White and Art Cafe

We've tested out a few clubs and bars that since our arrival in Rome, but the two that have stuck out the most to me have definitely been White and Art Cafe.

White was the club that we ended up one night kind of by accident, and it was a blast. We ended up taking Lucie on Friday night after the Colosseum, and although the basement of the club wasn't open (we had decided that the was the most fun part), it was still a good time. One of the nice things about these clubs is that they are frequented by Italians, and unlike Scholars, which also has a decent Italian population, they aren't completely taken over by Americans.

Although it's nice to be immersed in the culture, sometimes being around Americans is a little more comfortable. Especially since the Italian men certainly enjoy being around the American women. I don't know what it is, but once they find out you're American, you're suddenly the most fascinating person in the bar. I'm sure that Italian women certainly don't feel that way, especially because sometimes I feel like I could never compare to how well put together most of them look. Some of them seem as though their faces are literally drawn on, and they never wear color to the clubs (random note: I guess I'll have to wait until Barcelona to wear my colorful dresses :( so sad).

We've managed to come up with some code behavior if we need to escape the touchy and pushy Italian men. They're nice, but aggressive and overly friendly, which we were warned to expect.

The coolest club we've been to so far is definitely Art Cafe. Somehow, one of the girls knew one of the promoters and we got in for free. If we hadn't gotten the wristbands, the cover would have been 30 euros (more than 40 dollars). The VIP bracelets we got were worth something like 250 euros. I'm still confused about what those bracelets allowed us to do, but slowly throughout the night we tested our limits in where we could go, and really never got stopped. Me and Katherine went up to an area that was clearly marked VIP, and just watched as people ordered bucket after bucket of flaming champagne bottles on ice. There was all sorts of shows going on above us as well: acrobatic dancers on hoops hanging in the air and modeling type ordeals on the center stage, where two huge stone dragons were coming out of the wall. Me and Katherine and Lucie went back down to the bar in the center of the dance floor to get ourselves drinks at one point. Katherine ordered three shots of tequila, and the bartender said, "15 euros." Katherine gave her 15, and the woman waited expectantly. She meant 15 euros each. Oops. We paid up and took our overly-priced tequila shots, and hurried away. Looks like we weren't getting anymore drinks... Danielle took a picture of the drink prices later in the night. The cheapest? Water, five euros. The next? Our lovely tequila shots. After that, the prices skyrocketed. The cheapest champagne bottle was 400 euros, and the most expensive was 8000 euros. That equates to over $10,000.

At around 3:30 am, me and Katherine started to get tired and told the group we were heading home. I Everyone else ended up getting home around 5 am. I can't believe I even managed to stay out as late as I did. Back at school, I'm an at-home-in-bed person by 1:30 am, and that's pushing it. And the girls told us the club was still going hard when they had left! These Italians love to party.

Taking class at the Colosseum...

We spent Friday learning about the Colosseum and the Roman Forum- at the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. From 10 to 5, we all immersed ourselves in what it would've been like over 2,000 years ago through all of the layered architecture and ruins.

I'm really not even sure that I can go through everything of what I learned (my mind is still boggled in how I took in that many centuries' worth information in one day), and I fear it would probably be a little boring if I hadn't actually been standing there, so I'm gonna try to limit that and post more pictures instead.

House of the Vestal Virgins

The Roman Forum was basically a place for daily life under Julius Caesar and other famous political figures. We even went to the exact spot where he was cremated, where there was a podium with a bunch of flowers. One of the coolest parts in the Roman Forum was the House of the Vestal Virgins. The place where the casa used to be was surrounded by all of the statues of the women who had lived there, and whenever one died, they would just replace the head of the statue with the priestess replacing her. One of their responsibilities was to continuously watch over the sacred fire, worshipping the goddess of the hearth, Vesta. It is believed that the Vestal Virgins began around 700 BC with the king Pompilius, and was disbanded in 394 when it was ordered the sacred fire go out under a new Christian emperor. It was fascinating that a group of women had so much power in ancient Rome. When Julius Caesar was young, he was condemned as an  enemy of the state, and the Vestal Virgins interceded and saved him. Even Caesar owes them. According to ancient laws, if a man marked for death for any crime walked by a Vestal Virgin in the street, he was automatically pardoned. All of the women were high-born, and apparently it was very difficult to be selected. They also had reserved places of honor in pretty much everything, and were invited to every important ceremony in carriages that always had the right of way. They had rights that even most free-born men didn't have. However, if they messed up, like let the sacred fire go out or had sexual relations with someone, they were severely punished. Although spilling the blood of any of the women was illegal, there were still ways they could be sentenced to death. Within the city walls, they would be buried alive with a few days of food and water. Also, it has been believed that they may have been used as scapegoats in times of unrest or trouble. Oddly, women didn't necessarily have to be young or even virgins to be selected to replace a Vestal Virgin. Even some divorcees were known to have been given a spot, though it was very unlikely and looked down upon.

Roman ruins above the Forum

Basically, after the home of the Vestal Virgins, I kind of checked out. It was a beautiful day, but it was freezing out. We spent a total of almost three hours at the Roman Forum, and although the ruins were pretty cool, the thing I found interesting about the rest of the tour was the fact that we were pretty much watching archaeologists unearthing even more artifacts from the past. Even as we were standing there, something really important and key to history could be laying just a few feet under us. Our professor pointed out a specific tent, and said that a project had recently begun there and they were waiting for the results of what they would find in the upcoming months.

When we were dismissed for our lunch break, I was relieved. We walked across the street and past the Colosseum up to some touristy looking (I didn't care, I was too hungry) streets to find a cafe or trattoria to sit down. We were in a big group of girls that certainly screamed "American", so obviously we had all kinds of promos and specials flung our way regarding various pizza and beer deals. We finally chose a place a little further down from the Colosseum, and when the waitress sat us down, I knew right away I was going to have a problem with her. I understand that dealing with American tourists on a daily basis is probably annoying, but if you're going to be rude about it, pick another restaurant to work at. She handed us a special for a 7 euro Margherita pizza and beer. A lot of the girls decided to get that, but I had no interest in having a beer in the middle of the day. Me and Lucie were going to split the pizza and beer, and order a soda and split the cost of that (she would have the beer). I think a lot of the girls were about to do the same thing, until she sternly said to one of my friends, "Ma'am, no splitting the special." Okay. We get it. So instead, me and Lucie decided to split a different pizza on the menu, not get the special, and Luc would order a beer separately. When she got to us (bear in mind that my friends hadn't been rude at all down the line), me and Lucie asked her to split a pizza on the menu. She was so rude, so I was rude back.

"Ma'am, you can't split the special." Not ordering the special, lady. Instead of saying that, I replied nicely and explained that we didn't want the special, we just wanted a regular pizza. Again she said something about the freaking special, and I just stared at her for a second before repeating, "I don't want the special. I want this pizza, on the menu, no beer." Bear in mind that she spoke perfect English- this wasn't a pronunciation problem. She just had it in her mind that I was trying to cheapen the deal or something. She just kept looking at me like a stupid American until I almost gave up. Finally she got the point, Lucie ordered her full-size beer (the girls who had gotten the special got like a teacup of beer), and the food came. In all the commotion, I had forgotten to order water, but then decided not to even ask the waitress because I had a water bottle in my purse. Considering I would've had to pay for the water anyway, I decided it was karma to the waitress for being so annoying. When we got our food, the bottoms of all of our pizzas were burnt and unsatisfying. I was glad I only had to pay 3,50 euros to that restaurant anyway.

Just a little reflection on the Italian people...

That woman was a complete outlier. Out of all of the people I've interacted with on the street, in restaurants, and out at night, I have honestly not met one person who has judged us because we're Americans (at least not to our faces). Compared to horror stories I've heard about the way people react to Americans in other European countries, the Italians have been accepting and friendly. They're very colorful and loud, at least in the big city of Roma, and us American students fit right in.

There was even one incident in which Katherine, Anna and I were on the street, stopped and clearly unsure of what direction the book store was in. This adorable old man stopped and said, "Do you speak Italian?" and all three of us shook our heads, so he started asking us if we needed help in broken English. After at least a minute of him taking the time to decipher what we were saying--we weren't pronouncing the bookstore name right--he pointed us in the right direction up the street. We hadn't even stopped to ask him, yet he had stopped anyway. I love the Italian people, except that waitress.

After lunch, we headed back for the Colosseum part of the tour. It was awesome, and way bigger than I expected. We learned that it was basically built by Jewish slaves that Augustus (I think?) had brought back after he had sacked Jerusalem. It took a ridiculously short amount of time to finish, considering its size. I think the coolest part was seeing all of the places where the animals would come out of their cages. Apparently, during one of the biggest festivals, five thousand beasts including lions, jaguars, bears and all kinds of huge animals were slaughtered over the period of one hundred days. They would bring them up from northern Africa into the Colosseum. Finally, to my devastation, I learned that the Colosseum was definitely not the place where Lizzie McGuire filmed her concert with Paulo. It would have been impossible, and there are definitely not anymore seats left. So heartbreaking to know that as hard as I wish at the Trevi Fountain, I will never become a world famous pop star who gets to sing to thousands in the Colosseum...

Class?! I thought I was on vacation...

On Sunday, we just hung out and got some sleep before classes on Monday. We walked down the street to another pizza place. Yes, our goal is to try all of the pizza places lining our neighborhood and the nearby piazza. Apparently we get a discount at this one with our CEA cards.

I was assigned one of the earlier times to get my Permit of Stay processed, so me, Anna, and Danielle left at 8:20, handed in our paperwork, and were done until our next classes. Our New Testament of the Eternal City, usually at 9 am on Mondays and Wednesdays, was cancelled. My next class was at 12:30 with Danielle and Sara, our Operations Management class. The professor is British and super nice, and he explained that we would be doing a lot of presentations in this class. He had a lot of interesting things to say about the business world. He said that when he was trying to get a job, they were more concerned with experience. However, in today's world, while experience is still important, intelligence and innovation are much more valuable in our ever-changing society. After he discussed this with us, he started giving us tips on our study abroad experience in Italy.

He told us that the Italian culture was very welcoming to all kinds of people, and that they liked it when foreigners tried to take part in their culture. For that reason, we should try to speak Italian without embarrassment, even if it was weak. Most people would try to understand us and appreciate our effort. In comparison,  in France, he told us that usually, we shouldn't try to speak French unless we spoke it perfectly, as they often see it as an insult and can be rude about it.

We had a little break in between our next class, and then me and Katherine and Anna headed back to the villa for our first Italian class. Our professor, Mario, is a loud and funny, though sometimes a little intimidating. Katherine kept trying to get away with saying Spanish words, and I literally just had no idea what was going on when he would start to ramble. I did understand the pronunciation of the words, and that definitely helped. All of the letter rules and sounds are pretty different, but we're all getting used to them.

Yesterday, on Tuesday, I had another theology class, the Church and other Major World Religions. It was wayyyy too long. We had a 20 minute break in between, but even with a cappuccino stop I was dying by the time we got out of there. After Italian, we came home and took naps before dinner. We decided to go to Scholars Lounge, an Irish Pub, but of course, since we still have no direction in this city, we got lost for like an hour after a metro and bus ride. Finally, we arrived, and it was a really cool scene. There's all of these book shelfs and big red leather chairs upstairs where you eat, and then on the main floor there's the bar and a bunch of tables where there is karaoke on Tuesday nights. We ordered nachos that were awesome, and then everyone got burgers and such. The burgers did not hit the spot like expected, although the fries were definitely good. The burgers had some weird spice in them and we were way too thin. Oh well.

After some entertaining Italian guys stopped by our table and discussed their travels in America, etc, we walked downstairs to the bar area. Me and Anna ended up leaving a little later and taking the bus home, but the rest of the girls stayed for a while and said the following karaoke performances were really entertaining (especially the one they did).

Heart of Rome Tour

We woke up on Saturday morning and made some breakfast, eager to get going with our planned self-guided tour. We planned to hit all the big spots and some not so well-known ones in between: Campo De' Fiori, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps (again!) and then some others. Not really knowing where we were going, we hopped on the 62 bus and hoped that we would recognize Campo De' Fiori from the time we had been to the Drunken Ship. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the area, popular among American students abroad at night, is also a very meaningful and historical area.

We were the definition of tourists. As we sat at the bus stop, I read from the Rick Steves' book that we had brought about the history of our first destination. Campo de' Fiori is home to one of the biggest markets in Rome during the day. It was awesome. They were selling all kinds of pasta and spices and truffle oils and clothing and hats. I wanted to buy some spices, but they sold them in such huge amounts that I thought I would end up wasting it all, especially because I wanted multiple kinds. Surrounding the market square were all these amazing restaurants. Everyone was sitting outside, and often times they had these big fires to bring heat under the tents where people were eating. In the center of the piazza is the statue of Giordano Bruno. I read Dante's Inferno in Civ, but I forgot that he had been in it until Alex mentioned it. He is one of the most famous heretics in Italy. He was burned on the spot where his statue stands in 1600, and his outspokenness led him to flee Italy and join (and eventually be excommunicated from) groups such as the Calvinists in Geneva and Lutherans in Germany. His writings  apparently could reach ridiculousness, and he was famous for claiming that he had found the "Great Key" to training the human memory. He was very aware of the scientific ideas coming out, and supported the Copernican view of the earth revolving around the sun. No one really knows what happened to him when he was captured by the Inquisition and sent to prison for six years, but he was probably tortured for some time. According to the Rick Steves' book, after his sentence of death by fire was announced, he stated, "Perhaps you who pronounce this sentence are more fearful than I who receive it," and pushed away the crucifix that was offered to him in his final moments. Apparently in 1889, when the statue was erected, there were huge riots in the square, and the square has remained a place for political demonstrations and free-spirits. I also thought it was interesting the the statue purposely faces the Vatican, Bruno's enemy.

Piazza Novana

We moved on up the street up to the Piazza Navona, which had been an old racetrack in 80 AD. The huge fountain in the middle is called the Four Rivers Fountain by Bernini which represent the four continents that were known by 1650. Apparently, one of the river gods is supposedly said to be gazing up at the Church of St. Agnes in disgust. The church was created by his former student Borromini, who later became Bernini's enemy. I guess that's more of a conspiracy theory, considering the church was created two years later. Apparently, there's a huge nightlife scene here, which I couldn't really picture during the day.

the Pantheon

Next we walked over to the Pantheon, only a few minutes away. At first I was almost disappointed, because it seemed smaller than I had pictured. However, when you stood back from it, I realized how impressive it looked among the newer buildings surrounding it (well, relatively new). It was cool how much had been built up around it, but this monument of the past was still standing, and had not been changed from the outside. The domed room in the Pantheon was the inspiration for St. Peter's Basilica and the Duomo in Florence, and even the U.S. Capitol Building.

domed ceiling

The Pantheon was dedicated to all of the Roman gods. The original one was built by Marcus Agrippa in 27 B.C., and then after a serious of fires and damages, it was redone by Emperor Hadrian in 120 A.D. Because Hadrian was considered a Grecophile (he was obsessed with Greek philosophers so he even grew a beard to look like them), he made the portico in Greek style. All of the granite is from Egypt.
The dome ceiling was the first thing I noticed walking in, once I got through the huge entranceway. Apparently it is one of the biggest mathematical feats in engineering. Before the fall of Rome, anyone could go to the Pantheon to worship any of the gods, and where the Christian altar stands now was once the place where a giant statue of Jupiter, King of the Gods, stood. This made sure that the building was preserved and not destroyed in the Dark Ages. When we got to the altar, we realized that there were containers that had relics of saints in them. I wish we could've seen them, but I can't decide if that's kind of gross or not.

Raphael's tomb

After checking out the altar, we found the tomb of the artist Raphael, which had a statue of Madonna and Child that he had commissioned himself for his tomb. The quote on it reads, "In life, Nature feared to be outdone by him. In death, she feared she too would die." I wonder if he said this himself?
Near Raphael's tomb lies the tombs of the first two modern kings of Italy of the controversial Savoy family. The son, Umberto I, married Queen Margherita, and her tomb lies underneath his. The Margherita Pizza was named for her. There was this tiny little lady guard standing in front of their tombs (I don't know how she was guarding) but she had a book where you could sign for support of the Savoys.

Katherine and I outside the Patheon

The Savoys (Savoia family), are some of the most controversial royals in history. They ruled from 1870 until WWII, and in 1946, they were all exiled until 2002. No male Savoia could set foot on Italian soil until then. Why? They did some reeeaaally stupid stuff.
1. King Victor Emmanuel III asked Mussolini to form a government after Mussolini marched on Rome in 1922. Someone needed some help...
2. Mussolini was famous for issuing anti-semitic laws. Guess who signed them into law? The Savoy king.
3. When the Nazis took over Rome in 1943, the king actually abandoned Rome for Allied protection.
4. Apparently, even the most recent Savoy heirs are still saying stupid things, and supporting the anti-semitic stances their ancestors supported.
5. In 2002, they came back to Italy, and they visited the pope instead of the Italian president.
6. Lastly, they are one of the wealthiest families in the world in Switzerland, but they still complain for more repatriations from Italy (up to $260 million "because of their exile").
I didn't really know people still got exiled like that, and I couldn't believe that they literally were not allowed in Italy until I was 10 years old. That seems so recent! Maybe this is naive or stupid, but I didn't realize the people actually still got exiled in the western world.

Making a wish!

We finished up at the Pantheon (there were so many things that we still need to check out in the building!) and headed up to the Trevi Fountain, probably one of the most famous symbols of Rome. We came around the side of it, and I was both surprised at how huge the fountain actually was, and how small the surrounding square was. I always pictured a ton of steps leading up to it, but there really wasn't a ton of room. There are also no streets with cars on them near the fountain at all. You can really only walk up to it through various piazzas.
Obviously we dug for some coins, and all posed and made our wishes. Throwing a coin not only represents a wish, but apparently ensures that you will return to Rome someday. Unfortunately, I got a little too excited to throw my coin over my shoulder for the picture and forgot to make a wish the first time.. oops. When I looked back in my purse, I had quite a few coins, but realized they were all worth way more than 25 cents. I'm not gonna lie, I panicked a little, knowing that I had to make a wish in the Trevi Fountain and that I might have to use a 2 Euro coin up (nooo! what a waste of two cappuccinos for a broke college girl!). Luckily, just when I was about to sacrifice one for the sake of tradition, one of the girls donated an American penny my way, and I made a real wish.

We were absolutely starving by that point, so we sacrificed our cheapness and went into one of the touristy sandwich places next to the Fountain. Weirdly, the sandwiches were only 4 euros (not bad, considering that ends up being less than a typical Panera sandwich). The drinks were where they killed ya though. Some sodas were four euros, and the water bottles were 3 euros. It was fun though. We sat on the wall of the Trevi Fountain and ate our sandwiches, spying on a model photo shoot that was happening there. I still have yet to figure out what that was for.

We headed over to the Spanish Steps (for the second time in less than 24 hours) and explored the street that had all kinds of amazing shops. While we were standing outside of Cartier, Danielle all the sudden walked up to this man on the sidewalk near us and went, "Excuse me, are you an actor?" He smiled and said yes, and she pretty much died, though she was very polite. She asked me to take a picture of them (I still had no idea who he was), and he stood and talked to us for a little. She was said that she loved his show, and that she was really excited for the next season. He laughed and joked that he wasn't as excited, considering he wasn't in it anymore. I guess he got killed off in the last episode this year?

Danielle and David Harewood!

When he walked away, we still had no idea who he was, and she said that he was David Harewood from Homeland. He was really nice, and had said something about working in Rome. We later found out that he's filming a movie with Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis and Olivia Wilde. Gotta find out where they're shooting...

We finally got home and decided to go to the Gran Sasso, which is right across the street from our place. It is a family-type restaurant, so we expected no one to speak English. The man at the front didn't really understand what we were saying at first, but then another man came up and helped us. We met up with some friends and ended up splitting a bunch of pizza and orders of bruschetta- super good. We decided it would be our new place; whenever we don't feel like making dinner or the weather's bad, we're going there!

We walked over to the boys' apartment after, and all took a cab to a club. We were so confused when we realized that it was closed (on a Saturday night?!), so we ended up hopping in a cab and heading over to a club called White. Ironically, this was the place that we had gotten gelato. When we walked in, we passed all of the counters that held gelato and treats during the day, and were empty now. Downstairs, the club was all white, and some of the music was American. We ended up leaving really late and took a cab home in the rain.

When we got home, I realized that the score of the Ravens/Broncos playoff game would be available now- Ravens won! After making Peter feel bad about his team, we headed off to bed.

Stumbling into the Spanish Steps

So yesterday me, Danielle, Sara, and Alex had to wake up for an extra PC orientation, which actually ended up being really short. Luckily, I got the chance to switch around my classes before everyone in the program. I switched out of photography because honestly, I'll be taking pictures all the time anyway, and taking it in a class doesn't make it any better quality than taking it as a tourist. Just seemed like a waste to me, especially because I wouldn't be learning anything of value to me in a basic photography class. I want to learn about the actual art surrounding me in Rome. Instead, I'm taking the Angels & Demons art history class, which Chiara, the academic coordinator, told me I absolutely had to take. You get to go to all of the museums and everything, and learn about the back-history and conspiracies behind the art. I love that stuff. I'm also taking two theology classes- one that all CEA students are required to take in our program called "The New Testament in the Eternal City," and one about the Church and other major world religions. I wanted to take the one about the history of the papacy instead, but it conflicted with the art history class. Then I'm taking a business operations class (to take care of a business core for PC), and Italian. Right after the orientation, we were able to sign up for all the events that CEA is doing for us that are included in our tuition. We signed up for:
1. The overnight trip to Venice at the end of January.
2. The day trip to Florence, but we marked that we are going one-way because we have a lot of friends in the city and plan to stay the night.
3. Pasta-making class
4. Pizza and gelato crawl
5. The ancient ruins bike trip
6. The ballet Giselle
7. The opera (since we signed up for the ballet, we have to wait and see if there's room for the opera. You had to choose a first choice. I want to go to both if there's room for me!)
7. St. Peter's Basilica Dome climb
8. and a bunch of other ones that I can't remember!

cappuccinos

After the orientation, we left and went to a bar on the corner of our street for some cappuccinos and croissants (again, only a euro for a cappuccino!). The men in the bar were super nice, and they asked me where I was from (in Italian, I could barely understand), and when I told them New York, they automatically assumed the city and tried to ask me about. I just nodded and said, "Si, si," even though I had no idea what they were saying.

Around 4 pm, we left for the walking tour that CEA was supposed to take us on. Unfortunately, we got lost for the third time. No one gave us any advice on the bus systems, and we didn't even know what number bus to get on. Finally, we walked over to the Villa Ferretti and got on the 62 line there, and still didn't really know what stop to get off of. Already a half an hour late (the tour was supposed to start downtown at 5 pm), we decided to just get off when we still had no idea where we were and walk around. We wanted to walk around the Colosseum, but never ended up finding it.

'White' - GELATO!

Instead, we stopped in a gelato place called "White" and had the most amazing gelato. It was my first time, but definitely won't be the last. I couldn't decide which flavor, either tiramisu or coffee or chocolate, but ended up settling with the chocolate. Best thing ever. I got piccolo, which was the smallest size, but it was HUGE. The sample cup looked sooo tiny, I almost got the size bigger, thank God I didn't. When the server did Alex's, he laughed when we were like, "That's piccolo?!"

We took our gelato outside because we were pretty sure they would make us pay to sit down, and walked up the cobblestone street. We took pictures wandered around, window shopping. Eventually, we reached this kind of circle with a bunch of beautiful buildings, and everyone was walking in the street. Up ahead, we could see this huge obelisk that was clearly looking out over some kind of skyline. It looked kind of important, so of course we wanted to take pictures. The view looking down in front of the obelisk was looking out over these huge steps and a fountain and what looked like great shopping. In the distance, we recognized one of the domes as St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican!

The Spanish Steps

Finally (I can't believe it took us so long to figure it out), we realized that we had just casually stumbled upon the famous Spanish Steps. Apparently I wasn't paying good enough attention to the Lizzie McGuire movie.

Prada and Gucci in front of the Steps!

While we attempted to avoid the annoying rose vendors, we snapped a bunch of photos and marveled in the windows of Chanel, Ferragamo, Valentino and Prada. Exhausted from our long afternoon and evening of exploring, we made some leftover pesto and a Caprese salad, and hung out for a wine night and some Catchphrase.

Sing to me, Paulo

I love the cappuccinos here. We had a crash course in Italian early in the morning yesterday, and decided to wake up and grab a quick breakfast. Anna, the CEA director, told us there was a small bar behind the Global Campus/Villa Ferretti. Note: "bars" in Italy are coffee shops, and pubs are where you go out at night.

When people tell you that everyone speaks English here, it is not true. Maybe in the more touristy spots, like the city center and such, but not everywhere. We walked in and the women greeted us nicely (and we happened to run into Anna!), but from there we had a little trouble communicating. It's not like a Starbucks where you can just choose something based off of the menu on the wall- there are never menus in the small bars. I knew what I wanted, but got a little frazzled when I didn't have a crutch, like a menu, to read off of. She just kind of looked at us and said "cappuccino?" Since that was familiar, we were all happy to simply say, "Si."

There also aren't any seats in these little bars. It is just a long counter where you order, stand and drink/eat, and then pay all in the same place. We also got croissants, which were delicious and had some kind of lemony frosting that seems to be popular here. Even though we didn't speak Italian very well and they didn't speak English, they were extremely friendly. When it came time to pay, the cappuccinos were only 1 euro!

Villa Ferretti

We walked around the corner to the Villa Ferretti, where the CEA campus is. We have all of our classes here and all of the staff's offices are located in the building, but the Villa is still owned and lived in by the Ferretti family. They have beautiful gardens on the property, but we aren't allowed to simply wander them because they're the private property of the family still. Even so, the family loves having American students around, and their children do even more.

We had a crash course in Italian which was really helpful, but I still need to learn a lot more. After the crash course and tour of the Villa, we went over to the market and picked up fresh bread, tomatoes and mozzarella for lunch.

Katherine put the olive oil on the bread and toasted it in the oven, and I sliced everything and finished making the bruschetta and we all sat around the table until Andrea (our CEA director of housing) came by at 2:30 to show us around the neighborhood some more.

He showed us where the nearest "Tabacci" shop was, where we could buy magazines and another bus pass when ours expire after a month. Then he took us to the supermarket and showed us everything we would need and how to cook it. I honestly thought it was going to be a waste of time, but then I realized we didn't even know the difference between the laundry detergent, fabric softener and bleach. He helped us pick out a pesto for our dinner and showed us the parmesan cheese and which kind was the best.

When we walked through the wine aisle, he gave us some interesting advice. He joked that we would be drinking a lot of wine in Rome (and that we probably already had.. true), but in order to avoid the drunk American stereotype, we should buy it when we bought food. Italians usually don't make trips to the grocery store for just alcohol.

After he left, the girls all took naps, and I kind of didn't know what to do with myself. Inspired by an earlier conversation about the Lizzie McGuire movie, I turned it on. It was just as cheesy as I remembered. Annddddd she broke pretty much all of the tips that our Florence cop had given us:
1. Don't get on a motorcycle with an Italian man you don't know (obviously).
2. Don't trust anyone until you know them well ("well" constitutes real name, address, phone number, and real nationality).
3. Don't go anywhere alone (Katherine: "heeelloooo you idiot, bring Gordo.")
4. and probably a billion more.

Aaannnddd we realized that the movie was supposed to be right after her junior high graduation. So she was playing a 14 year old?! That movie gives false hope to 14 year olds everywhere. I'm almost 21 and my life in Rome will NEVER be like that.

After I wasted almost an hour and a half, I started cooking dinner for the girls. The pasta we had chosen was long and curly; we had never seen a kind like it in the states. It took forever to boil, but it was worth it. I set out plates of olive oil and sliced the bread for everyone, and then mixed in the pesto. At first I thought it was going to be too creamy, but it actually ended up being delicious. The freshly grated parmesan cheese topped it off.

After dinner, we got ready to go out. We were going to meet the boys at their apartment and then go to an American bar in Campo de Fiore. Unfortunately, we got lost again. Apparently on Viale Regina Margherita, there are two buildings with the same number, and of course our map led us to the furthest one. I think I almost threw my iPhone when we looked up and realized that we were standing outside of a store. We still haven't gotten our Italian phones yet, so Danielle was really the only one that could communicate with the boys. Through a lot of confusion we figured out where they were and met them at the bus stop.



We got to the area where the bar was, and it was so pretty. It was all cobblestone and string lights. As we came up to the bar, we realized just how tailored it was to American students. 'The Drunken Ship' had all American bartenders and it was packed with students studying abroad. People were even playing beer pong (do Italian students play that?) While we were standing around, we were told that we got free shots if we told them it was our first time there. So of course we did. These Italian girls came up to us and introduced themselves, and ended up hanging out with us the entire time in the bar. They were hysterical, and simply trying to communicate them seemed like a game. At about 1:30 am, I was feeling a little tired, so we hopped in a cab and left.

Roomates

The cab driver was young and funny, though he spoke barely any English. When we told him that Italians were terrible drivers he swerved all over the road as a joke (though it was a little scary...). I swear, the painted lanes on the street are invisible to Italian drivers. It's ridiculous. Also, there are no parking rules. Cars can be literally half on the sidewalk and it doesn't matter. Romans make RI drivers look stellar.

Piazza Del Popolo and the Spice Girls

Me, Alex, Anna, Danielle, and Katherine woke up from our naps, got ready, and told some friends that we were going to walk all the way down to Piazza del Popolo, and to meet us there. After mapping it out, our iPhones told us that it would take about 45 minutes to walk, but we wanted to because we wanted to explore everything the neighborhood around us.

We set off following my iPhone, thinking that we had to follow screenshots because we had to use the Maps app (assuming it required WiFi). So when we left our apartment, we clearly had no idea which direction to head, and ended up walking back and forth on Via Forli. Finally, I discovered that the Maps app would work regardless of the internet... GPS apparently. So we felt a little stupid after that.

Once we were headed on our way in the right direction, we were really taking in all of the ruins and ancient history surrounding us. As we walked down the street, we passed a lot of monuments that we unfortunately couldn't understand. We walked by a big castle-like structure and wall with a kind of monument of the Virgin Mary. When we later looked it up, we found that it was called Caserma "Macao" and was a kind of barrack. I tried to google it and found all of these pictures from a long time ago, but still can't figure out exactly what it was.

I don't know what it is with Italian men, but they definitely don't hold back. Waiters at a restaurant we passed yelled out, "Bella! Bella! Beautiful Americans!" A motorcycle leaned out and blew us kisses. I really think that they just have no qualms about saying what they want when they want.

We walked pretty far, and then ended up walking in the completely wrong direction, cutting through Villa Borghese, which is one of the most beautiful parks in Rome. Unfortunately, it ended up being really creepy at night. The iPhone was tracking us wrong, and we had to constantly backtrack. Not gonna lie, there were certain points when we heard a branch crack and we all shrieked and geared up to run. We passed amazing fountains, and finally ended up on the right street.

We arrived at the Piazza del Popolo about 45 minutes later than expected, and there's no way our friends were still there. It is kind of a little town center, with old churches and monuments surrounded by one huge Egyptian obelisk of Sety I. The whole center is paved in stones, and we passed by couples walking around with roses. When we first entered the gates, a guy who seemed a bit younger than was clearly struggling with something to say, and then in English he said, "You all are very well." I think he was trying to be nice, and we all smiled and said grazie.

As we set off to explore the three streets jutting out of the Piazza, we took pictures of them decked out in the lights from building to building. We walked down the first one, starving and ready to eat dinner. It was already around 10:30 pm, and we hadn't eaten since lunch at Villa Tortolia. As we walked past shops of Herve Leger and Tory Burch, we wanted to look, but our stomachs were growling.

We cut across another street and I peered at a menu at the Risto Brunettis. The prices were really good, and there was bruschetta, so we were in agreement. The man who was bringing the chairs inside, clearly the owner, came up to us and said in English, "Would you like to eat here?" It seemed like it was already closed, so I asked him, "Are you still open?" and he replied, "Just for you girls!"

He literally made the cook stay longer to make our dinner. The restaurant was adorable. It had nine tables, and as the man sat us at our table, he said "For the Spice Girls." Danielle immediately said, "Well I'm Scary Spice." I'm not quite sure what he meant by that, but we thought that he possibly thought we were British?

Three men attempted to come into the restaurant right after we were seated, and he refused to seat them and had a conversation with them behind us. All I could understand was that he said English (I know, I really have to work on my Italian). I think he thought that it was good business to have us there, so that we would come back. While we had our dinner, he sat at a corner table with a friend and drank wine while eating his own meal of pasta.

He gave us the house white wine, then we ordered a delicious order of bruschetta. He then took the order for our meals. Three of us ordered the cacio e pepe, which apparently is quite famous in Rome. It was just a simple, kind of spicy cream sauce with a thick spaghetti noodle that started with "t" that we can't remember. Anna got the gnocchi, and then Danielle got the same noodles as us with a white wine clam sauce. We all finished our plates, but the portions were literally perfect. We finished our wine and left, telling him that we would be back.

We knocked on the window of the million cabs parked on the street, and we got in. When I tried to say,"Via Forli", he asked, "Hotel?" He did not speak one word of English. Apparently we were not pronouncing the "i" right, and finally Alex said, "Piazzo Bologna". He laughed at us and started pronouncing the street the right way, and we tried to repeat after him. We were all giggling uncontrollably, and someone said, "Thank God we're not lost in Villa Borghese again." He laughed again and corrected our pronunciation again, saying "Si, grande parco." At least we could kind of communicate.

At 11:45 pm, we finally made it home. The cab ride was about five minutes, certainly less than our hour and half trek there. We will certainly be returning to Piazza del Popolo, just in a cab this time.

Prosecco and Prosciutto

After a night of wine and bonding over Beyonce music videos, we set our alarms for 8 am so that we could be at the hotel for our orientation with CEA. I ended up getting up at 7:40 and hopped in the shower because I couldn't sleep, and later found out that the rest of the girls had woken up at various times of the night as well.

We got ready and headed up three minutes up the street, and sat through the next few hours regarding our living and academics, as well as meeting all of the staff. They were all really cool, and most had had experiences studying abroad as well. Since they were all Italian, their English wasn't always perfect, and I noticed that depending on where they learned their English, that is how it was accented. The director of the program, Anna, had studied in the United States and her English was perfect. I initially thought she was American until I realized her usage of certain words. Chiara, the academic coordinator who initially earned her English in Ireland,told us that when she studied abroad in England she had called home crying because the accent was so different she couldn't understand anything.

For lunch, they took us to the Villa Torlonia, Mussolini's former summer home. The home was now a huge, spacious restaurant with ceilings dozens of feet high. It was all stone and airy, and there were a few long tables set up in the middle. We all took our seats and were immediately given water. However, the water was seltzer, and I can't say I really liked that too much. The waiters also brought over pitchers of Coke. The best part, however, was that we were all brought over glasses of Prosecco, and Italian sparkling wine similar to champagne, and the CEA staff seated in the middle of the room stood up and gave a toast, saying "Ce ce ce ce," at least I think that's how you spell it (pronounced "chi").  I though "Cheers" was "Salut", but apparently this was a more common way to do it.

Then the food started coming out. Plates of prosciutto and the mozzarella came out, and it was amazing. Then the brought out plates of these little fried balls of various things, such as pieces of asparagus (so tender I didn't even know that's what it was), mozzarella, mushrooms, sweet potato, and rice. Although they were fried, the batter was so light that there was barely any grease on the small papers lining the plates.

As if that wasn't enough, the meal was brought out. Pizza again, though I don't think I'll ever get sick of pizza in this city. There was slices just mozzarella and what seemed to be zucchini, and then slices with tomato sauce and mozzarella, though the tomato sauce was literally pure tomato. Then they brought out dessert, various thick slices of cake. One slice was so thick it was almost fudgy, and it was dark and bitter. Soooo good. The other one was lemony and light, and the other crumbly filled with chocolate and kind of lemony.

As we walked back, I realized I don't think I'd ever been so satisfied with a meal in a long time. There was so much food, yet you ate so little knowing you wanted to try everything. I was perfectly full and not overstuffed at all.

We arrived and a member of the police in Florence had come to talk to us regarding safety in Rome. He had a few interesting things to say, and he was very blunt.

1.) Rome has no areas to "avoid".

2.) As American women, we would simply have to get used to the touching of our hair, grabbing of our hands, and inappropriate things said by Italian men. This was not sexual harassment in Italy, and he advised us to act as the Italian women did; to simply pull away and ignore it. Saying anything would cause a reaction.

3.) There were five reported incidences of rape in Florence last year. Five were American women studying abroad who were drunk and walking home alone.

4.) Pickpocketers were everywhere downtown in historical Rome, and you just had to be smart. Gypsies were known for holding newborns in your face while you couldn't see what their hands were doing beneath the baby (namely, stealing your wallet).

5.) Little kids were also sneaky, and when walking around the tourist sites, we were told to avoid groups of little boys without an adult with them.

6.) The small streets in the center of downtown Rome are prime for stealing women's purses. There are commonly no sidewalks down there, so you are forced to walk in the middle of the street. If your purse is slung over your shoulder, motorcycles can come by and snatch them, and if the strap doesn't break, you can get dragged with the motorcycle. As a preventative measure, all you had to do was wear your purse on the shoulder next to the buildings, not the road.

Tonight, we're planning on walking down to the center of Rome to eat and have fun!

Roman living

I waited for the other girls to get dropped off, and was the last one. It was around 10 in the morning, and I think I was delirious. I had been up for over 24 hours, but how was I supposed to sleep now?! The driver unloaded my bags and I didn't even have time to look around before Amin (at least I think that's how you spell his name) appeared and introduced himself as my CEA apartment guide. I was immediately relieved for two reasons: 1) he spoke perfect English, and 2) someone was going to help me carry my luggage up a flight of stairs.

He lead me to my building door, and I pulled out the keys from the orientation envelope that we had all been given at the airport. He had me open that first door, and when I looked inside I pleasantly surprised. There were bikes to my left, and a marble staircase (very clean) that lead upstairs. We were on the second floor (kind of the third, as there were no apartments on the initial level) and we struggled up the stairs. Thank god he took the big suitcase. I did have an embarrassing stumble, but I'm just gonna chalk that up to no sleep.

We got to the door, and I instantly marveled at how big it was. It was a lot taller than American ones, and a lot skinnier, even with it being a double door. At this point, I struggled a bit. It was the most awkward key I'd ever seen in my life, and I could not figure out how to open the door. Just as I was being to get frustrated (and Amin was making me do it with no help so that he could be sure I could do it by myself), the door opened and my roommate Sara was standing there. I had never met her before, but she also goes to PC. So I guess I won't be trying to unlock the door anytime soon...

Amin toured me around the apartment, showing me the fuse box, and the bulletin board next to the door. It had our WIFI name and password and other basic phone numbers. The first room was a single room, which Sara had moved her stuff in to. The cabinets in her room went the length of the ceiling, and the ceilings were massive. We checked out the bathroom, which was surprisingly really nice with marble floors and what seemed to be brand new appliances and everything. The ceilings again were massive, and the window ran almost the entire length of the bath wall, lighting up the room. The shower was glassed in and modern as well.

This led me out to the main hallway, and I was extremely surprised to see just how huge our apartment actually was. The ceilings, again, are unbelievably high- I love it. The windows are huge, too and light up the apartment brightly without any need for lights on during the day. The tile floors were old and pretty (and as we soon discovered, heated), and the kitchen was just massive. We have a balcony, or a terrace, as it is called in Rome, and right below us is an orange tree that we can literally pick oranges off of (I'm too scared to get yelled at in Italian, so we haven't done that yet).

Our little terrace (with flower boxes!)

Amin showed me our TV, which doubles as computer. So we can play music, watch YouTube, and watch TV from the internet. He also surprised me by telling me that we have a cleaning service one to two times a week!

After he left, I checked out the three rooms off of the family room. The first one I saw was a double, with two amazing new built-in closets (floor to ceiling, with drawers), a front view of the Via Forli, our street, and a bathroom in it. This bathroom was a little smaller but just as nice, and really bright with the windows. Obviously, I took the room with the bathroom.

The other two rooms were nice, a double and a single. The double was roomy with two closets that didn't have as good storage, and the single was an oddly shaped room that had a great view of the street.

As I set about unpacking, I realized just how delirious I was. I got all my stuff organized over the next two hours so that I could be worry free about unpacking the rest of the day, when the other four girls showed up. After chatting with Sara for a little, we both took naps for about an hour when we heard commotion at the front door. The next roommate to join us was Katherine from the University of Kentucky, and she was excited to be there. She couldn't decide whether to take the other double or the single, but decided on the single eventually. After that my friend Danielle showed up, and then Alex, my roommate, arrived. We were all really excited, but then realized that we were still missing one other person. Amin told us that there were no other people to arrive that day, so we were a little confused.

The closets!

I decided to hop in the shower at that point. I was disgusting after hours of traveling, sitting in airports, and unpacking. I tentatively turned the faucet on the shower, and waited for the water to get hot. I realized panicked that the window was so large that the street would literally get a show if I were to leave the shutters open. Thank god I realized before. I opened the window, leaned out, and grabbed hold of each shutter to swing closed, then shut the window.

I got in the shower and was pleasantly surprised, as the water pressure was really strong. Weirdly, like clockwork, the water would suddenly slowly cool for a few seconds, and then get hot again. I figured out when to expect this, and managed to time my application of shampoo/conditioner/soap at these odd intervals. Overall, not bad.

I got dressed, and it was around 4:30 when we decided to set out and explore the neighborhood. We're located in the Piazza Bologna neighborhood, mainly residential, and from what we heard, pretty safe. One thing about Rome is that there are an absurd amount of stray cats. They don't bother you, but they are not scared of people at all. The buildings surrounding us are just gorgeous, and I was surprised to discover that they really do look like the pictures from the internet. The small balconies have flower boxes, and the cheery colors of the buildings, mostly in shades of yellow, are bright and happy.

Via Forli

The five of us walked down the street and passed many people that seemed to look at us curiously when they heard us speaking English. As were about the cross the street, a few cars honked and the men inside winked. I think we had 'American' written across our foreheads. The streets we were walking were lined with trees decorated in lights, and there were so many people milling about, finding dinner, and sitting at the tables stationed outside restaurants. I loved it. We decided on pizza, and stopped into a trattoria named "Stuzziko". We discussed what we wanted, and ended up deciding on various slices, including slices of margarita pizza, zucchini pizza, and potato pizza. The woman and a man (who we assume is her son), loved it. I think they genuinely were entertained that we were Americans, and gave us discounts on our slices. As we ate our pizza and discussed what to do next, I could see people discreetly looking our way. When we got up to give them our plates, Alex said to the woman, "It was delicious. We'll be back," and she had to look at her son for a translation. She was really nice and said, "Si, yes." Hopefully when we go back we'll be able to speak a little more Italian.

As continued to walk around, we perused some of the vendors on the streets selling various jewelry and clothing, and window-shopped. After circling the area (and finding an ATM), we went up another street and found a small grocery store, which we decided to explore. It was interesting, and all the pasta and cheese and bread was unbelievably fresh. We weren't planning on buying anything just yet, but then we came across a giant section of wine right by the registers.

We're not talking Barefoot here. There was dozens of kinds of white, red, and blush, and when I saw the price I thought I was reading it wrong. The bottles were priced between 1,49 euros and 2,49 euros (about 2 to 3 dollars). When people say that wine is cheaper than water in Rome, it really is true. So obviously we each bought a different bottle, and I made my first legal alcohol purchase.

As we walked up the street with our wine, we ran into some PC girls sitting at a table eating pizza. We chatted and introduced ourselves to the girls we didn't know, and they tipped us off to wear the nearest "Chinese store" was. These stores are apparently all over Rome, and house a collection of anything you could possibly need at extremely low prices. You can recognize them from the stuff out front and lack of sign above the door. As we entered, I realized the truth in the description. Anything you could possibly need was there, so we got a blow dryer and other things that we would need. The woman didn't speak any English, so she just handed our receipts to us.

We wandered back to the apartment, and when we opened the door, Anna, our sixth roommate, was waiting for us. She had just gotten in ten minutes before, so even though we were exhausted and jet-lagged, we opened some wine.

The adventure begins...

I don't think I expected to be so sad when I got to the Syracuse airport. I was excited, but nervous. Mom waved goodbye as I took off my long black wool coat and dug through my overstuffed backpack. I pulled out my bag of 3.5 oz. liquids and simultaneously yanked on the grey bins stacked in front of me. I refused to look at my mother. I wasn't necessarily sad, but I knew I was going to cry if I saw her cry. My neon yellow scarf, black wool coat, and leather navy purse went into one bin, as a pulled out another for my laptop. The boots with the zipper on the back turned out to be a good idea: easy to take off at airport security.

Of course I went off going through the alarms, as I had stacked up as many bracelets as possible on one arm in order to make sure the bag that was being checked wasn't overweight. My carry-on suitcase was so full it was going to burst (I was praying for it to be gate-checked instead) and my backpack already didn't shut fully. Even worse, I was planning on sneaking on my little navy purse under my coat that held my passport and other important documents. Essentially I was carrying on three bags. 

Annoyingly, my checked bag wasn't even weighed in the Syracuse airport. Typical. If I had known that, I would have stuffed 10+ lbs. more into that bag. Instead, the night before, I made Peter get on and off the scale at least 11 times in order to be sure that my suitcase would make the cut. I think it was the most lifting he got in all break.

 As I walked back through the metal detectors I took one last glance at my mom and waved goodbye as I saw her wipe away a tear. At the gate, I threw my coat over my arm to hide my little purse (it worked) and sat myself down on the plane. I didn't feel nervous at all yet, and the plane ride flew by.

I arrived in Philly at about 12:45, where I proceeded to waste the next two hours attempting to navigate the slow internet in order to watch the premiere of Downton Abbey's Season 3. It didn't work. Giving up, I got up to get a slice of pizza for lunch and determined that a side of blue cheese didn't even make the slice worth finishing. The pizza had better be much more satisfying in Italy...

At one point, I got up to go to the bathroom and heard someone call my name. I turned around and two friends from PC were looking at me in surprise. I had assumed that no one would be flying out of Philly, but I was pleasantly surprised. I spent the next few hours much less bored than I was before, and after making two last phone calls to Peter and Mom, I boarded the flight. When I got to the front of the line, I was made to gate-check my bag. I got nervous when I was leaving it at the end of the tunnel, because mine was literally the only bag there. When I got on the plane, I made sure to remind a flight attendant, this nice American woman, that my bag was out there. Even though I've gate-checked my bags all the time, it seemed weird to be the only one.

Luckily, I was one of the only ones that had a seat open next to me, so I stretched out. They served dinner, and I chose the pasta. The idea of eating chicken from a plastic container grossed me out. The tortellini weren't that good, but the bread was so I just finished that instead.

By the time they turned on the second movie, I was pretty alert and awake. Taken 2 started playing, and the irony wasn't lost on me. Great movie to watch as you're on the way to spend your semester in Europe...

When I looked out the window, we were flying over these amazing snow-capped mountains. We were flying right into the sunrise when the flight attendants served coffee and muffins, and said that we had about 50 minutes left.

When we got off the plane, I knew something was wrong. The men whose jobs it were to bring the gate-checked baggage up were just milling around, and I felt like an idiot standing there and waiting as they got wheelchairs for the handicapped people on the flight. The girls had gotten off the plane and were waiting for me at the shuttle, but I still didn't have my suitcase. I had my stub from the tag that was attached when I gate-checked it, and I tried to ask someone but they just shrugged me off. I was so confused, so I frustratedly walked up to the tunnel, suitcase-less. I almost started to cry, just because I was so tired and confused. When I saw the girls, I told them the problem as the flight attendants came up to the shuttle. They overheard me, and the American woman was immediately nice and helpful. One of the men looked at me and said, "We would have never gate-checked in Philly." What?! Then how come I have a ticket stub in my hand?? We got on the shuttle to the baggage claim, got off, got our passports and visas stamped, and I stood nervously waiting for my bags, hoping that both of mine would show up. They both did. Apparently, my gate-checked bag wasn't put in the cargo hold, but where the rest of the luggage was instead.

We met up with some of the other girls, and after another person went through a luggage debacle, we were off to pick-up where CEA could get us. The woman we met was really nice, but I don't think she was expecting as many of us. There were a total of eight of us coming in from JFK and Philly.

When we got to the car, the CEA woman got into it a little with the driver, who definitely wasn't expecting so many of us. Luckily, there were three cars (all Mercedes, and everyone who drove past us was driving a Mercedes. Maybe that was all the car services?) and after a half hour of figuring out how to pile all the luggage in, we were off.

The first thing we were amazed at was all of the palm trees. It wasn't that warm (low 50s), but they were everywhere. As we rode on, we passed ancient ruins and then drove past the Colosseum. When we passed that, it all finally felt real.