! We must have been in the wrong area or something. So we got coffee, then we found somewhere to get crepes. I got an almond, honey, and lemon juice crepe. It was perfect. We did some more window shopping, but it was SO COLD. This is how I fixed my scarf to cover my ears. Looking like a freak:

I did not come to Rome prepared for cold weather; so I was of course freezing in Bordeaux. We found a contemporary art museum housed in an old warehouse and spent about 3 hours in there. Here's the view from the mezzanine.

Then we went back and napped before dinner. For dinner I ended up eating pretty much the same meal as the night before. Goat cheese salad, salmon (the second course always offers limited choices for someone who doesn't eat meat) and for desert CHEESE. I wanted an assortment of cheese all weekend, so I was very excited when I saw this on the menu. After dinner we thought about going out, but it was SO COLD so we didn't.

The next morning was even worse temperature wise. We walked by the St. Andre cathedral,but mass was happening (we're not very good at thinking about these things) on our quest round two to find coffee. Not as hard this morning.

Right after coffee we ended up getting lunch, which was  HUGE omlette and salad. Hopped on a bus and went home!

Bordeaux was beautiful, but I wish it was warmer! We would have done so much more. I also wish we did a little more research and had planned to go to a wine tasting. I also wish I spoke a little french. It ended up being harder than I thought to find people who spoke english. It made me really realize how much italian I know and appreciate the fact that I can more or less understand people here!

Gotta do some homework before class! Ciao

Gelato, gelato, gelato

Last night I got to meet up with my friend Jamie who I ran cross country with in high school. She goes to Duquesne, and they have a campus in Rome. It was so great to see her. She showed me a gelato place that has at least 30 flavors. IT IS AMAZING. It took me like 10 minutes to decide what kind I wanted. We got gelato, and walked around, then stopped at a bar and got a few drink while we waited for Leah to meet up with us.

We went to dinner at an osteria on a side street. It was on the same level as Shiro. Pretty sure we were in someone's house; it almost made me forget I was in the center of Rome. I ordered penne all'arrabiata (big surprise) and our waiter brought over extra peperoncino- a man after my own heart, since I put it on everything I eat. Jamie and I thought about going out, but nobody else wanted to come out with us. I'm really excited to see her more.

Today I brought Leah to the gelato place and her friend Sam. Sam had already been there more than once and pointed out some great flavors and we window shopped a little bit. Sam invited us over for dinner, which we graciously accepted, but it wasn't until I got home that I figured if we went over for dinner we would be staying out until at least 10 (if not later). Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but tomorrow Leah and I are going to Bordeaux, France! And are waking up at 5am. We kind of picked it randomly by looking at where the cheapest flights go. It will be funny to go somewhere that people don't speak Italian.

Rome is supposed to be hit with some snow this weekend, so hopefully we won't have any problems getting back into the country. Ciao Italia, Bonjour France!

Hallelujia

WE HAVE INTERNET.

La neve a Roma

Roma and snow don't mix. At all.

We were supposed to have a makeup day on Friday, for a day we have off later in the year. It was raining in the morning, then started snowing. Mind you, I think the last time it snowed in Roma and stuck was something like 1986. My class wasn't till 2:30 and by 2pm all afternoon classes were cancelled. Apparently, they want to have a makeup day for the makeup day, but I have no clue how they are going to do that... Leah and I spent the day at the library as usual and then waited for the bus. For about 30 minutess. Realized what we should have realized in like 3 minutes, that the bus wasn't working, and walked home. It was pretty treacherous.

Saturday Leah and I were supposed to go to Orvieto, and woke up bright and early to go to Termini. We looked out the window and found about 4 inches of snow on the ground. It was really pretty! We walked to Piazza Venezia, which is like the hub of transportation so we could get a bus to the station. It's a pretty far walk and was a little rough with the snow. Few people were out and we took some pictured. We arrived at Termini 9 minutes after our train should have departed. So, we just decided to buy a ticket for a train leaving about 2 hours later. We waited and kept checking for the track number of our train on the departures board. We started getting nervous and as Leah was watching the board about 10 minutes before our scheduled departure, the train just disappeared. Bummerrr. And I tried to refund the tickets yesterday with no such luck. Trenitalia owes me about 40 euros at this point...

We walked around and went to lunch. Got suppli, which is a fried rice ball with sauce and mozzarella. It was DELICIOUS. We also got salmon pizza. Went home and did nothing since we STILL don't have internet and there was no way that I was going anywhere.

We decided we would try to go to Orvieto the next day and planned to leave the apartment by 7:45, but woke up at 7:45 and decided it wasn't worth it. Instead we ventured out of the apartment planning to go to a museum. We got to the Capitoline museum, which I was pretty excited about, at 11:30 only to find it CLOSED. Big surprise, right? The sign right next to the barred door read: Open Sunday 8am to 9pm. Ugh. So instead we walked around more! Went all the way down Via del Corso which ended at Piazza del Popolo, an area of the city we had never been to. Did some shopping. Bought a denim button up shirt, which I have been in the market for, for a while. By this time my boots were starting to get wet. This made me very unhappy. I am on my last pair of shoes I am willing to wear out in gross weather because the other two pairs are STILL WET. Not cool. At this point, I transformed into one of the people I often make fun of: hopping around puddles and tip-toeing through snow. We eventually made it home by taking three different buses (a venture that took over an hour).

Then we were going to go to the library, but Leah texted her friend just to make sure it was open and good thing she did because she found out that the library was closed and classes were cancelled for today (monday)! This meant still no internet. And I had already finished season one of Breaking Bad. Leah called her friend Sam, and we went over to her apartment to use her internet. By the time we got home again I said I don't care about the super bowl, it is cold and I am tired. So I just watched more Breaking Bad (I downloaded some of season 2 at Sam's) and hit the hay.

Our weekend didn't turn out too bad, even though there were many setbacks. We got to see a lot of the city we hadn't seen before. Now to plan next weekend...

Perugia

Last weekend Leah and I zipped off to Perugia, which is about 2 hours northeast of Roma. The train ride was easy. And we got into Perugia at about 10:30. We stayed within the walls for the night. We got dropped off at a hotel, and it was weird cause we were just dropped off in this back alley with no one around.

The next day Leah and I walked around the city. It's pretty small, as most hill towns are, with pretty views and narrow cobblestone streets. Did some shopping. Leah got a great coat. Then we went to find our hostel, which was a few kilometers outside the city. We had to take the bus and while we were on it, we saw someone who looked about our wage with a hugeass backpack on. We suspected we were going to the same place so Leah asked her and she was! Good thing too, because she had printed out the directions, but I had forgotten to. She is from Canada and graduated from high school last year and is backpacking around Italy, then WOOFing on two farms in Italy and two in France ALL BY HERSELF. Pretty ballsy, eh?

So we got to the hostel, which is a cute little farm down a long dirt road. There were all sorts of animals: horses, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, a donkey, and dogs. The dogs were adorable and I got to play with them which was awesome. It was run by a guy, Manuele, who is about 30, and his grandparents work on the farm because they live nearby. The hostel has two volunteers, one was from Canada and one from Philly/Florida/Columbia. We pretty much just hung out Saturday. We walked to the Baci chocolate factory, but it was closed. Wah. Then we went on a bike ride up to this little town Boneggio. Like really small. A church and about 5 houses. Amazing views though!

Then Saturday we got to go out with locals! One of the volunteers has a thing with a local guy, Michele. So we went out with them, and then met the other volunteer and Manuele in town. (Sidenote: italians are crazy drivers.) So the way it works is you go into a store that sells alcohol, and buy a beer or something in a bottle. Then they pour in into a cup and everyone just brings their drinks into the piazze. We got one drink and then went to a bar. I got a pretty good beer there called penny something. It tasted similar to guiness. Then Manuele left with some of his friends and Michele brought Leah, the volunteers, and I to a club. Michele haggled the price down to 8 euros to get in. We danced until like 4am, it was fun! The music they played was hilarious. Korn and Rage Against the Machine, and the next thing I know there were playing house music, then raggae...

The next morning we woke up bright and early to cook with nonna Rita. It was kind of a cooking lesson, but at the same time, it was like don't get in Rita's way. She liked me and called me Betta. Over the course of over 4 hours we (nonna Rita) made pasta (yup, HOMEMADE), sauce, potatoes, a bunch of crostini, salad, and three cakes. I think I'm forgetting stuff? But it was freaking delicious. And got to eat with the whole family. There were like 14 of us. It was so nice!

Got back to Rome at about 9pm Sunday. And came home to no internet. Awesome, right? Going to Orvieto this weekend. And about to book my trip to Barcellona! That's how they spell it in italian.

Homework time.

Walk like a Ro-oh-man

So I had my fist ah-ha moment yesterday morning when I was walking to my on-site class (which I am obsessed with), and it involved fearlessly walking into oncoming traffic. I had to cross the street in Piazza Venezia at about 8:30am, prime time for rush hour. This piazza is probably the scariest place to drive (and houses my favorite monument in the city). It is a big circle with like 10 different places cars can enter, with no yield signs in sight. There was a cross-walk, but since there was no traffic light, the cross-walk basically means nothing. So I just walked. And I realized I'm not a tourist here! I live here! I will cross the street when I want to, and not let the crazy drivers scare me!

Off to Perugia today. Leah and I ran into some trouble because we bought our train tickets for Friday morning, but found out yesterday there is going to be a train strike from 9am Friday morning to 9pm Friday evening. We though oh, okay, we'll just buy earlier tickets. Then we get am email stating there will be a national train strike from 9pm THURSDAY evening to Friday night. Awesome. So we bought tickets for tonight. Hopefully we can get a refund on our other ones, but I'm not sure if it's actually going to happen. We'll see. I struggled to pack since we have to go straight from class to Termini. Okay, I have to pack socks before I forget!

Il fino di settimana

Well this weekend was almost pretty uneventful.

I went out Thursday night with my roommates since I don't have class on Friday. First we went to a bar in Trastevere, which was PACKED. Kristen asked for a shot and said, "give me the strongest thing you have." Saying this got her a 3 euro shot with who knows what in it. There was some red stuff on the bottom, something else, bailey's, something else, then absinthe. I just stuck with a vodka cranberry. After we finished our drinks there we went to a club across the Tiber in the historic center. We all though it was going to be 15 euros and we get all we can drink for an hour. Nope. We didn't pay any cover and mixed drinks were TEN EUROS. I got a shot of tequila for 5 euros and called it a night on the drinking. I refuse to spend that much money on alcohol. Instead I just danced all night. We left the club at like 3:30am and walked to Piazza Venezia to get la notturna bus home. The routes change a little and run less frequently at night. We waited about 45 minutes in the light rain. I was freezing and it was going on 4:30am. Right as we were about to break down and get a cab the bus came.

I woke up the next morning not sick with the "budweiser flu" (as my dad would say), but sick with the actual flu. It wasn't that bad at first, but by sunset I was curled up in bed with a fever, chills, headache, the works. I started reading the Hunger Games on my kindle and am now obsessed. Took it easy yesterday since I was still feeling kind of shitty. Went to the park and grocery store and that was it.

Today Leah and I went to the park for like two hours. Tried to run a bit, but was dying after like 2 miles.

Over the weekend Leah and I also went to Termini, the train station, to buy tickets to Perugia which is a smaller city somewhat north of Rome in the region of Umbria. We are planning on staying outside the city on a farm. We're trying to have a little weekend in the country because we both need it.

I'm planning on going to watch the Pats at an irish pub tonight with some of my roommates and hopefully dragging Leah along with me. We'll see how that goes.

Classes

Classes started on Monday. Which is good because I love having a schedule.

On Mondays I only have one class that starts at 14:30. This means I have the whole morning to go running, grocery shopping, get a cappuccino, do homework, read... the possibilities are endless! So, the class is greek and roman mythology. I'm taking it as an HL core class, but it seems like it should be interesting. A lot of reading, but I'm okay with that.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I have two classes starting at noon. The first is italian cinema, which I'm really excited about! Every week we will watch a film during one class and discuss the film during the other class. Our first film is Roma Città Aperta (Open City), which is directed by Roberto Rossellini and came out in 1945. My next class is italian conversation and composition, which is am SUPER nervous about. I'm in the class with Leah and another roommate, Ali. I know it is really going to help my italian, but it is going to be tough.

Wednesday is the same as Monday, except in the morning I have a three hour "on site" class. This means I get to walk around Rome! It is an architecture class called cities, towns, and villas: Rome, Ostia, and Pompei. Every week we go to different ancient monuments and learn cool stuff about them (so when my dad visits I'll be able to spew a wealth of information about the city I have been living in at him). Today we visited some of the places we will learn about later in the semester and ended at Circo Massimo where all of the taxisti are protesting. My prof gave us the low down on what is going on: It costs something like 200 euros to get a taxi license. This guy Monti (some government official) wants to make more jobs available in Roma, so the first thing he does is propose that taxi licenses are less expensive. Many taxi licenses are passed through the family (from father to son). If taxi licenses cost less, than more people will be taxi drivers, and the guys who are already taxi drivers will make less money! I think that's the gist of it, at least.

I've had a pretty chill day. In between classes I went to the library and did homework. I'm such a nerd. Didn't have espresso this morning and definitely felt it.

Time for more homework! A dopo.

Running cures all

I woke up this morning with some weird swollen insect bites (one of them being on my eye, which made me look like a total freak). I iced them and the swelling went down, but have no idea what insect they are from. So Leah and I went on a quest for an italian equivalent of benadryl. Of course with it being Sunday, everything is closed. Different pharmacies throughout Rome rotate being open on Sundays. The pharamacies have a paper outstide of the doors announcing which ones are open, so then we had to find them. Eventually we found an open one and got some allergy medicine. Hopefully it's what I need because I only spoke italian with the pharmacist.

Went running later in the day in Villa Doria Pamphilj, the largest landcaped public park in Rome. And it is less than two minutes from my doorstep. Leah and I went running for the first time since getting to Rome and it was the best. I needed to go so badly. Upon entering the park, there is a beautiful villa that belonged to some well-to-do family. There are a bunch of fountains and little monuments. We kept going and ran through an arch and entered a huge grassy field! Which was so great. There is a highway that runs through the center of the park and a bridge that connects to two parts together; I think the total area is 1.8 km squared. I thought Leah and I were going to get lost. But we didn't! And it was the farthest I have run since September! Woooooo.

Classes start tomorrow. There is still SO much to do to get settled. Hopefully we can take care of everything this week and I will stop being swollen.

Settling in

We've been in this apartment for 4ish days and I'm still not settled in! It is driving me crazy. It seems like we're busy every moment. Leah and I finally unpacked most of our clothes into the closet and I regret bringing a lot of stuff already. I really need to learn how to pack lighter. We haven't gone food shopping yet; I think we're going to go a little later in the day.

Today we had more orientation stuff. It was pretty helpful because the session was centered around transportation. I get a monthly pass to use the buses, trams, and the metro, and during the session we rode on all of those. Public transportation here seems pretty useful and simple.

Leah and I have gotten to know the Trastevere neighborhood pretty well, but have yet to explore our neighborhood much. We haven't gone out since the second night because we have both been too wiped out from the day. Instead we've been planning our weekend trips. We've decided we only want to be in Rome one weekend per month. Planning is so stressful though! We haven't really decided on anything concrete yet. Also, I found out I can't do the trip to the Swiss Alps, because I have a mandatory field trip for my architecture class that weekend. Bummer.

I think tonight we are going to bar hop in our neighborhood and maybe find a club to go to later on in the night if we have the energy. I will have to muster up the strength to go out because I'm still exhausted, but it's Saturday so I have to!

Naptime.

First few days

The first few days are summed up pretty easily: hotel living, touring the city, orientation sessions.

We moved into our apartment yesterday. It is located in the Monteverde neighborhood across the Tiber river. We have a 20 minute walk to "campus" (I put that in quotation marks because "campus" is made up of two buildings). Everytime we walk to campus we find new shortcuts, which is wonderful. We haven't explored our neighborhood that much yet. But last night we took a quick stroll to find un mercato because we needed shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. There are many shops around, so I know I'll always be able to find what I need. It is mostly residential, but I think tomorrow the roommates and I will walk around to see if there are any bars/clubs in the area.

The apartment is pretty big. There are 6 of us all together and I like all my roommates (except Leah of course). We have a kitchen, wifi, two bathrooms (one of which has a large bathtub-shower and is attached to Leah and I's room), and a living room. We are on the fourth floor, which I love because it makes me feel safe. On the bright side, one of our program directors lived in the same neighborhood for many years and said she never felt unsafe.

Today we had more orientation stuff. We also met Rick Steves' son, Andy, who has a weekend trip bussiness. I think Leah, my other roommates, and I are going to go on his trip to the Swiss Alps. During the trip you stay in a Swiss Chalet in Gimmelwald and get to do wintry things all weekend. Leah and I were being indecisive about it, but then again, I didn't get to participate in any winter activities this winter! So we'll get to hike, (intense) sled, snowshoe, and xc ski.

Tonight we are going on a walking tour with Andy Steves, then to a group dinner with him where 15 euros covers 4 courses and all the wine you want.

Tomorrow there is a tour of churches in the afternoon, which I'm really excited about. Leah and I are going to explore the large park that is right around the corner from our apartment and buy frutte e verdure in Campo dei Fiori so we don't have to go out to eat as much!

Goals

1. Ride on the back of a vespa
2. Get a nice butt from walking up il collone on the way to my apartment
3. Become a regular at a caffe'
4. Become close to fluent in italiano
5. Eat lots of local veggies
6. Travel a lot
7. Embrace the european lifestyle