I am truly living a life of a Roman. So much so that I've been incredibly busy and hardly had a minute to write on here for 10 days! Shame on me! So, I'll update you on my past week and a half from where I left off last week. It might be long but worth reading :)
Saturday, Jan. 24- I went to Mia's apartment for Abbey's birthday which had a nice turnout. A lot of Temple kids came that I had never met before, and Abbey seems pretty popular (she was here last semester as were some of the guests). The kids were mostly very artsy and dressed funky...completely reminded me of Fordham...except most of them didn't seem pretentious and were friendly and cool to talk to. I met this guy Dylan there who I had been e-mailing about buying his textbooks for way cheaper than the bookstore, and we chatted for a bit. Mia's friend from St. John (the island where she lives) came over because she was here for the winter term and was staying close by. She was a sweetie! Abbey made potato latkes and fresh homemade apple sauce which were to die for...they went very fast! Mia made awesome bruschetta as well. I brought sparkling wine and a lot of other people brought bottles too...I'm guessing (after seeing them empty afterward) that there were around 20 bottles of wine. Crazy. Mia also made a vegan marble cake with all soy ingredients in the shape of Big Bird because they used a pan in the apartment that belongs to the owner's 2 year old daughter. Everyone loved it! I also heard about a cheap 24 hour bakery nearby that I have to check out. I went home around 1:30 am and got home at 2 am. Then passed out.
Sunday, Jan. 25- I was right, there was no way I was getting up on time for the "Wall walk." It was an 8 hour walk around the entire city of Rome and it's ancient Aurelian walls. I planned on going halfway through around noon, but after several failed calls to roommates and neighbors, there was no way for me to know where they would be to meet up with the group. And they were moving fast. So I decided not to waste the GORGEOUS day (for once!) and I showered and went out. I walked by Piazza Eroi (the traffic circle here) to Via Candia up to the stairs of the Vatican Wall. I walked along the wall and took photos for my "11 Steps" photo project. The weather was amazing and perfect and I took some great shots. Eventually I reached Via Ottaviano near Piazza di Risorgimento where delish Old Bridge is, but they were closed! So I went to Blue Ice which is a gelato/crepe chain in Rome and had ordered some gelato from a very unfriendly, rude woman who didn't want to take my 20 euro bill for a 2 euro cup of gelato. She was pissed. Then she gave me Kinder flavor after I asked for Nutella and I went back and made her change it. Ha. I called Mia since I was so close by and met up with her at the apartment. We randomly decided her garden needed some tending to since it was covered in cigarette butts and smelled horrendously like cat pee, and began cleaning up all the garbage back there. We also ripped out all the weeds, made a new path around the center, cleaned off the stones, and made it look amazing. We felt pretty good afterward for cleaning up our little portion of the environment! Then we went to Standa (her market) and got food for late lunch. We made pasta with eggplant and mushrooms but I didn't care for it much :( Then I met up with Renee for dinner at her apartment and I made AMAZING hamburgers. It was sooooo good to have meat! Her apartment was also very cute and I was jealous of it! We chatted for a while and I left around 12 or 12:30 and headed home after an unexpectedly fun and adventurous day.
Monday, Jan. 26- From my scribbled notes from which I am relaying my memory to this page, it rained "like a mofo" on Monday. I had Italian class and then met up with Mia afterward when the rain slowed down. We walked all the way from school to Trastevere (about a 30+ minute walk) and took some great pictures along the Tiber. The walk was a lot of fun and we saw some amusing things: nuns, capsized boats, homeless men under the bridges, children ice skating near Castle San Angelo where they also played mine and Roger's song "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" which I videotaped on my camera, etc. We went to Santa Maria in Trastevere and went into the church which was HUGE and beautiful. We loved it so much that we both gave small contributions and lit candles there. We took some photos and moved on, where I went back to the little perfume store I found on my first adventure there alone. I bought my mom (and for myself to share) an amazing bottle of Rose perfume from Gras, France (known for perfume making...watch "Perfume: Story of A Murderer"...one of my favs!) Then we looked into tourist stores, walked over some bridges, saw Tiberina Island (which used to be a Roman trading post in the middle of the Tiber River), and walked over to the Jewish ghetto to find my chocolate ricotta torte (and I found the place and they were all out!!!! UGH!). We also went into a cheapo store there and bought folders for school. The cute cafe I went to alone was closed so we searched for dinner and went back over near Sta. Maria to a cafe where we sat outside and had HUGE pizzas which only cost 2 and 5 euro, and we shared some delish wine and a piece of ricotta cheesecake with orange glaze on top (which I basically ate alone because Mia is allergic to orange rind). Then we headed home. What a fabulous day with my Fordham girl!
Tuesday, Jan. 27- In the morning I had my history of art in Rome class where we went to visit the Ara Pacis. It was very cool...an arch dedicated to Augustus and his victories. It's inside a VERY modern building designed by an architect in NY, and it really doesn't fit in with the city which was a very controversial issue when it was built. We also went to the Pantheon which was beyond belief. It was enormous and amazing and beautiful. They constructed the whole dome out of concrete in one piece! NUTS! After our on-site, I found Della Palma Gelateria known for it's zillion flavor choices (basically the Baskin Robins of Rome) and I promised my professor from Fordham, Professor Aronson (I know you're reading) that I would settle a battle between her and her friend about the best gelato in Rome by trying Della Palma and Giolitti (nearby). Della Palma was to DIEEE for. I got 4 flavors for about 2.50 euro (not terrible). They were each outrageous. I got some kind of vanilla with pistachio and chocolate brittle, panna cotta, rice pudding type flavor, and chocolate with almonds. I raved about it to all my friends...but I still have to try Giolitti to settle it. I went back to school for the rest of my classes and then went home and made a great dinner; gnocchi with mushrooms and proscuitto in a cheesy red sauce. Yum. I had leftovers!
Wednesday, Jan. 28- Photography class in the morning was great. The weather was again, gorgeous yet chilly. We went to the Colosseum for class and learned how to shoot photos with shallow depth of field (clear foreground, blurred background). We took some amazing shots of the Colosseum which is completely mind blowing. You step off the metro and BAM it's in your face! So AMAZING. I use that word a lot. But it's accurate. We walked around the area and took photos by the Forum Romanum and experimented, and then the teacher walked really fast while people were still intrigued and taking pictures and she lost about 5 of us. So we got to leave class like an hour early. Oh well. I got lost with my friend Gillian and we had lunch at Burger King which was fantastic! I had a crispy chicken sandwich and fries and a Coke. They also sell beer on tap...hilarious. I got a Burger King crown there but unfortunately it's not in Italian :( After classes I bought my train ticket for FIRENZE (Florence) for a trip Kellen and a bunch of other girls planned for us to go on.
Thursday, Jan. 29- I had my first Italian test! It went well...(since I'm writing afterward....I got an A!!!!...only 3 little mistakes). For my Italian Design class we had our on-site visit to an awesome little neighborhood called Quartiere Coppade where the architecture was fantastic...a mix of old and new, medieval, french, renaissance, etc. just beautiful. It was meant to be a middle class neighborhood back in the 1920's but now it's a rich suburban-ish area. I loved it there and it made me want to live in Rome forever! Ok..not forever but at least on holidays! I took the bus back toward "home" and got off at the rich and famous Via Veneto where known actors and actresses pranced around in the 1920's and 30's and so on. I walked into a book store and looked at 2 copies of Sex and the City, one in English and one in Italian and it reminded me of home, NY, and Rachel and I got very happy and excited. It kind of made my day! When I got home I made fresh bruschetta which was soooo delish and I had my leftover gnocchi. I passed out at around 10:30 to wake up for an extremely early train the next day to Florence!
Friday, Jan. 30- I woke up at 4 am and showered and finished packing to catch the train at Termini before 7 am. The trip to Florence included myself, Kellen, Ashley, Portia, Alyssa, Carey, Amanda, and Caitlin. I slept the whole way on our regional rail, 32 euro round trip, 4 hour each way train ride. It really wasn't bad at all! If we had taken the more expensive, faster train I wouldn't have had time to catch up on my Z's! So, it was a win win situation. When we went to find our hostel, the number didn't exist! Eventually we kept walking and found one that did, but it was an old theater. We walked in and up a few flights of stairs to find two lovely older Italian people who were renovating the place. We kinda crapped our pants. The rooms were tiny and the beds weren't made. It kind of smelled like urine. And there was paint everywhere. We kinda freaked but the couple was nice and sat us down. They only spoke Italian and in my very bad translation I had to explain to the girls that we weren't staying there and we'd be going somewhere else. About 15 minutes later and man came for us and walked us over to our actual hostel...it was right off the river! We had 2 private rooms, one for 3 people and one for 5 and they were very spacious and clean. There were 3 shared bathrooms with 2 working showers which were fairly clean but the floors were DISGUSTING and I forgot my flip flips (well...rather I couldn't fit them in my bag) and I had to put one of my shirts on the floor to stand on when I got out of the shower. But not a bad deal for 13 euro= $15 a night. It served its purpose well and there were men there all night making sure all was well and safe. After putting down our things, we ventured out to get some gelato (I had coconut and strawberry)...the gelato looks so much prettier in Florence! Then we went to the Ponte Vecchio and took some pictures. Perfect. We walked along the bridge and Portia and I met a guy from Algeria named Ali (who I called Ali Baba) and he laughed and he looked a lotttt like Wilmer Valderama. Funnyyyy. We told him and some older Italian man next to us but neither of them recognized his name. Then we grabbed some paninis and sat down in Piazza Signoria to eat. We wandered around and then went to the Uffizi gallery for a few hours where we saw some famous art by Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Rembrandt etc. They all kind of looked the same after a while though :( Then we went back to the hostel to nap and I didn't sleep. We then went searching for dinner but EVERYTHING was practically closed. Finally we found a cute place where we had a 4 course meal, and shared 2 bottles of wine and 4 bottles of water for only 18.75 euro per person. Not bad. The food was delish. I had a ricotta and spinach pasta, then a breaded veal chop which they called "Scallops milanese" which was SOOOO misleading ahahah and french fries...and then we had nasty caramel creme things (like flan) for desert and sweet pears. Overall a great first day in the glorious, gorgeous Firenze!
Saturday, Jan. 31- In the morning we got up a little late (around 10) and split up the group. Kellen, Ashley, Portia, Alyssa and myself headed out for breakfast where we had fresh waffles with gelato which we had drooled over seeing the day before. They were mouth watering sugary goodness. I had mine topped with Nutella flavor and Crema flavor. Then we headed to the leather market. On the way we saw a man painting a giant painting onto the street which was beautiful, and we stopped to admire a puppeteer entertaining little kids and people of all ages with a dancing clown puppet to Italian music. It was great! Finally we spent loads of money where I bought myself a 21st birthday gift, a gorgeous leather purse and a matching wallet, and I got a great wallet for my mom too. Then we went to Brunalleschi's Duomo and climbed to the tippy top. 463 stairs, panting, sweating, burning legs,a pounding head, and a near-heart attack later, I was standing above Florence admiring the breathtaking views of the city and its countryside. It was one of the best things I have ever done or seen in my short 21 years of life. We took beautiful photos and then we got well needed water and lunch. Then we headed to the Accademia to see the statue of David which was unbelievable. Though I've seen it before when I was in Florence with mom, this time it was more spectacular without the scaffolding! He's way bigger than I remember. I took some illegal pictures and we admired the statue for a good while before returning to the hostel for another mid-afternoon nap. I, again, didn't sleep. We decided to go out for dinner at a nearby lounge called Moyo where I had a frozen margarita and a free buffet dinner or different pastas, rices, couscous, and a giant salad. So worth it! We met up with my neighbor Jane and her friends Dan, Dave and Dave (yes 2 Daves) who we had ran into earlier in the day and went to a karaoke bar/pub down the block. It was so much fun! There was a Contiki tour of Australians there who were drunk and hilarious, and one American was on the trip with them who danced with Jane quite a bit. I got hit on by some skeezball who kept telling me I was sexy and beautiful and that he liked my eyes and he tried convincing me Roger was cheating on me at home when I told him I had a boyfriend. Certainly not the right way to attract a woman nor a bright way to get any girl to cheat on her boyfriend! Schmuck! After being nice to him and dealing with his annoying comments and stupid friends, I finally walked away and stayed away. We all danced and had a good time, and the girls sang some good songs like "Piano Man", some Britney songs, and "American Boy" among a ton of others. Then the other girls met some Italian men they wanted to go out with, so we followed along to another bar, and then a club. Portia and I decided to leave and went back to the hostel, and about 20 minutes after we got in bed the other girls came back. They didn't end up liking the guys. Oh well. We slept well for the most part after the loud drunkenness was over.
Sunday, Feb 1- We woke up early for a morning train around 11 am back to Roma. Again, I slept all the way. I hung out the rest of the afternoon and night at the residence and Kellen and Lauren went to see the Superbowl at the Hard Rock Caffe. I went to bed.
Monday, Feb. 2- I had Italian class in the afternoon and basically just hung out the rest of the day not doing much at all.
Tuesday, Feb. 3- I had my art history class and we went to the Campidoglio on top of Capitoline Hill which was designed by Michaelangelo. We went to the Musei Capitolini and of course our entrance fee was jacked up because of a show they had going on which we didn't get to see, as usual. I pissed off my teacher too when he gave me money back in change (50 cents, 10 and 20 cents) and I asked him for whole euros. He had an attitude about it, told me he was trying to make things simpler and bitchily asked me if the change was "going to weigh down my bag or something." Yes, it was. He can suck it. And he gave me the money I wanted anyway. Then I had Italian class where Christiano taught us how to say SHIT! (as in, damnit, SHIT!) It was quite funny...we also learned "Che cazzo fai?" which means "What the fuck do you want?" Way to teach us all the good stuff! Then I had boring art history lecture and my design class where we watched a movie about Mussolini's Rome, his plan for a modern city, which we'll be visiting on Thursday for our excursion. It's supposed to be awesome. Then I ran into Lauren and Renee and was asked to dinner at Renee's. We went around 9 pm and had some great pasta with spicy meat sauce with mushrooms with a side of spinach, great red wine from Lauren, and fresh rolls with spiced oil. A great meal was had, and we watched The Simpsons in the background to get an American feel. We all miss TV and the media and music and news...A LOT! Then we came home and I went to sleep a bit late after taking a while to upload my photos for class.
Wednesday, Feb. 4- TODAYYYYYY!!!! Today I had photo class in the morning but we didn't go out :( We critiqued each others photos which was boring and took forever. I had a break and then had Italian. After classes I went to the computer lab and later came back and wandered around Via Candia. I got Roger a few mini goodies that I'm going to try and send for Valentine's Day! And now, I'm finishing up this blog and hoping to go for pizza in Trastevere or near by. I'm starved! I hope you enjoyed this enormous post. I will update mroe often...sorry!
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