Getting to know the city fast!

01/15/11

     We met back up the next morning at 79ers again where we got to enjoy our first shot of real Italian espresso. I really enjoyed it, but then again I love coffee. My friends who aren’t as avid of drinkers had to add mass quantities of sugar to even make it tolerable. It was very strong, but still hit the spot. We then took a tour of our campus, we’re studying at Scuola Leonardo de Vinci. Luckily all our classes are in one of two buildings and it’s very easy to get to from home, simply a tram ride and 10 minute walk there. Because the trams are so unreliable in how often they come, we have to leave our apartment at least 45 minutes before class starts to assure we’re there on time. Who knows if we’ll keep that up though because we’ve quickly learned the Italians aren’t very concerned with being on time nor doing anything in a timely fashion for that matter. 

My roommates and I in front of Scuola Leonardo de Vinci

Our quick tour was followed by a lunch provided by our program at Antica Biblioteca Alle, where one of our professors is a chef at. This was an experience to say the least, we had two meal options and I’m normally not a very picky eater, but when one option was seabass pasta and one was rabbit pasta, it’s a different situation. I opted for the rabbit pasta and while it was a saltier version of chicken, I couldn’t really get past the fact that it was rabbit. From lunch, we were split up into groups of 6 or 7 to go on a treasure hunt to various famous locations in Rome and take pictures as a group in front of them. It was a contest and group to come back with the most pictures in the 2 hour time frame were considered the “weeinerss” as they pronounced it in Italy. Of course, our table that we were sitting with were very immature and bursted out laughing. My group decided winning wasn’t as important as getting to see some of the sights we wanted to see most. We got to see sights like the Patheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Piazza del Popolo, Castel Sant’Angelo and many more. It was really exciting to see all these sights, but we were somewhat rushed due to the time constraint so I can’t wait to go back to them and learn more about them soon. 

The Trevi Fountain:

Trevi Fountain

View from atop the Spanish Steps

Piazza del Popolo

Castel Sant'Angelo

Rather than go out to dinner, our roommates and I decided to cook our first meal and see how it went. We made pasta, a salad with mozzarella cheese and salami, a side of brushetta, and wine. We all decided to go out as a group that night so following dinner we quickly got ready and met everyone in our program in one of the apartments to hang out. 

Our home cooked dinner:

Our home cooked dinner

01/16/11

Our first night out

Last night we experienced our first “club” in Rome and went out for the first time. The entire group of us decided it would be fun to go out as a whole group the first night and went to a discoteca called Gilda. While it was a little pricey given it was a Saturday, it was a very successful night and everyone seemed to have fun and get to know each other better. The night consisted mostly of dancing and attempting to communicate with the locals who we quickly learned knew less English than we were expecting. We had no idea where the club actually was because we took a taxi there and back. It’s strange because no one goes out here until really late since they don’t eat dinner typically until 8 or so. I’m sure we’ll adjust better as time goes on, but thus far my roommates and I have been exhausted at all hours of the day. 

     We woke up to the Porta Portese market being set up directly in front of our apartment. They were beginning to set up at 5 a.m. (before we had even gone to bed). It started getting loud around 8 or so and finally I just woke up since I couldn’t sleep with the noise. Our program set up another challenge the next day in which we were going to have a cooking contest between apartments. Although it wound up not being a competition, the day was very fun and taught us a lot. Each apartment was assigned two Italian students who were going to show us around the market and supermarket. We had a specific recipe to follow, which from the looks of it seemed to be a simple spaghetti meal. However, when you go shopping with the Italians, it turns into a much more extravagant meal. We wound up taking a 45 minute trip to the supermarket to get two things of pasta and sauce. Needless to say, I am not the most patient person and it really tested my patience. We left our apartment a mess after eating when we got home the night before and so half of us ran home fast to quickly tidy it up as much as we could before they could arrive because we figured it was inappropriate to have guests in a messy apartment. When they got there, we tried to help cook and talk to them, but they wanted to cook for us and couldn’t really understand much English since it’s their first year in an English class. Thank goodness we have Gina or I’m not sure how we would get by. They labeled our apartment with the Italian word for it so hopefully this will help us catch on quickly. The Italians eat their pasta al dente so when they overcooked the noodles, they were very embarrassed. To us, the pasta tasted great because it’s how we eat it on a daily basis, but they thought it was terrible. They were so sweet and tried to engage in conversation with us. Gina did a great job overcompensating for the rest of us who could not communicate at all, but the rest of us couldn’t help but laugh the entire meal at the way she interacted. Before even putting the fork in her mouth, she couldn’t stop saying YUMMMM this is GREATTTT! I was dying laughing. By the time the meal was over, we were all very slap happy and ready to take a long nap, but it didn’t seem as if they had any intention of leaving soon. Around 3:30 we all said we were going to start doing the dishes and they left, meanwhile we quickly hopped into our beds and slept for nearly two hours. 

Lunch with the Italian Students

It was a struggle to get out of bed, but we all really wanted to go try our first Italian pizza and go to the pub for the Bears game. We stopped for pizza at a place called VIP Pizza and Crepes. I got a slice of tomato, mozzarella, and mushroom and it was one of the best slices I’ve ever had. From there, we got very lost trying to find the bar, but I can’t complain being lost in Rome since it’s so beautiful. It’s not often where you can get lost on the way to a bar and just run into the Pantheon. Eventually we got to the pub where we had our first Italian beer, Peroni. Rather than take a cab, we chose to try and walk home and see what it was like. The walk was of course gorgeous, and didn’t take as long as I was expecting. We made a stop for food and pictures on the way. We’ve gotten in a habit of skyping people when we get home, which prevents any of us from going to bed at a decent time, but it’s a great time to talk to people from home. We went to bed when we got back so that we could get up for our first day of class, because unfortunately we don’t get MLK day off in Italy!

Our walk home from Scholars

01/17/11

Today was our first day of classes, we had orientation from 10-12 and then Italian Culture and Society from 3-4:30. Although we didn’t have many classes, the day was still long. We all still can’t get over how sore we are from walking everywhere. We all have blisters and feel as though we have shin splints. We grabbed croissants at our apartment and parted our ways for what we expected to be a great day at class. After arriving at school first, we thought we were on top of our game. Yet, we were quickly reminded that we forgot our permit of stay material. Turns out, it was a great subconscious decision as we went home between classes to grab it and nap rather than wait in the line with everyone to turn it in. Our introduction turned out to be short and sweet. From there, they dismissed us to go do as we pleased during our break after presenting our permit of stay material. As I said, our entire apartment forgot our documents so we rushed home to jump into bed and catch up on sleep. We grabbed a Panini from a restaurant down the street and ate it on our walk home. We got numerous stares so we began to think it’s not appropriate to eat and walk at the same time on the streets here? I couldn’t get up from my nap and slept until the last possible minute and then we quickly got dressed and hurried back to the school for our first official class. We decided to go adventure out on our way home instead of going straight back so we went to see the Vatican. It was breathtaking and great to imagine all the history that’s taken place there. We went inside and I couldn’t help but wonder how something so massive could be created so long ago. 

Group in front of the Vatican

St. Peter's Basilica

Vatican City

As the night quickly approached us, we headed out and grabbed gelato. This time I tried the cappuccino flavor and it was fantastic! We walked back to the tram stop and headed home. Our roommates and Kelsey went to the supermarket and bought the materials for tonight’s dinner. We made Italian sausage with grilled peppers and onions, salad, crackers and brie, and desserts. It was another delicious meal! We all decided to hang out and catch up on sleep and stay in to prepare for the busy couple months ahead of us!