Monte Carlo, Monaco and Lyon, France

Thursday night, Theo and I jumped on a plane to Lyon, France! The hour long flight flew by (literally) because I napped the whole way. We got in at about 8:30 pm, and stopped to pick up our rental car. There, we met a very nice lady named Joanne who was kind enough to tell us that we accidentally reserved an electric car. So, after about an hour, we managed to work together to find a car that worked for all of us! And we were off! Almost five hours later and with a possible speeding ticket picked up on the way, we finally made it to Monte Carlo, Monaco! We put on our fancy clothes and headed inside the famous Monte Carlo casino. Let’s just say, it was not at all what I expected. Yes, it was beautiful, but it was very small, and there were about 10 other people there. Plus, the tables had just closed, so we had to just play slot machines. Kind of a let down, since we had been looking forward to it the whole night. Maybe it was for the better, since we really only lost about 30 euro each before they kicked us out for the night.

That night, since it was already going to be such a short night, we slept in the car on the ritziest shopping street in Monaco. In the morning, we drove around a little to check everything out during the day. After accidentally driving the wrong way down a one-way street, we got a nice visit from the control police. Mister policeman was quite scary, and he was not thrilled that Theo didn’t have an international driver’s license, but he let us go. We quickly decided to park and walk around instead. At about 10 am, we jumped back in the car to head back to Lyon. The drive back was absolutely gorgeous. Southern France has so many hills, trees, and cool castles along the highway. We dropped our car off (in one piece) and headed for our hotel!

The Monte Carlo casino! (With fake snow in the background)

Friday and Saturday night were spent at the Fete Des Lumieres. It’s one of France’s biggest festivals, bringing almost 4 million tourists to Lyon every year for this weekend! The festival was so cool, and I had no clue what to expect, which made it even cooler. We walked around the city, stopping in each little square to watch a different light shows. On Saturday we climbed to the top of the hill where the city cathedral is located and could see the whole city!

The is the view from the Cathedral. There was a show playing on the ferris wheel! 

            This video isn't very good, but all my good ones are too long to be posted on here. Sorry!

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was the food. Most of our meals consisted of street food like Nutella crepes, hotdogs, hot chocolate, and French fries (of course). Saturday’s lunch was really the only sit down meal we had! We went to a restaurant called Le Table (real creative, I know), thinking we would be able to read the menu a little bit. Wrong! The menu didn’t seem to have any sort of organization, so they had to have a waiter come over and try to translate for us. What tourists we were! He was very kind, but the only words we were able to make out were fish, pork, duck, and rabbit. I went with fish. He went with pork. They seemed safe enough. Before our food came though, we were brought out this orange pudding thing served in a shot glass. We stared at it for the longest time before trying it. It was incredibly salty. Not my favorite, but hey, I still don’t even know what it is. When our food came, it was beautifully presented (like, the sauces made a pretty picture on the plate). Fancy stuff. I looked down at my plate, noticed the delicious looking filet of fish, and then BAM! Little, black things on my plate. Yes folks, there were snails. I guess I would have been naïve to think I could go to France and order fish without getting a healthy side of snails. I toughened up and ate half of them. And guess what? I still don’t like them… After our fancy lunch we went to one of the most famous chocolate shops in Lyon and bought some macaroons! (We brought some home too!)

Snails. Ew.

Sunday, we headed back to the airport, ate some Pizza Hut, and jumped on our flight back to good ole Roma! The rest of the day was spent “studying”. Yeah right, I took a nap. But I did go study for a little bit with the boys later that night!

Monday night, one of the apartments of girls held an AIFS Christmas party! They made hot chocolate, warm wine, and desserts! Every other apartment was in charge of making appetizers. My apartment brought a cheese and crackers tray. How creative, right? But the night was so much fun. Everyone dressed up in their holiday gear and had a Secret Santa gift exchange. And don’t worry! I didn’t get caught under the mistletoe! Unfortunately, the night ended early for a lot of us because it is finals week, but it was fun nonetheless.

Today, I had my Cinema final. I thought it went pretty well, so yay! Tonight is going to be the killer though with Rome Through the Ages tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Thanksgivings (Italian Style)

Wednesday night we all went out for Kelly’s birthday! We went to Scholar’s as a big group and had a great time! It was cool going out as a big group again because we’ve all kind of done our own thing for quite some time. I made friends with the very nice bartender named Oliver. He’s from Tunisia!

Thursday night was our big Thanksgiving feast! All of the students, professors, directors, and families went to a hotel restaurant and had a “traditional” Thanksgiving. It was very different than the Thanksgivings all of us were used to. It was more of a cocktail, since there were only seats for about half of the guests. They did have turkey however, but they left out my favorite dish: mashed potatoes.

My Basic Italian class with our professor, Bruno! (He's the cutie in the top left-ish corner with his eyes closed. :)

Me, Nick, and Megan waiting for our superlatives!

This is my Made in Italy and Cinema professor's 7 year old daughter, Matilda! She and I met at the beginning of the night while waiting for everyone to get to the hotel, and we were best friends since! She even held my hand while we were waiting for turkey. She is fluent, and I mean FLUENT in English! (She may even be better at the language than me!) 

Something else fun about the night was that my roommate Sara had put together superlatives for everyone. The week before, we had all submitted them for each other, and they were read off in front of everyone. I got “Most Likely to Win Miss America”. I have no idea why I got it, but I reacted like any good beauty queen would, fanning my face and princess waving!

The next morning, me, Theo, and Theo’s friend Daniela met up to head to the train station at 5:30 am. Our train to Milan was at 7:20, and we made it with plenty of time! We got into Milan around 10:30 and walked around the Duomo and saw a castle owned by the Visconti family.

The Duomo! The closer you get to it, the more breathtaking it is!

From what I saw, Milan was very different from Rome. It was a lot cleaner, more modern, and had a much more formal feel to it, which makes sense because it is the business capital of Italy! Around lunch time, we met up with their former teacher, Chiara and another American classmate of theirs named Chelsea. We went to the aquarium in Milan (which is NOTHING in comparison to the Henry Doorly Zoo, obviously)! The rest of the day we hung out at Chiara’s apartment, which is actually in a suburb of Milan.

The statue in front of the Italian stock exchange. You can clearly see the artist's opinion on the market.

The next day was our Italian Thanksgiving! We helped make all the traditional American foods including green beans, dessert, and of course, MASHED FREAKING POTATOES!!!!! I was a little excited. The funniest part of the whole thing was beforehand Chiara gave us the “Don’t be drunk Americans” speech (which clearly we would never do), but we got to her aunt’s house, where the meal was at and there were 29 bottles of wine! And there were only 30-some people there! Haha! Stereotypical Italians!

It was great to see so many of her friends and family trying to understand our traditions. We explained to them how you shouldn’t be able to see your plate and you ALWAYS come back for more. Also, it’s perfectly acceptable, actually, it’s encouraged for all your food to be touching, mixing all the wonderful flavors together. From that, the concept of putting cranberry sauce on turkey was a disgusting idea to them!  I showed Chiara’s mom (who speaks NO English) how I do things: make a perimeter around the plate of all the foods and put a big glob of mashed potatoes in the middle. A couple minutes later, she came running over to show me, being so proud of her creation. Afterward, we played some games and finally went home.

After a quick rest, Chiara and her friends drove us into Monza, which is a little fancier town near Milan. We walked around and got a beer at the Irish Pub (or EER-EESH POOB) as one of her friends pronounced it.

Sunday, we got up early and dropped Daniela and Chelsea off at the train station. After that, we drove to Bergamo, the town where Chiara’s boyfriend is from. The four of us climbed to the top of the hill where the fancier part of town is located. We walked around all day, finding new adventures everywhere. Probably my favorite was the little candy shop we found. I sucked Chiara into coming inside, knowing we both would by a bag full! It was delicious! For dinner, we went to a cool little restaurant in town, where we tried the traditional Bergamese dishes!

The next morning, we woke up and headed straight to the train station. Our train that was supposed to arrive in Rome at 10:03 didn’t get in until 10:45, causing Theo and I to both be late for our 11:00 classes. Oh well! Both of our professors were very understanding! After class, I went shopping, because you know what? I am tired of being cold! I spent 102 euro on two pairs of pants, two sweaters, a scarf, gloves, and socks. Yay!

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!