New Sights of Rome

02/19/11

Having gone to bed early, I set out to make my weekend in Rome very productive and do things I don’t get the chance to do during the week. I started off my morning by going for a quick run along the Tiber River, but still getting back to get ready by noon to go out and accomplish my plans for the day. A couple girls in the program and I planned to go to Campo Di Fiori for a bit then walk around the shopping area by Termini. 

Market at Campo de Fiori

     Around 4, we planned to catch a train to an area about an hour outside of Rome called Ariccia that was recommended to us by our onsite facilitator. We arrived in the area around 5:30 and it was the perfect time to catch the sunset, which it seems like forever since I’ve seen one. The town itself wasn’t very big, but it had a lot of character and there were colorful houses everywhere. It looked like a very quaint place to live. 

Walking towards Ariccia with the sunset

We made it!

Ariccia

     We walked around trying to find a restaurant and made sure that wherever we went had Porchetta because that is what this town is known for. We decided on a place called Osteria No. 1 and all got the meal that offers a wide variety of food within one plate. It offered a sample of: porchetta, cold cuts (ham, salami, and pork), cheese, buffalo mozzarella, homemade vegetables in oil, ricotta cheese with honey, dried sausages, olives, grilled polenta, an Italian omelette with truffle, and ¼ liter of wine! Although the meal itself wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, I tried everything and it was the experience that made it worth my time. This is the kind of meal authentic Italians eat and it was good to say I’ve tried it. 

Sample Platter at dinner

     We finished just in time to catch the earlier train so that we didn’t have to be stuck there for 2 hours with nothing to do. We took one of the bottles of sparkling wine back with us because we didn’t open it at dinner and while I was holding it on the train, I noticed the top was starting to pop off. Not knowing what to do, I ran in between train cars and opened it then popped the cork back in, leaving a little bit of wine on the floor, oops! Once I got back to the apartment, I quickly changed and went upstairs to another one of the girls room where we drank a little wine before heading out to Campo de Fiori for a night at a bar called Drunken Ship.

02/20/11

     I took advantage of my opportunity to sleep in today and made a goal for myself to start exploring around Rome by noon. Keeping to my word, I got ready and walked out of my apartment around then after having looked through my Rome guidebook and picking a couple of locations I wanted to see that I haven’t yet. I started by heading to Santa Maria in Cosmedin, a church in the Trastevere area. 

Santa Maria in Cosmedin

     From here, I ventured over to the Aventine Hill, one of Rome’s seven hills. There are four churches on this hill (S. Prisca, S. Anselmo, S. Alessio, and S. Sabina) and several gardens. The hill itself gives access to a beautiful panoramic view of the city of Rome. In addition, there’s a secret keyhole at the top that you can look through that shows a garden framing a perfect view of St. Peter’s Basilica. 

View from atop the Aventine Hill

S. Sabina Church

S. Alessio Church

S. Anselmo Church

Secret Keyhole

View through the keyhole, picture doesn't do it justice in the least!

     I headed back towards Trastevere and walked towards Villa Farnesina, which is an old Roman house that has several famous artist’s artwork including Raphael. 

Villa Farnesia

     My last stop for the day was the top of Janiculum Hill, which just allowed me to see a different panoramic view of Rome. After feeling very accomplished with the sites I saw for the day, I headed back to my apartment to get organized and start doing some reading for my exams this week! All in all, I would call it a very successful weekend in Rome! 

View from atop Janiculum Hill

Wine Appreciation Week

02/14/11

I started out my Valentine’s Day by going to a market with my group for class and fellow Italian students. We were supposed to all meet at Roma Tre, but my friend Timmy talked to one of the Italians and arranged for her to pick us up at our apartment, saving us a 45 minute walk! The girl was so sweet, as she picked us up she gave us hand baked mini chocolate muffins in the shape of hearts! Once our whole group arrived at the school, we started walking towards the Garbatella Market. We were in an area of Rome I had never seen before so it was fun to see different parts that I otherwise would have never thought to even explore. They walked us through the market itself where there was so much fresh food that looked delicious. I found it interesting that market food is actually less expensive than at a supermarket. Might be worth it to venture all that way for the freshness of the products! 

Fresh fruit at the market

Fresh meat and cheese

     After walking through it, since it was small we still had plenty of time to kill. We walked over to a park where our Italian friends helped us edit our compositions for our Italian class that were due that day. Once our compositions were all A+ with some help, we got to know them better and learned of their upbringing, major, etc. They were all very nice and eager to get to know us, which will make meeting up with them much more enjoyable over the course of the semester. Because we had no idea where we were, one of the Italian students was kind enough to take us back to our tram stop from the Metro. It was my first metro experience and it was surprisingly nicer than expected. We made it back to class with more than enough time and it was the first time in awhile I wasn’t running in order to make it on time. 

     After class, we planned to have our visitors come to our apartment and we were going to make dinner for them as a way of celebrating Bridget’s 21^st birthday, which was the following day. We made a pasta salad, bruschetta, and chicken with garlic and parmesan. We also grabbed a cake and some dolci to put candles on! I think she really appreciated it and had fun. We tried to go to a club, but it turns out not many people go out on Monday nights in Italy and the club was closed. Instead, we went to Scholars Pub, the only place that seemed to be open at this time. We met some Italians on the way and invited them with us. Although we were the only people in the entire bar, it was the most fun I’ve ever had there. We created a dance floor in the middle of the place and spent the night there until it looked as though everyone was about to fall asleep standing up.

02/15/11

     After a long night, going to our Layers of Rome class with our intimidating professor was the last thing I wanted to do! My roommates and I literally ran from the tram to where we thought we were supposed to meet because the bus didn’t come on time. Of course, we got a text saying that the group left the meeting place and told us where they were walking. Feeling extra nervous now, we picked up the pace even faster and caught up with them just as the lecture was about to start. I had gotten my workout in and had sweat dripping down my forehead! This class we were going to the Church of San Clemente. This was a unique church in that it actually showed several layers of Rome. The farthest story down consisted of an old Roman home, where a 6^th century church was built on top of it, and the 13^th century church was built on top of that! In less that three hours we traveled further into Roman history and got to see different aspects and how art transformed over this time period. However, this church was freezing and since I was sweating earlier, it was frozen on me and I couldn’t stop shivering the entire class! 

Church of San Clemente

     After two more classes that day, we could finally relax. It was our friends last night in Rome so we decided to meet them over by the Trevi Fountain and do whatever they wanted. We stopped at a restaurant nearby to there and had a fun last evening together. Their flight was the following morning at 7 so after dinner we parted ways and I went to bed immediately and with all the site-seeing we had done the past few days, I was able to fall asleep within a minute. 

Trevi Fountain at night

02/16/11

     Today started as another typical day of class, but ended with what I wish class was always like! Our last class of the day met at a restaurant called Ketumbar for a wine tasting! During this, we discussed the three components of a wine tasting: sight, smell, and taste. For each of the four wines we tried, we discussed these components as a class. This was helpful for me because it was interesting to hear someone with experience talk about scent. For me, the wine smelled like wine, but our teacher was able to extract scents such as vegetables, wood, fruits, etc. After hearing him talk about it, I was better able to recognize this scent as well which I think will help me in wine tastings in the future. During this tasting, we tried two white wines, a red (Chianti), and a dessert wine (Moscoto d ‘asti Piedmont). The wine tasting concluded at about 6, perfect time for us to come home and make dinner. Following dinner I did some homework and caught up with friends and family until going to bed early looking forward to a good night sleep!

Ketumbar

02/17/11

     We didn’t have class until 1 today so I slept as late as I could and then got up to study for my Italian quiz. A couple of us decided to go to a café to study to get out of our apartment for awhile. When we walked out of our apartment, we noticed that there were five trams backed up at our stop and we weren’t sure why. As we approached our stop, we noticed that there was a man laying there bleeding from his face. I have never wished more that I could speak Italian so I could have known what was going on. I was astounded that people were so calm and no one was really approaching him. I was even more astounded by the fact that it took the time of five trams coming for an ambulance to even arrive on the scene. After surveying the scene for a bit, we decided to just walk the half hour walk to class since we were early anyways. I felt very nauseous the rest of the day thinking of the sight that I saw earlier. I asked my teacher about it, but he hadn’t heard anything and doubted it would make it into the newspaper so the incident is always one that will be mysterious to me. After two classes, we came home and now I’m going to go to bed early so that I can get up early for our trip to a vineyard tomorrow!

02/18/11

     I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to wake up before 7 than I was today. I’ve always wanted to go to a vineyard and today was my opportunity to see a true Italian vineyard. We traveled an hour and a half outside of Rome on a coach bus to a region of Italy called Umbria to the Castello della Regine vineyard. The trip started off by seeing the different areas where the white, red, and rose wines are made. From here, we got a tour of where the wines are fermented and while our tour guide tried to explain what was occurring as we watched, it was too loud to hear him so we moved downstairs. While downstairs, we were able to see where all the wine was aged in barrels. 

View on the way to the vineyard

Vineyard

Fermentation process

Catello delle Regine

     Following seeing this, our tour guide had a little mini wine tasting for us. We split into our three groups our class is split into to try three different wines: a merlot, a cabernet, and a sangiovese wine. We were to determine which wine was which after hearing a brief description of typical wines of these sorts. My group was the only one to get all three correctly! It was a fun activity and funny to see how your perception of wine changes when you don’t actually know what you are drinking. I had one friend claim to not like one because she was under the impression that it was cabernet and she doesn’t like cabernet. It turned out she was actually drinking the merlot and didn’t like that, but actually did like the cabernet! 

     From this portion of the tour, we took the bus up to a great view of the owner of the vineyward’s home, which was massive. We walked down a hill to see the farm that is on the vineyard’s site where they house a particular and special type of cows and pigs. I couldn’t get myself to go very close with my gag reflex when smelling animals, so me and a couple other girls hung back a little. It was still interesting to see how much larger these cows were than a typical cow I’m used to seeing. 

Girls at the top of the Vineyard

     By the time this portion of the tour was over it was about 1:30 and us being American, were starving since it’s much later than we’re accustomed to eating lunch. Luckily, lunch was the next stop! Before we ate though, we first had another wine tasting. During this time we had two white and two red wines, all of which tasted delicious. I took one of the corks to the wine to remember this day and how much fun I had. Lunch was the biggest lunch I’ve ever had. It started with bits of finger food including: slices of salami and prosciutto, different types of cheese, pizza, breads, and almost breakfast like casseroles. The main meal consisted of penne al’arrabiata, rice, and ravioli with meat in it. I was so full I didn’t think I would be able to eat again for the rest of the day! After thanking our tour guide and teacher for setting it up, we headed back towards Rome and got back around 6. When I returned back to my apartment, I decided to watch the Lizzie McGuire movie to reminisce and as time passed, I somehow got hungry again! I didn’t want much so I made myself a grilled cheese and called it a night!

Wine Tasting!

Starters

Main Course

A week with visitors!

02/07/11, 02/08/11, 02/09/11, 02/10/11

     The week started in exhaustion. All of the traveling is so great, but it really takes a toll on my sleep pattern! Definitely worth it though. I had two tests over the course of this week, one in Italian on Monday and one on food & culture on Wednesday. The Italian test went really well, but the food & culture test was one of the hardest tests I’ve had to take! I’m curious to get the results back from this test. I was very livid after the exam because the material itself wasn’t difficult, but the format of the test was unlike anything any of us had ever taken before so we weren’t prepared. For the multiple-choice questions, the answer could be one, two, three, four, or all of the options and they didn’t tell you how many, but if you missed one of the options, you got the entire question wrong. Rather than just get a question wrong and not get any points added, if you got an answer wrong, it is subtracted from your score so it is technically possible to receive a negative percentage on the exam. After taking it, none of us were very thrilled and therefore decided to make the best of the day and have a picnic with some wine in the Villa Borghese gardens on top of the Spanish Steps. Reluctantly, we went back to our next class where our program director came in to talk to us because she caught word that we were very upset with how the test was run. We tried as a class to explain to her our frustration, but once again the language barrier caused a problem. She was under the impression that we don’t like the Italian testing system and got defensive and wouldn’t listen to what we had to say. However, this wasn’t the case. We were simply trying to say that had we known what the test was going to be like, we could have better studied for that format and felt more confident leaving the room. Either way, there’s nothing I can do about it now except wait to see how it actually went! 

On the way to Villa Borghese Gardens for a picnic

     In between those classes, on Tuesday the 8^th, we went to Palazzo Massimo and looked at various museum exhibits. Due to the lack of reliability of public transportation in this city, my roommates and I wound up having to take a cab to class in order to make it on time to the meeting spot. The meeting place was at the Piazza della Republica, where us girls were excited to see was the location of where Lizzie McGuire drives by on a vespa in her movie. It’s weird how pretty all the sites looked in the movie and the fact that I’m now getting the chance to see them all for myself. At the museum, we saw the development of Roman paintings and sculptures. We learned about frescoes and while I’ve scene many of them, I didn’t realize how talented artists have to be to create one. After the top layer of plaster is smeared on, artists have roughly 6 hours to create the painting they want. I also learned the difference between Roman and Christian mosaics. Romans used them on the floor and Christians used mosaics on the wall. In looking at these mosaics, it was neat to see the intricacy of them and how they varied depending on where they are located in a house (the bathroom versus a bedroom). We then talked about statues and how they transformed to using what is called “contrapposto,” in other words a more natural than rigid stance. Our professor showed us the Roman copycat of the Greek Discobolo statue. I’ve seen pictures of this, but never really thought much into detail about the statue itself. Our teacher described how unrealistic the pose itself is for if this man were to actually release the discus using this stance, it would either fly directly upwards or else hit the ground and start rolling. I really like having this class at various locations throughout the city because it’s as though we all have our own personal tour guide who helps me learn things I wouldn’t otherwise have known just going to that location. 

Piazza della Republica

Roman Mosaic

Discobolo

     I took this week as an opportunity to catch up on sleep and didn’t go out at all. Therefore, I feel much better tonight as we get ready for 7 other Tridelts to arrive in Rome (6 from Grenada and 1 from London!).

02/11/11

     Today, we had our first wine seminar where we learned the basic concepts about wine and how it is created. I found this information very interesting, but was confused by all the terms as well. There is so much to know about wine, how it is created, the different types of wines and the grapes that create them, etc. that it is impossible to have a firm understanding of it after a two hour lecture. Unfortunately, that’s all we have so I took in as much as I could and look forward to learning more about it on my own. Our friends arrived at noon, but we had class until 4 that afternoon. Since they were exhausted from their travels, we thought it best to just wait until after class rather than in between classes to go meet up with them. Following class, my roommates and I just about ran to the bus stop because we were so excited to see them! Since it was already starting to get a little dark, we chose to show them the Spanish Steps, the famous shopping street, and Piazza Venezia (or what we like to call the circle of death because it’s a free for all with traffic). 

Friends on top of the Spanish Steps

     By this time, it was about 8 so we parted ways, they went to their hostel and we went back to our apartment. We grabbed a slice of pizza on the way home, and all got ready. We went to a club in Testaccio called Akab, which was really fun because everyone from our program who had visitors brought them there. Therefore, the number of students from U of I pretty much doubled that night.

Before Akab

02/12/11

     We had an ambitious schedule for Saturday and Sunday to show our visitors around in order to ensure that they got to see everything that was necessary in a visit to Rome. Because everyone was starving, when we met up we stopped at a little outdoor restaurant for a quick lunch. Trying to accommodate for 13 people is a little difficult for any restaurant around here because many aren’t that big. Luckily there was enough room to push enough tables together so we could all sit together. I got a mozzarella and tomato Panini to tide me over until dinner. From lunch, we went took our guests to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, stopped at Giolitti—the best gelato place in Rome in my opinion (I got my favorite combination thus far with white chocolate, banana, and caramel), Piazza Navona, and showed them our school. It was my first time actually going into the pantheon yet and it still bewilders me how the building itself was built at that day in age. 

Eating gelato outside the Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

     We parted ways to go get ready before we met back up for dinner. We planned to take our friends to Casetta de Trastevere because it’s one of our favorite restaurants and affordable. We sat at dinner for nearly three hours, it was so good to catch up with everyone else and hear how their programs are going for them. All the girls from Grenada had improved their Spanish as they live with host families while there and they have no choice but to speak it constantly. From dinner, we headed back to our apartment to meet up with the boys in our program and their friends before heading out to a club called Coyote. This was one of my favorite nights since being here. Not only were we together with some of our best friends, but they were playing great music and we couldn’t get ourselves to leave until about 4:30 in the morning. As we walked home, we walked past all the people setting up for Porta Portese, which occurs in front of our apartment every Sunday afternoon.

02/13/11

     Given that we stayed out so late on Saturday night, it was very difficult to get up Sunday morning. However, we planned to meet our friends at the Vatican for the Pope’s Blessing at noon. Even though we nearly ran there to get there on time, we made it! This was a really cool experience, the whole area was filled with people sporting the flags for their respective countries. The Pope came out of a random window and spoke in several different languages. Even though I could only understand the English portion, the whole experience in itself was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The fact that the Pope comes out every Sunday he is in Rome to do this is unique and having the chance to see it was something I wont forget. 

Crowd outside the Vatican for the Blessing

View of the Pope outside a window at the Vatican

     After the blessing, we took our friends to see Castel San Angelo and to a restaurant in between there and our school that we’ve been to several times and has a student discount. Like usual, I got the margarita pizza and was very satisfied. The visitors all planned to go to the Roman Forum and Colosseum from lunch and since we’ve seen that and they have tickets, we went back to our apartment and took a nap. Many of us had an early morning the next day so we didn’t go out. Four of the girls left Monday morning, one went back to London and the other three continued on to explore more of Italy starting with Florence. Meanwhile, three were still here until Wednesday so we still had plenty of time with them!

Firenze

02/05/11

     The alarm clock sounding at 3:45 was not a pleasant noise in my ears. However, I never seem to have trouble getting up early when it’s for something like a trip somewhere. I was quick to get up and shower/get ready. We aimed to be out at the tram stop by 5 to make sure we got to the train station Termini (approximately 15-20 minutes away) in time to catch our train. As we’ve quickly learned, public transportation is anything but reliable here. After waiting at the tram stop for nearly a half hour, we were about to give up at start walking towards where we could catch a bus. As we started walking away, of course a tram came. So the large pack of us with our backpacks sprint back in the other direction to catch the tram. In the meantime, we realize some of our friends had hopped on a bus that went directly to Termini. Not wanting to lose them or miss the train, at the next tram stop we sprinted over to the bus and stopped it so we could hop on too! As we boarded the bus our friends were laughing at how funny all our faces were on the tram as we saw them get on the bus. Looking back it was quite the experience, but I would have felt utterly different had we missed our train there. Given how tired I was, there was no other option for me but to find some way to sleep. As we arrived in Florence 4 hours later, I couldn’t help but notice how different Italy was farther in the North. The train traveled through the mountains and the sight was unbelievably beautiful. We dropped our stuff off at our hostel (Plus Florence—which I might add was way nicer than our previous hostel) and proceeded on to go sight seeing. 

     We had to take advantage of every minute we had there since we didn’t even have two full days. We started out by heading to make reservations at the Accademia Galleria to see the Statue of David because normally there is a two-hour wait. However, somehow, we lucked out and there was no line when we arrived so we just went then! Seeing David in real life is nothing like seeing him in a picture. He stands 516 centimeters tall and every aspect of the carved figure is so lifelike. The amount of time that it must have taken is unbelievable to make it so perfect. We figured as long as we were in the museum, we would take advantage of all the other exhibits the museum had to offer. From the David, we headed towards the Duomo to pick a lunch place before climbing up it. We stopped at a little café called L’Crera Caffe where I had a wide variety of food and glass of wine while admiring the Duomo. Our meal consisted of salad, two kinds of bruschetta, beans, and lasagna. It was nice to get some fresh greens in a meal for once! 

Academia Galleria with the David

Lunch outside the Duomo

     Following lunch we headed back to the Duomo where we climbed up over 400 stairs to the peak of it allowing us a beautiful view of the entire city of Florence. While climbing up the stairs, I was regretting working out the day before because I could barely move as it was, let alone after climbing all the stairs! Not to mention, the stairs were very steep and narrow, making it difficult for my friends who are claustrophobic and afraid of heights! Believe me when I say the pictures don’t do the view justice. All I could see for miles were cute houses with red roofs, surrounded by mountains! I could have stood up there forever. The climb down was much simpler! 

In front of the Duomo

Staircase leading to the top

View overlooking Florence

Another view

     Next, we headed towards the Ponte Vecchio, which is a bridge filled with gold jewelry. On our trip over, we stopped to try waffles covered in Nutella! Being the sweet fanatic I am, this tasted like heaven in a bite! 

Ponte Vecchio

Lauren, Kelly, and I overlooking the river on the Ponte Vecchio

     We then traveled alongside the river towards the Piazza della Michelangelo, leading us on yet another hike up stairs. When we finally got to the top of the Piazza, we got a different view of the city, equally as beautiful. The day was far from over at this point though! 

More steps up!

View from Piazza della Michelangelo

     We headed to the Santa Croce where we visited the tombs of many famous artists, scientists, and elite families. Outside was a chocolate market that we wandered aimlessly through and I somehow managed to resist my sweet tooth and didn’t buy anything. 

Outside Santa Croce

Small glimpse of the Chocolate Festival

     From here, it was time to go to dinner at Acqua Al Due, a restaurant where Rachel Rae has visited and ate the infamous blueberry steak. We ordered a salad and melon pasta for the table, followed by a blueberry steak. I’m not ordinarily a steak person, but it was cooked to perfection and it nearly melted in my mouth. Following dinner we all split a dessert platter consisting of chocolate cake, strawberry cheesecake, fruit tart, and tiramisu! This was by far the best meal I’ve ever had and I couldn’t have been more content. We headed back to the hostel and it was nearly 10 so we quickly showered and headed on our way to a nightclub called Space. 

Entrance to Acqua Al Due

Reunited with Barry (me, Barry- studying in Milan, Timmy), we all traveled to New Orleans together last spring break

02/06/11

After not getting home until about 4 in the morning, getting up at 9 in order to check out by 10 was quite the struggle, but we made it! We went on our way to try a sandwich place that was recommended to us called Da’Vinattieri. Here I had a fresh salami Panini with blue cheese and spicy tomatoes. Everything about the food in Florence was fantastic and there wasn’t a meal I didn’t enjoy. From here my friends and I wandered aimlessly throughout the city exploring the last sights it had to offer and checking out the leather it’s famous for. With all the walking we did the previous day, our 3 pm train could not come soon enough. While I planned to study for my Italian test the following day on the train, my eyes were closed and I was out cold within the first 5 minutes of the ride until we pulled up to the station. This allowed me a little burst of energy to do the necessary studying when I got home and still go to bed at a decent hour after a very successful weekend trip to Firenze!  

Fresh bread, cheese, and meat from Da'Vinattiere