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!
giovedì 26 gennaio 2012
domenica 22 gennaio 2012
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.
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.
mercoledì 18 gennaio 2012
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.
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.
domenica 15 gennaio 2012
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.
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.
sabato 14 gennaio 2012
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.
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.
giovedì 12 gennaio 2012
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!
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!
mercoledì 11 gennaio 2012
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
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
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