Forza Roma!

What a stressful week this has been!

Friday, I worked on my final papers all day. Luckily, the whole apartment of boys near us was gone, so they left a key with Noah and I so we could use their apartment for quiet study space! Don’t worry, I definitely utilized it all weekend!

Friday night, Daniela, Tara, Georgie, Sara, Sara’s three friends in town, and I all went to Casaletto for dinner. It’s another great restaurant like Carlo Menta that is super cheap and takes our coupons! Plus, they are really helpful when it comes to big groups of English speakers! Haha! From there we went to G-Bar (Yes, again) and got something called the Spaceship. (Now I know I make myself sound like an alcoholic over here, but I SWEAR I don’t drink as much as I make it sound.) But let me explain how the Spaceship works. It comes in this big plastic flower pot that they set cups in. Basically, the shots fall into the cups and the cups fall into the bottom part which is filled with pop, giving you a delicious mixed drink that tastes like heaven and comes in a convenient grab and go container. All seven of us split it, so it was quite fun! Since it was pouring rain that night, we were eager to come home early.

Saturday, I did nothing. I didn’t see any humans. I didn’t talk at all. I didn’t see the outside world. I sat in the boys’ apartment all day and wrote my stupid papers! But hey, they slowly started to come along. Having no social life is the price I had to pay for procrastinating. Way to go, Rach. Way to go.

Sunday, I let myself have a little fun. Sunday morning I met up with people at school to go on a day trip. Ten of us got on a bus and went to this beautiful castle owned by one of the most important families of Italy. They had two daughters married off to kings of Spain and France. And they had two men of the family become Popes! It was so cool. Then we got back in the bus and stopped at these famous hot baths. It was a giant swimming pool that was super warm! In the deep end it was about room temperature, but as you got closer to the spouts where the natural hot sulfur water was pouring in, it got BURNING hot. I mean, I love burning hot showers, but even that was too hot for me. But it was nice being able to kind of choose the temperature you wanted. And the sulfur is good for your skin! Afterward, I came home, and I bet you can guess what I did all night! (I’ll give you a hint: It involved my computer and three very important Word documents.)

Could you see yourself living here? I could!

This stairwell has been used many times to film movies being made about the Popes because it looks very similar to one in the Papal apartments.

Just a casual fountain in your living room. No big deal.

Monday, I only had Rome Through the Ages, and there were only six of us in class. Our professor, Massimo, just laughed because he knew everyone skipped to write their papers. I came home around 1 and finished working on my two papers for Made In Italy (about Giorgio Armani) and Cinema (about the movie “Life Is Beautiful”)! Because I was a good girl, I let myself go to the Roma soccer game! It was BITTERLY cold to the point where I almost didn’t go, but I sucked it up and went anyway. I’m so happy I did because the fans were absolutely INSANE. They put American fans to shame, even when it comes to football. I’ve never heard such a rowdy crowd, constantly singing and chanting, even when nothing was really happening in the game. It was so much fun, but was over really quickly. And unfortunately, Roma and Cagliari ended 0-0. Even though it was kind of uneventful, all of us had a great time!

Forza Roma!

Alessandro, Jo, and I. We got to the game after it had already started, so we couldn't find the rest of the group. After halftime, we met everyone else in seats right next to the field!

I thought this was funny. These are the fans of the opposing team. The green people standing around them? All security guards. Haha!

Tuesday, I was able to turn in my Made In Italy and Cinema papers! Yay! It felt so wonderful! After class, I came home and in about two hours, polished up my Rome Through the Ages paper. That night, we had the final family dinner of the semester. It was actually really sad knowing they are over, because it was the highlight of weeks here!

Today, I went to school early to print off my Rome Through the Ages paper before our site visit in Piazza Venezia. First, I stopped in my usual morning café, Bar Valle, and bought a cappuccino and muffin! When I walked into school, I mentioned it to the other girls that were there printing, giving them the marvelous idea to get some too! So, after we all printed our papers, Holly, Daniela, Hailey, Reina, MaryKate, and I stopped back into Bar Valle, and I got another cappuccino and muffin. Sonya (the lady who owns it) looked at me like I was insane, but hey, two muffins and cappuccinos never hurt anyone, right? At our site visit today, we were outside for the entire hour and forty minute class! It was SO cold, but we all pretended to listen! Then we handed our papers in, and I could not have been more happy. I threw the paper at him (Not literally) and exclaimed, “I never want to see that thing ever again!” He doesn’t think I’m very funny. :)

And can I say one thing?… I’M DONE! I’M DONE! MY PAPERS ARE DONE! I NEVER HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THEM, WORRY ABOUT THEM, OR LOOK AT THEM EVER AGAIN! Woohoo! This is such a huge weight lifted off my chest. Everyone has been stressing out about these things for WEEKS. It feels great to just be done with them.

So, to celebrate our new freedom, everyone is going out tonight! I’m happy to say that I don’t have to stress anymore!… Well, at least until finals.

Eataly and the Pantheon

Monday was the first time I actually completely understood what was going on in Rome Through the Ages. (Thank God!) I really am not a fan of this professor. He is very knowledgeable, but he moves through time so quickly that all the names start flowing together, and following the progression of rulers is very difficult. So, I get to work extra hard to bring up that grade! 

Tuesday was another fun day of Italian class! We went with Bruno's Intermediate Italian II class to Eataly! Eataly is a giant grocery store with all products made fresh in Italy. The best part I think is that each product has a map showing where in the country it is from! They have locations in NYC and many other cities! (Theo and I saw one in Bologna, too!) 

We got divided up into three groups and had to solve riddles and come up with a 4 course meal with only recipes from our assigned regions. We were there for hours, but it was a lot of fun! I wanted to buy everything in the store, but I don't think my wallet could have handled that trip.

Wednesday in Rome Through the Ages, we went on a site visit to the Pantheon and Largo Argentina! The Pantheon is beautiful, and I learned a lot of things that I can share with my family! For example, did you know the modern Pantheon was actually the third version? But I was more excited to go to Largo Argentina, which is the busy piazza I walk through every day to get to school. It also happens to be the location where Julius Caesar was killed. Neat, huh? Today, it’s a cat sanctuary. And I’m not kidding. Cats live in the area and are cared for by some volunteers. It’s kind of strange that it happens in such a historically important area!

The Pantheon built by Agrippa!

The tomb of the artist Raphael.

Wednesday was also my roommate’s birthday (Noah). About 15 of us went out for dinner at an Indian restaurant and got a beer after. I’ve never had Indian food, and it wasn’t at all what I expected, but I think I will stick with Italian and Mexican as my favorites. :)

Today, my group presented about soccer in our Made In Italy class. My portion of the project was the history of soccer in Italy. Now, in doing the research, I realized I had NO idea what any of it meant… So many different leagues and championships and corporations! They all sound the same to me. But have no fear! I am a MASTER bull-shitter, so my skills were put to good use, and I think we all did ok! Probably the funniest part was one of my group members was still drunk from the night before, so his water bottle was right by his side the whole time. I couldn’t make eye contact with him the whole time, because I kept cracking up!

Also today in Italian, Bruno announced that my group had won the challenge in Eataly! So we each get 7 extra credit points for our final! (Even though I kind of feel bad, because I don’t need them at all, but I will still take them!) And, while practicing for our oral finals, we had to introduce ourselves in Italian and keep talking until he decided we said enough. With the other people, he made them talk for about 30 seconds. When it got to me, he made me talk for over a minute! When the class said I deserved an A+ for it, he said something along the lines of, “Your skills are better than theirs, so I know you can do better on the actually final.” While it was a compliment to me, he kind of insulted the rest of the class. Oh, Bruno!

My plans for the rest of the day are as follows: Shower, Get dressed, Go get dinner somewhere (probably this new burger place near me), Go to Abbey’s Theater (a bar… shocking, right?) to hear one of my classmates sing, Come home, Sleep. And then my weekend consists of STARTING AND FINISHING my Rome Through the Ages paper and finishing my Made in Italy paper. Because guess what? They are due in 5 days! AHHHHHH!!!!! Talk about procrastinating!

Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A

Friday morning, my cinema class visited the cinecitta, which is like Rome’s version of Hollywood! We saw a bunch of different sets being built, and walked through a museum with a bunch of props and costumes from some pretty famous Italian films. Besides Italian films, there have also been many American films made there as well, like “Gangs of New York” and “Ben Hur”. It was pretty cool because one minute we were in 1920s New York, the next in modern L.A., and then the next in ancient Rome. I felt like a time traveler! :)

It's snowing in New York! Just kidding, it's Rome. And fake snow.

Theater One! They were building a set in it while we were there.

Some costumes inside the museum.

Friday night Theo and I jumped on a train to Bologna, Italy! The train was super nice and went at 220 mph, so we got there in about 2 hours! The first problem we encountered was trying to find the hotel. Now, I know I’m not very good with directions in other cities, but even I could tell we were lost. But we walked around in the rain until we eventually found the hotel! Haha!

Saturday, we just explored the city. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, in Bologna is so nice! Everyone would stop us and ask us if we needed help finding something. And the first place we went for lunch had such a helpful staff that gave us free wine! We also went and saw the two towers of Bologna, which lie in the center of the city. After climbing 500 stairs or over 300 feet in the air, we finally reached the top and saw an incredible view over the whole city! The climb up and the view were so cool, but climbing back down the steep staircase with narrow stairs was not exactly my favorite activity!

The two towers of Bologna! Fun fact: the tallest leaning tower in Italy is not in Pisa, it's in Bologna!

View from the top! Don't look down!

While walking around the center of town, we spotted the oh-so-familiar white tents. We knew it instantly. It was a chocolate festival!!!!! Perugia round 2! It was quite the surprise for us, but really was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We spent a lot of time walking around but almost always managed to find our way back to the chocolate! And don’t worry, we ate our fair share of hot chocolate, brownies, chocolate with almonds, and chocolate covered strawberries. Actually, we had FOUR rounds of chocolate covered strawberries. Yum.

The first of four rounds of chocolate covered strawberries! We took a picture with each one! :)

Speaking of food… I’m not exaggerating when I saw Bologna is known for it’s delicious food, and the rumors are true! I felt like we were eating constantly to the point of being uncomfortable. I ate tortellini in brodo, ragu, delicious panini, and this amazing cream and potato soup with meatballs. Ugh. So. Dang. Good. And probably one of the dumbest foods we had was a Bolognese hot dog. And even those are better!

A meat and cheese market. I almost bought some salami, but it was quite pricey!

Day two, we climbed to the top of this huge hill to a monastery. Again, we had some amazing views of the city, and saw another gorgeous church. The top of the hill is so peaceful and quiet, even with all the tourists around.

And I learned something on this trip: When you have to spend an hour climbing to the top of monuments, it makes you really appreciate the time you spend at the top. But everything was SO worth it. Bologna is such a cool city. The most fun thing you can do is just wander the streets. Every turn you make you find another cool piazza or church or restaurant. It was an amazing weekend! 

Writing Papers and Staying Out Way Too Late

Wednesday night we had another family dinner. I didn't go to dinner, but I went after for drinks before everyone went out! We went to our typical spot, G-Bar! I have a serious love/hate relationship with that place, but it's the perfect place to start at night!

Megan, me, and Tara feeling badass in our leather jackets!

Thursday was such a fun day of class! Everyone, and I mean close to everyone, was gone from class. It was a really popular weekend to travel, so classes were so small! In Made in Italy, we had about 5 people, and we watched a documentary on fashion. In Cinema, we had 5 people. So, during the movie, I chose to sleep. I woke up 10 minutes after class had ended only because the director came in to turn off the movie! That was an awkward moment! Turns out, everyone else left at different times because they were bored, and I was sound asleep! Then in Italian, we had 5 of the 20-ish people! Our professor, Bruno, was a little offended, and it was hard to stay serious in class. About half way through he just gets up walks out and says, "We are going to go get a drink." So we all jumped out of our seats and went next door to the cafe, and he bought us all cappuccinos! It was awesome. Plus, he is good friends with the lady who owns it, named Sonya. Before she walked away she rubbed my cheek and said something to him in Italian. After she left he told me she said, "This girl is so nice. She's in here every day!" Haha! Busted! I like my morning coffee!

Later that night, Daniela, Tara, Georgie, MaryKate, and I went out for dinner to celebrate Daniela's birthday! We went to a steakhouse (yes, a STEAKHOUSE) in Trastevere called T-Bone Station. I got some salmon with a baked potato. It was fantastic! Even though the food was great, I was more excited that I saw ranch dressing! That's never around! Definitely the first time I've seen it in Europe! I may or may not have drank some of it plain... It was just so good!!!

Friday, I got up early (Like 9 am early, not 6 am early. Don't be ridiculous.) and watched the movie "Life Is Beautiful" for my final paper in cinema! If you haven't seen the movie, you need to. It is so amazing! Definitely a tear-jerker. Then I worked on the paper until 4 pm and got most of it done. Just in the final stages of stretching it.

Later, I met up with Georgie and Bea and we went to dinner at Carlo Menta. (One of the 3 restaurants I've been to in my area. I'm not very adventurous.) After, we went to a bar nearby who only serves chocolate shots. Oh my gosh, they were so good! Great for everyone with a sweet tooth! Then we went to Scholar's to get some drinks. It was a little strange because we've only been to Scholar's on Tuesday nights when there is karaoke, but we figured we would give it a shot! And it was really cool! There was a band that played all Elvis and Beatles covers! They were a hoot to watch! And we met up with a few other people there too. At about one, Bea and I headed back to my area and met up with a few of her Italian friends. It was hilarious trying to talk to them! I tried to speak Italian, and they tried to speak English. Good thing we had Bea in case we were completely stuck! We just sat next to the river, and before we knew it, it was almost 4 am! Finally, Bea and I decided it was time to get some sleep. It was a great night!

Bea, Tara, Georgie, and I at Scholar's!

Then today, when I finally decided to roll out of bed, I attempted to write more papers. But my heart just wasn't in it today. All day, I managed to find more excuses... I went to the grocery store, then I wandered down to a specialty store, then I looked up recipes online, then I added pictures online, and now I'm updating my blog. But don't worry, I'm not out of excuses yet! I'm going to watch "Schindler's List" after this, because I've never seen it, and I feel like I should!

Girls Weekend 2013- Corfu!

One of the places I have always wanted to go was Greece, and now I can say I’ve been there!

I met up with the Bus2Alps people and the rest of my group (Georgie, Claire, Emily, Jess, Mary Kate, Megan, and Molly) on Thursday morning at 5:15. Finding my way from my apartment to the train station by myself was kind of an adventure, but I made it ok! We took a 4-hour train to Ancona, Italy and jumped on a small cruise ship. The cruise was overnight across the Ionian Sea. Twenty hours later, we made it to Greece! But, we still had another hour and a half ferry ride to actually get to Corfu. And then we had a 20-minute bus ride to get to the place we were staying called the Pink Palace (pretty nifty, eh?). But by Friday afternoon we FINALLY made it to our destination!

The view of our cruise ship the next day on the ferry to Corfu!

Friday, I had no problem laying on the beach all day. So, that is exactly what we did. It was kind of strange to think that I was laying out in a swimsuit in November, but was 100% ok with it! I soaked up every ounce of sun I could. I’m pretty sure the words, “I want the sun to eat me alive,” came out of my mouth a few times. Haha. But I definitely have a tan line after this weekend so I’m happy!

That night, there was a Halloween party at the Pink Palace, and unfortunately, I didn’t have a costume, but Claire won a dance contest so that was pretty cool.

Saturday was a very eventful day. At noon we jumped on a booze cruise that left from the Pink Palace. Now, I’ve never been on a booze cruise, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I saw some- how should I say this?- interesting things that day. Things I would’ve been very fine not seeing. But everyone who ran the cruise said our trip was “boring”, and you know what? I’m ok with it being that way! Haha! Overall, it was a great time!

All of us with a few new friends before the booze cruise! (See that little pink boat in the background? Yeah, 90 people fit on that!)

At one point, we stopped at a spot so people could go cliff jumping. Now, me being the chicken I am, I did not participate. But it was cool to watch everyone else! Unfortunately, my friend Emily landed in the water wrong and had to be taken to the hospital in Corfu. She injured her back pretty badly, so that made our whole trip take a huge turn. The rest of the weekend we tried to still have fun, but it was hard since we were so worried about getting updates on her.

Saturday night, we went to a pink toga party. There was a Greek show with dancing, fire performances, and plate smashing. And yes, I got a plate smashed on my head! Opa!!!!!

Part of the Greek performance right as they started smashing plates!

Sunday, we were a little slower to wake up since we were all feeling the effects of the night before. But once we did roll our bottoms out of bed, we spent the rest of the day laying on a beach. Again, I had NO problem with this.

What I did all weekend :)

We left Corfu around 8 pm on Sunday to do the whole adventure in reverse. We finally arrived in Rome Monday at 10 pm, and I had never been so happy to walk into my apartment.

Even though I feel like we did nothing all weekend, I was drained. And somehow I managed to spend 200 euro in the process. Wait, what? Yeah, I don’t know either! But it’s great to be in Rome, sweet Rome. :)