so sorry my b i havent updated this in quite a while, but i dont have time unfort. i'm on my pausa and today it was raining/there was a sciopero for the buses and trams. i've been here since 9:30 and i've been writing my theo paper all day i want to kill myself. my presentation is due tomorrow fun fun.
and i'm leaving for tuscany this weekend with the crew so i'm totally excitedddd.
we're going to be under the tuscan sun ahhhh.
and we're going to a castle built near vineyards for some wine tasting.
be jealous.
i promise i'll update when i get back. ;)
ciao ciao bellas. ♥
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
il fine settimana.
so here's a rundown of one of the few weekends i will have here in rome.
friday night mario let us out 15 min early from italiano which was sooo nice, because we had our trip to testaccio that night. so we got home early and i got ready to go to the discoteca with the girls. j9 decided not to go because she's a poop, but it's all good. anyway, we met up at pyramide and then walked to testaccio with silvia and like 20 italiaidea people. we were a loud and massive group of americans lol. the club was called l'alibi, and it was totally awesome! it was an outdoor discoteca, so you walk up these stairs and you look and it's all open. there are various little canopies on each side of the walkway where you can sit and just watch or lounge around and whatever, and then in the center is this disco-style dance floor in the shape of a square with the dj right at the edge. if you keep walking the bar is all the way in the back corner.
anyway, we got there "fairly early" for italians - about 11:30. it was a bit empty then except for us, so while we waited for the party to start we hit up the bar for a while. drinks were a bit expensive, so we all got either one or two. at first the dj was playing weird music and we weren't into it, but then he started playing american music and we went crazy. we ran to the dance floor and danced like mad (well, at least i did lol). they played sexy back, black eyed peas, pcd, and all this awesome house music. it was soooo great! i got hit on by about 6 italians in a matter of a half hour, no joke, and i danced with a few cuties at first but then got bored with them lol. guess nobody can keep up. dan, manny, and alex were pimpin it like whoa, it was hysterical. we basically made lots of loyola sandwiches haha. natalia and i were the apparent choices for these sandwiches lol. it was also alex's 21st birthday so we celebrated a little there. some people left at like 2:30, which was still really early, according to italians, especially because we really didn't start dancing until 12:30 1oclock. however, the rest of us stayed much later, and i didnt get home until 5:30am. lol. i know i'm such a badass. i wasnt even tired by then - i wanted to keep going. but a whole bunch of the crew were leaving for firenze the next morning at like 7 so they needed to go home, even if they weren't going to sleep beforehand. i walked in on colli and i really had to go to the bagno, which is in j9's room, and apparently she was awake bc she was gonna get up at 6 to do homework, so it was really funny that i was getting home just as she was waking up. lol.
anyway, i attempted to sleep a little on sunday because i was so dead but i pushed myself to get up at noon so i could at least get some stuff done. i ate lots of gelato and an amazing cornetto and capuccino at innocente lol. i did a litle of my philo paper, but then i randomly got an internet connection from someone's wireless, so j9 and i skyped mary and clarice for an hour, then skyped amahnd, hannah, and finally dani. it was great talking to them - i miss them so much!! and it was so nice to actually hear their voices, especially because its so hard to call with the time difference and the expensiveness of the dumb phone companies. clarice and mary booked their flights and what not so theyre officially visiting rome the second weekend of october!! im so exciteddd! =)
j9 and i then went to dinner down the block at il caminetto and i had amazing spinach and ricotta ravioli, and even more amazing red wine. i wound up getting myself a small little bottle of it to go, and i drank the chianti at home while writing my philo paper. it was a glorious endeavor. i actually made sense and came up with some excellent ideas. thank you chianti! haha. anyway, then sunday came around and i did lots more paper writing and reading and fun stuff like that. woohoo. j9 and i went to caminetto again for dinner, except this time i had stuffed zucchini and meatballs and it was pretty good too. j9 and i split another half bottle of wine (she actually likes it!) and then i finished up some more at home so i could finish my philo paper. when i woke up this morning and read my paper i was actually a bit impressed with what i wrote after the chianti lol. guess this will become a fave practice of mine if i still have problems with philosophy paper writing haha.
okay that's basically it. even though i did work all weekend it wasnt so bad. i enjoyed myself while doing it lol. more updates to come this week.
ciao ciao loves ♥
friday night mario let us out 15 min early from italiano which was sooo nice, because we had our trip to testaccio that night. so we got home early and i got ready to go to the discoteca with the girls. j9 decided not to go because she's a poop, but it's all good. anyway, we met up at pyramide and then walked to testaccio with silvia and like 20 italiaidea people. we were a loud and massive group of americans lol. the club was called l'alibi, and it was totally awesome! it was an outdoor discoteca, so you walk up these stairs and you look and it's all open. there are various little canopies on each side of the walkway where you can sit and just watch or lounge around and whatever, and then in the center is this disco-style dance floor in the shape of a square with the dj right at the edge. if you keep walking the bar is all the way in the back corner.
anyway, we got there "fairly early" for italians - about 11:30. it was a bit empty then except for us, so while we waited for the party to start we hit up the bar for a while. drinks were a bit expensive, so we all got either one or two. at first the dj was playing weird music and we weren't into it, but then he started playing american music and we went crazy. we ran to the dance floor and danced like mad (well, at least i did lol). they played sexy back, black eyed peas, pcd, and all this awesome house music. it was soooo great! i got hit on by about 6 italians in a matter of a half hour, no joke, and i danced with a few cuties at first but then got bored with them lol. guess nobody can keep up. dan, manny, and alex were pimpin it like whoa, it was hysterical. we basically made lots of loyola sandwiches haha. natalia and i were the apparent choices for these sandwiches lol. it was also alex's 21st birthday so we celebrated a little there. some people left at like 2:30, which was still really early, according to italians, especially because we really didn't start dancing until 12:30 1oclock. however, the rest of us stayed much later, and i didnt get home until 5:30am. lol. i know i'm such a badass. i wasnt even tired by then - i wanted to keep going. but a whole bunch of the crew were leaving for firenze the next morning at like 7 so they needed to go home, even if they weren't going to sleep beforehand. i walked in on colli and i really had to go to the bagno, which is in j9's room, and apparently she was awake bc she was gonna get up at 6 to do homework, so it was really funny that i was getting home just as she was waking up. lol.
anyway, i attempted to sleep a little on sunday because i was so dead but i pushed myself to get up at noon so i could at least get some stuff done. i ate lots of gelato and an amazing cornetto and capuccino at innocente lol. i did a litle of my philo paper, but then i randomly got an internet connection from someone's wireless, so j9 and i skyped mary and clarice for an hour, then skyped amahnd, hannah, and finally dani. it was great talking to them - i miss them so much!! and it was so nice to actually hear their voices, especially because its so hard to call with the time difference and the expensiveness of the dumb phone companies. clarice and mary booked their flights and what not so theyre officially visiting rome the second weekend of october!! im so exciteddd! =)
j9 and i then went to dinner down the block at il caminetto and i had amazing spinach and ricotta ravioli, and even more amazing red wine. i wound up getting myself a small little bottle of it to go, and i drank the chianti at home while writing my philo paper. it was a glorious endeavor. i actually made sense and came up with some excellent ideas. thank you chianti! haha. anyway, then sunday came around and i did lots more paper writing and reading and fun stuff like that. woohoo. j9 and i went to caminetto again for dinner, except this time i had stuffed zucchini and meatballs and it was pretty good too. j9 and i split another half bottle of wine (she actually likes it!) and then i finished up some more at home so i could finish my philo paper. when i woke up this morning and read my paper i was actually a bit impressed with what i wrote after the chianti lol. guess this will become a fave practice of mine if i still have problems with philosophy paper writing haha.
okay that's basically it. even though i did work all weekend it wasnt so bad. i enjoyed myself while doing it lol. more updates to come this week.
ciao ciao loves ♥
Friday, September 21, 2007
smack that, all on the floor ..
a little update on my life this week ..
wednesday i had philosophy and i still don't understand a word of aristotle. we have a huge paper due next wednesday on our own philosophy of God and whether aristotle or plato supports our argument. say wha? i have to come up with my own philosophy of God? mmhm yea sure. okay. and its 3 pages single spaced size 10. hahahaha he must be out of his flippin mind.
thursday was a really long day. we had theo in the morning and we went to the basilica di san paolo which was gorgeous. then we went to santa cecilia and then santa maria in trastevere. lot of church action going on. theology def is the class i don't enjoy as much as the others, partly because we never get out on time and we always get left somewhere so by the time we get back to spagna its like 2 oclock. gross. plus he throws so much info at us throughout the class and i have no idea what is important and what he wants us to know so i write so much and i dont understand any of my notes. they go from the bible to architecture to martyrs to letters to i dont even know what. its a mess. ick.
anyways, so i started my new italian class this week and its sooo much better than the last one. mario is the shit. i love him. he's so much fun and he's so cute! he's always saying "oh jesu!" and "coraggio!" lol. the class is definitely starting to get difficult, but i'd rather have it that way then not learn anything new. i don't mind it so much. i just hope my finals arent too hard.
ohh fun stuff happened today. randomly as i was reading plotinus this morning in my room janine comes running in and she goes "anna! come in my room for a sec!" so i was like um okay sure. i walk into her room and she asks me to listen out the window. and wouldn't you know it there was a car down on the street near the garage that was blasting "smack that"! we were laughing for a good 15 mins after that because we didnt think anybody here knew that song, let along actually listened to american rap. it was totally awesome. then, at 11am, because we're ridiculous, we went over to tony's for gelato. we wound up meeting the two brothers that own the place - marco and walter - and now we're bff's with them lol. i knew they would wind up being friends with us bc we're always in there. walter told us to come back tonight before we go out and then again tomorrow, and i wouldnt be surprised if we actually do. hahaha. i tried a new flavor too today, meringa, and it might be my new favorite flavor!! i'm not exactly sure what's in it (looked like marshmellows, chocolate, and caramel) but its soooo yummy!! =)
this weekend isnt going to be much fun for me. i have my huge theo paper due next week as well as my presentation for that class and my philo paper on plato and aristotle. fun times. tonight though we're all going out to a discoteca in testaccio (finally!) so that should be a good time. if only i could figure out what to wear ..
okay i better go do some work. later ciao!!
wednesday i had philosophy and i still don't understand a word of aristotle. we have a huge paper due next wednesday on our own philosophy of God and whether aristotle or plato supports our argument. say wha? i have to come up with my own philosophy of God? mmhm yea sure. okay. and its 3 pages single spaced size 10. hahahaha he must be out of his flippin mind.
thursday was a really long day. we had theo in the morning and we went to the basilica di san paolo which was gorgeous. then we went to santa cecilia and then santa maria in trastevere. lot of church action going on. theology def is the class i don't enjoy as much as the others, partly because we never get out on time and we always get left somewhere so by the time we get back to spagna its like 2 oclock. gross. plus he throws so much info at us throughout the class and i have no idea what is important and what he wants us to know so i write so much and i dont understand any of my notes. they go from the bible to architecture to martyrs to letters to i dont even know what. its a mess. ick.
anyways, so i started my new italian class this week and its sooo much better than the last one. mario is the shit. i love him. he's so much fun and he's so cute! he's always saying "oh jesu!" and "coraggio!" lol. the class is definitely starting to get difficult, but i'd rather have it that way then not learn anything new. i don't mind it so much. i just hope my finals arent too hard.
ohh fun stuff happened today. randomly as i was reading plotinus this morning in my room janine comes running in and she goes "anna! come in my room for a sec!" so i was like um okay sure. i walk into her room and she asks me to listen out the window. and wouldn't you know it there was a car down on the street near the garage that was blasting "smack that"! we were laughing for a good 15 mins after that because we didnt think anybody here knew that song, let along actually listened to american rap. it was totally awesome. then, at 11am, because we're ridiculous, we went over to tony's for gelato. we wound up meeting the two brothers that own the place - marco and walter - and now we're bff's with them lol. i knew they would wind up being friends with us bc we're always in there. walter told us to come back tonight before we go out and then again tomorrow, and i wouldnt be surprised if we actually do. hahaha. i tried a new flavor too today, meringa, and it might be my new favorite flavor!! i'm not exactly sure what's in it (looked like marshmellows, chocolate, and caramel) but its soooo yummy!! =)
this weekend isnt going to be much fun for me. i have my huge theo paper due next week as well as my presentation for that class and my philo paper on plato and aristotle. fun times. tonight though we're all going out to a discoteca in testaccio (finally!) so that should be a good time. if only i could figure out what to wear ..
okay i better go do some work. later ciao!!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
il paradiso.
wow. what an amazing weekend.
so laura, jessie, j9 and i travelled to amalfi and then to capri last weekend. and i had such a great time. it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. i want to go back sooooo badly. i can't even begin to describe what i saw because i can just never explain it. you just have to be there to see it, because my words and my pictures definitely don't do it justice. but i'll try to recount everything as best as i can ..
so saturday morning we woke up at 5am and headed to termini to meet jess and laura for the train. the train left at 7:45am. we met other rome program peeps at the station (cristina, alex, drew, rachel, amy, christina and abbey) who were going to amalfi also and actualy staying in the same hostel as us. so we all took the train to salerno. the girls all fell asleep for most of the ride while i stayed up and watched the landscape pass by. we went through lots of countryside and farm areas which was kind of cool. i saw some sheep and buffalo lol. anywhoot, we finally make it to salerno at around 10:30 where all of us meet up with daniela, emma, and felicia. we all wait for the SITA bus that will take us to amalfi. we all get on and head for the coast. salerno was really pretty - def a typical italian town. everyone hung their clothes out on the front to dry which is funny, and the buildings were really bright and lively looking. it was cool. the roads on the cliffs were mad curvy and windy, and the bus definitely did not handle them very well, so i got nauseous on the ride there. it was the longest bus ride of my life. i felt awful. and i missed a lot of the good views because i didn't want to move for fear of getting really sick. finally we make it to atrani, and i had never been so happy to be not moving. it was glorious. atrani was the town we were staying in, and it's like a 5 min walk away from the town of amalfi. we go to our hostel and the staff is really nice. we walk to our room and we had to climb all these stairs and through these really narrow random alleyways and streets. it was so cute. the room was actually really nice for 30 euro a night. our bathroom had the shower right next to the toilet, which was a fun adventure that night.
after settling in we went to lunch in piazza umberto. i had such yummy gnocchi! and then we got limoncello shots for free after lunch. amalfi is known for its limoncello and other lemon products, so we all took the shot. j9, jess and laura all didnt like it. i loved it. it was sooo good! it was really strong though, so i didnt finish it, but it was definitely yummy. then after lunch we went to the beach and just sat there all afternoon. we took lots of pictures of the cliffs and the mountains and the view of the ocean. it was gorgeous. the beach was interesting because apparently the coast doesnt do sand so well. the "sand" was kinda blackish with some rocks and terracotta. it was hard to walk on sometimes but it was stil gorgeous. the water was so clear and warm and i loved swimming in it.
then we all went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the night. laura and jess went to the chapel for a small church mass and j9 and i got ready for dinner. we went back to the piazza to see if we could find out how we could get to amalfi for dinner and we saw the other crew chilling where we had lunch. apparently it was happy hour so they were having drinks before they were going to dinner. all cocktails were 3 euro, so we stayed for one round of champagne and wine and whatnot so we could figure out how to get to amalfi. j9 had a rossini, again lol. laura had champagne with some kind of juice i forgot which, and jess had champagne with pineapple juice, which i tried and it was really good. i, however, had the BEST DRINK EVER. i ordered a nutella daquiri, which has milk, nutella, and rum. oh my god it was the best thing i have ever tasted. it was just like a chocolate milkshake!! it was so sweet and so chocolately and now i really need to find myself another one or a place up here that makes it bc its so goooood! ahhh i miss it already lol.
after we finished our drinks we went up to the main road and walked to amalfi, which literally took like two minutes. we made our way around this one bend and all of a sudden we all gasped at the same time. the view was so beautiful. the lights of amalfi were shining so bright and glittering off the water. it was amazing. i wish my camera could have really captured everything but the stupid flash kept messing up the lights. anyway, we walked down the road and every five minutes i heard "oh my gosh!" "gorgeous!" "this is soo amazing!". we make it to the actual town and it is just so adorable. the roads are so tiny and the cafes and bars are all open. people and families and children are all walking around. it was so cute. we found a fancy place to have dinner where we sat outside with a view of the ocean. it was so perfect. we ordered some red wine with dinner and had amazing seafood. i has spaghetti alla tarantina, which is spaghetti with mussels. they were so incredibly delicious!! jess had the same thing, and laura and j9 had gamberoni with pasta. all in all it was a successful dining experience. for dessert we hit up a gelateria and got some gelato and a bottle of wine. i got straciatella, as always, and we went to the dock and sat down and just stared out at the ocean for a while. we shared the wine and finished our gelato and just enjoyed the view for the night. it was such an amazing experience.
the next morning (sunday) we woke up really early and got breakfast from a scalinatella because it was included in our price. and it was sooo yummy! my cappucino had a smiley face in it lol. it was really cute. then we checked out and made our way back to amalfi while the sun was rising over the water. it was so pretty! we get to the dock and buy tickets for the boat to capri because we wanted to spend the day there. the boat ride was an hour long, and we got to see positano on the way there which was really cool. the city was very bright colored and built up. i would like to go visit there sometime in the future because it looks fun. anyway, we get to capri around 9:45 and it was soooo gorgeous! the water was sooo bluee and sparkly!! we then took another boat (i know, we love the navi around here) to get to la grotta azzurra. it was kind of expensive, but we knew it was going to be. once we got to the cave we had to jump onto these little tiny rowboats to get inside. mind you, i had my huge ass kipley duffel i just bought and it was heavy. i dont know how on earth the four of us fit in the boat but we did. we had to lean back and basically lay down in the boat in order to get in the cave because the opening was so tiny. but when we got in there it was just so amazing. the water is so breathtakingly blue, apparently because of the way the sunlight reflects off the rocks and hits the water. but it was gorgeous. we unfortunately thought the cave was bigger and sooner than we knew it we were back outside in the mediterranean. i wish the tour was longer than like a minute, but i'm really glad i got to see it because its so beautiful.
we took the boat back to capri and hung out and the beach basically for the rest of the afternoon. the beach at capri was obviously not really a beach but more of a huge collection of baseball sized rocks. it was really hard to lay on but we got used to it. it was definitely more difficult to walk on without shoes, especially when you tried to go into the ocean, but once you got past a certain point the floor was smooth so it was all good. laura and i swam to a rock jetty and climbed up on some rocks to check out the view, which was naturally awesome and gorgeous. i sat up there for a while just taking it all in and thinking about stuff. it was really nice, and really relaxing.
then before we knew it it was 4 oclock and so we headed back to the harbor to catch our boat ride home. it was a little longer than the first one, but we got back to amalfi at around a quarter to 6. we caught the SITA bus at 6 so we figured we were safe. our train was leaving at 7:20, so we'd have 20 minutes to spare. it was timed so perfectly. however, things went downhill from there. i didnt get sick this time, thank god, because i OD'ed on dramamine beforehand. but the bus was terrible. he kept stopping at random curves on the edges of cliffs and he took FOREVER to get to the station. it wound up taking us an hour and a half to get to salerno. so we got to the train station at 7:30, a mere 10 MINUTES after our train left. we were so pissed. so we tried to go up to the teller to ask if we could just change our tickets and he was really mean and said absolutely not bc we bought them online. so he told us to call this number to change oru reservation so we could get home. we call up the number, and besides the fact that the woman was as dumb as a doorknob it took her like 20 mins to write down and comprehend our confirmation number. after another 10 mins on the phone she tells us she can't help us and that we have to go to someone in person to change our train. what the hell. by now its almost 8 oclock and we're all freaking out because we don't know how we're gonna get home. we decide to just buy a whole new set of tickets for the direct train to termini at 8:42, but we find out the train is completely sold out. freak out number 2. the next train to termini? at 2:58am, putting us as getting in at 6:17am. freak out number 3. by now i'm basically hyperventilating internally because i most definitely did not want to wait until 3am, four girls alone, for our train in a town we don't know. we called ddv and he told us to relax and take it easy bc everything would be okay. he told us to go up to the conductor of the full train to see if he could let us on. so at 8:42 we head up to the platform, plead our case and basically beg the conductor to let us on the train. he says we can go on, but we have to pay 212 euro for changing fees and the fee to get on a crowded eurostar (the most expensive train you can take here). the girls didnt want to pay, especially because the 3am train was 16 euro each, but i said absolutely not and bought the tickets on my card. we made it on the train in the silent car, where there were actually 4 seats free which was nice so we didnt have to stand the whole time. our freak out was basically over and i slept the whole ride home. j9 and laura wrote the conductor a thank you note in italian on a postcard and gave it to him which was pretty hilarious. "thank you for letting us on your train. it was nice of you. we really like this train. you are our favorite man of the train. grazie. ciao." lmao. we wound up getting into termini only a half hour later than we were supposed to, which wasnt bad at all. dawson told us which bus we had to take home, the ma2, which was fine. we took it with laura to ville aurelia and then just took a cab to colli. i was so glad to be home.
so that was my amazing and intense weekend. it was definitely an adventure i'll never forget. and it really made me realize how lucky i am to be here for a semester. i get to do all of these things and see all these places. no one has it better than me. i'm so grateful that my parents let me come here and i'm so glad i made time in my schedule to study here, because i really feel like it was the best decision of my life. i may have only been here for two weeks, but everything has just been so amazing. i'm learning so much about history and the city but most importantly about myself. i'm gaining more confidence in my speaking italian and i'm learning to relax and not be so uptight about everything. because things don't always turn out exactly how you want them and how you plan them, and that's okay. you'll recover. it's not the end of the world if you miss a train. and it's okay to get lost, because that's how you learn to make your way around. its part of the experience. and i'm loving every single minute of it.
okay, dan is basically telling me that i've been writing on this for forever and it looks like a term paper, so i'm going to shut up now. i'll enjoy my little nutella to go and start writing my theo paper.
ciao a tutti! tanti baci <3
so laura, jessie, j9 and i travelled to amalfi and then to capri last weekend. and i had such a great time. it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. i want to go back sooooo badly. i can't even begin to describe what i saw because i can just never explain it. you just have to be there to see it, because my words and my pictures definitely don't do it justice. but i'll try to recount everything as best as i can ..
so saturday morning we woke up at 5am and headed to termini to meet jess and laura for the train. the train left at 7:45am. we met other rome program peeps at the station (cristina, alex, drew, rachel, amy, christina and abbey) who were going to amalfi also and actualy staying in the same hostel as us. so we all took the train to salerno. the girls all fell asleep for most of the ride while i stayed up and watched the landscape pass by. we went through lots of countryside and farm areas which was kind of cool. i saw some sheep and buffalo lol. anywhoot, we finally make it to salerno at around 10:30 where all of us meet up with daniela, emma, and felicia. we all wait for the SITA bus that will take us to amalfi. we all get on and head for the coast. salerno was really pretty - def a typical italian town. everyone hung their clothes out on the front to dry which is funny, and the buildings were really bright and lively looking. it was cool. the roads on the cliffs were mad curvy and windy, and the bus definitely did not handle them very well, so i got nauseous on the ride there. it was the longest bus ride of my life. i felt awful. and i missed a lot of the good views because i didn't want to move for fear of getting really sick. finally we make it to atrani, and i had never been so happy to be not moving. it was glorious. atrani was the town we were staying in, and it's like a 5 min walk away from the town of amalfi. we go to our hostel and the staff is really nice. we walk to our room and we had to climb all these stairs and through these really narrow random alleyways and streets. it was so cute. the room was actually really nice for 30 euro a night. our bathroom had the shower right next to the toilet, which was a fun adventure that night.
after settling in we went to lunch in piazza umberto. i had such yummy gnocchi! and then we got limoncello shots for free after lunch. amalfi is known for its limoncello and other lemon products, so we all took the shot. j9, jess and laura all didnt like it. i loved it. it was sooo good! it was really strong though, so i didnt finish it, but it was definitely yummy. then after lunch we went to the beach and just sat there all afternoon. we took lots of pictures of the cliffs and the mountains and the view of the ocean. it was gorgeous. the beach was interesting because apparently the coast doesnt do sand so well. the "sand" was kinda blackish with some rocks and terracotta. it was hard to walk on sometimes but it was stil gorgeous. the water was so clear and warm and i loved swimming in it.
then we all went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the night. laura and jess went to the chapel for a small church mass and j9 and i got ready for dinner. we went back to the piazza to see if we could find out how we could get to amalfi for dinner and we saw the other crew chilling where we had lunch. apparently it was happy hour so they were having drinks before they were going to dinner. all cocktails were 3 euro, so we stayed for one round of champagne and wine and whatnot so we could figure out how to get to amalfi. j9 had a rossini, again lol. laura had champagne with some kind of juice i forgot which, and jess had champagne with pineapple juice, which i tried and it was really good. i, however, had the BEST DRINK EVER. i ordered a nutella daquiri, which has milk, nutella, and rum. oh my god it was the best thing i have ever tasted. it was just like a chocolate milkshake!! it was so sweet and so chocolately and now i really need to find myself another one or a place up here that makes it bc its so goooood! ahhh i miss it already lol.
after we finished our drinks we went up to the main road and walked to amalfi, which literally took like two minutes. we made our way around this one bend and all of a sudden we all gasped at the same time. the view was so beautiful. the lights of amalfi were shining so bright and glittering off the water. it was amazing. i wish my camera could have really captured everything but the stupid flash kept messing up the lights. anyway, we walked down the road and every five minutes i heard "oh my gosh!" "gorgeous!" "this is soo amazing!". we make it to the actual town and it is just so adorable. the roads are so tiny and the cafes and bars are all open. people and families and children are all walking around. it was so cute. we found a fancy place to have dinner where we sat outside with a view of the ocean. it was so perfect. we ordered some red wine with dinner and had amazing seafood. i has spaghetti alla tarantina, which is spaghetti with mussels. they were so incredibly delicious!! jess had the same thing, and laura and j9 had gamberoni with pasta. all in all it was a successful dining experience. for dessert we hit up a gelateria and got some gelato and a bottle of wine. i got straciatella, as always, and we went to the dock and sat down and just stared out at the ocean for a while. we shared the wine and finished our gelato and just enjoyed the view for the night. it was such an amazing experience.
the next morning (sunday) we woke up really early and got breakfast from a scalinatella because it was included in our price. and it was sooo yummy! my cappucino had a smiley face in it lol. it was really cute. then we checked out and made our way back to amalfi while the sun was rising over the water. it was so pretty! we get to the dock and buy tickets for the boat to capri because we wanted to spend the day there. the boat ride was an hour long, and we got to see positano on the way there which was really cool. the city was very bright colored and built up. i would like to go visit there sometime in the future because it looks fun. anyway, we get to capri around 9:45 and it was soooo gorgeous! the water was sooo bluee and sparkly!! we then took another boat (i know, we love the navi around here) to get to la grotta azzurra. it was kind of expensive, but we knew it was going to be. once we got to the cave we had to jump onto these little tiny rowboats to get inside. mind you, i had my huge ass kipley duffel i just bought and it was heavy. i dont know how on earth the four of us fit in the boat but we did. we had to lean back and basically lay down in the boat in order to get in the cave because the opening was so tiny. but when we got in there it was just so amazing. the water is so breathtakingly blue, apparently because of the way the sunlight reflects off the rocks and hits the water. but it was gorgeous. we unfortunately thought the cave was bigger and sooner than we knew it we were back outside in the mediterranean. i wish the tour was longer than like a minute, but i'm really glad i got to see it because its so beautiful.
we took the boat back to capri and hung out and the beach basically for the rest of the afternoon. the beach at capri was obviously not really a beach but more of a huge collection of baseball sized rocks. it was really hard to lay on but we got used to it. it was definitely more difficult to walk on without shoes, especially when you tried to go into the ocean, but once you got past a certain point the floor was smooth so it was all good. laura and i swam to a rock jetty and climbed up on some rocks to check out the view, which was naturally awesome and gorgeous. i sat up there for a while just taking it all in and thinking about stuff. it was really nice, and really relaxing.
then before we knew it it was 4 oclock and so we headed back to the harbor to catch our boat ride home. it was a little longer than the first one, but we got back to amalfi at around a quarter to 6. we caught the SITA bus at 6 so we figured we were safe. our train was leaving at 7:20, so we'd have 20 minutes to spare. it was timed so perfectly. however, things went downhill from there. i didnt get sick this time, thank god, because i OD'ed on dramamine beforehand. but the bus was terrible. he kept stopping at random curves on the edges of cliffs and he took FOREVER to get to the station. it wound up taking us an hour and a half to get to salerno. so we got to the train station at 7:30, a mere 10 MINUTES after our train left. we were so pissed. so we tried to go up to the teller to ask if we could just change our tickets and he was really mean and said absolutely not bc we bought them online. so he told us to call this number to change oru reservation so we could get home. we call up the number, and besides the fact that the woman was as dumb as a doorknob it took her like 20 mins to write down and comprehend our confirmation number. after another 10 mins on the phone she tells us she can't help us and that we have to go to someone in person to change our train. what the hell. by now its almost 8 oclock and we're all freaking out because we don't know how we're gonna get home. we decide to just buy a whole new set of tickets for the direct train to termini at 8:42, but we find out the train is completely sold out. freak out number 2. the next train to termini? at 2:58am, putting us as getting in at 6:17am. freak out number 3. by now i'm basically hyperventilating internally because i most definitely did not want to wait until 3am, four girls alone, for our train in a town we don't know. we called ddv and he told us to relax and take it easy bc everything would be okay. he told us to go up to the conductor of the full train to see if he could let us on. so at 8:42 we head up to the platform, plead our case and basically beg the conductor to let us on the train. he says we can go on, but we have to pay 212 euro for changing fees and the fee to get on a crowded eurostar (the most expensive train you can take here). the girls didnt want to pay, especially because the 3am train was 16 euro each, but i said absolutely not and bought the tickets on my card. we made it on the train in the silent car, where there were actually 4 seats free which was nice so we didnt have to stand the whole time. our freak out was basically over and i slept the whole ride home. j9 and laura wrote the conductor a thank you note in italian on a postcard and gave it to him which was pretty hilarious. "thank you for letting us on your train. it was nice of you. we really like this train. you are our favorite man of the train. grazie. ciao." lmao. we wound up getting into termini only a half hour later than we were supposed to, which wasnt bad at all. dawson told us which bus we had to take home, the ma2, which was fine. we took it with laura to ville aurelia and then just took a cab to colli. i was so glad to be home.
so that was my amazing and intense weekend. it was definitely an adventure i'll never forget. and it really made me realize how lucky i am to be here for a semester. i get to do all of these things and see all these places. no one has it better than me. i'm so grateful that my parents let me come here and i'm so glad i made time in my schedule to study here, because i really feel like it was the best decision of my life. i may have only been here for two weeks, but everything has just been so amazing. i'm learning so much about history and the city but most importantly about myself. i'm gaining more confidence in my speaking italian and i'm learning to relax and not be so uptight about everything. because things don't always turn out exactly how you want them and how you plan them, and that's okay. you'll recover. it's not the end of the world if you miss a train. and it's okay to get lost, because that's how you learn to make your way around. its part of the experience. and i'm loving every single minute of it.
okay, dan is basically telling me that i've been writing on this for forever and it looks like a term paper, so i'm going to shut up now. i'll enjoy my little nutella to go and start writing my theo paper.
ciao a tutti! tanti baci <3
Friday, September 14, 2007
tony's gelateria = amazing.
so i lied. i didnt update yesterday. my b. i didnt bring massimo because i had theology in the morning and i didnt want to walk around with him. plus during the break i had to study for my italian midterm so i didnt really think it was necessary to cart mass here and back for that.
anywhoot, so yesterday morning for theology we went to the catacombs of san sebastian. it was sooooo cooool! they took us down under the ground in this barely lit cave looking thing. it was really cold and kind of creepy, but way cool to see all of the graves and inscriptions in the rock. there was a graffiti wall to peter and paul where people would carve in the wall prayers to the apostles during a time of crisis. i couldnt read what any of them said because they were in latin, obvi, but i recognized the names of peter and paul which was really cool to see. the church built over the catacombs had the body of st sebastian there and also the head of pope fabian, which is a little gross but whatever. apparently it was mad popular to decapitate the popes back in the day as a sign of respect. weird italians man.
i had my italian midterm yesterday afternoon and it wasn't too bad. i definitely think that it was challenging for the people in my class based on the level theyre at, but it was fine for me. i'm moving up to the next class on monday so hopefully we'll move a bit faster than this class. i mean, my teacher nadia is nice, but i mean come on now. how long can i possibly do the past tense? give me a break. but according to j9 we're basically learning the same thing but her class moves a bit faster and the people in the class have all taken italian before. so maybe i won't become as fluent as i want to be in italian, but hey at least i'll get an A in the class. guess that works.
this morning i woke up early to do some work because i didnt have class. i finally did my laundry (i know. its gross bc ive been here 2 weeks and didnt do it. whoops.) but boy was that an interesting affair. first off we're only allowed one load a week, which totally isnt happening. im def going to ask to pay for another because there's no way i can only do one a week. andd the washer machine is sooo tiny! i basically stuffed all my clothes in there.
okay i gotta head to italian class now. woohoo. learning the imperfetto. again. partayy.
butttttttttttt i'm going to amalfi tomorowwwww! yayyyyy!! and then capri on sundayyy!!
alright i'm outtie. i'll be back for an update after the weekend. ciao!!
anywhoot, so yesterday morning for theology we went to the catacombs of san sebastian. it was sooooo cooool! they took us down under the ground in this barely lit cave looking thing. it was really cold and kind of creepy, but way cool to see all of the graves and inscriptions in the rock. there was a graffiti wall to peter and paul where people would carve in the wall prayers to the apostles during a time of crisis. i couldnt read what any of them said because they were in latin, obvi, but i recognized the names of peter and paul which was really cool to see. the church built over the catacombs had the body of st sebastian there and also the head of pope fabian, which is a little gross but whatever. apparently it was mad popular to decapitate the popes back in the day as a sign of respect. weird italians man.
i had my italian midterm yesterday afternoon and it wasn't too bad. i definitely think that it was challenging for the people in my class based on the level theyre at, but it was fine for me. i'm moving up to the next class on monday so hopefully we'll move a bit faster than this class. i mean, my teacher nadia is nice, but i mean come on now. how long can i possibly do the past tense? give me a break. but according to j9 we're basically learning the same thing but her class moves a bit faster and the people in the class have all taken italian before. so maybe i won't become as fluent as i want to be in italian, but hey at least i'll get an A in the class. guess that works.
this morning i woke up early to do some work because i didnt have class. i finally did my laundry (i know. its gross bc ive been here 2 weeks and didnt do it. whoops.) but boy was that an interesting affair. first off we're only allowed one load a week, which totally isnt happening. im def going to ask to pay for another because there's no way i can only do one a week. andd the washer machine is sooo tiny! i basically stuffed all my clothes in there.
okay i gotta head to italian class now. woohoo. learning the imperfetto. again. partayy.
butttttttttttt i'm going to amalfi tomorowwwww! yayyyyy!! and then capri on sundayyy!!
alright i'm outtie. i'll be back for an update after the weekend. ciao!!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
ti e piacuta?
i'm chilling here at italiaidea during my break in my class. its only 20 mins so this is probably going to be short. although, i never seem to write a little bit whenever i update this blog. my posts are always like a bajillion words long, which is totally unnecessary but you know i can never shut up. anyway, i'll update more fully again tomorrow.
so today i had philosophy with ddv and we went to a cafe in the vatican city right down the block from the piazza di san pietro. we sat there for an hour and half (when my class is normally scheduled for 3 hours woop woop) and over cappuccino and these really awesome kiwi and custard pastries we discussed meno, republic, and symposium by plato. oh my god. it was such an amazing class! and normally i don't like philosophy/never really learn anything from it because it never makes sense to me and i dont understand the logic, but everything just clicked today. it was totally awesome. ddv explained everything so well, and j9 and i were really into the discussion and questioning. it was so great. if every class is like this one philosophy is def going to be my favorite class this semester. its hard because its only j9 and i and we most def have to read everything he gives us because he'll know if we don't, and the papers are going to be challenging, but i really feel like i'm going to learn so much. and i love that. i sound like a total dork but i don't even care. for once i'll actually understand philosophy, and then i can fully better myself through the process of seeing truth and good and beauty through the shadow and illusion of truth in material things and thereby reaching the divine and the immortal. lmao. look at me i'm a philo woman now. hahaha.
okay i think the break is over. poo. now for more italiano yayyy - not. i'm tired. i cant wait to sleep tonight.
ciao laterr.
so today i had philosophy with ddv and we went to a cafe in the vatican city right down the block from the piazza di san pietro. we sat there for an hour and half (when my class is normally scheduled for 3 hours woop woop) and over cappuccino and these really awesome kiwi and custard pastries we discussed meno, republic, and symposium by plato. oh my god. it was such an amazing class! and normally i don't like philosophy/never really learn anything from it because it never makes sense to me and i dont understand the logic, but everything just clicked today. it was totally awesome. ddv explained everything so well, and j9 and i were really into the discussion and questioning. it was so great. if every class is like this one philosophy is def going to be my favorite class this semester. its hard because its only j9 and i and we most def have to read everything he gives us because he'll know if we don't, and the papers are going to be challenging, but i really feel like i'm going to learn so much. and i love that. i sound like a total dork but i don't even care. for once i'll actually understand philosophy, and then i can fully better myself through the process of seeing truth and good and beauty through the shadow and illusion of truth in material things and thereby reaching the divine and the immortal. lmao. look at me i'm a philo woman now. hahaha.
okay i think the break is over. poo. now for more italiano yayyy - not. i'm tired. i cant wait to sleep tonight.
ciao laterr.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
buon giorno, scusi, lei e di catania?
so look at me updating two days in a row. haha. i've come to the realization that i can't live without the internet for very long anymore, so i'm manning up and carrying around massimo so that during this break i can use the italiaidea wireless and actually have contact with american civilization. it's becoming a pain carrying him thought bc hes a bit heavy, and i also carry around my books too. but whatever. its the small price i pay for the internet.
anyway, not much going on here. just doing lots of reading and prepping for the three massive papers i have due the end of the month. ick. humanties classes suck man. i have a philo paper on plato and aristotle due the 26th (the feast day of sts cosmos e damiano, so i'm def going to their church for mass) and two theo papers/ presentation on catherine of siena and pope gregory XI on the 29th during the tuscany trip. fun fun. just what i want to be doing when i'm traveling right? the only good thing about that is once those theo papers are done i only have to worry about the midterm and the final for that class and i'm good to go. nice right? philo, however, is most definitely going to kick my gluteus this semester, because we have four papers and then a big paper at the end of the semester about everything we read in relation to this other dude's theory about god. gross. philosophy is so circular and way more confusing than it should be. they make it so hard to understand it on purpose so that it seems like theyre creating all these elaborate ideas. but in reality, theyre just really dumb ideas. take zeno for example. this retard thinks that there's no such thing as movement ... wtf? why would anyone spend their whole life contemplating whether or not humans can move? weirdo.
whatevs. so let's see what else can i talk about? ohhh my new fave foods that i've eaten like whoa since i've been here: straciatella gelato, gnocchi, and pizza bianca. yummy!!! those are definitely going to be the things i'll probably miss the most when i go back to the states. i have the gelato basically every single day during our break bc there's a gelateria called blue ice right down the block from school so i mean come on how can i not? and whenever we go to a pizzeria i almost always get pizza bianca. it's basically pizza without sauce and cheese - only garlic and oil. but it tastes soooo goood! and i had my irst dish of gnocchi last weekend and it is so good! i cant believe nonna doesnt make it for me. i'm going to ask her to when i get home because its delicious!
i've noticed a lot about italian teenagers our age just by sitting and doing lots of people watching in the various piazzas around the city. theyre really big on pda. like no joke. its a little uncomfortable, esp bc theyll just stand there right in the middle of the piazza and make out hXc and everything. j9 and i have named it piazza pornography. lol. but italians are really known for their expression of all their feelings, so i guess that's why. but seriously now. we dont need to see everything. get a room. holding hands is expression enough, really. lol.
transportation to and from school has gotten a bit better since the weekend. j9 and i took the 31 to giancolense this morning and then took the 8 tram to lago argentina and we cut down so much travel time. it was great! and it wasnt crowded at all! i def think that's how we're going to go back and forth from now on, because going home at night on the 31 is just so ridiculous. we can never fit on the first bus that comes to our stop; we always have to wait for another one, and by the time we get home its after 8:30. hells no man. tram all the way! plus its good because the tram runs at night, so now we def know how to get home when we go out during the week or on the weekend. woop woop!
okay that's all i feel like writing about. i think i'm going to try to be a good student and start brainstorming my theo papers. fun time.
ciao lovers.
anyway, not much going on here. just doing lots of reading and prepping for the three massive papers i have due the end of the month. ick. humanties classes suck man. i have a philo paper on plato and aristotle due the 26th (the feast day of sts cosmos e damiano, so i'm def going to their church for mass) and two theo papers/ presentation on catherine of siena and pope gregory XI on the 29th during the tuscany trip. fun fun. just what i want to be doing when i'm traveling right? the only good thing about that is once those theo papers are done i only have to worry about the midterm and the final for that class and i'm good to go. nice right? philo, however, is most definitely going to kick my gluteus this semester, because we have four papers and then a big paper at the end of the semester about everything we read in relation to this other dude's theory about god. gross. philosophy is so circular and way more confusing than it should be. they make it so hard to understand it on purpose so that it seems like theyre creating all these elaborate ideas. but in reality, theyre just really dumb ideas. take zeno for example. this retard thinks that there's no such thing as movement ... wtf? why would anyone spend their whole life contemplating whether or not humans can move? weirdo.
whatevs. so let's see what else can i talk about? ohhh my new fave foods that i've eaten like whoa since i've been here: straciatella gelato, gnocchi, and pizza bianca. yummy!!! those are definitely going to be the things i'll probably miss the most when i go back to the states. i have the gelato basically every single day during our break bc there's a gelateria called blue ice right down the block from school so i mean come on how can i not? and whenever we go to a pizzeria i almost always get pizza bianca. it's basically pizza without sauce and cheese - only garlic and oil. but it tastes soooo goood! and i had my irst dish of gnocchi last weekend and it is so good! i cant believe nonna doesnt make it for me. i'm going to ask her to when i get home because its delicious!
i've noticed a lot about italian teenagers our age just by sitting and doing lots of people watching in the various piazzas around the city. theyre really big on pda. like no joke. its a little uncomfortable, esp bc theyll just stand there right in the middle of the piazza and make out hXc and everything. j9 and i have named it piazza pornography. lol. but italians are really known for their expression of all their feelings, so i guess that's why. but seriously now. we dont need to see everything. get a room. holding hands is expression enough, really. lol.
transportation to and from school has gotten a bit better since the weekend. j9 and i took the 31 to giancolense this morning and then took the 8 tram to lago argentina and we cut down so much travel time. it was great! and it wasnt crowded at all! i def think that's how we're going to go back and forth from now on, because going home at night on the 31 is just so ridiculous. we can never fit on the first bus that comes to our stop; we always have to wait for another one, and by the time we get home its after 8:30. hells no man. tram all the way! plus its good because the tram runs at night, so now we def know how to get home when we go out during the week or on the weekend. woop woop!
okay that's all i feel like writing about. i think i'm going to try to be a good student and start brainstorming my theo papers. fun time.
ciao lovers.
Monday, September 10, 2007
allora ..
it's been so long since i've had the internet. le sigh. well, now i have it so i'm going to give you a heads up on what went down since last wednesday. here we go ..
thursday i had my first theology class which was totally cool. we went to the basilica di santi apostoli which was really pretty, then we had italian. not much else happened of interest. i think nunzia made us a traditional sicilian dish with pasta and melanzane (eggplant) and ricotta which was sooo yummy. as always lol.
friday was totally kickass. i didnt have class in the morning which was awesome. italiaidea gave us free lunch (pasta yumm) and we celebrated jessi's birthday. first we went to the aperitivo with dr. dawson, which sort of like an italian happy hour. i had my first bellini, which was sooo good! and janine had her first full drink, a rossini. and the little munchies they had there were taralle and lupini just like grandma makes them! then after that we went out to dinner for jessi's birthday at tre pupazzi, where i had my first dish of gnocchi in italy and it was delicious. we order some red wine and it came in this huge bowl but it was soo good. after that we hit the town of trastevere and it was crazy awesome. we're allowed to drink outside in public here, so we hit up a couple bars and walked around with our drinks. we had some birthday lemon drop shots with jessi and some yummy amaretto sours from the friends bar. there were some hotties working the bar there, so we will def be back soon. then the loyola crew went to scholars but since it was in the opposite direction j9 and i didnt go, but hopefully next time we'll hit that up. all in all it was a good night, and i cant wait to go out again there.
saturday was awesome too. we all got up early and dr dawson took us to see the basilica di san pietro. it was absolutely GORGEOUS. the piazza is so beautiful. i cant even begin to describe it. we walked in the basilica and i like lost my breath for a second because it was just so amazing. its so big too!! i felt like we walked and walked and walked and only after a while did we finally reach the front altar. the architecture and structure of the basilica is just so phenomenal. i cant even imagine how it has been preserved in this state for so long and it has stayed so beautiful. the paintings adorning the walls are all mosaics which are totally cool to look at, and the statues are ginormous! the letters inscribed on the walls are each 6 feet tall, and i think dr d said the whole church is about 4 stories tall! it was jut so mind boggling. there was also a pope there, pope john XXIII, who is in the process of becoming a saint, so he's now called "blessed". and what they do is they have his body out in a glass coffin out for display on the marble and they keep him out for viewing while being canonized. so i got to see a pope! it was a bit creepy bc he was just chillin there in his religious dress but it was still cool. we walked around the basilica for a while and dr dawson explained everything about everything to us, which was really interesting. then we all went out for a pizza and beer lunch, which is a typical italian meal imagine that. it was so yummy!! afterwards i heading back on the metro to go home and do some work/nap before la notte bianca.
so we napped for a bit, then went to eat at mister pizza for some more wine and pizza bianca yumm. pizza bianca has fast become our favorite type of pizza. then we waited for our hideous and shitty bus numero trentuno, which wound up never showing up. then we tried calling cabs but no one answered. finally we flagged one down and took it to piazza navona to meet up with the girls. it dropped us off halfway because apaprently the whole center of the city was closed down for all of the events. fine, we'll walk. we're walking to piazza navona and the girls decide to go to piazza ddi san popolo, so we change directions and keep walking. as we are almost there, we get a call and the girls say theyre walking down via del corso, which is in the opposite direction. so we made it to popolo and turned around to meet them. by now its about 1am, and we hadnt done anything fun yet, only walking, which wasnt fun at all, especially bc my feet were all blistered up from that morning at san pietro's. we finally meet up with the girls but half of them went home because they were tired. so we met laura and walked down del corso in the insanity chaos and went for gelato at giolitti's at about 2am. afterwards we walked down to piazza venezia and we saw some acrobat thing so we walk towards it but by the time we made it to the stage it was over. bummer. at least we saw a little. then laura went home and j9 and i were gonna hit up scholars but we went there and there was a fight or something going on outside, so we passed. by now it was about 3:30am, so we decided to go home so we could sleep before the beach. we wanted to try out the tram from argentina, so we got on it but had no idea where to get off. so we got off at 4 consecutive stops in monteverde and none of them were the right one. so we wound up walking from a random tram stop home. by now my feet were swollen and blistered and bleeding, so i was in pain. not good. we finally get home at about 4:30am, only to get up at 6:30 to get to termini for the trip to the beach.
my alarm never went off that morning so j9 came in at 10 to 7 when we were leaving at 7 and i wasnt ready, so i just threw everything in my bag and left. we waited for trentuno for 45 mins and it NEVER showed up. i was on the verge of tears bc we were gonna miss the beach trip bc of the dumbass bus. we called 3 taxis and none would come because we weren't on a busy street. ASS. finally we found a cab to take us to cipro and we took the metro to termini and made the trip. i fell asleep on the train ride to sperlonga and we finally arrived at the beach at about 11am. it was so GORGEOUS. the water was so blue and clear and it was such a nice day. i got some awesome color too, especially when i fell asleep on the beach for two hours. i had really good calamari for lunch and some yummy nutella gelato too! i bought some pastries for myself to take with me and at about 6pm we headed home. we ended up finally getting home at about 21:30. longgg day, but totally worth it. i def want to hit up sperlonga again soon.
today has been pretty uneventful so far. we got in early bc we had no class and i uploaded lots of pics and did some research for history. j9, laura, jessi, and i are going to the amalf coast this weekend!! so we booked all that today. i am soo excited!! yayyyy! hit up some more beaches and get mucho tan, and maybe find us some hott italian boys ;)
okay that's about it. i'll try and update again soon. must head off to la classe italiana now. we've got a midterm on thursday eww. but i'm not worried. i'm getting moved up next week to a more advanced class because this one is ridiculously easy for me and totally boring. so next week i'll be in j9's class. its still gonna be easy which i'm fine with because then that means an easy A, but it wont be as elementary as the one i'm in now. thank god.
alright peace out. ciao!
thursday i had my first theology class which was totally cool. we went to the basilica di santi apostoli which was really pretty, then we had italian. not much else happened of interest. i think nunzia made us a traditional sicilian dish with pasta and melanzane (eggplant) and ricotta which was sooo yummy. as always lol.
friday was totally kickass. i didnt have class in the morning which was awesome. italiaidea gave us free lunch (pasta yumm) and we celebrated jessi's birthday. first we went to the aperitivo with dr. dawson, which sort of like an italian happy hour. i had my first bellini, which was sooo good! and janine had her first full drink, a rossini. and the little munchies they had there were taralle and lupini just like grandma makes them! then after that we went out to dinner for jessi's birthday at tre pupazzi, where i had my first dish of gnocchi in italy and it was delicious. we order some red wine and it came in this huge bowl but it was soo good. after that we hit the town of trastevere and it was crazy awesome. we're allowed to drink outside in public here, so we hit up a couple bars and walked around with our drinks. we had some birthday lemon drop shots with jessi and some yummy amaretto sours from the friends bar. there were some hotties working the bar there, so we will def be back soon. then the loyola crew went to scholars but since it was in the opposite direction j9 and i didnt go, but hopefully next time we'll hit that up. all in all it was a good night, and i cant wait to go out again there.
saturday was awesome too. we all got up early and dr dawson took us to see the basilica di san pietro. it was absolutely GORGEOUS. the piazza is so beautiful. i cant even begin to describe it. we walked in the basilica and i like lost my breath for a second because it was just so amazing. its so big too!! i felt like we walked and walked and walked and only after a while did we finally reach the front altar. the architecture and structure of the basilica is just so phenomenal. i cant even imagine how it has been preserved in this state for so long and it has stayed so beautiful. the paintings adorning the walls are all mosaics which are totally cool to look at, and the statues are ginormous! the letters inscribed on the walls are each 6 feet tall, and i think dr d said the whole church is about 4 stories tall! it was jut so mind boggling. there was also a pope there, pope john XXIII, who is in the process of becoming a saint, so he's now called "blessed". and what they do is they have his body out in a glass coffin out for display on the marble and they keep him out for viewing while being canonized. so i got to see a pope! it was a bit creepy bc he was just chillin there in his religious dress but it was still cool. we walked around the basilica for a while and dr dawson explained everything about everything to us, which was really interesting. then we all went out for a pizza and beer lunch, which is a typical italian meal imagine that. it was so yummy!! afterwards i heading back on the metro to go home and do some work/nap before la notte bianca.
so we napped for a bit, then went to eat at mister pizza for some more wine and pizza bianca yumm. pizza bianca has fast become our favorite type of pizza. then we waited for our hideous and shitty bus numero trentuno, which wound up never showing up. then we tried calling cabs but no one answered. finally we flagged one down and took it to piazza navona to meet up with the girls. it dropped us off halfway because apaprently the whole center of the city was closed down for all of the events. fine, we'll walk. we're walking to piazza navona and the girls decide to go to piazza ddi san popolo, so we change directions and keep walking. as we are almost there, we get a call and the girls say theyre walking down via del corso, which is in the opposite direction. so we made it to popolo and turned around to meet them. by now its about 1am, and we hadnt done anything fun yet, only walking, which wasnt fun at all, especially bc my feet were all blistered up from that morning at san pietro's. we finally meet up with the girls but half of them went home because they were tired. so we met laura and walked down del corso in the insanity chaos and went for gelato at giolitti's at about 2am. afterwards we walked down to piazza venezia and we saw some acrobat thing so we walk towards it but by the time we made it to the stage it was over. bummer. at least we saw a little. then laura went home and j9 and i were gonna hit up scholars but we went there and there was a fight or something going on outside, so we passed. by now it was about 3:30am, so we decided to go home so we could sleep before the beach. we wanted to try out the tram from argentina, so we got on it but had no idea where to get off. so we got off at 4 consecutive stops in monteverde and none of them were the right one. so we wound up walking from a random tram stop home. by now my feet were swollen and blistered and bleeding, so i was in pain. not good. we finally get home at about 4:30am, only to get up at 6:30 to get to termini for the trip to the beach.
my alarm never went off that morning so j9 came in at 10 to 7 when we were leaving at 7 and i wasnt ready, so i just threw everything in my bag and left. we waited for trentuno for 45 mins and it NEVER showed up. i was on the verge of tears bc we were gonna miss the beach trip bc of the dumbass bus. we called 3 taxis and none would come because we weren't on a busy street. ASS. finally we found a cab to take us to cipro and we took the metro to termini and made the trip. i fell asleep on the train ride to sperlonga and we finally arrived at the beach at about 11am. it was so GORGEOUS. the water was so blue and clear and it was such a nice day. i got some awesome color too, especially when i fell asleep on the beach for two hours. i had really good calamari for lunch and some yummy nutella gelato too! i bought some pastries for myself to take with me and at about 6pm we headed home. we ended up finally getting home at about 21:30. longgg day, but totally worth it. i def want to hit up sperlonga again soon.
today has been pretty uneventful so far. we got in early bc we had no class and i uploaded lots of pics and did some research for history. j9, laura, jessi, and i are going to the amalf coast this weekend!! so we booked all that today. i am soo excited!! yayyyy! hit up some more beaches and get mucho tan, and maybe find us some hott italian boys ;)
okay that's about it. i'll try and update again soon. must head off to la classe italiana now. we've got a midterm on thursday eww. but i'm not worried. i'm getting moved up next week to a more advanced class because this one is ridiculously easy for me and totally boring. so next week i'll be in j9's class. its still gonna be easy which i'm fine with because then that means an easy A, but it wont be as elementary as the one i'm in now. thank god.
alright peace out. ciao!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
when in rome ..
so i'm sorry for not updating much since i've been here, but the internet is very limited and i actualy haven't been connected for very long. my host mom has wireless but he won't let us use it bc it gets really slow with a lot of users, so we're trying to find internet cafes but it's become a bit difficult.
anywhoot.
so i've lived in rome for about 5 days now and i absolutely love it. this city is so incredibly amazing and so full of history. there's so much to see and to do that i don't think i'll be able to really experience everything i could in 4 months. but i'm going to try!
friday was a very long and trying day. we had lots of orienting and lots of things were thrown at us and it was incredibly overwhelming. plus we were mucho jetlagged. but we went out to dinner above the spanish steps and had our first glass of wine (janine had same too!). then some of us just chilled on the spanish steps that night drinking chianti (bc its legal to drink alcohol outside in public - weird) and then we went to the trevi fountain to throw our coins in. the fountain is so gorgeous, and my pictures don't even do it justice.
saturday was more orienting and we met dr. flusche, who is teaching my roman history class. we went on a scavenger hunt throughout the city to get to know the streets and then we went to the roman forum and the coliseum. oh my gosh. the forum is so beautiful. it was ridiculous sitting there in the middle of preserved history. i still can't even wrap my mind around it. and flusche's totally awesome - i really like her way of teaching. then a bunch of us went out to dinner (at like 8:30, because italians eat SOOO LATE!) and we went out to a bar (or pub, rather) down the block from school called pepy's. it was sooo funny because the two guys that worked there roberto and angelo kept coming over and chatting up with us and we kept trying to get our wine cheaper and we wound up getting a 21 euro bottle of wine for 10 euro and a kiss on both cheeks for each lol. it was such a great night - lots of bonding.
sunday we moved into our host family. it was really nervewracking to sit there waiting for nunzia to come pick us up, and it was even more of a pain to lug my big ass luggage to her apartment on the top floor. but her apartment is gorgeous and we both really like her. she has a garden terrace where we eat dinner and her bathroom is huge with a jacuzzi type tub and everything. j9 and i did rps to see who got the big room and i lost, so now i'm in the blue room that's about as big as my closet back at home. oh well. its fine. i have a great view from my window anyway. nunzia's cooking is phenomenal, almost as good as (dare i say it) my grandmother's. the first night she made us pasta with gravy and meatballs with salad bread and for dessert fresh fruit with fragola gelato on top. yummyyyy!
monday was more orienting and taking our placement exams for italian. then we filled out our permesso which was boring but thank god it's done. i had my first gelato that day - it was nocciola and it was sooo yummy! then for dinner nunzia made spaghetti with i gameri (shrimp), roasted tomatos, garlic and oil and it was sooooo good! of course we had salad and pane and for desert a peach. yum yumm. dinner's def the big meal of the day. in the morning they usually have toasted pane with burro or marmalade and then something to drink (i usually have il caffe which is soo good). lunch is mainly at bars and we eat panini or la pizza etc. dinner is definitely my favorite meal. lol.
yesterday was our first day of class. we had roman history with flusche which was cool bc she lectured for a while then took us out to the city for a game. she took us to random historic places and monuments and pointed to each, and we took pictures so our homework this week is to figure out what everything is, when it was built and why. it was really fun and we got to explore lots of places. then we had our long lunch break (3 hrs bc people like to take naps after lunch and stores close) and then aurora, dawson's assistant who is so cool and totally awesome, talked to us about nightlife in roma and where to go out. it was very helpful and def the best orientation program so far lol. then i had italian, which actually wasn't so good. they put me in a class i don't think i should be in, so today i'm going to ask if i can be moved up bc theres no way in hello i'm going to be able to handle that boredom for 2 months. at first i was like, well my semesters will be really easy and i know i'll get an A but now i'm not sure that it's a good idea for me to be relearning verb tenses that i learned freshmen year of high school. we'll see how that goes.
today we had our first philo class with dawson in elenbar around the corner and it was fine. it's going to be difficult but we're used to humanities classes kicking our asses on a daily basis anyway lol. now we have our long break bc we didnt take the whole class time for philo and we're in our classroom chillin on the internet. man do i miss the convenience of the internet. it's going to be a pain lugging massimo around everyday just so i can research and go on facebook and check my mail and what not, esp bc my blackberry should be able to do that. but since ive been here the crackberry gets very moody and i cant even get my im on it anymore. poopies.
traveling to and from class actually hasn't been too bad. we take bus 31 to cipro a metro stop then take the metro a couple of fermate until we get to spagna. it's really easy but it just gets really crowded bc its a popular travel path. but i dont really mind it as much - it reminds me of home and the craziness of nyc.
overall my experience in rome has been nothing but awesome. i thought at first i'd be struggling more but it hasn't been too bad adjusting yet. guess we'll see in the coming weeks whether or not i get sick of italian food or not speaking in english all the time.
okay this is a really long update and i'm not even sure anybody's reading this anyway. but i best be off - must mangia il pranzo somewhere. then back here for traveling tips by aurora and then more italian yippee!
anywhoot.
so i've lived in rome for about 5 days now and i absolutely love it. this city is so incredibly amazing and so full of history. there's so much to see and to do that i don't think i'll be able to really experience everything i could in 4 months. but i'm going to try!
friday was a very long and trying day. we had lots of orienting and lots of things were thrown at us and it was incredibly overwhelming. plus we were mucho jetlagged. but we went out to dinner above the spanish steps and had our first glass of wine (janine had same too!). then some of us just chilled on the spanish steps that night drinking chianti (bc its legal to drink alcohol outside in public - weird) and then we went to the trevi fountain to throw our coins in. the fountain is so gorgeous, and my pictures don't even do it justice.
saturday was more orienting and we met dr. flusche, who is teaching my roman history class. we went on a scavenger hunt throughout the city to get to know the streets and then we went to the roman forum and the coliseum. oh my gosh. the forum is so beautiful. it was ridiculous sitting there in the middle of preserved history. i still can't even wrap my mind around it. and flusche's totally awesome - i really like her way of teaching. then a bunch of us went out to dinner (at like 8:30, because italians eat SOOO LATE!) and we went out to a bar (or pub, rather) down the block from school called pepy's. it was sooo funny because the two guys that worked there roberto and angelo kept coming over and chatting up with us and we kept trying to get our wine cheaper and we wound up getting a 21 euro bottle of wine for 10 euro and a kiss on both cheeks for each lol. it was such a great night - lots of bonding.
sunday we moved into our host family. it was really nervewracking to sit there waiting for nunzia to come pick us up, and it was even more of a pain to lug my big ass luggage to her apartment on the top floor. but her apartment is gorgeous and we both really like her. she has a garden terrace where we eat dinner and her bathroom is huge with a jacuzzi type tub and everything. j9 and i did rps to see who got the big room and i lost, so now i'm in the blue room that's about as big as my closet back at home. oh well. its fine. i have a great view from my window anyway. nunzia's cooking is phenomenal, almost as good as (dare i say it) my grandmother's. the first night she made us pasta with gravy and meatballs with salad bread and for dessert fresh fruit with fragola gelato on top. yummyyyy!
monday was more orienting and taking our placement exams for italian. then we filled out our permesso which was boring but thank god it's done. i had my first gelato that day - it was nocciola and it was sooo yummy! then for dinner nunzia made spaghetti with i gameri (shrimp), roasted tomatos, garlic and oil and it was sooooo good! of course we had salad and pane and for desert a peach. yum yumm. dinner's def the big meal of the day. in the morning they usually have toasted pane with burro or marmalade and then something to drink (i usually have il caffe which is soo good). lunch is mainly at bars and we eat panini or la pizza etc. dinner is definitely my favorite meal. lol.
yesterday was our first day of class. we had roman history with flusche which was cool bc she lectured for a while then took us out to the city for a game. she took us to random historic places and monuments and pointed to each, and we took pictures so our homework this week is to figure out what everything is, when it was built and why. it was really fun and we got to explore lots of places. then we had our long lunch break (3 hrs bc people like to take naps after lunch and stores close) and then aurora, dawson's assistant who is so cool and totally awesome, talked to us about nightlife in roma and where to go out. it was very helpful and def the best orientation program so far lol. then i had italian, which actually wasn't so good. they put me in a class i don't think i should be in, so today i'm going to ask if i can be moved up bc theres no way in hello i'm going to be able to handle that boredom for 2 months. at first i was like, well my semesters will be really easy and i know i'll get an A but now i'm not sure that it's a good idea for me to be relearning verb tenses that i learned freshmen year of high school. we'll see how that goes.
today we had our first philo class with dawson in elenbar around the corner and it was fine. it's going to be difficult but we're used to humanities classes kicking our asses on a daily basis anyway lol. now we have our long break bc we didnt take the whole class time for philo and we're in our classroom chillin on the internet. man do i miss the convenience of the internet. it's going to be a pain lugging massimo around everyday just so i can research and go on facebook and check my mail and what not, esp bc my blackberry should be able to do that. but since ive been here the crackberry gets very moody and i cant even get my im on it anymore. poopies.
traveling to and from class actually hasn't been too bad. we take bus 31 to cipro a metro stop then take the metro a couple of fermate until we get to spagna. it's really easy but it just gets really crowded bc its a popular travel path. but i dont really mind it as much - it reminds me of home and the craziness of nyc.
overall my experience in rome has been nothing but awesome. i thought at first i'd be struggling more but it hasn't been too bad adjusting yet. guess we'll see in the coming weeks whether or not i get sick of italian food or not speaking in english all the time.
okay this is a really long update and i'm not even sure anybody's reading this anyway. but i best be off - must mangia il pranzo somewhere. then back here for traveling tips by aurora and then more italian yippee!
Saturday, September 1, 2007
AHHHHH!
I'M HERE!!!!!
and with limited internet, so this will be short.
i'm so jetlagged and we walk everywhere so my feet are hurting but roma is gorgeous!! and this semester is going to be the shit. we saw the roman forum, the colosseo, the pantheon and sooo many piazzas today. and yesterday we drank wine on the spanish steps and threw our coins in the beautiful fontana di trevi. it's just so amazing and i'm like in denial that i'm going to be living here for the next four months. its so surreal.
there are a lot of random cultural habits and diddy things here that are going to take some getting used to (like elbows ON the table, not off, and you don't hand people money you have to put in on the counter and slide it across to the person, and you eat dinner at like 9pm, which is sooo late!) but i'm hoping once i get accustomed to their way of living and schedule everything will be awesome.
i am really excited about all of our trips. i'm going to get to see sooo much. we're going to a beach next weekend and st. peters so that will be kickass. hello pope b!
okay, i'm out now. going to my first italian discotecha tonight!! woop woop!
ps. this site is now in italian for me, which is totally weird bc it was in english two days ago lol.
and with limited internet, so this will be short.
i'm so jetlagged and we walk everywhere so my feet are hurting but roma is gorgeous!! and this semester is going to be the shit. we saw the roman forum, the colosseo, the pantheon and sooo many piazzas today. and yesterday we drank wine on the spanish steps and threw our coins in the beautiful fontana di trevi. it's just so amazing and i'm like in denial that i'm going to be living here for the next four months. its so surreal.
there are a lot of random cultural habits and diddy things here that are going to take some getting used to (like elbows ON the table, not off, and you don't hand people money you have to put in on the counter and slide it across to the person, and you eat dinner at like 9pm, which is sooo late!) but i'm hoping once i get accustomed to their way of living and schedule everything will be awesome.
i am really excited about all of our trips. i'm going to get to see sooo much. we're going to a beach next weekend and st. peters so that will be kickass. hello pope b!
okay, i'm out now. going to my first italian discotecha tonight!! woop woop!
ps. this site is now in italian for me, which is totally weird bc it was in english two days ago lol.
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