Yup, my 7 week vacation officially came to a close early this morning. The bus was packed and even worse it was packed with kids in their peak of puberty who didn't know they needed to wear deodorant just yet. Eventually we made it to campus to be the first ones in line to sign up for the school trips. (Yeah, we were those nerds...BUT we got all our choices that we wanted!) Because of our ability to wake up early, I was able to book a day trip to Tuscany for a wine tasting tour, a weekend to Sorrento/Pompei/Amalfi Coast and next Tuesday night I'll be taking a cooking class from the chef of a restaurant I ate one of my first nights here (the bean soup meal). This on top of leaving for Florence this weekend and spring break in Greece, I'm extremely pumped for the rest of this semester.
My first class was Art of Renaissance & Baroque. The class is my first Art History class, but seems extremely interesting. The teacher is an expert in the field and has grown up in Rome. Most classes we'll be meeting on site, starting next week at the Church of San Clemente and Capitoline Hill. I have it with my roommate which is refreshing because we can do the work together, travel to the different places together and share a book, which I borrowed from the library.
After that 3 hour class, it was lunch break (mine happens to be 3 1/2 hours long). We got to sign up for a student trip to Venice for Carnivale and ate our cute homemade lunches. It was a gorgeous day out so everyone was in the garden and it was so first day of school.
My second class of the semester was Media and Gender. I knew a lot people in the class, which was nice, and the teacher seems funny and really chill. He's from LA and you can totally tell the West Coast attitude. We watched a bunch of youtube videos to talk about how gender is portrayed and all this stuff. I found myself laughing at all the things the guys were laughing at and per usual there was the hardcore feminist in the back of the class explaining that the woman needs to stand up for her gender and not let these portrayals in the media occur. A little frustrating, but the teacher was really cool and I'm excited for that class (especially since it is way easier than the equivalent at AU would be since they marked it as like a 400 level class)
My last class of the day was Italian. I have forgotten most things I feel like, but they had us take a placement test and then leave so guess we'll have to wait and see how I did. There was an oral part of it and I'm not so great at speaking, much better at writing, so oops. I got out really early since I did the conversation part like third so I got to come home as it was getting dark and even got a seat on the bus.
Doing laundry was probably a bigger adventure than the rest of my first day of school because of the small laundry machine and lack of dryer. My clothes are currently on a giant drying rack in the middle of my room and the machine took like 1 1/2 hours to wash the load. I got so scared it was going to blow up or something that I ran to check on it like every 5 minutes. I have to do another load in the morning because I haven't done laundry since I left LA and my clothes get gross when I travel. Tomorrow I get to sleep in because I don't have class until 2, so I'll do another load of laundry then head to my one class.
I'm far too full from dinner so I'm off. Ciao.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
It's Already/Only Been a Week?
A week ago today I left DC. It has been the longest, yet quickest, week of my life and I have loved pretty much every second of it. All I did today was go to a shopping mall, seeing as going to the storage unit sick did not provide me with a clear head to pack well, but to be honest I was not impressed by many of the Italian stores and only walked away with 2 sweaters.
As a recap of my first week, here are things I learned about Italy, Italian culture and being abroad:
1. It doesn't really matter what you eat, you'll walk it off and be hungry like an hour later. Whether it is a giant plate of gnocchi or pasta, or a cone with two scoops of gelato, with all the walking you eat just about every hour to hour and a half.
2. A cappuccino a day keeps the grumpiness away. The corner illy coffee shop's cappuccino's are only 1 euro and are the best I've had in my entire life. (I thought I made really good ones, but they win by far. They are Artisti del Gusto also!)
3. There is no such thing as a parking lot, or parking space in the eyes of an Italian driver. People park anywhere they want. Parallel, perpendicular, double park, sometimes they just pull over in their lane.
4. If you want to cross the street, you'll have to own the crosswalk. Make Tyra proud and have a confident walk as you cross the street. It's not Hawaii, no one is going to stop for you to let you cross. They may be going fast, but they'll stop before they hit you.
5. Shhh. Obey the quiet hours. From 10pm-7am and 12:30pm-4 don't even think about showering, doing laundry, being noisy in your apartment or even wearing boots in the apartment. National quiet hours shut down most shops and allow for a relaxing nap time.
6. It's not DC, it costs money to see extra the cool things. DC has spoiled me by making their museums free and amazing. The Colosseum may cost 12 euro, but it is 12 euro well spent. Splurge to see the sites.
7. Only pay for the transportation if the ATAC guards are on the bus/tram/train. If you don't want to stick out as a tourist, don't validate any of your tickets when you get on the train or tram or bus. No one pays unless the guards are on the bus to check. If you get caught, have a story or claim you forgot. Just remember to carry extra tickets in your bag.
8. Everything tastes better. The pasta, the produce and even the milk are so much more fresh here. Groceries are cheap and the locals only get a few things at a time. Within a 2 block radius of my apartment there are at least 2 frutterie (fruit shops), 3 main grocery stores, a bread store and a cheese store. Only the Americans shop in large quantities.
9. Book trips through agencies, or find people to stay with. It will save a lot of money and stress if you either have someone to stay with for a vacation weekend, or book through a company like bus2alps so that they deal with getting the hotels and it reduces the price a lot. Going to Florence for the weekend next weekend for 90 euro total, or all of spring break to Greece and the Isles for 550 euro... not too shabby if you ask me.
10. Learn key phrases before venturing out. Whether it is, "How much does this cost?" or "Can I have 2 cappuccinos?" practice makes perfect and some shop owners (like the owner of the corner coffee shop) may think it's cute/entertaining to listen to you try to speak their language.
My 7 week vacation ends tomorrow at 9am with my first class... Ciao.
As a recap of my first week, here are things I learned about Italy, Italian culture and being abroad:
1. It doesn't really matter what you eat, you'll walk it off and be hungry like an hour later. Whether it is a giant plate of gnocchi or pasta, or a cone with two scoops of gelato, with all the walking you eat just about every hour to hour and a half.
2. A cappuccino a day keeps the grumpiness away. The corner illy coffee shop's cappuccino's are only 1 euro and are the best I've had in my entire life. (I thought I made really good ones, but they win by far. They are Artisti del Gusto also!)
3. There is no such thing as a parking lot, or parking space in the eyes of an Italian driver. People park anywhere they want. Parallel, perpendicular, double park, sometimes they just pull over in their lane.
4. If you want to cross the street, you'll have to own the crosswalk. Make Tyra proud and have a confident walk as you cross the street. It's not Hawaii, no one is going to stop for you to let you cross. They may be going fast, but they'll stop before they hit you.
5. Shhh. Obey the quiet hours. From 10pm-7am and 12:30pm-4 don't even think about showering, doing laundry, being noisy in your apartment or even wearing boots in the apartment. National quiet hours shut down most shops and allow for a relaxing nap time.
6. It's not DC, it costs money to see extra the cool things. DC has spoiled me by making their museums free and amazing. The Colosseum may cost 12 euro, but it is 12 euro well spent. Splurge to see the sites.
7. Only pay for the transportation if the ATAC guards are on the bus/tram/train. If you don't want to stick out as a tourist, don't validate any of your tickets when you get on the train or tram or bus. No one pays unless the guards are on the bus to check. If you get caught, have a story or claim you forgot. Just remember to carry extra tickets in your bag.
8. Everything tastes better. The pasta, the produce and even the milk are so much more fresh here. Groceries are cheap and the locals only get a few things at a time. Within a 2 block radius of my apartment there are at least 2 frutterie (fruit shops), 3 main grocery stores, a bread store and a cheese store. Only the Americans shop in large quantities.
9. Book trips through agencies, or find people to stay with. It will save a lot of money and stress if you either have someone to stay with for a vacation weekend, or book through a company like bus2alps so that they deal with getting the hotels and it reduces the price a lot. Going to Florence for the weekend next weekend for 90 euro total, or all of spring break to Greece and the Isles for 550 euro... not too shabby if you ask me.
10. Learn key phrases before venturing out. Whether it is, "How much does this cost?" or "Can I have 2 cappuccinos?" practice makes perfect and some shop owners (like the owner of the corner coffee shop) may think it's cute/entertaining to listen to you try to speak their language.
My 7 week vacation ends tomorrow at 9am with my first class... Ciao.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Only a few days left of winter break
Today it really hit me that my 7 week vacation is just about over. Classes start on Monday, but considering I'll still get to be living in Rome, I'm alright with it. We went for our cappuccini (which they will be closed tomorrow the owner told us before we left, guess we'll have to find another place for Sundays) and then headed to campus for a welcome bbq. It wasn't much, just hamburgers, chips and the students we'll be studying with so we didn't stay long seeing as everyone pretty much stuck with people they had already met throughout the week. Then we decided we'll be semi-prepared for classes on Monday and get notebooks and pens so we went to a tiny shop near campus to get them. The shop owner was really nice and tried to talk in English for us, along with giving a student discount of 20%. After that we did a decently un-Italian thing and went on a pretty big grocery trip. We got stuff for the majority of the week (until Thursday because we leave for Florence on Friday) including stuff to make crepes (nutella and banana) and shrimp for our dinner. We had shrimp in lemon sauce with fresh fettuccine and parsley and a salad. It was our first salad since we'd been here and we have had cravings for a few days so it was nice to finally satisfy them.
Groceries are extremely cheap, especially compared to Hawaii, but still, extremely cheap. I got all my groceries for the week, including detergent and paper towels and only spent like 30 euro, which is about $40 in the US. This wasn't just getting packs of ramen or anything, but getting fresh prosciutto tortellini for 50 eurocents a pack, or corn flakes for 1 euro a box. Everything is also so much more fresh here, like I'll even drink regular milk instead of getting soymilk (which is way more expensive here, it's like the 1 thing). Not to mention that the wine is cheap... but that's a different topic completely.
We're taking it easy tonight to get back on a schedule for school, although we did take a nap from 5:15-6:30. It probably won't stop us from hitting the sac around 11. Tomorrow the school is taking us on a shopping trip since every store here has 50-70% off sales on everything. This is great considering when I went to pack and get things from my storage unit I had the stomach flu and just wasn't having it. Then school on Monday!
Alright well one of my roommates is making us crepes (nutella and banana... nom) so I'm going to go help, since I get hungry just about every hour here but I'll let you know what I get shopping tomorrow. Ciao.
Groceries are extremely cheap, especially compared to Hawaii, but still, extremely cheap. I got all my groceries for the week, including detergent and paper towels and only spent like 30 euro, which is about $40 in the US. This wasn't just getting packs of ramen or anything, but getting fresh prosciutto tortellini for 50 eurocents a pack, or corn flakes for 1 euro a box. Everything is also so much more fresh here, like I'll even drink regular milk instead of getting soymilk (which is way more expensive here, it's like the 1 thing). Not to mention that the wine is cheap... but that's a different topic completely.
We're taking it easy tonight to get back on a schedule for school, although we did take a nap from 5:15-6:30. It probably won't stop us from hitting the sac around 11. Tomorrow the school is taking us on a shopping trip since every store here has 50-70% off sales on everything. This is great considering when I went to pack and get things from my storage unit I had the stomach flu and just wasn't having it. Then school on Monday!
Alright well one of my roommates is making us crepes (nutella and banana... nom) so I'm going to go help, since I get hungry just about every hour here but I'll let you know what I get shopping tomorrow. Ciao.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Sono Americano.
Today a group of us went "downtown" to do some of the major tourist attractions before we got too caught up living here and forgot to do the sightseeing things. We went to the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. It was 4 1/2 hours of solid walking and afterwords I was so exhausted and my blood sugar was extremely low. (The giant gelato we stopped for obviously wasn't enough.) I didn't know what to do or say as I looked among many of the sites because it was just so amazing to me that I get the opportunity to live in such a historically rich as well as beautiful city for four months. I definitely want to go back to the places on a day when it is sunny out, but we had a really good time walking around and it wasn't very cold.
After all the wandering our legs really couldn't take it anymore. We had a successful day (even grandpa was nice to us and his wife/daughter/the other owner returned my chapstick that fell out of my pocket there yesterday.) and decided to take a few hours to rest. Although, the time wasn't all the restful seeing as I cut my finger open badly preparing dinner (apparently my face got pretty pale... you guys know how I get with blood) and then I dropped and shattered a bottle of olive oil across our kitchen floor. Our other apartment-mate made Gabby and I blood-orange juice mimosas (no pun intended from my finger) then we just got back from meeting up with some friends downtown.
Tomorrow will be another relaxing day and then on Sunday (the last day of my 7 week vacation from school) they are taking us on a big trip to the mall since there are huge sales here. But for now... BED! good night.
Does less walking = less gelato?
Buon giorno!
So it's 10:40 am here, I didn't get a chance to write yesterday because we slept in pretty late (11:30, which for me is like sleeping till 4) and then we got our cappucinni (grandpa is really starting to love us) and cooked a brunch of gnocchi, peas, prosciutto, mushrooms and freshly grated parmesano reggeano. We then took the bus with our roommates to the campus to show them where to go for things then walked around the area to see what was around there. We found an adorable park with all these statues and fountains and an amazing sweets/pastry shop where we treated ourselves to one each and sat on a bench to eat them.
Around 6 there was a walking tour of Rome that one of the RezGrads did. The RezGrads are like our RA's, but I have no idea where they live... not in our building. The tour showed us all the areas across the river, which is considered "downtown" and it's also where the nightlife is. A group of us stayed down there after the tour and went to this really nice and kinda hip restaurant in the Campo di Fiori, where our waiter was very heavily trying to get us to go to his friends club after. We already had plans as there was a big thing going on at one of the American type bars, right down the street. Between 6 of us we got a few bottles of wine and killed the time between dinner standing against the statue in the Campo di Fiori and drank as we people watched. Yup, that's totally legal and pretty local to do here... just drink at the fountains, or statues, or most places. We then ventured to the bar and later on to a discotec to dance.
Transportation is getting so much easier now, that we haven't been walking quite so much. I'm sure soon that will pick up again because all we eat are carbs and we'll want to walk them off or when it's nice out I don't see a point in taking the bus, but after last night it was nice to have a bus to take us 2 blocks from our apartment. There is a tram, a bus and a metro here. The metro is kinda far, but the bus and tram system are really good. What's even better about the systems is that unless there is one of the metropolice on there, no one pays. Their system is that you get a bus ticket and you validate it in a machine in the middle/back of the bus and then it's good for 75 minutes. So basically unless there's a guard no one will watch you, but if there is a guard he'll ask to see your ticket and see if it's been validated.
Alright well I'm off to get ready for the day. We're finally going downtown to go do a few touristy things so I'll definitely have some amazing pictures later today to share.
Ciao
So it's 10:40 am here, I didn't get a chance to write yesterday because we slept in pretty late (11:30, which for me is like sleeping till 4) and then we got our cappucinni (grandpa is really starting to love us) and cooked a brunch of gnocchi, peas, prosciutto, mushrooms and freshly grated parmesano reggeano. We then took the bus with our roommates to the campus to show them where to go for things then walked around the area to see what was around there. We found an adorable park with all these statues and fountains and an amazing sweets/pastry shop where we treated ourselves to one each and sat on a bench to eat them.
Around 6 there was a walking tour of Rome that one of the RezGrads did. The RezGrads are like our RA's, but I have no idea where they live... not in our building. The tour showed us all the areas across the river, which is considered "downtown" and it's also where the nightlife is. A group of us stayed down there after the tour and went to this really nice and kinda hip restaurant in the Campo di Fiori, where our waiter was very heavily trying to get us to go to his friends club after. We already had plans as there was a big thing going on at one of the American type bars, right down the street. Between 6 of us we got a few bottles of wine and killed the time between dinner standing against the statue in the Campo di Fiori and drank as we people watched. Yup, that's totally legal and pretty local to do here... just drink at the fountains, or statues, or most places. We then ventured to the bar and later on to a discotec to dance.
Transportation is getting so much easier now, that we haven't been walking quite so much. I'm sure soon that will pick up again because all we eat are carbs and we'll want to walk them off or when it's nice out I don't see a point in taking the bus, but after last night it was nice to have a bus to take us 2 blocks from our apartment. There is a tram, a bus and a metro here. The metro is kinda far, but the bus and tram system are really good. What's even better about the systems is that unless there is one of the metropolice on there, no one pays. Their system is that you get a bus ticket and you validate it in a machine in the middle/back of the bus and then it's good for 75 minutes. So basically unless there's a guard no one will watch you, but if there is a guard he'll ask to see your ticket and see if it's been validated.
Alright well I'm off to get ready for the day. We're finally going downtown to go do a few touristy things so I'll definitely have some amazing pictures later today to share.
Ciao
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
No where sells corkscrews
Today we took a little bit of a lazy day. We slept in and laid in bed for a while until we made it down to the corner for our cappuccino, which was even better than yesterday because the owner put some cocoa powder before pouring the milk (the owner who give us a few weeks and he will be our new best friend/grandpa). We then went to fulfill the 1 bit of homework we gave ourselves for the day, finding a corkscrew. It took a lot longer than you'd expect in a city that drinks so much wine. Eventually we found it in a small shop that was very mom and pop and then went home for a homemade lunch of prosciutto, salami and mozzarella sandwiches that we put this olive spread on. It was delicious. Also, we got olives to have on the side instead of chips and ohmygosh.
We just finished a planning trip session and have spring break planned, Springfest in Munich (spring version of Oktoberfest) and not this weekend, but next, we're going to Florence (among a few other trips). Soon I'll cook us dinner, prosciutto tortellini with mushrooms and sauce. Of course we've already started on our first bottle of 1 euro wine and will later head out to explore the nightlife for the first time. Wish us luck! Arrivederci!
We just finished a planning trip session and have spring break planned, Springfest in Munich (spring version of Oktoberfest) and not this weekend, but next, we're going to Florence (among a few other trips). Soon I'll cook us dinner, prosciutto tortellini with mushrooms and sauce. Of course we've already started on our first bottle of 1 euro wine and will later head out to explore the nightlife for the first time. Wish us luck! Arrivederci!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Getting Oriented
Day 2 was just as amazing as day 1, if not more (since I wasn't so tired and am starting to get familiar with the area). We woke up and had to present ourselves to the police at the AUR campus to get our Permit to Stay procedure on it's way. Of course we stopped at the corner illy coffee shop where I almost got in and out of there without speaking any English to order the coffee. My roommate, Gabby, and I fit right in at the counter sipping due caffe (we each had a shot of esspresso, which is only 80 cents here). After going to campus and getting what we needed to done, we then walked around (aka tried to get home but got lost), found yet another pizza place that was extremely cheap for lunch and eventually made our way home. I did my first grocery shopping trip and tomorrow will cook dinner in my amazing kitchen. The supermercato down the street is adorable and had everything I could want and more for extremely cheap. A huge block of mozzerella was only 65 cents, packs of gnocchi were 99cents and fresh tortellini as less than 2 euro and will feed all 3 of us girls tomorrow. I also am proud to say I bought my first legal bottle(s) of wine and at dinner drank a glass or two.
The AUR campus is amazing. I don't think I saw it all today but the picture of me and the 2 girls is at the campus where there is a terrace on top of one of the buildings which overlooks the city. Gabby is the girl next to me, who is my roommate, and Dara is on the left and we spent the whole day (and will spend many more) together. We had to go back to AUR at 5 for orientation where we re-met some girls from the shuttle yesterday and made some new friends as well. After orientation we went to an amazing dinner for 10 euro, where we got the bruschetta pictured at the top of the post, a huge bowl of bean soup (sounds odd but was some of the best soup of my life) and the chef's cake (which was like a lemon cake) plus wine. We all talked about our plans to go to Greece for Spring break, doing the school's day wine tour trip to Tuscany and some of us will be visiting the Amalfi Coast with the school together as well. Now we're done with AUR stuff until we start classes on Monday, so tomorrow Gabby and I have decided we deserve a lazy day to sleep in, explore around our apartment more, get some gelato (we didn't have any today) and we really need to find a corkscrew for the wine we got at the supermercato. Anyways, I'm off to bed, buonanotte.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Day 1 as a whole
I've decided this place is unreal. Living here for 4 months is going to be the most amazing thing ever. I know people told me it before I got here, but it's for real... it's amazing. I've had pizza, pasta AND gelato today and for those of you who know me that's a lot for me to eat in one day.
I only know of one of the girls I'm living with so far, and it is someone that I knew from AU, which is great. The apartment is amazing. One of the most gorgeous apartments I've ever seen, with high ceilings, an amazing kitchen and three YES THREE balconies (one of which we have private access to from our bedroom). There is a little spice in the apartment with the zebra print material they put on the couches, but it's cute and goes perfectly with the yellow walls. We put our stuff down in our amazing apartment (some of the pictures are from it) and then went to explore to get some food (the pizza) and some bus passes for February since we'll be taking the bus to and from school and then unpacked and passed out for a solid nap. We later went on an adventurous walk a few miles away to our other friends apartment where we got some dinner (pasta) and found an amazing gelateria then walked back because we're pooped. I tried to include some of my photos on the post but of course I couldn't fit them all in.
Tomorrow morning we have to complete our permit to stay procedure (talking to the police) and then go to an orientation, then the rest of the week we are free to roam and adventure. Buonanotte!
Airplane Ride
Hey Everyone
So here goes nothing... according to the map on the airplane tv screen I am 1 hour 13 minutes and 571 miles away from Rome. Of course I boarded the plane about 8 hours ago, so I am ready to get off, but still, that's close.
At least half the plane is filled with students from the University of Dallas who are sophomores and more or less required to study at the school's Rome campus one of the semesters of their sophomore year. I haven't met anyone who is studying at AUR with me, nor do I see many students who look awkward and confused by the sea of students who already know each other, basically probably the look on my face.
The plane ride was more or less uneventful. I haven't been warm since I stepped on the plane, but let's be honest... me being cold? Nothing new. Despite feeling like a zoesicle, I managed to sleep basically the whole flight (thank you melatonin) and Mom/Dad/Adam there is no need to worry I am rested enough where I will be able to be wide awake, play well with others and make new friends when I get off the plane. But if I do get tired, I hear the coffee is decent over here.
Well I've already flown 4000 miles, only 490 to go so here goes nothing. Basically 10,000 miles from home, 7500 from my mom, brother and grandpa and about 4500 from DC... hope Rome is ready.
So here goes nothing... according to the map on the airplane tv screen I am 1 hour 13 minutes and 571 miles away from Rome. Of course I boarded the plane about 8 hours ago, so I am ready to get off, but still, that's close.
At least half the plane is filled with students from the University of Dallas who are sophomores and more or less required to study at the school's Rome campus one of the semesters of their sophomore year. I haven't met anyone who is studying at AUR with me, nor do I see many students who look awkward and confused by the sea of students who already know each other, basically probably the look on my face.
The plane ride was more or less uneventful. I haven't been warm since I stepped on the plane, but let's be honest... me being cold? Nothing new. Despite feeling like a zoesicle, I managed to sleep basically the whole flight (thank you melatonin) and Mom/Dad/Adam there is no need to worry I am rested enough where I will be able to be wide awake, play well with others and make new friends when I get off the plane. But if I do get tired, I hear the coffee is decent over here.
Well I've already flown 4000 miles, only 490 to go so here goes nothing. Basically 10,000 miles from home, 7500 from my mom, brother and grandpa and about 4500 from DC... hope Rome is ready.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Today is THE DAY
So I leave for the airport in a few hours and despite the fact that I still have a million and a half things I should be doing (including checking in for my flight, don't kill me mom) I thought I'd get this set up so that when I get there it's a whole lot easier to simply post the amazing experiences I'm about to have.
For those of you who don't know, or who I unfortunately didn't get to say goodbye too, I'm spending the semester in Rome, Italy. I'll be studying at the American University of Rome and living the European lifestyle until May 15.
As hard as it can be to say good bye to some of my closest friends for 4 whole months, it's only 4 months and I could not be more excited to get the opportunity to study and live in such an amazing place. At least everyone has told me it's amazing, I haven't been there.
Well next time I write I won't be in DC in the AU library, but instead in Rome, thousands of miles away.
Ciao.
For those of you who don't know, or who I unfortunately didn't get to say goodbye too, I'm spending the semester in Rome, Italy. I'll be studying at the American University of Rome and living the European lifestyle until May 15.
As hard as it can be to say good bye to some of my closest friends for 4 whole months, it's only 4 months and I could not be more excited to get the opportunity to study and live in such an amazing place. At least everyone has told me it's amazing, I haven't been there.
Well next time I write I won't be in DC in the AU library, but instead in Rome, thousands of miles away.
Ciao.
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