End

"I loved my friend

He went away from me

There's nothing more to say

The poem ends

As softly as it began-

I loved my friend." 

-Langston Hughes 

Dear All,
This is probably the last post I'm going to make for my Roman adventure. :( sad face. But, for those of you who read it, thank you for taking the time to read a little bit about my summer. It makes me really happy to see that I have over a thousand views, stunned that there was that many people who wanted to read what I had to wrote, and embarrassed because I don't think I'm a good writer at all, so I apologize for all of the incorrect grammar and awkward times.

And now for the post...

My last few days at John Cabot University were a blur, filled with packing, finals preparation, and trying to squeeze in as many things possible that I forgot to do. But, there wasn't a ton of goodbyes from my fellow classmates and friends... and I'm happy about that. I hate those times when you know you're most likely never going to see another person again, and you try and come up with a few quick words that sum up all your memories with them, how much you're going to miss them (or not), and you wish them all the best of luck with their lives... it's awkward, and it can never be done in the right way.
There is no possible way to say goodbye to someone whom you have shared a summer in rome, whom you're (possibly) never going to see again- it doesn't happen. There is no way to explain that underlying bond that you will always have with another person or persons. So you just don't do it. You leave your bond the way it is. You and them both know how you feel about the other, you know your memories, you know that you were apart of each others lives, and you know that you have been apart of an experience that the other will never forget. So you leave it how it is. That's the way I like it, and that's the easiest way to (wordlessly) say goodbye.

Both of my final exams went very well!
First of all, my final for my pinhole photography was an art show, and not an actual exam. With the help of Bill, I chose the best of my pictures, found that they were all similar in one way- which is crazy cause I didn't even plan that- and framed and hung them. We were supposed to share the evening with the digital photography class, but the teacher had to bail, so it was just my class who did the showing. It was nice, two of the girls went out and got wine and snacks for everyone, we all explained our photos and what we liked about them, and we finally got to see what our classmates were doing for the last few weeks.
My Ancient Eats final was also really cool. Again, not a written exam. We did have to write a final paper. I wrote mine like a letter to my parents, explaining some of the most popular foods of the Mayan culture; which were chocolate, avocados, tortillas, a type of very spicy salsa, coffee, and a few others. We also had to write a journal about one of our readings or on a place we visited- Mt. Testaccio, Ostia, Pompeii, or the museum. I wrote mine on Testaccio, because it was my favorite place we went to. But for our actual final, Karl replaced our written final with an oral talk we would have in class. He basically gave us this prompt about having to explain why "foodstuffs" is important in history and learning about culture; along with many other things we had to talk about; and we had to prepare an answer for him. So, not only did I learn a ton during the class itself, but I learned a lot to prepare for the final question, and also during the talk we had about the question. It was awesome.

If I haven't already said, these two classes were my favorite part about this whole trip. Even counting the trip to Tuscany and the Almafi Coast trip, the food, the shopping, the wine, the sights, the architecture, nothing beats learning about something so interesting that you can't stop learning. And my teachers. These two men had some influence that many teachers before them rarely had. They actually pushed me to want to learn and (and for the photography class) spend many, many, MANY, hours outside of class trying to practice what I learned from them.

My last night in Rome was also a blur because it went so fast. I had one last dinner at Tony's... the very popular resturant students went because it was really good, portions were huge, and Tony always gave free stuff- bread, desert, wine, even sometimes champagne or limoncello. Then a few friends and I went out trying to meet up with the majority of the JCU kids. We always ended up in the same place, right in Trastevere (where I lived), between these two places that had like a hundred different shots for only a euro, and this other place called G-bar- which I hated because it was so tiny and hot and the bartenders were super creepy. But this shots bar was very funny because they were all named after ridiculous stuff-- everything from people's names, sexual references, swear words, and Harry Potter characters- those I stayed away from because they were almost always lit on fire...
But, I will refrain from giving out any exact names because now that I think of it, they are very inappropriate to write on here. Sorry!!
Then a large group of us went to Campo de Fiori to really see everyone... all the Americans go there because every place is usually dirty, cheap, and filled with creeps - kinda like a frat house. BURN!
...sorry about that.
Because it was still sort-of early out, some of my friends were going to try and see some sites, the trevi fountain, forum, birthday cake museum, and finally end at the colosseum to see the sunrise, but I didn't go. My two best friends were leaving around 7am and I wanted to be up to see them off, so I decided to go back with them early so I actually got some sleep.

I spent the entire next morning packing up all my things, riding in a cab to the Hilton hotel attached to the airport, and relaxing. However, I figured out my last ten euro was stolen by this jerk, so now I'm basically in starvation mode till Tuesday. No worries though! Because my mom and dad travel so much, I have access to the executive suite, which has free beverages all day, snacks, and at dinner time, at least on warm dish. Hellooooo unlimited espresso and fruit :) I have never loved oranges so much!
Other than that, I've been working out, swimming, and watching TV, trying to pass the time quickly. I can't wait to get home!

I miss my family and my friends, ice in all drinks, free water at dinner, air conditioning, paved roads, driving, food options, breakfast foods, speaking English and being understood, being able to wear workout cloths in public and not getting stared at, not being stared at or whistled at because I'm American!, common courtesy, and soooo many other things that I usually take for granted in the states. I just really miss America.
Even with all that, I'm extremely happy and grateful that I had the opportunity to travel and study in Italy! It has taught me so many lessons, I've learned so many things, I've found something that I'm now becoming obsessed with because I love it so much, and I've found love... HAHAHA yeah right, Fooled ya!

I'm going to be a little cheesy here, but it has to be done publicly. THANK YOU MUM AND DAD!!!!!!!!! Without you guys, and the support of the rest of my family and close friends, I wouldn't have been able to do this or make it through this experience. You have given me an opportunity that not a lot of people get to do, and from this experience, I think I've grown more, become more responsible, more careful about what I do, more respectful, than before, of other cultures and the way some have to live, and in so many other ways. I'm a different, stronger person because of you. My thanks is never ending, and I promise I'll pay you back-- I know "one free hug" coupons won't get me out of this one ;)

So, like I've said before, I'm not going to say any major goodbyes. I'm going to end this post the way I always do, so the moment is not ruined, and so we can move on with the secret bond that you, my unknown follower, and I, have shared these past 5 weeks...

Molte Benedizioni

The Beginning of the End.

Today was a sad day in my Roman life here. Today marked the last day of my pinhole photography class.
It just makes me sad because I'll never see my class mates and teacher (Bill) ever again. And I won't be able to run to the studio whenever I'm having a bad day, or to just escape the world, and take and develop these pictures that I can never perfectly plan out. It's impossibly amazing.
Sometimes, I think I've found my dark-side with this photography thing. Some of my pictures come out seriously freaky, while others come out absolutely beautiful, and I love it. Even though I've only been doing it for 5 short weeks, and I would NEVER call myself a photographer at this point because I'm just starting out, there is some sort of evolution through my photos. By looking at them, anyone could tell which pictures were my first and which ones were my last, and that's crazy to me. You can see improvement right before your eyes.
It's like, the way some of these pictures come out are completely different than what I mean to take the picture of, and in a way, it shows different things that I don't pick up by my eyes alone. It's like my camera sees things that I don't and now I can because all this stuff is opening my eyes to how amazing this place really is- and just in a structural and historical way, I'm not even counting the food side of Rome, or the party side, or the friendships I'm developing from this place.
It's crazy, the things that we don't even pick up on, but by learning how to actually use a camera or use one we made from a Pringles can, it's like the paper picks up on things that we tend to look over.

I hope that when I get home, I will be able to find some place to keep taking and developing photos. Because the last time I've felt like this about something was back in high school, with my music, and now, sadly, I cannot create that atmosphere and feelings anymore. These little pictures bring out an intensity, focus, and pure happiness that I haven't felt in a long time.

They may not look like much, but they mean a lot to me. The first two are self-portraits. It took me almost an hour to get the timing right so I would even appear on the photo paper... it was a lot of back and forth from the dark room to taking the actual picture... because it was so sunny out that day. 

The third picture is of the building across the street and the cars parked underneath it. For some reason, it came out in this color when I inverted from its negative using Photoshop. And the last is another self-portrait, taken by my friend Halley, and her pinhole camera. These are all pinhole photos. 

I also have a ton of film photographs, which came out awesome! I don't want to give away too many, because I'm saving one in particular for a gift, but I'll give you all a sneak-peek. 

And I know where I get this passion from. Thank you, Bop. I wish you were here to teach me and see me now.

Molte Benedizioni

The Almafi Coast

Last weekend, I had the most amazing opportunity to go on a trip to the Almafi Coast. The group that I went with, Bus2Alps, I think around 100+ kids strong... maybe even more, I'm not so sure.
A group of friends and I left Trastevere (were my apartment is) around 7pm to get to Termani around 8 for our meeting time. After a 3 hour bus ride to Sorento, I made it to my little hotel and went right to sleep because we had to be up and ready to go by 6:50 the next morning.
Friday morning came to fast, but I didn't mind because we were going to the island of Capri! I got to go on a boat tour around the island, and during, I got to see inside the blue grotto, which was kind-of a rip off, because you had to pay 12.50 euro just to see about a 2 minute peek into it, but it was still absolutely breath taking. If you don't know what the blue grotto is, it's this little hole inside a cave that you can only go into when the water level is just right. To get into it, you have to sit in a little row boat, wait for the current to go down just the right amount, and the boat fits right inside this tiny hole. Once in, the space opens up into this huge cave, and you have to wait a second for your eyes to adjust to see the beauty of the white sand, on the bottom of the ocean floor, hitting the sunlight from the small hole in the cave. Because of this mix, the water is the most beautiful, bright, cerulean blue (my favorite color). It was absolutely breath taking.
We finally made it to the island of Capri were we got these awesome fruit drinks called granitas, which was this fresh lemon slushy with freshly squeezed orange juice on top. It was probably the most refreshing drink I've ever had. After walking around for awhile on the island and window shopping at places like Louis Vuitton, Valention, Dior, Fendi, and Dolce & Gabbana, we took off for another island called Anacapri. There, we were able to eat lunch, visit this little shop that sold hand-made leather shoes and limoncello, chocolates, and homemade beer. The shoemaker that we visited has made sandals for famous people all over the world, including Oprah and Jackie Kennedy! He was the cutest little guy I've ever met and was so nice, you wouldn't believe how down to earth and kind this guy was. After the shoes, we took a chair lift up to the top of the island that held the most beautiful views I've ever seen. It was a 360 degree sight that stretched from the cliffs and small towns of Anacapri, the surrounding islands, Mount Vesuvius, and as far as the eye could see across the Mediterranean sea.

Later that night, my roommates and I, (a friend I came with and two girls who were studying in Germany), went out to dinner. On a side note, I absolutely love going out to dinner here- it's a completely different experience than in the states- but it is the most expensive part of this entire trip, so  I can only do it once or twice a week. Usually, the waiters take there time with you so it is more of a dining experience, rather than just another meal during the day. The house wine is usually brought out, quite frequently it's white because nobody here likes red, except me. I like the house wine the best because it's almost always the cheapest, and it's actually really good- not too strong, and it pairs with the food being served very well. But dining here is more of a social interaction, rather than a, stuff your face with as much food as possible, type thing. Tables are put very closely together, to save on room, but also to interact with other diners, and the wine being served loosens everyone up and gets the conversation flowing.

Then came Saturday, which was my favorite part of the trip, for it was beach day! They took us to this rock beach in Positano, which hurt my feet pretty bad, but at the end of the day, my feet were super soft- natural pedicure:) We were there for about 6 hours, so they had this option for us to go on a private boat and go cliff jumping and cave swimming. Well, the company either didn't think they would have so many kids interested, or there was a confusion with how large the boats needed to be, but they had a backup of about 50 kids that wanted to go on the mini-trip, and a lack of larger boats. So, me and my friends lucked out and got our own, private boat for the 8 of us, and our own driver. I went to get a change of scenery and because I love boats, but I ended up doing the cliff jumping, and swimming in the open sea and caves. The water was freezing!!! And I was terrified of getting stung by a jellyfish or bit by something else, but it was like there was nothing in the water (at the time) except for a fish here or there. The whole experience was a complete adrenaline rush and it was one of the most fun I've ever had.

Sunday morning began with an early breakfast but a late take-off. We had to pack up all our stuff and get everything ready to leave, so we didn't leave until around 10am. Finally on the bus, all I really wanted to do was sleep, but I forgot we were going to Pompeii for a few hours. Once we got there though, I had every intention to just walk around myself and take it easy, but because I had to learn about the grounds and ruins for my class, I decided it would be a good idea to pay the extra money for a guided tour through the ruins of Pompeii, and I'm SO glad I did. I just got to spend more time with two girls I hung out with a lot during the weekend, the tour guide was super funny, and I learned so much about the town. Little things that I would have looked over, like an ancient bath house and its accents of greek mythology figures painted on the walls, to the graphic sexual figures attached to the homes that were supposed to be ancient brothels... hahahahaha.

Overall, I had an incredible weekend filled with amazing views and experiences. The weather was perfect, the hostel was manageable, and the memories I made were unforgettable! I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.


Molte Benedizioni!

Scents

The streets of Rome are constantly changing. Every new street you turn onto, another smell drifts its way into your nose. Seriously, just on the quick, 5 minute walk to my classroom from my apartment, there are so many different smells, it's kind-of hard to keep track. First, walking down the 4 flights of winding steps to the ground floor of my building, I get a really strong flower scent, almost like a funeral home, from the blooming trees that grow up along my building. Walking through the security guards, I get a strong whiff of there stale coffee and cigarettes (actually, you smell that a lot here), then as I turn the corner, a large scent of dog feces hits you... which is because owners are allowed to let there dogs go anywhere they want, and there is no law saying there mess has to be cleaned up, so dodging dog poop in every step you take is a part of the daily life here... Walking down the street, more flowery scents are present from the strong perfumes women wear, and as I cross the bakery to get my morning coffee, huge wafts of croissants, gelato, mini-pizzas, and espresso hits me in the face.
At almost every turn you take, another smell comes. Wether it be from the corner deli, pizza shop, fresh market, candle store, bread bakery, etc and etc, you always get something new.

The only thing I wish is that it would be very nice if people cleaned up after there pooches... it seriously makes me happy that in the U.S, we have laws and the common courtesy to clean up after our dogs. It smells so bad and is completely disgusting here at times.
Shame on you, Italy.


Molte Benedizioni!
 

Taste of Tuscany and Almafi Coast

Hey guys! Sorry it's been a long time since I've written, things have been kind-of crazy with midterms and traveling for the past week or so. A ton of stuff has happened in this past week-ish. Last weekend I went to Tuscany and this weekend that just passed I was in the Almafi Coast! Both trips were through a company called Bus2alps, they do all the scheduling and plan special events for us while on the trips so it relaxes some of the hassle during traveling.
The Tuscany trip was just for a day and it was called Taste of Tuscany. They took us to two wine tastings and showed us around a wine vineyard and a little town. I had to wake up at like 5am the day of to get to Termini (the train stations) and meet the group, then it was a 2 hour bus ride to Montepulcino. After what felt like the longest bus ride ever (and getting extremely car sick), we finally arrived in Montepulcino and went to a wine cellar called Citta' Sotterranea, which used to be a place where they tourtered people. So it was not only full with huge barrels of fermenting wine and aging foods like cheese and meats, but torture devices and tools too. Because our group was so large, the employees at the tasting barely gave us mouthfuls of their wine, and very small samples of there cheeses, meats, and breads. But what they did give us was pretty good. Next, we were allowed to walk around the little town, full of shops, small places to eat, and beautiful churches. But the best part was that I got to actually touch and be at the scene from one of the Twilight movies!!! In New Moon, the second movie of the four-part saga, Edward (the vampire) dumps Bella (his girlfriend) so she can have a better life. But he ends up thinking she's dead and he can't fathom living with knowing she's gone, so he plans this big reveal, to a huge crowd of people, that he is a vampire so the "rulers of the vampires" at the time will kill him. Anyway, Bella goes running across this huge mass of people and into Edward's arms so he won't show himself, which takes place in the exact spot that I was in!!!! SO I can say I've stood where Robert Pattinson (the actor who plays Edward) stood!!!! AHHH!!

There's the door! YAY!!!


--sorry for the preteen mood there, back to Maura--

After Montepulcino, we took an hour bus ride to Montalcino, where the vineyard was. We got off the bus and headed straight to a tour of the grounds. One of the employees took us around the entire property and explained and showed us the process of picking the grapes, to fermenting them, to adding flavors, then storing, and finally bottling the wine-- at least, I'm pretty sure that's the right process. Silly me, the only thing going through my head during the entire tour was how expensive the start-up costs and maintenance fees are for owning a vineyard were... I guess that's the SVC McKenna School of Business rubbing off on me... Along with the tour, we were able to try some of there wine, which was amazing, and soak up the views, which were even more amazing! Seriously, I couldn't have asked for better weather during the day, and the rain held off till the second we arrived back in Rome. But the wine at the second place was so much better than the first, maybe because it was an actual vineyard and not just a cellar- but who knows.

During the weekend that just passed, I took a trip to the Almafi Coast. And please, if you take any advice from me based on this entire trip, take this: GO TO THE ALMAFI COAST BEFORE YOU DIE. Seriously. You will know exactly what I'm talking about when you get there. The views are absolutely incredible and the weather is perfect. There is so much stuff to talk about that I'm gonna save it for my next post. It's super late here and I'm falling asleep! So I'll leave you with some pictures from this weekend, enjoy and goodnight!

Anacapri 

The Blue Grotto!

Capri

Positiano 

Private boat to cliff jumping and cave swimming :D 

Molte Benedizioni

Artifacts and Pinholes

Today I went to the Museo della Civiltà Romana which is a museum that's all about Ancient Rome and its people and such. It was cool because there were actual things from back then, like pots and pans, and cooking ware. But that's about the only real things they had there. Everything else were replicas... so, it was a little bit of a let down. I would have enjoyed the museum more if they didn't just offer replicas and copies of things, but the actual artifacts too.

The thing I was most interested in was the fascist architecture of the museum and many of the buildings surrounding Piazza Giovanni Agnelli (which is the area of the museum). When Mussolini was in power, he built all these official buildings in the same manner; most of them were made up of these huge white slabs of stone in a block formation, with everything being very square, smallish rectangle windows, and all with small amounts of writing on them. Those are at least the general characteristics I was finding while looking at different buildings. The buildings were very easy to point out because everything else around it were these colorful buildings with different decorations and textures to them. It was kind-of like playing, "which one of these things is not like the other" game. :)

This is the middle part of the museum, and on each side of it were these very large cubed buildings. The tour of the museum started in the right wing of the building, then you actually walked underground to a display of all these different Roman scenes of various things, and then entered the left wing of the museum. I didn't even know I had made the transition between buildings until the group was outside and realized that we had entered from the other side. 

This is just a replica of a famous sculpture from a wall-- we didn't really learn about it, I just thought it looked cool.

This is just HALF of the huge replica of what Ancient Rome looked like. If you really look, you can see the coliseum and some other very famous structures. 

I finally have some of my pictures I took with my pinhole camera from class! They aren't anything too amazing or special, but I think they are pretty cool- especially because they were taken from a Pringles can with nothing but a small amount of sunlight and light-sensitive paper. I didn't want to mess with the raw-ness of the photos, so I just took the negative photos, scanned them into a Mac, and used Photoshop to turn them into positives. I didn't want them having any other filters on them or something else to take away from the nature of the pinhole photo. 

This is taken from a window in the studio that over looks the Tiber River and a major street. If you look very closely, you can see a waiting bus and cars driving by.  

These next two are taken from the studio's balcony that overlooks some of the back roads, a small shop, and some apartments. 

The next major thing I want to do is to see the Pope on Wednesday for his prayer and blessing of the people! I'm going to have to miss a little bit of my early class, but I think Karl will understand. 

Molte Benedizioni! 

Karl and Bill

Ciao!

I started classes!!!! So (sorry mum and dad) but I dropped a class and added a different one! (AND THANK GOD CAUSE I LOVE IT) I originally came to take Ancient Eats and Ancient Rome and its Monuments, but after seeing how intense and the ridiculous amount of work my professor had planned,  I decided to drop the monuments one. So I picked up Pinhole Photography, and my class and I go around Rome, learning how to appreciate it and taking these awesome pictures with our home-made cameras, because after all, I came to Rome to see it, and not to sit in my room all day writing papers.

But anyway, my first class is called Ancient Eats. And I thought it was going to be learning about all these ancient cultures and trying to make some of the food they ate-- well there's just a little bit about that, but the majority of it is reading and talking about all these different ancient cultures, what they ate, why they ate it, how they got it, sustainability, and so much more. It is so interesting! We always end up going back to the idea of constructs, that any amount of time or measure is made up so we can define it. They allow humans to navigate through the years, through the world, from space, even from our home to work; everything is a construct. And what he means by ancient is before the introduction of christianity and islam- for some reason, that deciphers it between just really old and being truly ancient. My teacher is freaking awesome. He wants us to not use his last name and only call him Karl. He is full of information, like, more information I could ever process, and rambles off these facts like he's an encyclopedia. I really think I'm going to learn a lot from this class, mainly because as the class goes on, he explains how what we are talking about relates to our major back home, and how a simple thing as food isn't really simple at all, and basically makes our world and our ancestors world run.
So today, in my ancient eats class, we went to Mount Testaccio, which I think I mentioned in an earlier post. It's this "mountain" or HUGE land mass, created only from broken pottery. Karl told us that it was basically a dump back then because they had so much pottery and didn't know what to do with it. The pottery mainly from shipping and transportation of slaves and food products- especially oil and wine. Even in the ancient times, olive oil was in such a high quantity demand, that the amount Italy could produce didn't reach the demand, so they had to import it from places like Spain, to meet its demand. So the oil and wine came in these huge blocks of pottery for shipping, because it was sturdy and was easy to make, and thus Mount Testaccio was created.

My other class is Pinhole Photography. And it's awesome as well! So far, we have made our own pinhole camera, I made mine out of a Pringles can, have used those cameras to develop negatives of the city sites, and also we have done photograms. For those of you that do not know, pinhole photography is a way of taking a picture from basically a dark, small space, a teensy little hole, and light sensitive photo paper. When the paper is in the dark, it stays blank, but when light is added to the dark, the images it sees are reflected onto the paper, and once the photo paper is developed, then you can see whatever you tired taking a picture of. It's a lengthily process, but it's so neat from how it works. We also did negatives of photograms. That's when you take a piece of photo-sensetitive paper in a dark room, arranging small objects- in my case, jewelry, around on the paper, and shin regular light onto the sheet for about 20-25 seconds. Then once the light is stopped, you develop the paper in the dipping system (first the developer, then the stop bath, then the fixer, and finally a constant water flow onto the paper to get off any remaining chemicals), and whatever position you placed the objects in, will be a negative on the photo paper. There is a way of turning the negatives into positives, so all the objects that were once completely black on a white background, will turn white on a dark background, but we are doing that on monday. That's all we have done so far, but it's so much fun and I'm learning about things that I never have even dreamed of learning about.
My teacher in that class is Bill, and he only wants us to call him by his first name, as well. He is amazing and so relaxed during the class, it blows my mind with how much he knows about photography and cameras, and I'm so excited to learn how to become a better photographer.
I don't have any pictures of the photos I've taken so far, because they needed to dry before I got to take them, but I do have a few pictures from my pinhole camera!


                                                                Creating the Pinhole

                                                 

                                                                       My camera!

Well, that's all for now... time for some homework and sleep!

Molte Benedizioni!

Some Pictures For You!

A few of my new friends! 

Ancient buildings right by the Colosseum 

 The Colosseum!!!

The "Cat" Sanctuary 

Vittorio Emanuele II Monument (and museum) 

Trevi Fountain

 Spanish Steps

McDonalds! 

John Cabot University graffiti 

View from the rooftop terrace I was studying at this afternoon

Exploration At It's Finest

This weekend has been crazy busy! Saturday was Navigation 101 in this great city. Nav 101 is an orientation program that is a small group of students, led by our "skipper," and shown some important sights to Rome and how to navigate through the city. Its like an intro course on how to get a taxi, bus, and taking the metro. What I learned? Taxi's rip you off, you can easily sneak onto a bus, and metro's are the scariest place on the planet. I thought at first I wouldn't have anything to worry about because I would just avoid the trains at all costs, but then I found out I have to take them all over the place for my classes! We are going on a ton of "field trips" to different places for my Ancient Eats class, and my other class is an "on-site" class, meaning we just meet in different ancient places in Rome and talk about what we are seeing. SO... so much for that plan of avoiding public transportation :'( But whatever, it's all about the experience, right?

My roommate, Camille and I went off on our own little adventure on Sunday afternoon. It started out with us trying to find the supermarket so we could stock up on food so we could avoid eating out. Then we realized, it was 4pm and we hadn't eaten anything all day, so the search was on to find something to eat. Thus, the decision to find the McDonald's was upon us. We ended up passing the cat sanctuary, the Vittorio Emanuele Ii monument, the Spanish Steps, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, and then finally ended up at McDonald's. Sounds crazy, but we were in dire need for food... Believe it or not, the menu was completely different. It had the regular burgers, fries, chicken nuggets, and coke products, but it also had thin chips, like thinned fries as another side option, flatbreads with pancetta and cheese, nuggets with a spinach filling, and also nuggets with this spicy rice and pea filling- which I don't like, but is very popular here. Also, they charged an arm and a leg for ketchup and mayo, and also, no ice in the drinks! Unless you ordered a large, and then they gave you maybeeee 10 pieces. But the one amazing thing about it was all the fries were those soft ones with the crunchy ends- my favorite kind! and not the all-hard ones that don't have any potato in them.

Later on that night when we finally got back from out 4 hour adventure, we found out there was the Roma/Napoli fútbol game that night and tickets were only 20 euro. We almost sprinted from our dorms to just about where we were earlier in the day, like two miles away, to buy tickets and get there before the half, and the store had closed. I was CRUSHED. I seriously almost cried walking back. But then I heard this loud crowd coming from a pub called Scholars Lounge, and Camille and I saw like ten of our friends going in. We checked it out and it just so happened that not only was the last Roma home fútbol game was on, so was the Sweden/Switzerland world hockey finals game on, and the place was packed with Italians, Swiss, Swedes, and JCU students just there trying to have fun. It was the funnest night I've had yet, because after Switzerland lost and all the angry people left, EVERYONE was singing and talking and it was great! Then they had karaoke!!!! My three friends and I got up and sang "What makes you beautiful" by One Direction- we killed it. Even though that song is ridiculous, it was insane, and that being my first time singing in front of probably 100 people, I couldn't have asked for a more memorable time. I cannot tell you how nervous I was to get up and do it, even with having my three friends up there with me, I was terrified, but I'm SO glad I did!

Finally this morning was my first day of classes. It didn't start until 11am, but I had a few appointments to take care of first. The first was a doctors appointment (that I had to pay 20 euro for!) so that I can work out here. It's Italian law that says that anyone playing a sport or exercising has to have a physical done by an Italian doctor. All it really turned out to be was a very attractive Italian man telling me that I'm alive and healthy enough for physical activity... cool. Nice waste of money. But that's the law :(

The only class I had today was my Ancient Eats class. My professor is this very awesome guy from some huge university in CA who doesn't like his last name. So we have to call him Karl. The class is just an overview of any ancient civilization or culture that existed, and what they ate, why they ate it, how it effected other cultures, how it effects the Roman culture in the past and today, and so on. I thought it was going to be more of a hands-on type class, but it's going to be a ton of reading, site seeing, and only a little of actually cooking. But hey, I'll learn a lot and all of the readings he incorporated into the class seem to be very interesting, so I'm kind-of excited. Like for instance, this Thursday, as long as I can get out early of my other class, we are going to this place called Mount Testaccio. It's apparently this "mountain" that has been made out of thrown out pottery, and after all these years of just sitting there, there is life growing and thriving in these strange conditions. I really hope my other teacher allows me to see it! (Because you can only go at certain times of the day, and at the time when my professor arranged for all of us to go, he didn't know some of us would have other classes, so I may not be able to go because it's in the middle of my other class). Well, that's about all for now. I'm so ready for bed- it's only 6pm at home right now, but this past weekend and this stressful first day of classes has caught up to me.

Molte Benedizioni,

Maura Noelle

A Slice of Italy

My last post was all about my journey here and the things that happened during the first day, but a TON of stuff has happened since then. I went through orientation, met my roommate, met some awesome new friends, almost died by cars, and so much more.

First off, you know how everyone thinks everyone drives little cars here? Well, they actually do! It's SO strange!!! Everyone owns a hatchback, smartcar, or a vespa, and they don't stop for you even if there about to hit you... I learned that the hard way. Two minutes after being in the city, I almost got hit by a vespa, and then a truck. Even the trucks are small!!! But its funny, even after being here for only four days, every time I see a normal sized car, I think its strange. I guess the italian influences are already starting to rub off on me.

Anyway, I met my roommate, and I have to say, I could not have picked a better match to be living with here. She's from Philly, super nice, very funny, and we're into all the same things and pretty much want to do the same things here. So heres a shout-out to the housing services for paring us up.
My apartment is so nice- and modern! Everything in it is from Ikea; furniture, kitchen things, even our towels and bathmats are from Ikea. It's a little small, but there are windows on one complete side of the apartment- that open all the way, and it gets so bright and warm, and makes the space feel huge. Most of the time, we don't need our air conditioner on because of the breeze- except we have to watch out for birds cause they can fly in.

On our first day of orientation, me and my roommate promised our friend we would go to an early breakfast with him before the start of our meetings. Well, we were so exhausted from the day before and the jet lag that we didn't end up waking up till two hours after the orientation meetings had already begun. I was so scared! I thought they were going to kick both of us out! Thankfully, none of the orientation leaders really cared, because they were just as tired, so we didn't get into any trouble.

After the meetings on Saturday were over, me and two of my friends went to explore the city to try and get to know our way around. I can't tell you how long we were lost for. Soon, it became very dark, and there were people everywhere, all speaking different languages, barely knowing where they were going anyway, so we had to figure it out on our own. By some stroke of luck, and after hours of walking aimlessly around, we found the main road that parallels the Tiber river, which from that we found our way back. It was a small blessing that happened because it gave all of us a better sense of direction, and learning some of the landmarks and memorizing some of the buildings helped us all learn our way around better.

Rome comes alive at night. During the day, it's pretty busy with normal traffic and people going to and from work, shopping, and all that, but at night- you can't even move. There are soooo many people in the streets! And from all over, it's so hard to try and figure out what language they are speaking as you walk by... I try every time. Also, there are really weird Armenian-looking men who walk around and try and sell you fake little toys so that there friends can come around and pick-pocket people. It's quite scary, but they are easy to avoid. But they have these lights that they shine on the ground and fly up in the sky, and they think American's are stupid enough to chase after them- like cats- but its just a hoax. Its scary to know what they are trying to do, but it still looks cool. They also go up to random people while they are eating dinner or just in the middle of a square and put on these awful magic shows. They are old tricks, but for some reason, some people are stupid enough to watch them, and then after they ask for money. All of them are annoying, and sometimes I just want to punch them because they get very close to everyone, but I don't- because that's bad and I would really like to not get arrested in a foreign country.

There are dogs EVERYWHERE. Mostly little ones, not on leashes, that look starving- but have owners. When the owners are out and about in the backroads of Rome, they let them just run around and explore everyone around them. It sounds like a cute idea, but then out of nowhere, a vespa comes speeding though and barely sees the poor thing before it can hop out of the way. Its super cute, but it sucks having a mini-heart attack every half hour.

I haven't really had any amazing Italian food yet. All the restaurants I have gone to have been a mediocre price, because I don't want to be throwing away all my money-- which I already feel like I am:( But everything around me is a tourist attraction, so prices are high and the food is not-so-good. And I can't find any of the good places because so far, none of the other students know where they are either. Except, there is this very good pizza place. Its a hole in the wall, walk up place, that looks gross but it's actually the real deal. Because the guys who work there only speak Italian, you use your fingers to show them how big of a cut you want, and they fold it in half and wrap it in wax paper so anyone can eat it while walking- kind-of like a pizza sandwich. It's super cheap, and it's the best pizza I've ever had. The crust is really thin, there is barely any sauce on it, and its just a very thin layer of cheese. Sounds mediocre, but the ingredients are so fresh that it can't be beat. But on the first night I was here, I went to this hole in the wall that smelled very good, and looked like it would be a cool place to eat. They served all these different types of sandwiches, and I ordered one that had grilled chicken, avocado, bacon, and a small piece of cheese. Well, bacon here is completely different than the bacon at home. Its very fatty, almost all fat, slimy, and they never cook it long enough. And the chicken was COMPLETELY raw. SO GROSS.
The service here is not a concern because Italian law says that tip is already included into the bill- and no additional tips are needed- so the service is usually horrible, especially if you're American. They don't need to care because they just see us as tourists, and we will be gone anyway after they get there money. Basically the only way to get very good service is if you are asked to come in and dine in the resturant- which usually happens if you go to an early dinner- because Italians eat freakishly late, or so I've witnessed. Or if you walk in like you own the place and demand the best treatment, and just happen to know how to converse in Italian, then they take you seriously and make sure the party is satisfied. Other than that, I've just learned to accept the fact that nobody really cares, and just hope the food is worth the price.
Restaurants do not give ice- NOBODY has ice- and any kind of food you get is usually just room-temperature, nothing is ever super cold or super hot. They serve the food in courses, so instead of ordering pasta with chicken, they would be two separate courses. The meal begins with the L'antipasto, which is an appetizer, generally burschetta, then the first course, Il primo, which is usually any type of pasta- gnocchi, lasagna, risotto, ect, and then the second course, Il secondo, which is usually the meat or fish. Then you end with desert, Il dolce, and depending on the resturant, they will serve espresso.
Eating this way is very expensive because all the small fees, like water, oil for the bread, the service charge, add up, and the main dishes usually run 12-25 euro, times two because there are two plates. Lets just say, I'm done eating out.

Molte Benedizioni,
Maura Noelle

I'm "that" American

Yesterday I began my long voyage to the great and wonderful, Italy. Mum and me woke up late- shocker there, us Ziemski's love our sleep, but thankfully our flight to Philly was delayed. Once we got to Philly, I sat in the American Airlines club and stuffed my face with multigrain chips and Shirley Temples for what felt like an eternity. Finally, I went downstairs to board my plane. Gathering my things and making my way to the elevators, I had a rush of uncertainty and fear that I was making the wrong choice. That I should be home with my family and friends, working the summer away and not heading off to Rome where I knew nobody and knew no way of interacting with these people. Basically hyperventilating, I boarded the plane. 
It was the largest plane I have ever been on, with the smallest seats imaginable- such a let down. There were two seats by each window, with a row of 4 in between the two. The first class section was about 12 rows, the main cabin was about 30, and the last section of the plane looked to be 12-15. I couldn't even see the back of my section and I was in row 12 of the middle part! Even though the plane was so large, it would be my luck to get stuck sitting next to the ONLY crying baby. So along with that and the fact that the seats were smaller than regular sized planes, I did not sleep at all and I was awake for over 24 hours at a point. 
When we landed, it only took me three tries to find the baggage claim for my flight! As soon as I found my bags, I followed the signs for customs. I passed some security guard and then saw doors for the exit. Apparently, they don't care what you bring into this country because I wasn't even stopped, and the customs booth does not exist in that airport. :) After getting through customs, I should have turned right to go up two flights of escalators, but I did not see them because there was a huge wall in front of them covered in papers, so I avoided that way and turned left. For 45 minutes, I followed these signs that I assumed meant 'hotel' because it had a bed looking thing and a piece of luggage, but when the signs stopped and another baggage claim appeared, I knew I wasn't in the right place. I had to ask this poor information lady 3 times where I was and how to get to the Hilton, and she just laughed at me because I had no idea what she was saying. So after making a fool of myself, while looking like a wet dog because I was sweating and had gone over 24 hours without bathing, I finally found my way to the hotel. I stood in a TINY elevator to go to the lobby for 15 minutes because I didn't know 'Piano 0' meant "Floor 0.' They don't use G and L for Ground level, just 0. 
I finally got to my room, showered and laid in the king sized bed, and then played with all the controls in the bathroom. Here, the flush is on the wall, and the little circle is for liquid waste, and the larger one is for solid waste. Then there was the Bidet! And they have a special towel rack behind the bidet, for a smallish towel that you use to clean yourself after using it-- EW. I feel sorry for the housekeeping that has to touch all those towels. 

Tomorrow is the start of me being a student at John Cabot University. They're picking us up in the lobby and then I'm off to my apartment! I'm really nervous to meet my roommate(s), because I could have either one or up to eight. I just hope everyone gets along and nobody gets too "cliquey." I'm excited and nervous and exhausted and a whole mix of emotions right now, so hopefully I won't fall apart! 

Arrivederci 

Julius the cat says, "Goodbye America, hello Rome!"