January 15, 2009- Day 3- Trying New Things

This morning we had a walking tour of the neighborhood around the school building, on the opposite side of Ponte Matteoti from where the residence is. I ended up taking the wrong bus, of course, and a nice woman on the bus helped me out. I got off the bus with her and we walked to a different bus stop where she told me the next bus would take me to the school. I spoke with her on our walk and she was very friendly and said she had come from the Philippines 21 years ago to work in Rome. She had on Armani sunglasses with rhinestones on the side. She was so nice and held my arm as we walked. Very cute. So at the bus stop another older woman was kind enough to help me out, looked at my handy little map, spoke to me for a while, and let me follow her on the bus which ended up being just about a 5 minute ride and right to the school I was. Even though I got lost, I still honestly don’t feel like a tourist anymore. Little by little I’m finding my way around. I was a few minutes late but ended up running into a bunch of kids on the street who had already started the tour. They broke up into groups and walked us around to Piazza del Popolo, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, etc. They informed us about places to eat, metro stops, cool events that go on at the piazza such as a free opera concert that Andrea Bocelli performed at last semester. We all kind of got mushed between groups and I ran into Renee again so we chatted and walked. Our guide, Matt, a Temple student who was here last semester, also took us to this great little museum called the Crypt of the Cappuchins, where monks dedicated their bodies and all of the walls and ceilings are decorated with their bones. The chandeliers were made of bones, there were full skeletons, and even some monks were buried in the ground behind iron gates they had inside. They made flower-looking decorations, circles, and rows and rows of bones and everything was identical. If I can find more information or photos about it I’ll post it up. No photography was allowed! It was probably one of the coolest, craziest, grossest things I’ve ever seen. But I loved it. Then we went to some random café to eat lunch. I had a prosciutto and mozzarella Panini on what seemed to be a challah roll. It was deeeeelish. Then we took the metro back to the residence area and went to the GS supermarket. I bought some things for the apartment and some snacks and drinks, as well as a bottle of white wine which was 1.50 Euro!!! The cheapest wines here are probably better than the more expensive ones at home. They even had the big jugs of wine I spoke about from yesterday. It’s amazing! They also had a lot of American brands (eeehhemmm Mom!) at the supermarket and many things we could use and may need in the next few months so going there was VERY comforting! Then I carried my heavy bags back to the residence with Renee, chatted for a bit, passed out for an hour, woke up and went to a cooking lesson at school. An Italian cook made a delicious red tomato sauce and talked about food, wine, shopping and having a good time while we’re young. We had the sauce with fresh bread and red and white wine. I met up with Mia and we went back to her apartment for dinner. She made pasta with caramelized onions, tomatoes, olive oil and garlic. It was perfect and filled us up well. I also met her roommates Abby and Tom who were really cool and nice. Then I was super brave and walked the streets of Rome alone back to the residence. It was about a 20 minute walk and I only saw about 10-15 people the whole time. The streets are deadddd at night! But I made it back safe and sound, changed into some pajamas, and I’m now in the room next door hanging out with my new friends from last night. Being with other kids is really comforting and fun. Everyone is sweet, interesting, funny, and so easy to talk to and get along with. I love this crowd! I’m not quite homesick yet, but I do miss everyone. I’m jealous that most of the people here know each other but seeing Mia tonight was probably the best thing I’ve done. We had a good time hardly doing anything at all, wondered the streets of Rome, and just had a good time being together and having a familiar face to see. I’m starting to find my way around the city, little by little, and I already feel like I live here. I’m not a tourist! Rome is just a great place to be and I can’t wait to see how the next weeks unfold!