Arrievederci Roma, Bonjour Geneva

My last entry from Roma says it was posted on Tuesday, but it was actually posted on Monday...

ANYWAY. Monday, I took my last final, wrote in my blog for three hours in the computer lab at school, stopped and got my last pizza at the red door place by school (MY FAVORITE. I'm actually craving some right now... ughhh, soooo good!), walked home, showered, and started packing. Then we went across the street with our thank you note (translated by one of my roommates Italian profs) to say our goodbyes to Rosalita.

Rosalita has been like our Italian grandmother. We actually found out with like two days left that her real name is Dalia, but she will always be Rosalita to us. She owns the pizzeria across the street and has the best supplis around. She was always there (except between 1-4pm and on Sundays) when we were starving and too lazy to walk to the grocery store. Or when we just wanted to see a smiling face. She always greeted us with "Ciao Bella! Ciao! Bella, come stai oggi?" She gave us free pizza all the time and she's just fabulous. It was actually the first place we went on our first night in Roma and we accidentally ordered two GIANT pizzas. Our first real Italian experience. I've probably already included all this information somewhere else, but oh well.

We gave her our card and she loved it. We chatted a little bit, our Italian still bad, but better than the first night. We got some pizza and supplis. We took pictures with her (she allowed us behind the counter!) and she brought us fresh, hot supplis for free. Yummmm. When we left,I heard her tell some random passerby's that we're American and we're going home! Ha. She's such a nice lady.

After that, I finished packing and planning my last day in Roma.

Tuesday morning I woke up and headed to the Forum. Ugh. What a waste of time. There were no tours and my audioguide map was mismarked. I wandered around and had no idea what anything was. I then realized that I have already seen the entire Forum from various locations around it. So thaaat was a waste of money. I had bought a combined ticket for the Collosseum, so I went there next. I joined a tour (which also included the Forum! But I couldn't go back in the Forum unless I bought another ticket. Stupid me) and it was interesting, but I already knew almost all of it. When we were in line for the Collosseum, we had to wait foreverrrrrrrr because we were behind a group of French students and all the boys had knives in their backpacks but wouldn't admit it so security had to search all their bags and it took SO LONG. It was worth it though. The Collosseum is super cool. I loved it. So, when in Roma, skip the Forum and just see the Collosseum... unless you do a combined tour.

After that, I headed to Trastevere to meet Victoria for some fresh squeezed orange juice and a panino. Delicious. We were in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, which is one of my favorite places in Rome. Trastevere is just gorgeous. After lunch, we grabbed some gelato. My last gelato in Roma... white chocolate and (I CANT REMEMEBER! Oh nooo). Regardless, it was delicious as well. We walked down by the river and sat on the steps of a fountain. We realized we had walked down there (Piazza Trillusa) the first time we ventured into the city! Everything is full circle.

We talked about our time in Roma and how we can't believe how quickly it went. We both agreed that Rome really feels like home to us now. We know our way around, we have our friends, we felt at home at AUR, we liked our apartment, we had our hangouts... it really just became home.

Chelsea called us when we finished and we went to the Collosseum to get a picture of us in our MSU shirts. We were hounded by bar crawl promoters and it was funny because once they saw who we are we realized that we all knew each other from previous bar crawls, just seeing them around, etc. It was just like walking around MSU... but it was the Collosseum in Roma. We talked to most of them for a while and took lots of pictures. Then I went to Santa Maria Maggiore and Victoria and Chelsea did some shopping.

WHY did I save this church for my last day!!? It is sooooooooooo pretty and big and wow. Breathtaking! I think it's my favorite church in Roma! I kept thinking "I have to come back here.. especially for mass" and then realizing I couldn't. So depressing.

Caught the bus home, changed my clothes, and went to AUR for the farewell party-thing. We ate some pasta, drank some wine, said our goodbyes. I still couldn't believe I was leaving Rome! We didn't stay too long, we came back to finish packing and get ready for traveling the next day. We cleaned the apartment out and then Victoria, Jessica, and I went out about 11:30pm to see the city one last time. We went to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Piazza Navona.

The Trevi Fountain basically sums up my Roman experience. We got there and immediately were asked to buy roses, take pictures, etc. Then some Italian boys started taking pictures of us on their phones, so we were like what are you doingggggg? Which made them think it was okay to come talk to us. They plop down in between all of us, put their arms around us, buy us roses, take pictures, try to kiss us, etc. Out of control. Italian boys are just crazy... at lease the ones you see in the street. The ones in the clubs and stuff usually aren't too bad. Finally I said "Basta!" (enough!) to which he replied "vaffanculo" (which I will not translate). When I told him I knew what that meant, he tried to tell me he was singing a song... okayyyyy. So we took the roses and raaaaaaan.

After that, we sat at the bottom of the Spanish Steps and ripped up the roses so our step was all covered in petals. It was really pretty. Then we turned around to see a whole line of Italian boys mooning their friends. Ohhhhh Roma.

We got back around 2am and grabbed a few hours of sleep before we all left in the morning.

THEN the fun started. I woke up bright and early, said goodbye to Roma, still not believing I was leaving. I had to travel with two bags that probably weighed about 75lbs each (not an exaggeration), my backpack, my purse, and another bag that probably weighed about 30lbs. I was realllllllly looking forward to hulling my bags to the train, getting situated, and then switching trains in Milano... not.

Got on my first train. It was really hard and took about 30mins to walk down 7 cars and get my bags on, but I did it. I shoved all my bags on the empty (phew) luggage racks at the end of the car and found my seat. I had a single seat and the two across from me were empty. Niiiiice. I wanted to sleep, but I was too busy looking at my last Italian scenery. I was also very entertained by this little Italian girl a few rows up who was talking to everyoneeeeeeee. At one point her mom told her to stop talking and she goes "Parlo, parlo, parlo, parlo, parlooo" Hahahah. She was really funny and making friends with everyone.

Arrived in Milano, ready to conquer my second train... except this is where the problems start. First I get off the first train and some guy like puts all my stuff on a cart, takes my ticket out of my hand and walks me to the train. Then he demands 10euro. I had a fifty and a five so I gave him 5 and told him it was all I had. He was not happy. So I put all my stuff on the train, then find my way to my seat. It's in like a little 6 person compartment thing. So I go back to the end of the car to get all my bags. I literally take up all the overhead storage. Then the other 5 people come and they all have a bag each. So that was drama. Especially since none of them spoke any english.

Then we go up one stop and the train just sits for 45mins. No air conditioning. I am dyingggg from heat and dehydration, plus we're all cramped together in this little room. Then they announce the train is broken and we need to move to the train 3 platforms over in the next 5mins. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? Some boy helps me gets all my bags down and then runs off and I am literally the only person on the train, with my 5 bags, 3mins already gone, not even knowing what to do.

So I start running with each bag and throwing them off the side of the train. I drag them to the elevator and it's taking me forever. I see the conductor and ask him to help/hold the train and all he does is wave his arm and go "vai! vai! rapdio!" (go! go! fast!) Thanks a lot.

I get on the elevator. I go down to the ground floor. There are 4 old ladies waiting for the elevator to the other platform. They tell me to squeeze in and THEY of all people actually help me with my bags. They're like 80 years old! We get off the elevator, they jump on the train. I start throwing my bags (or more like heaving and then dropping ish with a slight throw) and as I'm running for my last one, the doors start to close. I grab it, sprint (luckily I saved the backpack for last) and jump on the train as the doors are closing.

So here I am, on my third train. It's a regional train, which means it only goes like a 45min route, max and this is a 4.5hour train ride I'm supposed to be on. No one tells us what to do. So I'm panicking at every stop, trying to figure out if I need to hull all my bags to the door to throw it off. I call my mom and have a breakdown... taking care of all those bags by myself was too much, I had no idea what was going on, I almost missed the third train, I forgot to write down the address of where I'm living in Geneva, I don't even want to be going to Geneva if it means leaving Rome, etc. I get off the phone, calm down, and go sit next to my giant pile of luggage.

Finally some guy comes and tells me I need to switch in a city in 30mins, go a few stops, then switch to another train. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? So I get off at that city and basically everyone on the train is panicking and it's me and the ladies who helped me in the elevator and an asian woman. The asian woman has lots of luggage too and she speaks italian, french, and english and she says "I help you, you help me, we help each other". Aaaaaand of course there is no elevator at this station. So we start dragging all our bags down the stairs. Then we drag them all over to the new platform. Then we drag them all upstairs. She watches the bag while I go get some water and a snack. Then I watch the bags while she goes to the bathroom. We had checked the schedule and had missed the train we were supposed to be on, but there was another one coming from Milano which would take us right to Geneva! So we waited an hour for that one. We got all the luggage on the train, then I watched it while she looked for seats. She had made friends with a french lady on the last train and there were three seats by her! Wooooo. We store our luggage and sit with her.

I talked to them for a while about where I was going/had been and they shared their stories too. The asian lady was Pilipino and she had been in Italy the past four months with a relative. Now she was going to Geneva to stay with other relatives. The french lady was on vacation in Italy and she works in Geneva, so she was catching a boat from there to go home. For the most part though, it was a relaxing ride and I slept with my iPod on.

Switzerland is really beautiful when you first enter into it. Lots of mountains, waterfalls, lakes. But once I got closer to Geneva, it kind of turned ugly. I don't really like the architecture and everything is black, brown, grey, beige, etc. I like the center of the city, by the river and lake, but other than that, it's more of a modern city. It's also super small.

Also, it is reallllllllly Americanized (Westernized?). There are McDonald's and Starbucks and DOMINOS(!) all over and lots of people speak english and I don't really feel like I'm in Europe anymore. Which is not what I was going for at all. I stayed here to continue my european experience and that just not what it feels like.

But anyway, to finish my story. I arrived 2.5hours late and checked into my room. The place we're staying is like a conference center/temporary housing/hotel/office. I don't really get it. My room is a good size, but storage wise, it is lacking. I just have one tiny closet for ALL my stuff. I've made it work but I have a lot of stuff under my bed and my shoes are taking up half my floor. We have community bathrooms down the hall, so it's like being in the dorms again. I do have a sink in my room though, which is nice. I only have two plugs, which is already problematic. I have to keep my food locked up in the basement, I have a little like box/locker thing for my dishes/food and another tiny one in the fridge. Also, dishes wise, they only gave me a tiny, tiny pot and a big, big saucepan. Hellllllo, how am I supposed to make my pasta!? Doesn't make sense. They provide breakfast for us... aka baguette and honey and jam, so that will get old, but oh well.

Aaaaaand as I was unpacking, I realized I left my backpack on the train. I called like 10 numbers and none of them worked. Finally, I went to the train station, but lost and found was closed. So I woke up early yesterday morning and went back to the train station. Where they told me to go to a website to fill out a claim. Then I got an email from a guy at AUR who says someone emailed him to tell him my backpack is in Milan. I emailed that guy. Haven't heard back from anyone. I reallllllllly want my backpack back as it has my retainers, glasses, planner, some money, etc. So hopefully that comes back to me soon!

After the train station, I stopped at Starbucks, as I hadn't had it in foreverrrrrrrrrr. It was way overpriced, but I splurged anyway because I missed it so much! The first sip was heavennn, and by the third, I was disgusted. I don't really even drink coffee, which is why I like starbucks, because I can get coffee stuff without it tasting like coffee. But it was sooooooooo bad. It tasted so sugary and gross. I was craving my Italian cappuccino soooooo much after that.

I'm really missing Roma a lot... A lot, a lot, a lot. I miss the bars like every two feet where I can get a great cappuccino and a fresh croissant for breakfast. I miss the noise. I miss the size. I miss the PRICES (everything in Geneva costs SO MUCH... about $10 for a sandwich or a piece of pizza. I went grocery shopping and I bought what is about 8-12euros worth of food in Rome and it cost me THIRTY-TWO Francs! I am already so poor and living here is just going to ruin me). I miss the tiny grocery stores and having to go to different places to get the rest of my food... I panicked when I walked in the grocery store here, SO BIG! I miss the fresh markets. I miss the crazy drivers. I miss the colors and the winding streets and small allies. I miss all the stuff there is to look at (basically nothing here besides a fountain and a flower clock). I miss the food. I miss my hangouts. I miss everythingggggggggggggg. I almost feel like I'm here for a weekend and I'm bored already and can't wait to go back to Roma. But I'm stuck here.

Hopefully it will get better... I completely skipped the "honeymoon" phase of culture shock, so that might not be a good thing. I'm still really excited for my internship, but I'm starting to wonder if I should have just come home instead. Spend the summer at Macy's, getting out of debt, enjoying a Michigan summer... but oh well, too late now.

Yesterday we had orientation in the morning (after I woke up at the crack of dawn to go to the train station). Then we went on a tour of "old town" with the worst tour guide ever. She wouldn't tell us anything, just kept pointing to things and telling us to look them up. I can't even remember all the stuff she told us to look up! Also, she just kept talking about the Protestant Reformation... the same info over and over and over and over again.

After that, we went grocery shopping... where I was overwhelmed and then in disbelief over the cost. We came back and ate some lunch. Then we went to some art galleries that were opening for like 15mins. Then we just walked around for a few hours. Came back and hung out with the boys for a little bit, talked to my mom and friends, then went to bed. The one good thing about here is my bed is SO COMFORTABLE!

This morning we had another orientation and now we're supposed to leave in 30mins to go on a Scavenger Hunt around Geneva... in the pouring rain. We're also going out for a fancy dinner tonight as a group and I really hope EUSA is picking up the tab... because I am too poor for that business.

Soooooooooo that's what's going on in Switzerland.

OH and the other thing is I have NEVER been more confused when communicating! I'm so used to listening to italian for the words I understand, not the whole sentence. So I've been doing that with the french. But I can understand whole french sentence, so then I get confused. Any word that I learned in Italian, I can't remember in French. Or I go to speak and I'm not sure if the words I'm using are itlian or french. I can't even remember my numbers in french anymore, and I learned those nine years ago! Then when I do remember the french, I start to get nervous that I'll forget the italian I know, so I practice it in Italian too and then I just get confused all over again. I keep walking around saying "si" "grazie" "bongiourno" "buona sera" "scusi" "ciao" and it is all wrong. Ahhhhhhhh.

Switzerland...

...is NOT off to a good start.

More to come once I have my life in order.

La Roma non si discute, si ama.

I started this on April 28th, and this is what I wrote:
Picking up where I left off last Sunday, it didn't stop raining... and it pretty much hasn't since. I thought the rainy season was over!?


Sunday night we went out to appertivo, with promises of leaving at 9 to watch the fireworks. However, there weren't any fireworks. So we just went back to appertivo and then got ice cream on the way home instead.


Monday was a usually Monday of school, homework, boringness, etc. Tuesday, was Roma's official birthday. 2762 years old... wow, Buon compleanno! Sean and I decided to head down to the center for attempt at fireworks number two. I heard there was stuff at Piazza Venezia, so we went up to the campidoglio and found a big crowd and a stage. I asked someone who works at Musei Capoltine if the fireworks are happening here. "Yessss! Yes! Fireworks! You imagine them! In your mind! With the lights!" Oh, thanks. So I walked back to break the news to Sean. We decided to stay anyway and see what happens. Soon, the "fireworks" started. Images of wolves and mythical creatures and what not being cast on the side of a building with the sound effects of a wolf howling in background. (Rome's symbol is a wolf) Ummmm, okay? It was weird. Then this singer came out, Elena Bonelli. She was crazy. In between songs, there were either cheesy music videos she's done or she would do some insane monologue and end up crying and basically Sean and I had no idea what was going on. I have lots of videos of it though, so I'll have to show you when I get back. We walked past the Forum all lit up on our way back to the bus, which was realllllllllllly cool. Either they're starting to light things more and in different colors now that tourist season is starting, or I just never noticed the way things were lit before.


Wednesday I had to give an Italian presentation about calcio (soccer) fans, which was pretty interesting. Then I walked over to Villa Pamphili, the park by my school/apartment that is actually the biggest in Rome. I did some reading for class and then fell asleep for a long time... oops. There was a big church near by that chimed out every 15mins... something I really like about the churches here. They ring their bells every 15mins, with the big bells for how many hours, then a smaller bell ringing once for every 15mins that have passed. For example, at 8:45, you would here the big bell 8 times, then the small one 3 times. Which you might think is annoying, but I really like it. As I lay there, I also realized I always know how many times a bell has rung, even if I wasn't listening. I could not even be paying attention and then suddenly start counting and end up at the right time. This is not making sense, but I know what I mean and this is mostly recorded for no reason anyway, so it's fine.


Anywayyyyyyyy, went home for a little bit because it was suuuuper hot out. Went to my second class, then came home to get to work. I had to give two presentations of Thursday... dumb. However, I kind of ignored this fact and decided to go to the Earth Day concert in Piazza del Popolo instead... Ben Harper was headlining.

Continuing on May 11th:
The concert was a giant mix of Americans and Italians and this entire Piazza was full! It was broadcasted on National Geographic Channel, so that was cool. The openers were really good, very chill and I liked them a lot, but I have no idea who they were. Then an Italian band, Subsonica, came on stage and the Italians FREAKED OUT. I think the girl next to me thought if she jumped as high as she could, always landing on my feet, and elbowing me as hard as she could in the head on her way down it would somehow get her closer to the stage... because that's what she did... for their entire set. I thought the band was actually pretty bad. They were those type of people who do really exaggerated moves around the stage and look like they're fighting a seizure or something... like they're straight out of the garage and have no idea what to do on a stage. They also did a lot of voice altering things, which is not my style. But anyway, it was funny to watch the Italians freak out.

Also, a little side note to describe the scene at an Italian concert. People take the 1.5L water bottles and fill them up with wine. Then they get so drunk that they swing it all over the place, accidentally spilling red wine EVERYWHERE. They also chain smoke the entire time and I probably have 6 lifetimes worth of cancer after attending that concert. In addition, they think it's smart to bring umbrellas (when it's not raining) and put them up and then jump around, almost poking out the eyes of everyone around them. Oh, and they like to start mosh pits during slow songs. As usual, I don't understand their culture one bit. But it's fineeee.

After Subsonica stopped and the Italians calmed down, Ben Harper came on. He played a lot of new songs, so people couldn't really sing along, but it was still good music. Half the people left, so we could move around a little more too. He ended his set with a cover of "Under Pressure" and by then it was like 1:30am and I still had two presentations to prepare. Way to go. We waded through the Piazza which was covered in so many empty bottles and so much garbage that I literally felt like I was in a ball pit at McDonald's or something. Good job audience... not like it was an EARTH DAY concert or anything...

When I got home (FINALLY after lots of walking and eventually catching a cab) I just went straight to bed. I woke up the next morning bright and early to put the finishing touches on our group presentation for English. Sent it out to my partner, then started on my Foreign Policy presentation on the International Criminal Court. I worked on that until I had to go to school, gave my presentation, went to the computer lab to finish my ICC presentation, practiced in the garden for like 5mins, went to second class to listen to presentations and then give mine. Then I came home to pack for Sicily!

The entire time I was in Sicily it was just such a great experience that I kept telling myself I HAD to blog about it the second I got back so I wouldn't forget ANYTHING! However, it is now two weeks later and I am just getting to it. Fail times.

Originally, I was going to go to Sicily alone. Two of my roommates had already gone and talked about how beautiful it was and how different it was from Rome. In Italy, the culture changes greatly depending on region. The north (ex: Milan) is very rich and very accommodating to english speakers and like the stuck-up region of Italy, I guess you could say. Roma is in the middle and no one ever knows if they're more northern or more southern. The Romans refuse to be either, and that seems to be fine with everyone else. In the south (like Sicily) it tends to be a poorer region, more simplistic lifestyle, and people don't really know english. They say when traveling Italy, you should start in the North, work your way down to Roma, and if you don't like it so far, just stop right there because it's just going to get more and more Italian. This doesn't really make sense to me because if I'm going to a country, I want to experience the culture! Apparently though, most people just want to be in tourist areas where people are helpful and more Americanized. Whatever.

Soooooooo. Here I am, planning my trip to Sicily for a night or so. Then my mom mentions that her friend Rosie is from Sicily and has relatives there and asks me if I would like her to ask about me maybe staying with one. Before I even know what's going on, I already have a place to stay and I'm being told to book my flight and forward the information on to Rosie's cousin, Tonino.

I arrived in Trapani (in the Northwest) Friday morning and began looking around for the guy who was supposed to pick me up. I couldn't really find anyone who looked to be looking for someone like me, so I kind of just wandered around for a few minutes. Soon after, a short Italian man with a big smile came up to me, asked my name, and said "Andiamo!" Okayyyy. So we get in the car and he immediately starts talking in fast Italian and I have no idea what's going on and finally he realizes he needs to talk to me like I'm a three-year-old if he wants me to understand anything. We drive and he asks me why I'm in Italy, where, how long, etc. Half the time is spent with him asking me questions, me looking super confused, then him just laughing and then we sit in silence for a while. He is your typical Italian driver and we are whipping around corners, passing cars like crazy, horn going constantly the whole way. He explains to me some things about mountains and the places they have set up to get salt from the ocean. Half the time, I don't understand, and he really wants me to know so he keeps trying to explain over and over and finally I realize I'll never get it so I just go "Ahhhh! Si, si si!" and then he is happy and I still have no idea what he said. We also spent much time with him saying "Bella!" or "Bello!" and me saying "Si, si, molto!" Then he just stops the car and gets out, saying "Aspetta" (wait). Okay? So I sit in the car for a long time wondering what is going on and he finally comes back with all these papers and is like "Lavoro!" (work). Back on the road. After many windy turns, lots of views of the hills and then sea, we end up in the town where Tonino lives (which I will not post here for security reasons and what not? I don't even know if that's necessary, but whatever).

Tonino owns the farmacia in town, a very big deal. Pharmacists in Italy have a lot more power than those in the U.S. They're like doctors in that they can diagnose you with things that pharmacists in the U.S. cannot. Tonino has probably the nicest farmacia I've ever seen! It's big and very modern looking and very nice! I was very impressed. We walked in and Tonino was seated at his desk, which is dead-center when you walk in the door. He was eating a Kiwi and surrounded by people. We stumbled through language barriers (he knows about as much English as I know Italian) introducing ourselves, asking how the other was, and him asking how my trip was. Then he sent me off to get settled in. His housekeeper who spoke no english showed me the way.

I had a very nice, big room! It was in a little suite type area with another room and a bathroom. I put my stuff down, went to the bathroom, then thought "Okay, now what?" I wasn't sure if I was supposed to wait for someone to come get me or if I was supposed to go back downstairs and I was starting to panic that the whole weekend would be a disaster because I realized the only Italian I know pertains to restaurants, grocery stores/markets, and trains. Ohhhh man. I called my mom only to realize I had forgotten about the time difference and then she got all worried because I was calling her at like 3:30am. Oops. She calmed me down though and I found my way back down to the farmacia.

Tonino told me Mouritio, his brother would show me the town. Mouritio's English mostly consists of him saying "Please" which is my cue to follow him. We wandered around the town in silence while he smoked and looked at things in shop windows. Then he took me to a view of the area below the town, the sea, etc where we stood for a couple minutes. We looked at the outside of the big church in town, because it was closed inside. Then we went to a bar. I got a cappuccino because I was exhausted and he got some water. We drank it and walked back to the farmacia. Okayyyy.

Then I was introduced to a couple people. I found out the driver's name is Antonio, but he goes by Tony. I met Bernadetta, who is an architect working on a hotel Tonino is starting. I also met the woman who is doing marketing for the hotel, but I forgot her name! The two women spoke english very well. Then I met Sylvie, one of the pharmacists, who is learning english like Tonino. I also met Leo, another driver. Then I was told Tony and Bernadetta would take me to the hotel.

I think I'm getting this right that Tonino told me the hotel used to be the house where Rosie's dad was born. So that was really cool. It's got a courtyard surrounded by houses and there is another one where other people live right now. This is why I should have blogged right away because now I can't remember what these types of buildings are called. Bernadetta told me Sicily used to be under attack a lot and when this happened, all the people would lock themselves up in these places. The two parts are all that's left of a bigger one. These places had everything the people needed, water, food, etc. Like a little walled town. Except they were all over Sicily. So that was a cool fact. The hotel is going to be very nice. Bernadetta and Tony walked me through all the rooms and it's very pretty. Almost like a bed and breakfast. I liked it a lot.

After we walked through the hotel, we jumped back in the car and stopped to get some bread. We stopped at a little bakery and Bernadetta and I waited in the car while Tony ran in. We went back to Tonino's for lunch and I finally got to experience La Pausa for real. La Pausa is like Siesta. Everything is closed from roughly 1-4pm. I always looked at this from an American point of view. I thought it was great that they got the break in the middle of the day (just like I do at Cherry Blossom!) but I thought it was quite useless that EVERYTHING was closed. Helllllo, how are you supposed to run your errands or grab lunch or anything!? Experiencing it with Tonino though showed me how La Pausa is really used. The farmacia closed up and everyone came inside for lunch. Tonino, Mouritio, Sylvie, Bernadetta, the marketing lady (I can't believe I forgot her name!), Tonino's uncle, and I all sat down for lunch. I always thought Italians ate slowly, but I ended up always being the last one to finish a dish! Turns out the long meals come from the hours after they're done eating when they sit around talking. We had a fish casserole type dish (skin and all) and a thing that I can only describe as a quiche but with no eggs? I don't know how to explain it. It had some very bitter beans though. Once I got past eating the fish skin (not my favorite) the casserole was very good, but the quiche thing, I was not a fan of. I ate in anyway though. We had fruit for dessert, and I, unaware that I would have to eat it with a knife and fork, picked an apple. Dang city. That was a challenge, but I made it work. We also had some gelato that reminded me of the ginger ice cream at Cherry Blossom. It was realllllllly good.

After lunch, Tony took me to a little town nearby, known for their beach. We went to get gelato, but I had already had some with lunch, and tried to explain this to Tony. He didn't get it and neither did the gelato guy. Eventually the gelto guy started banging his head on the wall to show me how complicated I was being, haha. They found some girl who supposedly spoke french, but when I explained this to her in French, she didn't get it. Sooo... it was a mess. We went to the beach, then got back in the car.

Next, Tony took me to Erice. It's the only midevil town in Sicily. There was a big castle and beautiful winding streets and I liked it a lot. It was very pretty. It was also overrun by tourists. Tony thought it was sooooo funny that all the tourists were stopping to ask me for directions. We talked about me going to Switzerland and he told me he has a brother there. We basically just walked around the town a lot and enjoyed the view. It was so high up that it was in a cloud! I would recommend it to people. I wish I could post pictures, because I don't really know how to describe the town.

Then we went to the "cave". All the signs said "grotte" and I thought it was funny that we use that Italian word in English but they all kept calling it the cave. So we're driving to the cave and all of a sudden Tony's tailgating and honking his horn and throwing up the cornuto (like giving someone the finger, it means your wife is sleeping around... basically) and I'm just sitting there like "Whatttt is going on". Finally the guy in front of him stops and they pull up next to each other and they're laughing and joking around and then Tony tells me it's his brother! Ha. So then we take off at full speed again and end up at another bar. This time I get water while Tony and his brother split a beer. I think all of Tony's friends were there and they were all talking and laughing and I had no idea what was going on, but it was funny. Then we went to the "cave".

As we're driving up, Tony sees a dog, rolls down the window, and goes "Ciao Rocko! Ciao!" and then turns to me and tells me the dog's name is Rocko. Ha.

The cave is a really cool place. It's kind of like Greenfield Village in a cave. Tony got the giant key ring and we started off. Somehow I understood everything he said even though he explained it all in Italian. He showed me where they made olive oil and shoes and all those sorts of things. Halfway through the tour, a couple from Florence stumbled upon us and they kind of took over. They started asking all these questions and Tony stopped explaining everything so simply, but it was still interesting. At the end, Tony started making these weird noises and then ran over to the pig pen, and I realized he was imitating the pigs. Hahaha. Europeans, I've noticed, looooooove to use sound effects when they talk. They ESPECIALLY loooove to whistle. Which can get quite annoying. But it makes things more interesting. We were at the cave for a long time with a good view of the water and the sun started setting a bit right before we left. And everyone knows how much I love a sunset.

On the drive back, Tony started making fun of the people because they were from Florence. I swear, he imitated any word they said with a "c" for like 15mins. He thought it was HILARIOUS. It made me wonder if the reason they couldn't understand me when I said things people in Rome always understood was because I speak with a Roman accent. Probably not, it's probably just because my italian sucksss.

So that was the end of my day with Tony. Which was craziness. The guy (like most Italians) smokes constantly. He drives like a madman. He LOVES his horn... he honks when he's mad, when he's happy, when he sees a friend, basically for any (or no) reason at all. He gets distracted and just does whatever strikes him as a good idea. By the end of the day, we found ways to communicate, we made the language barrier work. I think my Italian improved a little, and he still spoke no english. It was a fun day.

When we got back to Tonino's they asked if I could help test the english of two people who were interviewing to work at the front desk of the hotel. They kept apologizing for putting me to work, but it took like 10mins and I was happy to help! I thought it was great that being so good at english could come in handy, haha. I had to ask them what there was to do in the area and pretend my wallet had been stolen and stuff like that. The marketing lady told me I was acting too nice when I told them my wallet was stolen, that I needed to act more panicked because they didn't really understand what I was saying. Oops. It was funny because the first guy was definitely struggling with his english and the girl wasn't perfect, but I would have been able to understand her and she was helpful. After though, the marketing lady (who had stayed in the room for the test) kept asking me who was better and I kept saying the girl and she kept saying that's what she thought too but checking to see if I was sure. I kept assuring her that the girl was much better and she kept thanking me so much for my help!

After that, I was sent back to my room to relax for a while. I had brought a mindless, beach-type novel for the weekend and I had gotten really into it at the airport, so that was fine with me. I read until Bernadetta came and got me for dinner. Dinner was with Tonino, the marketing lady and her husband, Bernadetta, and a couple who would be doing the landscaping for the hotel. We had sausage (sooooo good), artichokes, salad, and those bitter beans. After dinner, they talked business for a long time. I mean hours. I was really tired and wanted to excuse myself but I didn't know how to ask in Italian/I didn't want to be rude. I tried to listen to conversation, but as they were talking about landscaping, I didn't know most of the words. So I just tried to teach myself from Italian from the convo, but I really didn't pick up much. Eventually it winded down and I went off to bed.

Saturday morning, I didn't want to come off as that lazy American, so I set an alarm. I figured the farmacia would probably open around 8 or 9am, so I set my goal to be downstairs by 9am. I woke up around 8:30, took a shower, then read for a little bit to give my hair a chance to semi-dry. I went downstairs around 9am, but no one was there! I checked the farmacia, but it was locked! I had no idea what was going on, so I decided to go back to my room to wait and see what happened. Around 10am, Bernadetta woke up. At about 10:30am, she was all ready and asked me if I wanted breakfast. We went downstairs and met one of the housekeepers in the kitchen. We got the fruit, some cereal, some biscotti, and then discovered we were out of coffee. The housekeeper ran out and got more while Bernadetta and I set up breakfast for ourselves. As we're waiting for the housekeeper to come back, I find out it's a national holiday and everything is closed... sooooo that's why everyone's still sleeping. Way to go, Megan. Bernadetta woke up early because she had to catch a flight back to Milan, where she is from. The housekeeper came back and made some espresso and brought me some milk and sugar. I poured the milk, which looked kind of cloudy and clearish into my cup, thinking it looked totally wrong but maybe it was just how their milk was...? Yeah, I'm an idiot. Thankfully Bernadetta was watching and told me it was spoiled! So we made some more coffee and got some new milk. Phew. We also went on a giant search for a bowl for me to eat cereal out of, but couldn't find any smaller than serving bowls. So I skipped the cereal.

At breakfast we talked about a lot of stuff. She told me it's hard for her to understand my english, because when she was taught it in school, it was english with a british accent, so american accents are really hard to understand. She told me about how she was in Rome when they picked Pope Benedict and how they ran to St. Peter's when the smoke came up. She told me being Catholic in Italy made them feel they had a really strong connection to the Pope. I told her all the Romans I've talked to hate the Pope/Vatican and she was surprised to find this out. We talked about Tonino and how great it is that he has so many people around him at all times and what a great guy he is and how much everyone loves him. Aaaand I can't remember what else?

After breakfast, Bernadetta and I went on a walk around the town. The church was open, so she showed me that. She showed me these things they have on the wall where they'd engraved the names of all these people who donated to the renovation of the church and it was really funny cause it listed how many lira the people had donated and she was like "well they donated about $2 for a window and they donated about $7 for a door" but they were all mentioned! It's a very beautiful church.

Then we just walked around for a while and these boys started chasing after us. They were yelling after us and honking and being typical Italian boys. Bernadetta quickly goes "Speak loud in English! Do it! If they think we're both American, they'll leave us alone!" I tried to convince her that would have the opposite effect, but she insisted, so I started talking loudly. Immediately the boys go even more crazy and start yelling "Where you from!? What is your name!?" Duh. They get in their car and follow us wherever we walk and honk their horns and finally Bernadetta turns around and yells at them (in Italian) "For your information, I am Italian, I understand everything you are saying, and it is very rude!" So they disappear. For like five seconds. Then they're back, honking some more, and Bernadetta is like half-running and yelling "Vai! Vai!" (Go! Go!) Finally they leave us alone. Hilarious.

We went back to Tonino's and wait for Leo to show up. Leo and his girlfriend are driving Bernadetta to the airport in Palermo, so I go along for the ride. It's a beautiful ride, I really like Sicily. Bernadetta is translating and Leo's girlfriend speaks a little english. I find out she went to Michigan last year as part of a singing group and she told me she really liked "the place where it is always Christmas" (Frankenmuth? I think?) hahah. As we're approaching the airport, Bernadetta tells me the highway is a memorial to a magistrate who was killed here and I got super excited. We had just learned about the mafia in Italian class and talked about two incidents in Sicily... one where a magistrate had been driving with his wife and police escorts and the mafia blew up the entire highway, killing tons of people, because it was the only way they could get to him. They also killed another magistrate around the same time by blowing up his mother's neighborhood (also killing tons of people) when he was there on Sunday dinner because they didn't know how to get to him either. They were impressed that I knew all the information and I was excited to see where it had happened. We dropped of Bernadetta and we immediately went back to Tonino's.

Leo and his girlfriend bade me goodbye, yelling "Buon Pranzo!" (Good lunch!) Tonino and Sylvie were waiting for me because we were going to the cave for lunch. This might have been my favorite part of my trip, although the whole thing was amazing. We arrived at the cave and some friends? relatives? I'm still not sure! were cooking on a grill in one of the buildings. I was rushed inside and introduced to everyone and there were kids running around and everyone working together and it was really fun. We ate spaghetti first full of "no kiss!" (garlic). It was really good, and I was excited because I had been experimenting with some pasta the week before and made almost the exact same thing! For those of you that know me, you know I hate eating spaghetti because of the noodles and I always cut them up like I'm a little kid. I thought this might be rude though, so I started twirling. Which I am terrible at. Everyone was done eating so fast, slurping noodles left and right, and I was barely halfway through. They asked me if I wanted a spoon, but I said I was fine haha. It was soooooo good! Mmmm. Then they came out with some artichokes. I have never eaten an artichoke and I've never seen them cooked this way, either. They were actually reallllllllly good. They were soaked in oil and salt and then grilled. They showed me how to eat it by peeling off a layer, then eating the leaf. Or at least that's what I saw. So I peeled off the layer, and put the leaf in my mouth. Of course, no one sees this, but then they all turn to see my reaction. I'm chewing and chewing and chewing before finally Sylvie realizes what's going on and motions that I'm not supposed to eat the whole leaf, just the bottom tip! Everyone starts laughing and Sylvie makes a motion for me to spit it out, which makes everyone laugh even harder when I do. So then the next one, I eat just the bottom, and it is molto buono. By the time I was through the whole thing, I was covered in oil and had a whole plate of leaves. Perfect.

We sat around talking and then the kids ran in and told me they had something to show me. No one knew the english word and Tonino tried to act it out for me, but I had no idea what he was doing. Finally, I just went outside and I saw a turtle! It was just a baby one. Then a bee flew by and I have to tell you, I have never seen people so scared of bugs as Italian people are. Ever since I got here, I've noticed this. If a bug comes anywhere near an Italian, they freak out and scream and wave their arms and run. It's hilarious. So anyway, we all went back inside and I told them it was a "turtle". NO ONE could say Turtle! It was so funny! I kept saying it and they all tried to repeat and no one could pronounce it! Finally, when they kind of had it, I just said "Si, si, bravo" haha. Then they brought in MORE food. Lots of little fish, grilled up cherry blossom style... as in basically just the fish grilled... head, tail, fins, skin, everything. I was told to eat it with my hands. So here I am, peeling skin and meat off these fish. The organs are falling off, I'm pulling out bones, leaving the tails, fins, and head. They were actually reallllllllllllly good. I had lots of them.

Then all of a sudden, all these people keep coming and going. Someone's parents, some neighbors, some friends, some random tourists who had stopped by to see the cave (Including some former Italian minister of something). It's just like a giant party. Tonino called Rosie and I got to talk to her for a little while, which was nice. We went on another tour of the cave and everyone was just running around out in the sun. We went back in and talked for some more time, ate some pastry (yumm) for dessert, tackled some giant Sicily oranges, and then they busted out the grappa. They tried to get me to drink some, but I had already tried grappa since coming here and it tastes like tequila, gasoline, and burnt hair (in my opinion) so I passed. They were very persistent and I had to refuse for maybe 30mins before they gave up.

THEN they started making fun of one of the friends there and told me he lived under a bridge and was an alcoholic (jokes, jokes). But he got REALLY mad and I saw Italian gesturing at it's best. He was flailing his arms all over the place and yelling and turning red and pounding on the table and running in and out of the house and going insaneeeeee. Everyone told him to calm down and were just laughing as he screamed but he was so mad that he ran away and went home. Man, oh man! When we left a while later, he stopped our car (apparently he is Rocko's owner) and started yelling at Tonino and he and the guy driving us were just laughing and laughing and finally we just drove off as he tried to hang on to the car and keep yelling. Then he did this to the three cars everyone was in behind us. I wish I knew what he had been saying!

We went home and I took a nap. Actually, I finished my book, called my mom, then took a nap. Then I came downstairs for dinner at about 10pm because no one had come to get me yet. Apparently Tonino didn't feel well so he was skipping dinner and Mouritio was supposed to eat with me. Except he was still sleeping. Sooooo I ate alone. The housekeeper warmed up some leftovers and I watched the news. It was right when the swine flu was starting and I was kind of annoyed. The first time I get to watch news in english in FOREVER and all I keep hearing is "please wash your hands, don't go out if you're sick, don't go to the doctor if you wouldn't have if you didn't know about swine flu" over and over and OVER. Frustratingggg. Mouritio came down at about 11pm when I was just about to go to bed and asked me if I wanted to go to a discoteca. I was tired though and said thanks, but I'd rather go to bed. I read some more (finished the first book earlier, decided to tackle some homework) and then went to bed.

Sunday morning, I woke up, had breakfast by myself because Tonino was still sleeping, and then wandered around the town for a bit. Then I went and hung out with Sylvie in the Farmacia for a while until I had to leave for the airport. Sylvie showed me how to make pills, which is a very tedious process. I didn't even know people did that anymore! I thought only machines did! She introduced me to all the customers and arranged for me to go to church with someone, but then realized I would miss my flight if I did. She told me a story of Rosie's dad coming to visit a long time ago and telling her he would find her a husband in Detroit who would take good care of her. However, when he sent the picture, he was an old, very large man so she said Nooooo thank you!

Then my good friend Tony showed up, I said my thank yous and goodbyes and we were off. Tony drove like crazy to get to the airport and at one point, I literally thought I was going to die in Sicily because the car was going to go off the side of a mountain. Buttttt Tony just laughed, lit another cigarette, turned up the techno, and kept on driving. We got to the airport, we said our goodbyes, and I went through security. I stood in like for about 100years because Ryanair is dumb and yeah. Flew back to Roma, caught the bus to the train station, grabbed some McDonalds, then went home.

I'm so glad I finally got the chance to experience Italian culture with Italians. It was really an amazing weekend!

These past two weeks have been a giant blur, I probably can't even remember what I did. I've been trying to take full advantage of my time in Roma. I've been doing touristy things, studying for finals, writing papers, and going to class all day long and then we've been hitting the town pretty hard every night. I feel like I haven't slept in a month. But it's totally worth it. I would say Rome's history and it's nightlife are it's two highlights, so I've been getting as much of those as I can.

Some highlights that I can remember are:
-I saw the Spanish Steps covered in flowers... which I thought was all spring, but apparently only lasted a week. Most of the roommates missed it. I actually sat there for like three hours that day.
-Buying lots and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables at the markets... and also making my best pasta to date: Spiral noodles with ricotta cheese and olive oil. Plus some red and green peppers and tomatoes cooked in a pan with some olive oil stirred in. Yummm. It almost tasted like mac and cheese with veggies. Mmmm.
-We went to the opening of On the Rox in Trastevere. We always go to the original in Testaccio and we were here for the opening of a second!

And then there are some things I completely forgot until I looked at my planner just now that deserve some more air time.

I went to a Roma soccer game! It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be because they were playing a kind of bad team and all the Ultras were on strike because they want a new owner. The Ultras are the crazy fans, and Roma is known to have some of the best. However, they did all flood in at the end, only to see the game end in a tie. They were going nutssssss! I just wish they could have been there the whole time!

I went and saw the pope. Which I thought was a giant waste of my time. I waited for two hours for it to start because I had the time wrong. Then he came in on the pope mobile and weaved through all the crowd. Then he said a psalm in (i think) latin. Then like 10 priests translated it, english being maybe the 5th language. Then he talked for about 20mins in italian, reading from a paper the whole time. Then halfway through the first translation, I was so bored that I left. Maybe it's just because I've never really been into the whole hierarchy of Catholicism or because I just don't like Benedict, but I just didn't see what the big deal is. I dunno, celebrities never do much for me and it just felt like seeing another celeb, I guess.

Yesterday I went to Villa d'Este in Tivoli. Tivoli is such a beautiful town and the Villa d'Este is maybe the most beautiful place I've ever been. Green, green, green and full of fountains at every turn. Just gorgeous. I spent the whole day there and my allergies were OWNING me, but it was totally worth it. After the Villa, I walked around Tivoli. I went in some churches, I ate pizza in the main piazza, I wandered through the towns, I got some gelato. It was a great day. I started thinking about how weird it is that I have no problem just jumping on the three trains it took me to get there, then wandering some city in Italy all by myself. Crazy.

Danielle and Nick also left yesterday, which is REALLY weird. They're already home, have been for hours. Danielle wrote me a note about our trip, which made me laugh and cry. It's been a great time. I woke up this morning and realized tomorrow is my last full day in Roma (and yet I've spent three hours typing this whole thing when I have so much I still want to do!). I can't believe this whole thing is over.

Friday night, we had the boys over for some appetizers and wine and then we went to the restaurant around the corner that is ALWAYS packed with the locals. I had maybe the best gnocchi I've had here yet. Then we came back to the apartment, talked for a while, and headed out to On the Rox. It was a really fun night and I got to hang out with a lot of the residents. It seems that everyone is making friends with all these new people when we have no time left. I've been meeting so many great people this last week! Go figure.

Saturday we went out for appertivo and then some drinks at the new On the Rox... the boys, the girls, and our friend Anders from Denmark. It was a good way to start winding this whole thing down. I'm really going to miss hanging out with all these people, they're amazing and have made this experience just great.

I'm kind of going all over the place in this now, so I think it's time to end it. I have to go see the Colloseum and the Forum still, I haven't started packing, we have to clean our apartment, etc.

My next entry will probably be from Switzerland! Sad, but exciting at the same time. I really am going to miss Roma so much. I write myself a letter every 8months and last week I opened my last one and wrote a new one. After writing five pages, I realized all I had done was write about how much I love Rome and I hadn't even started really writing to myself. Ridiculous. Roma has my heart and I really hope I get to come back here this summer!

P.S. The quote at the top is something to do with soccer and Roma's motto or something, and I really like it. "La Roma non si discute, si ama." means "Rome is not to be questioned, just loved" PERFECT.

Rainy day in Roma

I apologize again for my lack of posting. I started an entry on April 7th ("Breakfast=Drinking?"... obviously it's an eventful one) to update you on everything since my last post and my first trip to Greece. However, I was so overwhelmed with schoolwork during my two days in Rome that I never finished it before I headed back to Greece (Yes, that's right... five days in Greece, then two back in Rome, then back for five more days in Greece... life in Europe is just SO hard). It's saved in my drafts and I'll get to it eventually, but I'm just not in the mood right now. So things will be a little out of order for now.

My time in Rome is quickly flying by and I've been so sad thinking about it all week. I only have three weeks left and I am nowhere near ready to leave. I know you all think three weeks is a long time, but when you think about how much time I have to spend going to class and doing homework, it's NO time at all. I'm dreading going to Switzerland and kicking myself for not staying in Italy for the summer. Whatttttt was I thinking?!!?!? I was looking through Antoinette's pictures from her last days in Italy the other day as I was getting sad about my last days and found a picture of a shirt that says "Heaven is: Where the police are British, the cooks Spanish, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian, and it is all organized by the Swiss. Hell is: Where the cooks are British, the mechanics Spanish, the lovers Swiss, the police German, and it is all organized by the Italians." I think that about sums up how much my life is going to change. I'll be going from a crazy, unorganized, very passionate culture to one full of serious people who love rules. Ugh. Garbage. Hopefully I'll just have an amazing internship to distract me from the fact that I'm no longer in Italy. ANYWAY, enough of that.

So as I have suddenly realized living in Italy will be ripped away from me much sooner than I wanted it to be, I've also realized there is SO MUCH in Roma that I am yet to see. I went through my guide books and made a list of all the things I need to see before I leave.

It was funny because there are so many churches on my list and I decided I should google them to see which I should really priortized. Turns out I had already been in most of them. Whenever I'm walking around the city center, I tend to wander into about 5 "random" churches every time. Basically they've all been really important churches with a lot of famous stuff in them and I didn't even know. I just thought they were nice to look at without even knowing there were specific things I should have been looking at. It's really wierd to live in a place with so much history that you can be looking at, for example, a painting done by Michaelangelo without even realizing it, just thinking it's part of the typical scenery. That was maybe the worst structured sentance I've ever written... hopefully you understood it.

So I had my plan all ready, I was going to go to these places in between classes, before classes, after classes... until I realized my schedule doesn't really allow for this at all. Figures. I'm still trying to figure out how to make all this work.

Instead, not wanting to waste my time, I spent Wednesday and Thursday walking the same path in between my classes... Tram to the cat sanctuary, walking through Campo di Fiori, over to Piazza Navona, walk past the Pantheon, then the Trevi Fountain, over to the Spanish Steps, then hop on the metro, switch to a train, and get off at my piazza and grab my backpack for class. I don't take my camera because I just read a conversation in a book I'm reading for class that has inspired me to just stop and look at things, really look at them.

From White Noise by Don DeLillo:
Several days later Murray asked me about a tourist attraction known as the most photographed barn in America. We drove twenty-two miles into the country around Farmington. There were meadows and apple orchards. White fences trailed through the rolling fields. Soon the signs started appearing. THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA. We counted five signs before we reached the site. There were forty cars and a tour bus in a makeshift lot. We walked along a powpath to the slightly elevated spot set aside for viewing and photographing. All the people had cameras; some had tripods, telephoto lenses, filter kits. A man in a booth sold postcards and slides--pictures of the barn taken from the elevated spot. We stood near a grove of trees and watched the photographers. Murray maintained a prolonged silence, occasionally scrawling some notes in a little book.
"No one sees the barn," he said finally.
A long silence followed.
"One you've seen the signs about the barn, it becomes impossible to see the barn."
He fell silent once more. People with cameras left the elevated site, replaced by others.
"We're not here to capture an image, we're here to maintain one. Every photograph reinforces the aura. Can you feel it, Jack? An accumulation of nameless energies."
There was an extended silence. The man in the booth sold postcards and slides.
"Being here is kind of spiritual surrender. We see only what the others see. The thousands who were here in the past, those who will come in the future. We've agreed to be part of a collective perception. This literally colors our vision. A religious experience in a way, like all tourism."
Another silence ensued.
"They are taking pictures of taking pictures," he said.
He did not speak for a while. We listened to the incessant clicking of shutter release buttons, the rustling crank of levers that advance the film.
"What was the barn like before it was photographed?" he said "What did it look like, how was it different from other barns, how was it similar to other barns? We can't answer these questions because we've read the signs, seen the people snapping the pictures. We can't get outside the aura. We're part of the aura. We're here, we're now."

It goes on and on... so I made it my mission to really see things, to study them.

Wednesday, I walked quickly through Campo and went to Piazza Navona in search of a painting of Rome. I walked through all the artists, studied their work, but nothing struck me. So I got some gelatto and decided to study Bernini's fountain instead. Really just sit there and look at it. My eyes began to wander and I noticed the colors of the sky, the way Sant'Agnese church stood so beautifully in front of it, the tip of the fountain still in my view.

Next on the list, the Pantheon. I went inside and just observed it all. Noticing how no one really looked at it... but it was just too crowded and I quickly moved on as well.

After that, I decided to focus on the Trevi Fountain and go quickly past the other monuments for the day. When I got to the Trevi, I found a spot on a bench directly in front of the fountain and watched my surroundings. The quote from the book quickly came to life right in front of me. People running down the steps, turning their backs to the fountain, posing for a picture, throwing a coin in, and quickly leaving. They don't even stop to look at the fountain! It's amazing. There are variations... people taking more than one picture, people taking a picture of throwing the coin in, people helping those who need someone to take the picture for them... but no one really stops to look at the fountain. Even those who sit on the steps for a while don't look. They talk with each other, watch and fend off the vendors, eat their gelato. It's just so wierd once you notice it. I still remember the first time I saw the Trevi... I took a lot of pictures, I went and got some gelato, then the boys and I sat in front of it for a long time just looking at it. There weren't many people there, as it was a Sunday night in January. I guess we're in the minority, in that we really looked at the fountain. So back to Tuesday, I was sitting on my bench observing people. After I did that for a while, I decided I should study the actual fountain, try to see something I hadn't before. An opening presented itself on the edge of the fountain (it gets very crowded as tour groups roll in, then empties a bit, then fills again... it's like waves crashing on the shore), so I moved up to take a seat. I was in prime picture-taking area, but oh well, people just had to move around me. I ran my hands along the marble and felt lots of carvings. People had carved names, dates, messages all along the edge of the fountain. Something most people will never know about the Trevi because they don't take the time to look. I noticed little details of the fountain. I noticed all the places the water came out and the different streams (?) they came out as. I looked at all the coins on the bottom. I noticed a man taking pictures through a window to the left of the fountain. Just little things. Then another wave came in and I moved on.

Next stop was the Spanish Steps. I climbed halfway up and took a seat. This might be the only place where people actually look. Probably because there isn't much to look at. I watched people laying in the sun, eating lunch, reading books, talking. Locals on their lunch break, tourists resting from their day and planning what to do next, students doing homework. Relaxing amongst chaos. Then it was time for class, so I hopped on the metro and headed home.

Thursday, I didn't have class until 2pm, so I got an early start. I went to Campo and decided to buy some stuff at the market. I got a big bag of green beans, some tomatoes, and some strawberries... mmm. Then over to Piazza Navona. I was immediately drawn to a painting of the Spanish Steps. I talked to the guy for a while and looked through all his work, then told him I needed to walk around first. So I looked at maybe five other artists work, then headed back to the first guy. He said "Ahhh, your painting!" grabbing the one of the Spanish Steps and holding it up for me. Except that I hadn't even told him I liked the one of the Spanish Steps, which had been hung on the side of the thing holding all his paintings. I was unsure because it's kind of a darker painting... and as my parents know from my Venice indecisiveness, I don't like the dark paintings that much. He literally held it up for me for maybe 15mins while I just kept saying "I dunno... the colors... I dunno... it's very dark... I don't know." Finally he offered me the painting for 70euro and I decided to take it. It said 140 on the back, the first time I asked him, he told me 110 euro, when I came back the second time, he said 90, then after I stared at it forever, he said 70. Buying all these paintings is what's helping quickly put me in debt... but I think it's worth it. They're all oil on canvas, I've met and talked with all the painters, they're from all over Europe, and they'll last me forever. He rolled it up for me and I went back to Bernini's fountain. I sat on the opposite side than I had before and studied it. Mostly, I just noticed the way the water was coming out.

Got up and headed to the Pantheon. I sat on the steps of the fountain in front of it and busted out my strawberries. BEST STRAWBERRIES I'VE EVER HAD. The stems fell right off them, the juices were spilling all over, they were sweet, and they died my fingers bright red. I ate until I felt sick. It was fabulous. Watched people in the piazza for a while, then got up to wash my hands in one of the many drinking fountains. Fingers still super red, okay, it's fine.

Walked kinda quickly past the Trevi Fountain, but did notice there was a new man in the window to the left taking pictures. Hmmm.

To get to the Spanish Steps, I have to walk past a little monument (I dunno what to call it) that I always thought was white and grey. I noticed the grey parts actually look more like opal. Interesting. Anyway, I got to the Spanish Steps and I read more of that book for my class. Then I donated some money to build schools and train teachers in third world countries after some Italian guy told me all about the organization he works for... he was looking for donations and I looked it up, it's legit. (http://fondazionepatriziopaoletti.org/) We had an interesting conversation all about it and at one point he said "You see, not everyone can go to school. Everyone goes to go schools in American, no?" and I said "No, not everyone." Which surprised him and he said "Well, everyone can go to school, right?" and I said "Technically, yes, but a lot of people don't, and a lot of those people who do go to really bad schools and don't really learn anything because they have bad teachers or no books, things like that." I think I caught him off-guard. He was really confused and then just continued on talking about the kids who don't even have schools near them. That took up most of my time though, so then I had to go back for class.

One of Victoria's friends from MSU got here on Friday because it was her birthday. We took her to Campo for lunch and to see the market. Then we went to... surprise... Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps. After that, we were all just exhausted. Seriously, walking around Rome makes you SO tired. I don't know if it's because I walk fast, or all the crowds, or all the vendors you have to wave off, or what, but it is EXHAUSTING. Danielle and I spent the afternoon trying to nap, and having no luck while Victoria and her friends slept away the day. Friday night we went to Gilda, where I hadn't been in forever. What a ridiculous place... it was much more low key than last time we went and super fun. I met some Italian boy who wants to cook for me, ha. Probably ignoring that offer.

Yesterday I woke up after 2.5hours of sleep, threw on some clothes, and started off for school. I was STARVING and had no breakfast food so I stopped at three different bars on my way to school for 3 croissants. Hahha. After each one I thought I would be full, but it took until three for me to feel like I was good enough to last until a late lunch (it was 7am after all)! I had signed up to go on a field trip to Assisi. So I got on the bus and turned on my ipod for the three hour bus ride. I felt like it was my 23987349875th time going to Tuscany/Umbria region. I've been going there a lot lately. It's very pretty with all the rolling green hills and what not, but after a while, it gets boring to look at. I like when I can see people who live near the highway out in their yards doing laundry and stuff though. It's cool.

Assisi was very nice. It was a very calm and peaceful city. It's up on a hill and has a great view of the area. We had an...interesting?... tour guide. He started off the tour with "We're going up this escalator here, it's here to help old people get from the parking lot to the city... it was built in 1982, 17 years ago." Good, good. He kept asking us if we were tired because apparently we had no expressions on any of our faces the entire time. We all silently laughed at his jokes and quietly listened. At one point, he did an imitation of us and then said no one would guess we were American, everyone probably thought we were British with the way we were acting. Ha. We learned a lot about some of the churches though, so that was nice. St Francis' tomb was maybe my favorite part of the whole trip. It was just so peaceful and it smelled like a funeral, but in a good way and it was a beautiful room under a giant church and I just liked it a lot. I wanted to go to the castle they have there, but the girls I hung out with just wanted to go out to eat and wander the shops and I didn't really feel like climbing the big hill and going alone, so I didn't see it. Maybe I'll have time to go back... who knows. We spent the last hour of our trip watching Pigeons, which was maybe one of the funniest thing I've ever seen. People were feeding them, and they were vicious with each other! When all the food was gone, they were trying to mate or something. Then men (women?) do this thing where they puff themselves up super big and drag their tails as much as they can and walk in a circle around the other sex or just spin in a circle and it's really entertaining. After that, we had a long bus ride back, then I just relaxed, made a good dinner of steak and green beans, then went to bed early.

Today I set an alarm for 9am and planned out a day of touring the Coliseum and the Forum then heading over to Piazza della Repubblica and the baths of Diocletian, plus some random churches thrown in there. I woke up, showered, got ready, made some food, and as I was eating, it started POURING. Really, really hard. So I decided I would wait it out. It's now 4:30pm and still raining like crazy. Of course this would happen to me. Especially since it's been hot and sunny for like the past two weeks. I might still try to do some walking around, but I think it would be pointless and miserable.

I've realized that rainy days are when I get the most homesick. Not really homesick, just there's nothing to do when it's raining unless you want to get soaking wet and freeze and be miserable so I sit here and think about what I would be doing at home. Especially on a Sunday when most things are closed. At home, on a rainy Sunday, I would probably head to Orchard Lake. Then I would meet some friends for Coney Island and just relax around the house with my family. Maybe go to a movie or the mall... maybe work. At school, on a rainy Sunday, you would probably find me at Barnes & Noble. Curled up in a big chair with a venti black & white Starbucks hot chocolate. Either doing homework or just reading for fun. Ending the night at church, then dinner, and lots of hang out time with my fabulous roommates. Here I just sit around bored and wish it would stop raining... especially today when I know I only have TWENTY-FOUR days left in Roma.


Sooooooo that's about it. I'll be spending the rest of the day debating if I should go out in the rain. Then we're going to appertivo in Trastevere... my favorite part of Sunday. We really should have that at home, it's fab.

My entry about Greece and all those crazy shenanigans will be coming soon... I hope.

Ciao ciao.


Edit: Just as I hit "publish", Victoria walks in to tell me it's Rome's birthday and the entire city is full of people and there is a big celebration and fireworks tonight. Duh that would happen on the day I let the rain keep me inside. Out to the city center, nowwww!

:o(

No posts for a month, then two posts in one day!? What is going onnn!?!?

Anyway, I stayed in tonight because I wanted to be home to watch the basketball game at 2:30am. I decided to pass the time by watching Under the Tuscan Sun. About half-way through, I started thinking that the next time I watch this movie, I'll probably be back home. I'll be sitting there looking at all the scenery and my time here will be like a faraway dream. It's so sad! I don't want to leave Italy! Even to go to Geneva!

THEN I finish watching it, only to be greeted with Savannah's blog talking about how tonight is her last night in Siena. She talked about all the things she will miss and the last walk through Siena that she'll take tomorrow.

Ahhhhhh. I just don't even want to think about leaving Rome. I wish I could come back to Italy at least once a year for the rest of my life. It's just so crazy and sad to think that I only have a month and a half left here! Time is going soooooo quickly!

Keep you in suspense long enough?

SORRY that I fail at life and it's been literally a whole month since I last updated! I've been traveling a lot, had mid-terms, my parents came to visit over spring break, I've been trying to finalize summer plans and basically everything has just been crazy busy! So now I have lots and lots to update you all on, prepare yourself for lots of reading!

Back to Feb 27th: We went out for my roommates birthday and it was really fun. We went out with some new people, some old people to an old place and a new place. I like when things get all mixed around like that.

I woke up on the 28th and headed to Cinque Terre. "Cinque Terre" means "Five Towns". It's in northern italy, on the west coast... google it to find out more/see pictures. I spent the weekend there alone which was both nice but also boring. It was cloudy the entire weekend and rained on and off (surprise, surprise), but it's such a beautiful place! I wanted to hike the trails between the towns, but four of the five were closed because of mudslides. I spent my days taking the train between all the towns and wandering through the streets.

Vernazza was my favorite town. Colorful boats lining the streets, a big church on the water, all the old men of the town playing fooseball in the town square (yes, they have a fooseball table that just sits in the middle of town), and it just had a nice, friendly feel. At night, I wandered through the streets where all the people live, away from the touristy parts, and it was exactly what Italy should be. Lots of narrow, winding streets, smells of Italian cooking drifting out the windows, loud Italian families inside... it was just perfect. I spent my last night in this town too, eating pizza in the little harbor and watching people wander through the square as the train kept flying by in the distance.

My other favorite thing about Cinque Terre was these three men I saw. I first passed them when I was walking the path from Riomaggiore to Manarola. They were all hudled together and talking very fast as they walked the path together, all leaning on big umbrellas that they were using as canes. Later I walked the path in the other direction, and the three of them were sitting on a bench, still deep in animated talked. I came back to Manarola maybe five hours later and they had moved to another bench in the town, still deep in conversation. THEN I saw them every single day I was there, rotating between thier benches and the path, always very deep in conversation and hudled close together. I just thought it was so funny. I wonder if they all grew up in Cinque Terre together and have been best friends since they were little or something? It was just great.

Corniglia is the town in the middle and it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up in the hills. You have to take a bus to get to it from the train station. Then, me being the smart girl I am, climbed 83478365387 steps down to the shore once I got there. Seriously, talk about a lot of steps! It took me a long time to get down there, I relaxed and read for a while on a dock, then it took me FOREVER to get back up. Oh well.

Cornigilia seemed to be the town least effected by the tourism. They just ignore tourists as if they aren't even there. Half the town is in the piazza at all time. The old women in their dresses, stockings, heels, and big aprons are all there playing with/yelling at all the little children, the old men are sitting on benches talking, and the middle-aged people are all havign quick conversations as they run off to the rest of life or chase after their kids.

Basically, I spent my weekend wandering through the towns, reading in my hotel at night, eating fabulous dinners (alone... while being stared at... no fun), and just observing life in Cinque Terre. The sun came out for a while on my last day there and they opened one of the back paths between the towns, so I decided to try it. However, it was a path that wasn't marked all that well that went waaaaaaay up into the mountains. It was almost creepy to be up there. And SO humid. So after about 30mins of hiking up and up and up and up, I decided I would rather just go back down and take the trains instead of getting lost in the mountains by myself.

OH and on my second day there, I went to Pisa for the morning. There is basically nothing in Pisa except for the leaning tower. No joke. I took a train there, got off, looked at three churches, went to mass, took some pictures of the leaning tower, looked EVERYWHERE for pizza (which was nowhere to be found), went back to the train station where I finally found pizza, ate lunch, and got back on a train to La Spezia (the base of Cinque Terre).

So that was the weekend of Feb 27th. I actually made it a long weekend and skipped my Monday classes, coming back in time for my Tuesday afternoon classes.

That Thursday (March 5th) Savannah came in from Siena because we were leaving for Vienna, Austria the next morning. I took her out to our usual Thursday hang-out to meet all my friends here. She and a few of my roommates wanted to go back early, so I went back with them, got Sav all comfortable in bed, then headed back out with one of my roommates who hadn't gone out originally to meet up with the rest of the crowd. It was our usual Thursday scene, but it was super fun. I ended up coming home at 4:50am, waking up Savannah/packing, and running downstairs to be picked up by the car that would take us to the airport at 5am! It was ridiculous.

Savannah and I arrived in Vienna and immediatly noticed all the differences between Austria and Italy. It is much calmer/quieter, it's cleaner, more orderly, and COLDER. This was seriously one of the coldest times of my life. I hadn't brought warm clothes because the weather said it would be similar to Rome. NOT. It was FREEZING and WINDY and RAINING all weekend. Savannah and I went through three umbrellas because the wind was just so out of control. I bought an umbrella and it was destroyed maybe 10mins later, so I threw it away and decided to just brave the rain. Savannah went through two umbrellas in one day before giving up as well. Half my picktures from Vienna are just of destroyed umbrellas on the street, in garbage cans, etc. If it wasn't so COLD, I probably would have just stood on the street laughing at people fighting with their umbrellas all weekend.

Instead, Savannah and I got laughed at. Probably one of the best moments of the whole weekend was when Sav and I were standing on a street corner, in the rain, and she was fighting with her umbrella, which had already been completely torn apart by the wind. However, she was still trying to get it back to normal because she was not giving up on her second umbrella. I was literally half sitting/laying on the sidewalk laughing because I had fallen over and she was swinging her umbrella around like a maniac. I was snapping lots of pictures, and all the people waiting to turn at the light were sitting in their cars, pointing and laughing at us. It was one of the funniest moments of my life. Hahaha. After that, the 3rd umbrella of the weekend was stuffed into a garbage can and the crazy antics were no more.

We did a lot of stuff involving music because helllllllo, we were in Vienna! We went to Mozart's house, the "Haus der Musik" (which was like a hands-on music museum/real museum about composers and the Vienna Philharmonic Symphony), and then there was church. The first time we went to "mass" it was at St. Stephen's, the big main church in Vienna. First the preist came in while the longest intro song I have ever heard EVER was played on an organ. At times, it sounded straight out of a horror movie. Then he said something (when the music finally stopped) and I couldn't understand it because it was in German (side note: Savannah and I got to Vienna, only to realized neither of us had done any research on it really besides learning there is a big ferris wheel there. We started walking around and realized we had no idea what we were supposed to see or EVEN what language they were speaking! We didn't figure out it was German until we got back to Rome and looked it up... fail), then an orchestra played a bunch of Joseph Haydyn, accompanied by some people singing. It went on for probably over an hour. Then the preist talked again and "mass" was over. Savannah and I just looked at each other like "What?" and the guy next to us said something that seemed like "What just happened?" in German. No one knows. Hmmmm.

Sunday we woke up bright and early and went to Hofburg Palace. Of course, on our day when we leave early, it was sunny and warm! We first bought tickets for the Vienna Boys Choir, walked around for a little bit, then went to get some coffee and croissants. We came back for our second attempt at mass and found our way to our seats. We were in a little balcony off to the side and no one sat in the front row, so we moved up. It was maybe one of the coolest masses ever. There were like 20preists and they used a lot of incense and I don't really know what happened when it wasn't the usual mass because it was all in German, but it was still soooooooo cool. Plus, the boys sang which was really awesome. At the end of mass, they sang Ave Maria, which was really nice.

After mass, we headed to the Albertina museum. I liked it a lot. They had a lot of Monet and Picasso and some Palace staterooms as well. Savannah left a little early to go to the butterfly house and we met up after I finished the museum. We wanted to go to the Spanish Riding School too, but we didn't have time. There was SO much to see at that Palace, I wish we had had more time there!

Anyway, besides our musical adventures and battling with umbrellas (none of this flows correctly, sorry, I kept remembering things and adding in paragraphs, like the one above, so it doesn't really make sense, but hopefully you get the picture), Savannah and I spent a lot of time eating. There was actually VARIETY in food choices, unlike it Italy. We didn't even know where to start! Our first night, we immediately headed for the sushi! Yummmm. They also had BAGELS in Vienna, and we COULDNT FIND THEM! It broke our hearts. The second night there, we ate at the oldest restaurant in Vienna. Hitler and Napoleon had even eaten there! We ended up sitting at a table that was almost on top of the table next to us. Turns out the men next to us were Italian... one from Rome and one from Tuscany. Figures. We started talking to them after I cut my ribs and one of them went flying onto their table (good, good) and after they looked shocked/starting laughing, Sav and I asked if they were Italian (because we had been evesdropping) and then we had a conversation in broken Italian. They left before us, and Savannah and I could finally talk without feeling like they were listening to our every word, ha. Some other lady took the table and smoked TWELVE ciggs before her food came. Gross. Savannah and I continued on our delicious, non-italian meal... complete with wine and dessert! I had the Sachertorte (a chocolate cake that Vienna's famous for) and it wasn't really that good. Oh well.

By the last day, Sav and I caved at the U station (metro/subway/tube/whatever) and got pizza. It wasn't Italian pizza though, so it was okay. Big, soft, thick crust and lots of cheese and toppings! Gooooood. Ironically, while I was avoiding anything I eat in Italy (aka pizza, tuna fish, and pasta) I ended up getting tuna fish pizza. I thought it was chicken! I just can't escape! And because I know you're wondering, it was actually pretty good, surprisingly.

The only other thing we did in Vienna was go on the big ferris wheel! Which was actually a disappointment. It was cool because the ferris wheel frame survived WWII while everything else around it was destroyed, but the ride itself was disappointing. We wanted to go at night to get a nice view, but Vienna is basically dark at night, so we couldn't see anything! Can't win 'em all, I guess.

So Vienna equals best friends being reunited, music, destroyed umbrellas, being wet, freezing, lots of laughter and LOTS of good food.

We arrived back in Rome late Sunday night... which is when I remembered "Oh heyyyy! I have midterms starting TOMORROW!" So obviously, I decided we should go out to appertivo with my friends! We arrived, each got a glass of wine, then loaded up on food. After stuffing our faces some more to go along with the theme of the weekend, it was time to socialized. I had drank maybe three? sips of my wine, when I decided I was going to go join Savannah on the other side of the bar. As I'm walking, I suddenly feel myself flying through the air. Next thing I know, I hit the ground and my glass of red wine goes flying out of my hand to shatter EVERYWHERE. Good, good. The entire bar just goes silent as I'm laying on the floor in a puddle of red wine and glass. I had tripped on a footstool. So I start laughing, jump up, grab a handful of napkins and start cleaning! All the Italians are freaking out and telling me not to worry about it and everyone's asking me how drunk I am while I try to explain that I just got off a plane and only had three sips of wine! Danielle explained that I'm the clumsiest person alive and then it turned into a night of everyone making fun of me and talking about all the embarrassing, clumsy things I've done since arriving in Italy, haha. We called it an early night, grabbed some gelato, and headed home.

Monday, I woke up early to study for Italian and take Sav to the train station. Mid-terms were basically a joke. I barely studied and spent most of the week sitting out on the balcony. I got sunburned while all the Romans walked around bundled up in their winter coats and scarves. I just don't know how they do it! I think all my exams went well and I'll probably have B's across the board in all my classes here. Which is great, considering I don't do any homework and never study.

I woke up bright and early Friday morning (we're up to Match 13th by now) to go greet my parents at the airport. My original plan was to take the train by my house up one stop and then switch trains to take one to the airport. However, the train by my house was delayed by 45mins. Sooooo I decided to walk to school to get a bus to the main train station, where I would have to actually buy a ticket to take the express train to the airport. I walked to my school and had to wait THIRTY minutes for a bus. Then we had to deal with rush-hour traffic in Rome... which is not something you want to be in the middle of. I get to the train station and buy my ticket right as the train is pulling away and have to wait another thirty minutes for the next one! Once it leaves, I realize this "express" train is maybe the slowest one I've been on yet. I couldn't believe it! By the time I get to the airport, my mom has already called to ask where I am because I'm over an hour late. Lucky for them, they're flight had arrived an hour early! So by the time I finally got to the airport, I was super stressed out and not the happy, up-beat person I should have been when seeing my parents for the first time in months. Ohhhhhh Roma.

We grabbed the million bags and headed back to the trains. Because it was just that kind of day, we had to wait some more for our train to come into the station. Then we started the journey to my apartment. When we got back, we unpacked everything and I had a whole new food supply! Yesssss... bagels (already gone), girl scout cookies (trying to save them), cheez-its (eating them as I type), peanut butter (it's been on everything I eat), soup, etc. The only thing I forgot to ask for was SALAD DRESSING! How could I have been so dumb!? They also brought me lots of clothes for this summer.

Oh yeah, time out. I have been accepted to do another MSU study abroad program this summer. I will be doing an internship in Geneva for my international studies major, but I am not sure what exactly I will be doing. I am in the middle of the placement process, and will hopefully be finding out soon. I explained that my interest is working with an NGO with human rights, health/education, or international politics. It's been pretty stressful because I had to change the date of my interview with the placement agency so I had to re-arrange my spring break, then I was told by MSU that I was actually denied from the program because I don't actually have a second major, then I had to confirm that I DO have a second major, then they had to re-evaluate my application, and it was just craziness. Especially since I'm in Italy, so everything had to be done through e-mail. I am still trying to figure out how I'm going to get my visa and all that stuff, but I'm sure it will fall into place.

Sooooooo anyway, my parents were here! I warned them about all the walking (espcially up hills and stairs) that they would have to do, but they didn't realize that I wasn't exaggerating. Which was a common theme that week. They thought I had exaggerated about how much walking to do, how crazy Romans drive, how dirty the city was, etc... but I wasn't! Rome is just a crazy city! We spent their first day running all over room and basically doing some window-shopping tourism? I don't know how else to explain it! Ha. We just walked past everything, didn't really go in anywhere. I tired them out and by the time the sun set, they were exhausted. I was actually impressed, I stayed up my whole first day here, but I didn't do much besides sit around, haha. We ended the night in an irish pub by their hotel with a bunch of crazy Whales rugby fans. Whales was playing Italy and it was on the TV at the bar, so we had all that as entertainment.

Saturday we woke up early and caught a train to Pisa. Basically the same as last time I went there, we saw the tower, hung out for a little bit, then walked back to the train station. Then we went up to La Spezia to see Cinque Terre! I just love that place! The trails were still closed, so we took the train between towns and just enjoyed the scenery. It's such a relaxing place. That night, we had a late dinner, then went back to the hotel for another good night's sleep after an exhausting day.

Sunday, we grabbed another train and headed to Firenze (Florence)! It was my second time there as well, and it's pretty small so it was easy to show them where all the main attractions were in the city. I could definitly tell tourism season is picking up. It was soooooooo much more crowded than it was when I went my first weekend here!

Monday we were on the move again and we jumped on the train to Venezia (Venice). I was suuuuuper excited for Venice and it was just perfect! Again, exactly how I pictured Italy. I loved all the canals and being on the water. We spent two relaxing days there just enjoying the sunny weather. I did some exploring by myself as well and walked all over the city, even going back into the non-touristy areas... which is my favorite thing... being able to see how the locals live. We went to Maurano and saw some glass blowing, which was cool, and they walked us through their showrooms as well to try to make us buy stuff, but it was nice to just be able to see all the crazy chandeliers and sculptures and all the different techniques that are used and everything. While we were in Venice, I bought an oil on canvas painting that I'm really excited about. It took me forever to make a decision on which one to choose, but I really like the one I picked. Venice was mostly just very relaxing, lots of wandering around.

We headed back to Roma on Wednesday, and by then we were all EXHAUSTED. We went to the grocery store to get some food, then went across the street to get some pizza for dinner. My parents got to meet Rosalitta... who is the woman who owns the pizza place with her husband. We're not sure if that's really her name or how we started calling her that, but that's what we call her. She doesn't speak a word of english and we never understand her fast Italian, but it all works out okay. She loves us, we're BFF. Called it an early night after dinner.

Lucky me, I had the whole thing with my internship waiting for me in Roma, so I was scrambling to make my resume into a CV, answer some short essay questions, fill out applications, and re-read all the information they had sent me so I could prepare for my phone interview.... and that's how I spent Thursday morning. We wanted to go to the Vatican that afternoon, but it was closed for a Vatican Holiday or something. Soooo we just went back to wandering around Rome. We tried to go to the Colloseum and the Forum, but got there after they closed. We also tried to go to the Pantheon, but it was closed for mass. So we did some more window-shopping tourism.

Friday morning I had my phone interview and then we went to the Vatican. It's such a crazy place, so much to look at! After that, we attempted the Pantheon again, but it was closed for a concert. Wandered around again... I can't really remember what we did. I think that's the night we went to a restaurant right by my apartment that I'd never been to before. It was realllllly good and I'll be going back their soon.

Saturday, we were going to go to Napoli (Naples) and Pompeii, but we were all too tired from all the traveling, so we decided to spend some more time walking around Rome. I wanted to go to a great market I had heard about, but when we got off at the stop, there was nothing there. Just a really shady neighborhood. So we walked around for a while, looking for the market, before realizing we probably wouldn't find it. We ended up back by my school and went to my favorite pizza place. I taught my mom how to order pizza and we ended up with a whole tray of it. We walked down to a fountain that has a great view of Rome and ate the pizza. Except it was SO windy and cold! It just came out of nowhere! It was ridiculous! After that, we walked down into Trastevere. We went to Santa Maria in Trastevere, Tiber Island, walked over the oldest ponte (bridge) in Roma (69BC!), went through some of the Jewish Ghetto, and then we attempted to go to the Pantheon for the third day in a row. Surprise, surprise... it was closed for mass. I don't really remember what we did the rest of the day... the whole break is just such a blur! We saw so much!

Sunday we woke up with two objectives in mind. The inside of the Pantheon and the Colloseum/Forum because we hadn't been inside them yet. Surprise! We got into the Pantheon! Wooooooo. However, there was a marathon in Rome that I didn't know about so the Colloseum was closed! Aaaaand half the buses/trams weren't running... and we spent quite some time waiting for a bus that never came, then getting on a bus that only went half the route and then turned around... it also happened to go past the "Saturday Market" which was actually on Sunday! The area didn't look so shady with it there and it was super busy! Butttt we didn't go. So that was interesting. Anyway, you can never rely on public transportation in Roma!

Sunday night, I took my parents to the airport. We hung out for a while before they had to go through security and it was a great week with them! I wish Michael could have come too, but he had school. I took a train back to my apartment and settled in to watch the MSU basketball game. I remember the first five minutes, and the next thing I know, I'm waking up with my face on my computer keyboard because the final buzzer is going off! Spring break made me so tired that I slept through and MSU march maddness bball game... now that's tired!

Monday morning, I woke up bright and early and went to class and then I had the whole day free because my afternoon class was cancelled. So I hoped on a bus to Siena to see Savannah during her last week there! I got there around 3pm and wandered around the city until Sav was done with class at 5pm. While waiting for her in the Campo, I met a british guy named Tom. He asked me about the book I was reading and then about the buses in Siena. I didn't know how to answer his questions, so I told him to wait for Savannah. He was on holiday from his university and traveling Italy alone for the week. We helped him find a hostel near Siena and then invited him to dinner with us. Went back to Savannah's to put my stuff down and walk around Siena a little bit. We waited for Tom in the Campo for dinner and it's just crazy how different Siena is from Roma. There was basically no one out in the streets, the Campo (main Piazza) wasn't very busy, and it was just so calm! It was nice to just sit in a quiet area in the middle of town AND I could see stars! I haven't seen those since Michigan!

Savannah's friend had found a really good restaurant in a Rick Steve book, so we decided to check it out. It was very authentic (with a handwritten menu) and cheap! Perfect. I had some veal (another one of my main italian foods), tomatoes in oil, and some chocolate cake for dolce. It was cool meeting Tom, I love all the phrases British people use and the way they talk. He was a nice guy and we walked him to the city walls after dinner before leaving him to set out for his hostel. As we walked through town, Savannah told me all about the history of Siena and about all the contradas (little sections of the city... it's a big deal... has to do with the Palio horse race... google it) and I even saw a contrada meeting happening! Which is a super big deal. We grabbed our stuff from Sav's apartment and headed to her friend Ali's (the one we went to dinner with) to sleep there because she had two extra beds.

Woke up early Tuesday morning and had breakfast with Sav before heading back to Rome. It was interesting to see how much the scenery changes between Rome and Tuscany. Although I was still exhausted and it was a really rushed trip, I'm glad I got to go to Siena while Savannah was still there. Plus, the bus rides were nice and relaxing.

Last night we went out to dinner with my roommate Victoria's parents and some family friends because they were in town for the week. It was so fun! They're super nice and it was just a great night full of great conversation, lots of laughter, and good food.

I wanted to go do some touristy stuff in Rome today, but it was all dark and grey and so I did laundry and typed this instead. I'm also trying to figure out my schedule for next year because I have to sign up for classes soon. The sun is actually coming out so I think I'm going in search of some new jeans (mine have been destroyed) and then maybe some sight-seeing (but everything closes so early and it's already 4pm!). MSU plays tonight (3am here) so I'm super excited for that!

Also, tomorrow I am going on a Tuscan day-trip with my school and we're going to be having a food/wine tasting type thing, which is exciting. Savannah also arrives tomorrow because her program ends today. She will be staying in Rome with me until Thursday morning when we head to Greece! Which I am soooooooooo excited for! Then I get to go to a different part of Greece the next weekend over Easter! Ha. Living in Europa is pretty cool. I'm basically going to be a beach bum for the month of April because I think I'm also going to be heading to the Almalfi coast at some point. Yay!

I'm pretty sad my time in Rome feels like it's quickly coming to an end though. I really, really like it here (as much as I complain) now that I've gotten used to it. I think I'm going to have huge culture shock when I get to Geneva... more than the people coming from the States. I love the craziness of it and I dunno. Just the way the city is. It's not so bad once you get used to it... that's just the trick, you have to learn to get used to it.

Anyway, I should get to my sight-seeing or shopping or SOMETHING before this day ends!

Ciao!

P.S. I didn't edit this because it was just too long and my eyes hurt, so ignore any of my mistakes, please!