where'd this week go?

monday, june 14

we started off this week having class with professor biow actually in a classroom as opposed to touring sites around rome, beginning with lessons on michelangelo. i was SO tired and could not keep my eyes open in biow's class or class with antonella...soooooo i took a nap at the school after class! it was beautiful :) then i walked around the jewish ghetto, the area in which our school is located, ate at a KOSHER deli (woo woo! finally some meat!) and went into a myriad of unique and amazing shops around the area. after walking around for some time, i actually met up with brianna at a park near the school to study and then we went to an irish pub for dinner and to watch the italy vs. paraguay soccer match on tv. i don't really care about soccer that much but it was a fun experience nonetheless (and a free dinner..yes please!).

tuesday, june 15

class was pretty uneventful but afterwards brianna and i went to the galleria doria phamphilj, a papal palace that is actually still resided in by the family (so cool!). it is a BEAUTIFUL palace and literally covered, from floor to ceiling, in every room, with paintings and paintings and more paintings and some other paintings. when we studied imperial palaces and lavish interior decoration in art history i always scoffed at it for being gaudy and overly-fanciful and (can i say it?) ugly...but being inside that palace, especially the intricately decorated ballroom, transformed my entire perception of spaces like that. the beauty in the details is just overwhelming (in the best way possible!) and i'm amazed and incredibly jealous that people used to inhabit spaces like the palazzo doria pamphilj...wow wow wow. however, the number of paintings all over the place was kind of overwhelming and it was hard to really internalize or see the beauty in any one piece, but instead i basically just gawked over the beauty of the space as a whole. there is a diego velazquez portrait there that was AMAZING and the true gem of the galleria and brianna and i were awed by a small, yet still beautiful, pastoral scene by peter brueghel. it was a great time in a magnificent palace and overall a great day!

brianna snuck a picture of me in the galleria, (free) audioguide, water bottle, and trusty blue guide rome in hand!

wednesday, june 16

class was the same 'ol same 'ol but brianna and i grabbed lunch at despar, an italian chain supermarket, that is super cheap and super delicious! a heaping slice of potato and rosemary pizza for less than 2 euros? MORE PLEASE! we love despar now woo woo! after class, the entire group went to see a movie called la nostra vita at a genuine italian movie theater and it was a great experience. even though i didn't understand what was going on more than half of time, i did pick up some words and phrases and when it was over, understood the general plot and definitely liked the movie (i want to watch it again with subtitles! it really was a fantastic and beautiful movie). i CANNOT WAIT til i can sit through an italian movie and actually understand it...new goal. that night, ilaria made a noteworthy dinner of potato and onion frittata, homemade pesto (um delicious?) with pasta, bread, cheese, vegetables - the works. it was SO DELICIOUS. yay ilaria and italian cooking and italian movies! great day.

thursday, june 17

class, lunch, class. after class brianna and i hung out at the school for a little bit then ran into two guys from the program and grabbed gelato at this great little place near our school. after that, brianna and i sat at the bulldog inn, a pub near our school with FREE WIFI which is rare in rome. our waitress was a little strange and after being there for almost half an hour told us we had to order a drink to stay, which was fine because i wanted a caffe anyway. so i ordered an iced coffee, delicious. then she told brianna that she had to order something also, so brianna just said "i'll have the same thing". THIRTY MINUTES LATER the waitress brings brianna a drink that looks nothing like mine, in a much smaller glass that costs a euro more than mine...EXCUSE ME, WHAT???? only in rome...

so after that experience, brianna and i met up with professor biow's daughter simone (22 years old), his son david (12 years old) and his friend antonio (also 12 years old) ... weird mix, i know; don't judge ... and went to a great little restaurant for our own personal wine tasting accompanied by delicious bread and all kinds of italian cheeses (one smelled like feet, but it's va bene). it was a super fun experience and then i went home to pack for the weekend trip to pompeii, sorrento and napoli!

overall it was a seemingly uneventful but thoroughly enjoyable week in rome.

il weekend!

overall, this was one of the best weekends of my LIFE but by many people's standards probably seems quite uneventful. but WHATEVS, i had a great great weekend and did some very roman things :) woo

friday, june 11

i literally hung out at home the entire day because there was supposedly a strike of bus and metro drivers happening that day (it wasn't until saturday that i found out the strike didn't actually happen but that's ok). my feet were KILLING me and i just had a great time hanging out with stefano's girlfriend, delia. we were both supposed to spend the day studying but ended up eating lunch together and making a pie for stefano's birthday! we actually had GREAT conversation (in italian!) about politics and education and family and life and it was just so so great. i didn't understand everything she said, but got the jist and was definitely able to hold my own and express my thoughts (even though to her i probably sounded like a 3rd grader...va bene). it was such a nice and relaxing day and we had a great dinner together (delia, me, ilaria and stefano). i made stefano 2 mix cd's and turns out he loves PEARL JAM, of all things...so awesome. so it was just great and then i watched some mad men and went to bed!

stefano and delia with the beautiful pie she and i made for his birthday!

saturday, june 12

went to the beach at ostia with a group of people from the program. i'm not really a beach person but it was very fun. i napped on the beach, got some really intense sunburns, impressed my friends with saying words backwards and got the idea to youtube myself and maybe get invited to appear on ellen for my skills...maybe? thoughts? anyway, when i got home i took more naps, ate dinner and went to sleep. great day.

some of us at the beach!

sunday, june 13

sunday morning i woke up bright and early to shop at porta portese, a really intense market that is open every sunday morning in rome. it was SO INTENSE but i found some great, unique, italian things that i will cherish forever :) (um genuine, italian leather bag for 4 euros? yes please!) then i went around the markets near my house with brianna and we DUG in the used clothes piles (everything for 1 euro? YES PLEASE!) i got a shirt with a tiger on the front, a great silk top, a lime green sweater vest, and a silk button down! i then bought some flowers for ilaria from a great guy with a bird named obama (because his bird cage is white...witty, right? we thought so!). it was a great success of a day. great success of a weekend. woo rome!

churches galore

thursday, june 10

we started the day off at santa prassede, a medieval church containing one of the most extensive mosaic cycles still in tact in rome and one of the first showing the manipulation of images and figures common in antiquity for christian ends. it's a truly glorious church but placed very inconspicuously in an unassuming alley...such a commonality in rome! churches with beautiful mosiacs, frescoes, statues, oil paintings, architecture in the most (seemingly) random places...hmph. still loving it.

detail from the chapel of st. zeno in santa prassede

after santa prassede, we went to santa maria maggiore. before going into this AMAZING church, i recalled the name from my art history class in high school but i didn't remember specific details or what made it art historically significant...after being inside for less than a minute, it all came back to me. santa maria maggiore is arguably the most beautiful structure in the world...i know i say this all the time but wah i wish i could use words to describe this place! the exquisite details EVERYWHERE, all the way from the marble floor design up to the intricately designed, beautiful coffered ceiling, everything in this place is breathtakingly beautiful. it would take a couple days to really SEE and experience all of the details in santa maria maggiore and i would really like to go back there while i'm in rome. being jewish limits my ability to make deep spiritual connections in all of these churches, but i definitely experienced the closest thing i'll get to a "spiritual" experience while standing in santa maria maggiore. what a gem. i think my favorite part about santa maria maggiore (kind of like my favorite aspect of san clemente) is how many centuries of art and artists and art historical movements are represented there. it's just such a special and well preserved space that represents so many important and beautiful and different and widespread time periods, that are somehow united in this architectural space that is just breathtaking. hmmm just google image it and i'm sure you'll be blown away. my pictures don't give it justice (especially because my camera was acting up that day) but it's va bene (my new favorite expression!). what an experience...


so after santa maria maggiore, we went to another beautiful church called santa prudenziana, one of the least visited churches in rome (unfortunately!). it is also representative of many periods of art history and has an incredible history that is studied very closely by scholars all year round. in one of the side chapels of the church are FORTY different kinds of marble used for various purposes all over...WHATTTTTTT?? nothing like that exists anywhere else in the world...jaw-dropping. there's a man that works there year-round and he was so helpful to our class and called me a "scholar", which although grossly overstated my rudimentary understanding of art history, was very flattering :)

so after the church tour, brianna and i grabbed lunch at this great panetteria (bread shop) and ate (in the hot sun) outside of it on the side of the street near the churches. it was DELICIOUS and definitely an experience worth repeating!



after lunch, brianna and i ran to class and hung out at the school for the rest of the afternoon until we walked together to a dinner with the program participants and their italian families in trastervere (area across the tiber river). ilaria, martina and stefano all came which was AMAZING! i love them so so so much :) it was even better because it was stefano's birthday so it actually meant that much more because he came to have dinner for, yours truly. we sat and talked after dinner for some time and i then went to see the colosseum at night with brianna and some other girls from the program...BEST IDEA EVER. it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL at night and although we were acting crazy and i know people were judging us, we had an absolute blast and i'm so glad i got to experience it.

sorry i just had to throw this one in there haha

brianna and olivia being those girls

overall, one of the best days here so far!

hump day.

wednesday, june 9

we started the morning off visiting santi cosma e damiano, a church dedicated in 527 to two martyred brothers. the church boasts some of the most beautiful medieval mosaics in rome and was a true splendor to see in person.

apse mosaic and baldecchino from santi cosma e damiano

after that we visited san clemente, my favorite church so far. it is actually a church built on top of an older church built on top of ancient roman apartments built on top of an ancient roman mithraic temple...an art history lovers dream come true? i think yes. so many layers (literally and figuratively speaking - sorry, i had to go there).

apse and baldecchino from san clemente

my favorite part, aside from the exquisite mosaics and porphyry columns and layers of history, was a fresco cycle of st. catherine's life that is hypothesized to have been done (at least in part) by masaccio, an incredibly important figure in the story of art (look at this, my favorite of his, the expulsion from paradise, the expression, color - amazing:

after visiting the churches, brianna and i stopped into the most amazing purse store with incredible italian leather bags (mom, you would have had a heart attack). i didn't actually buy one there but brianna got a great backpack-style bag that she has worn everyday since. after spending about 45 minutes there being indecisive (as always), we actually SAT DOWN in a great little italian bar for a lunch of delicious panini and cannoli :) we studied there for a little bit then went to an amazing collection of exhibits at the Palazzo dell'Esposizione (unfortunately we didn't have enough time to see the whole palazzo and i will have to go back soon). they had an unprecedented collection of giorgio de chirico's work and i urge you to take some time to look at his work; you can start here:

we then ran to class at an irish pub (yeah you can do that in summer school) and after that i went shopping in some stores near our school with a group of girls from the program. overall it was a nice, cool day but i still came home exhausted...

crazy stream of consciousness on microsoft word

ok i apologize in advance for this post that i typed on microsoft word instead of writing in my journal by hand first; when i'm writing i can filter myself a little better than typing so this literally is word vomit all over the place. again, i ask that you not judge me too harshly...enjoy :)

this morning the bus ran late, the bus driver was CRAZY and there were literally people flying all over the bus. it was funny but quite discomforting…how do people drive here?!?! it’s crazy. there are lane lines but NO ONE follows them; people on scooters literally just zoom through traffic like it’s their job, it’s insane. brianna said that people "just learn how to drive here" as opposed to following the lines and lights like in america – i’m not sure which is better there; haven’t been any accidents that i’ve seen since i’ve been here but it’s something i’d be interested in reading about. anyway, i met brianna at the pantheon to go over our italian and then we made our way to the ara pacis (another one of my favorites!). it is so big, but small at the same time…beautiful, either way. i'm not sure i like the building its held in (thanks mussolini) but just seeing it and being able to walk through it was incredible.

the ara pacis

my favorite detail from the ara pacis of a little snake about to munch on some birds; oh, the creativity of the great augustus

after the class was over, brianna and i were telling professor biow about the caravaggio exhibit and he was like “well i’m walking right by a church with some caravaggio paintings, i’ll take you in there if you want”…um, yes please!! so next thing i know, i’m walking into a GLORIOUS church (the contarelli chapel to be exact) and standing in front of the calling of st. matthew, literally (and i’m not exaggerating here) MY FAVORITE PAINTING OF ALL TIME. aslkfalksdflskdjfsldkj i cannot describe the rush i got standing in front of that incredible painting. wow wow wow wow wow it was free i'm going back A LOT more i love rome i love rome i love rome. word vomit yes, but that’s how i felt today…living off an art history high. the best part of that experience wasn’t even seeing the caravaggios (but i don't want to undermine how INCREDIBLE that was)…there was a woman standing next to me who was very passionately describing the paintings and i instantly recognized we had a common love for caravaggio so i turned to her, nodded and smiled, and said “bellissimo”. i had no idea what i was getting myself into at the time but i’m so glad i did! she saw me and started talking to me about the paintings and the coolest thing about it was that i actually understood her! so far in this encounter i've learned two important life lessons: 1) let people around you know that you agree with them (especially when it comes to art) and, 2) i should speak to people about art in italian so i can actually understand them…woo! so anyway, brianna made her way back to where i was engaged in conversation with this woman about caravaggio. we came to exchange names (hers is donatella) and stories and turns out she lives in venezia…turns out we’re going to venezia in two weeks…turns out SHE INVITED US TO HER HOME FOR A MEAL AND TOUR AROUND VENEZIA…um awesome!?!? and this lady is legit; she’s a teacher in venezia and so so kind and was with her husband who actually knows a little bit of english. it was, once again, one of the most incredible, totally unplanned, spontaneous experiences i’ve ever had and so awesome. after that, brianna and i just walked around and saw a beautiful church façade that we just had to go into…turns out to be the santa maria maddalena, a gorgeous rococo church with elaborately decorated ceilings and beautiful sculptures all over. another spontaneous decision that was truly awe-inspiring. we continued to walk around aimlessly and stopped in a stationery shop that had the most amazing stationery, selection of leather-bound journals and other beautiful things of the sort that i will definitely stop by again. so by this time we had only about twenty minutes to eat and hike it to class, but we made it! stopped into a little pizzeria near the pantheon and ate on the way…so italian of us! not to mention the pizza was delicious as always!

then we had class and instead of hiking back up the hill to the quirinale to see another exhibit close to the caravaggio one, brianna and I decided to take it easy for the afternoon and hang out at the school. i ran back home to get my laptop so I could finally add pictures to my blog (talking about writing my blog while writing on my blog is creating this weird metaphysical thing going on in my head…oy). however, when i got home i realized that i didn’t have my phone, i.e. i lost it somewhere in rome…oops. i was freaking out but knew i had it at the pantheon so decided to stop there in hopes that someone found it and turned it in. to make a long story and a lot of freaking out short, it was there and brianna had actually called me a couple of times. i got back to school and turns out she had actually called three times while it was chilling in the pantheon (please try to imagine the scene: the pantheon, a gorgeous, silent with awe, historical structure with a rogue cell phone going off with no owner…and not just going off, but ringing with the incredibly annoying nokia tune we all know and despise…OY VEY). so yes, that happened.

anyway! can I just recap this amazing day? began at the pantheon, to the ara pacis, seeing masterpieces of caravaggio in situ, getting acquainted with and invited to spend time with one of the most fascinating energetic passionate women I’ve ever met, stumbling into a beautiful church, finding a great spot for gifts and awesome stationery, eating awesome pizza, leaving and retrieving my phone at the pantheon, and sitting in a beautiful medieval palace to blog! yessssssss rome i love you.

near tears day

sunday, june 7

today was INCREDIBLE. i know i say that about everyday, but i saw more beautiful, art historically significant, life-changing (i.e. making me reconsider art history as a major) things today than i probably ever will (until next week maybe...). we started the morning at the fori imperiali, focusing mainly on the forums of augustus and trajan and then on the column of trajan. seeing the column of trajan specifically was amazing because it's another monument that i've recently studied in art history classes; it's HUGE and just as beautiful as i imagined.

view of remains of trajan's forum, trajan's column, and a small temple-like structure in the background (not sure what it is now...i'll look it up later)

so after trajan's column, professor biow led us to the pantheon...wait, what? we're going to the pantheon right now? without any kind of intro or heads up? WHAT?!?!? i was FREAKING OUT like near hyperventilating walking in (for those who know me well, well you know how i can be...). WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW wow. teared up walking in and was stunned silent inside.
the pantheon literally is the most beautiful, tranquil, spiritual, awesome (in the literal sense of the word) space in the world; i haven't been to many but i know nothing can beat the feeling one gets standing in the dead center of the pantheon looking up through its oculus. the discussion of the meaning of the shape, center, space, blah everything about the structure and how it was built to literally connect the cosmos with the earth (the convergence of a circle onto a square, with the emporer hadrian as the center of it all...wow wow wow i get chills just thinking about it (for anyone who hasn't studied the pantheon before, what i just wrote about was probably meaningless to you and for those who have, i'm sorry i just botched such a beautiful and complex line of reasoning). ANYWAY, there's never enough to say about the pantheon and i could go on for days but i won't. you get the idea. i didn't take any pictures there because i was so blown away but brianna did so i'll just steal from her later! the weirdest thing about the pantheon though is where its situated, unassumingly in the middle of this piazza with street vendors and cafes all around it...very unassuming. one of the many mysteries of rome..

so after having such an intense experience at the pantheon, we went to santa maria sopra minerva, a beautiful gothic basilica (actually the only gothic basilica in rome). inside there is an early statue by michelangelo, an exquisitely carved textile-looking statue by bernini and a chapel with an amazing painting (experimenting with perspective) - all for free! i must walk in to more churches around rome because each one is truly a gem.

christ the redeemer by michelangelo

memorial to maria raggi by bernini

brianna and i actually did run into another church after s.m. sopra minerva and ran to italian class (a.k.a. nap time...oy need to work on that). after class we were determined to see the caravaggio exhibit, no matter how long the line was, so we grabbed pizza on the way back to the quirinale and found (happily) a shorter line! great success. it ended up taking us two and half hours but it went by so fast because we talked to the woman standing behind us, stefania, the whole time. she was AWESOME. she actually teaches french so she was very helpful and patient with our broken italian.

she told us some great stories about her travels in america (especially las vegas) and actually is interested in hosting kids from our program now! one of my favorite stories was the ordeal she had attempting to order an "ot do" at a restaurant; naturally, the waitress did not understand her (because she wasn't saying anything that sounded remotely like english) for about twenty minutes...finally she figured out how to express that she wanted a "HOT DOG" (those open "o"s for italians are a nightmare!). the way she still says hot dog though is actually one of the funniest things i've ever heard and she was just awesome. it was a truly rewarding experience spending those two hours with her :)

stefania and her daughter at the caravaggio exhibit line

then, CARAVAGGIO! the largest collection of caravaggio paintings together in one exhibit EVER and definitely worth the wait! although the lighting was TERRIBLE and it was packed with smelly italians (and even worse, smelly tourists...), it was still amazing and breathtaking and i just love caravaggio.

time for class, pictures later!

ok back.

funny side-note: if you've ever read an art history book (or attempted to read one) you know that the language used is incredibly lofty, over-the-top, and convoluted at times (maybe why i gravitate towards it...my writing is usually like that too...sorry). anyway, imagine that, written originally in italian (the trend transcends languages even) then badly translated into english by a very obviously non-native english speaker...BAD NEWS BEARS for people like me trying to read about caravaggio in RUN-ON, overly dramatized, lofty sentences - oy vey. but all in all, a great exhibit and a great day.

the beginning of an incredible week

sunday, june 6

it was so great to be able to sleep in til 10 this morning! ilaria's daugther (emanuella - sp?) and youngest granddaughter (elisa, 8 months old) came for lunch and then brianna came over so we could make plans for the day. there is a caravaggio exhibit at the palazzo quirinale in rome now until june 13 that the school is paying for, so we decided to hit that up today...BIG MISTAKE. we got to the quirinale around 4 and when we finally figured out the line and tickets and what not, we learned that the line was taking 4 HOURS to get through (by this time it was 4:30) and the exhibit closed at 10 that night, not to mention we both needed to be home for dinner...such a disappointment. we climbed up this HUGE hill to get to the piazza di quirinale and were so discouraged by the unfortunate predicament we found ourselves in because of the ridiculous line for caravaggio. we wandered around aimlessly for about twenty minutes but after consulting our blue guide to rome, decided there was a lot to see in the quirinale and sat on a balustrade at the top of the piazza to look at a beautiful obelisk from the forum of augustus, flanked by the statues of castor and pollux (a famous roman story of brotherhood...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_and_Pollux).

obelisk and statue of castor and pollux

but just as we sat down and got over our disappointment from the caravaggio exhibit disaster, a guard came over and told us we had to move...um what? not gonna lie, we were pretty pissed. then all of a sudden the guards start closing off the area and a big van carrying some military band comes driving into the piazza...people start crowding around and brianna and i just had to stay to find out what in the world was going on. turns out, there is a building in the piazza di quirinale in which the president of italy resides and EVERYDAY there is a military procession (band included) to signal the changing of the guards at the palazzo (imagine the white house with way less security, in the middle of an ancient roman piazza, with the band of the armed forces putting on a show to announce a shift change of security...um what? never in america).

military presentation of the changing of the guards at the palazzo quirinale

brianna and i could NEVER have planned a day that turned out like the one we had and although i was somewhat disappointed with the caravaggio exhibit, the military procession - just chancing upon it - was one of the coolest things EVER. there's always something INCREDIBLE happening in rome and the best ones to experience are the ones unplanned :) then brianna and i got some insanely delicious nutella garnished gelato and parted ways at the metro.

when i got home, i had dinner with the family, watched some scooby-doo in italian (an interesting culture shock to say the least), played dress-up with martina and went to bed! just another day in the eternal city...loving it.

a special trip to tivoli

saturday, june 5

this saturday, the program took us all on a special trip to tivoli (a small city about an hour outside of rome) to visit hadrian's villa and the villa d'este, two of the most beautiful villas in the world. we had a wonderful time there but at hadrian's villa i again experienced difficulty attempting to mentally reconstruct what once stood where the ruins are now.

an awesome wall thing at hadrian's villa

hadrian's villa

chilling with an alligator at hadrian's villa with some beautiful copies of classical roman statuary in the background


one of the many fountains at the villa d'este

it was a long and tiring day but tivoli is definitely a city i'd love to come back to again to escape the hustle and bustle of rome (i actually think i want to get married in tivoli...it really is just breathtakingly beautiful). also, i got a gelato with chocolate and melon, my new favorite combination. after i got home from tivoli (around 5 or 6), i walked around the area near ilaria's house (my house?) and stopped into some shops (dangerous!) and bought a great bag. the ladies that worked in the shop were so nice and patient with my terrible italian and i'm very happy with my purchase. it was a great day, but i did get homesick that night :( i really miss my people and yogi!!! will someone send me a pic of her (i.e. MOM AND/OR STEPHANIE!)? watching two episodes of mad men, painting my nails, and making an epic playlist did help me get over my homesickness though and now i'm good to go!

side note, i'm so glad brianna is here with me. we have had some of the coolest experiences together and i really don't know what i'd be doing without her! love that girl.

pictures! and filling in the gaps

i realized i left out a day of experiences on the blog! so here goes: june 3

we met in the morning at a bookstore near our school and had a little orientation session and then italian class. the school i go to everyday is BEAUTIFUL! commissioned by some rich brothers in the medieval era, it served as their castle for some time and was later acquired by the roman government and turned into one of the most prestigious areas for american studies in the world. every ceiling and wall and doorway and floor is beautifully decorated and the piazza it sits in is full of gorgeous statues and carved reliefs...i'll never be able to sit a regular classroom again! i'll upload more pics of the actual school periodically but for now i'm trying to take it all in! everyday i come in i see something more beautiful than i did the day before and wahhh it's just awesome.

brianna and i with one of the many statues at our school

anyway, after our morning class we had about an hour to kill before heading to the fora romana (roman forums) so we headed to a great little pizzeria called "PizzArte" for some delicious, authentic italian pizza. it really is just better here.


so after a delicious lunch we headed to the fora romana for our afternoon class. there we saw the ruins of what used to be the bustling center of rome during the republican and imperial periods. the remains of temples, rostrum, triumphal arches, living areas, shops, and other awesome ancient roman things are all over the fora and it was really cool to see those remains. although i must say that it is incredibly difficult to imagine what used to stand where the ruins are now and i am having a hard time contextualizing the overwhelming number of deteriorating remains we see everyday...one of many of my goals for this trip is to figure out how to do that...wish me luck. anyway, here are some shots of the fora, specifically the arch of titus (still in tact) with one of my favorite ancient roman friezes depicting the spoils of the roman victory over jerusalem.

a view of the fora from the street


arch of titus

arch of titus (detail, frieze: spoils of jerusalem)

after finishing at the fora, we went on a long trip to pick up our cell phones (an adventure in and of itself) and then home for dinner! a great (and EXHAUSTING) first day!

by the way, i apologize for the disparate use of present vs. past tense in my entries...switching between italian and english grammar structures is incredibly difficult. i think my ability to express myself in grammatically complex english is while i'm here detiorating, which is incredibly unfortunate. ha please don't judge me when i get back and am unable to form grammatically correct english sentences or when i randomly say "sì" instead of yes in everyday conversation (it happened while i was on the phone with my mom last night...). ok dinner time! mmm. arrivederci!

roman adventures

hello all! i'm sorry my posts are so spread out and long (this one is going to be...), but i'm still trying to figure out the most efficient, convenient way to use the internet - you'll know once i do because i'll be updating the blog more frequently :) and i'm also sorry about the lack of pictures so far! hopefully i'll find a wifi spot around my school this week so i can use my laptop. ok so here's the update!

june 4

such an awesome day! (even though i got sunburned...go figure). this morning for my art history class we went to the arch of constantine (AMAZING...i've written essays about that thing) and the colosseum.

the arch of constantine

view of the colosseum in the fora romana


inside the colosseum!

we finished looking around that area around 12 and had class at 12:30 so brianna and i grabbed a panini on the way and booked it to our italian language class. after class, we had our first italian adventure! we asked antonella (our italian teacher) what her favorite foods were (she's a native roman and knows what's up) and she suggested we try a supplì, a ball of rice, tomato sauce, and mozzarella, deep-fried to perfection. she also suggested we get gelato at a place called giolitti, which turned out to be ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS GELATERIAS IN ROME...the line was out the door but definitely worth the wait (i got chocolate and melon...melon is my new favorite gelato flavor). on our way there we passed by the pantheon, nbd (stands for "no big deal", one of my favorite acronyms...brianna and i say it in italian quite frequently as "ene b d"...not quite an exact translation but it works haha)

our next stop was going to be the trevi fountain when we just happened upon the COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS, one of my favorite pieces of ancient roman art and then an obelisk that was originally placed in the forum of augustus and the italian government's parliament building...wait, what? we were literally just taking a leisurely stroll when we walked right into the piazzas with all of these famous pieces (fyi, the piazza's are piazza montecitoria, piazza colonna, e piazza parlamento). i was in shock and so happy (the pictures are great...especially with gelato dripping all over our faces...yumm).

one of the obelisks from the forum of augustus

that's one of the coolest things about rome: you can go on a walk with no plan or direction and walk by historic site after historic site. i can't describe how incredible it is to see these monuments that i've studied for so long and seen in art history books so many times...incredibile!

after that, we made our way to the trevi fountain which is unfortunately constantly full of tourists...i know i'm basically an american tourist but i can't imagine how annoyed ordinary romans must get with us...mamma mia. we decided to just walk around the area and take in all of the amazing buildings we were surrounded with. we spent a large part of the rest of the afternoon on the via del corso, a famous street with tons and tons of shopping. i'm definitely going back there to spend my money...i bought a water bottle at the north face store and brianna and i took many pictures of beautiful italian men in beautifully tailored italian suits (people really are just more beautiful here...the men at least). we actually felt good about our italian and were able to effectively converse with people working in the stores, even though we frequently omit essential verbs and mess up tenses all the time. brianna and i ended our day together at the piazza del popolo, a place i must spend more time at! by that time though our feet were hurting pretty bad (even though i was wearing my freaking chacos!) and we parted.

that night, ilaria's son stefano came over for dinner and we had a really nice time. he speaks a little bit of english which made conversation at the dinner table a little more engaging than it has been (i.e. me saying "sì" to everything ilaria says because i can't understand her...). i got pretty homesick after dinner and really just wanted to get on facebook (sad, i know) and really miss everyone so much (especially yogi...). but i'll be fine and to get over my sadness i just made a playlist, painted my nails and watched some mad men season 2 (if you haven't seen that show i highly suggest you watch it...grade A).

unfortunately i have to leave the internet cafè right now for dinner but tomorrow night i'm going on an adventure to find a place with wifi where i can use my laptop! i'll upload pics and fill in the gaps about saturday and sunday then. for now, ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao!

sitting in a roman internet cafe :)

i wanted to post something while i was at the airport in houston but i ran out of time on the complimentary wifi service there :( but i have the entry saved so i'll try to put it up later. apparently my italian mom actually does have wifi in her apartment but her son needs to set it up for me and he hasn't been around yet. also, i have pictures of my room and other fun things that i'll upload as soon as i can! for now just try to use your imagination.
so to fill you in! the flight was long but great. brianna and i had the BEST seats on the plane, the first row in economy class, so we had tons of leg room and the best tv screens. i watched the movie "brothers" and an episode of mad men on the air france tv and slept the rest of the time. air france is so so nice; can't wait to fly it again :)

this is what i wrote in my journal in the air from paris to rome:

landing in paris was amazing! brianna and i could just tell we were in europe from the scenery - a landscape full of pastures, forests, and weird-looking power towers that were just SO EUROPEAN! the airport was cool and brianna noted that europeans are really really beautiful compared to americans. we were only in paris for a short while and i eagerly await my return.

sign at the airport in paris. bonjour!

on the flight to rome:

flying over the alps - AMAZING, so breathtakingly beautiful. unfortunately, there was a group of extremely annoying americans sitting behind me on the flight; i understand now why europeans dislike americans sometimes...they sucked.

the alps :)

other than that, everything european is so much better - even the plane food! air france gave complimentary biscuits (which are, in american terms, coconut cookies and extraordinarily delicious) and these cracker things which make pretzels seem like dog food. i had to listen to rome by phoenix to get me in the mood right before we landed and i couldn't have been more excited!!!

in rome

so now i've been in rome for 2 days and am having an incredible time. my italian mom, ilaria, is so so nice and accomodating and very patient with my terrible italian (i'm realizing every time i try to say something that although i did well in my italian classes at ut, im missing HUGE gaps of information regarding the italian language; i am trying though...). i have a great room with an INCREDIBLE view, including the dome of st. peters, a.k.a. my dream come true.

the view from my room, st. peter's in the distance

my room!

yesterday i spent about an hour unpacking and setting up the room and then i went out with ilaria to meet her daughter and granddaughter, martina, who i have slowly become best friends with :) we went to a little italian store to get some bread and cheese and cookies for breakfast (yeah, italians do that) and other little things. ilaria made a dinner consisting of pasta with grated parmesan, a zucchini and mozzarella fritatta, bread, fresh mozzarella and a salad. note: MOZZARELLA IN ITALY IS SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER THAN MOZZARELLA IN THE U.S., which my mom has noted many times tastes like nothing - here it tastes like heaven :) i have coffee with every meal and it's also a million times better than anything you'll find in the u.s...the coffee, so far, is the best thing i've experienced (in terms of food) since ive been here. after dinner i went to sleep! great first day.

note: i have a hard time understanding the language so, so far, i basically reply with sì (yes) to everything ilaria says...it hasn't gotten me into trouble yet but im kind of afraid it will...i need to spend serious time figuring out how to understand italian better! oy.

today

today was LA FESTA DELLA REPUBBLICA, an annual celebration of italy's indepedence from mussolini's fascist regime. i woke up around ten this morning and watched the military parade celebrating the republic on tv. it was really cool to see the branches of the italian armed forces and i can now recognize the italian prime minister and president! woo. ilaria's husband served in the military and she showed me a photo album dedicated to him - he was SO handsome. i was really touched by the pictures i saw and loved that ilaria was so willing to share something so important to her with me. yay bonding!

around eleven, ilaria's daughter and 2 granddaughters came over for lunch; martina is 7 and elisa is 8 months old. they are ADORABLE. martina and i clicked instantly, once she saw my shoe collection (haha people warned me that italians really judge people by their shoes and even the 7-year-old martina validates that!). she looked around my stuff and like any 7-year-old would, tried on all of my shoes (she liked my new wedges the best - note to mom: i'm so glad i bought those!), tried on all of my make-up and jewelry and painted each of her fingers a different color that i brought with me. we had a delicious lunch of pasta al forno (baked pasta with cheese), leftover fritatta, mashed potatoes, salad, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, and some other delicious things. i had my coffee and we had cannoli and biscotti for dessert. mmmm.

after lunch, ilaria et. al. and i went on a walk around rome. we went to st. peters where i nearly cried just standing in the center and also went to the church of sant'angelo. i didn't want to look like a tourist today so i didn't take any pictures but i know i'm going back for class so i'll do my touristy thing then. i did, however, stop in a little souvenir shope where i bought my now treasured pocket italian-english dictionary...i'll never leave my room without that now...great success! we also stopped and got some famous italian gelato (i got mixed berry and chocolate) and it definitely surpassed my expectations for deliciousness. we went to one of martina's favorite parks and i had a really nice time attempting to carry a conversation with ilaria and her daughter.

and now, i'm sitting in a roman internet cafe, slowly learning how to use italian keyboards which are a lot different than american ones...it took me almost half an hour to figure out where the apostrophe key is... but, I'M LOVING THIS EXPERIENCE! dinner with ilaria is at 8 tonight and i'm looking forward to eating a pasta with spinach and ricotta :) and drinking my coffee! i'll never go a meal without it. i've yet to have any pizza but i know it's coming...

i think that's it for now. ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao!