This week in Italia...

Alrighty, so Italian class started this week. So far, its alright. My teacher just laughs at us whenever we butcher her language, which kinda makes me think that it'll be a pretty easy A, but we'll see. On Monday we had a welcome dinner for Everyone in the program. Food was iffy, but tirimisu was pretty good. Tuesday we went to the Opera. We saw Tosca which is set in Rome. It was kinda cool to be watching an Opera in Rome about Rome. I don't know--I've kinda gotten used to living here. It just fits, especially traveling all over Europe for a month prior. I don't think it would have mattered where I stopped, just the act of not moving around so much feels like home. Even so, being at the Opera was very surreal. I would have never gone if I wasn't here. It really made me step back and be like, "damn, I'm in Rome". Thursday we went to Aperitivo. It's like the Italian equivalent to happy hour except that its not about alcohol (since they don't really get drunk). You go to an aperitivo place and pay for your drink--the place we went was 5 euro for a wine and I got a mohito for 8. But with that ridiculously expensive drink comes a free buffet style snack meal. They had pasta, soup, veggies, rice, chicken, etc. A pretty sweet deal, especially given that drinks in Italy cost that much already without a drink AND you can keep on going back for food as many times as you'd like. Last night after swearing we were gonna stay in and rest since we had to get up at 6 this morning, we went out to a club. Art Cafe. It has (I think) 4 rooms all with different music styles in them--so a hip hop room, an oldies, etc. So much fun. EVEN though there were a couple of creepy old guys there. There was this one older guy--like 50 some-odd that I kept on seeing with his pot-belly hanging over the railing, ew. I've never been to a club before cos I'm not yet 21, so it was definitively a good way to be introduced to the club scene.

Today we went to Orvieto, a small town in the Umbria region. After coming home late from the club last night, we only got about 1.5-2 hours of sleep, so I'm totally drained. So, what is there to do in Orvieto? The town now lies on what way once an Etruscan town--so we saw some tombs from something like 600 BC. Crazy stuff. We got to walk inside of them, which was pretty cool. They also have a museum with many artifacts that were found in and around the town, including some ancient frescoes. Orvieto has a beautiful duomo, with this absolutely crazy chapel with fescoes depicting the end of the world, the resurrection of the dead, Paradise and Hell by Luca Signorelli. Seriously, Google search it, because it was really cool. Also underneath the town they have all these man-made caves dug out that we got to go into. Mostly today they are wine cellars, but they started digging them in the time of the Etruscans--and they held pigeons in them for food. It was really nice to get out of the big city and see a more authentic Italian town (aka not overrun by tourists). Orvieto is known for its wine, so Ingrid and I both bought 3 bottles and we're hoping its as good as its supposed to be.



Lastly, our break trip is (partly) bought! Partly because we have only bought the flights, not yet the lodging. But...here's the breakdown: Ingrid and I head off to Copenhagen for 2 days while our other apartment mates are either in London or Paris. Then we all meet up in Amsterdam for 2 days, and then 4 of us head over to Barcelona for 4 days. So if anyone out there reading this has been to any of these places and have suggestions of things to do, see, eat, etc. let me know. I'm really excited for the break. And tomorrow we are going to Sunday mass at the Vatican and then going shopping. Yay!

p.s. I posted a lot of pictures from the program thus far on Snapfish. I don't yet have Orvieto or any pictures from the club up, but I'll try to get them up in the next couple of days

Day 5

My internet is bogus. It takes like 9 minutes to load up a single page. And so, I probably won't be posting any pictures for a couple of weeks. I really hope the internet gets better (though I seriously doubt it) cos I wanna talk to people on Skype, and I really wanted to watch Scrubs right now.

I'm so tired, so this post will be boring. Alrighty...What's been happening? Some boring orientations, lots of food and wine, we went to the bars, got lost like a million times, and today we went to the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine. I've already done the major touristy stuff last time I was here 4 years ago, so its hard to get really excited about it all. But, there are so many neighborhoods I haven't been to/so much more of Rome to see. And that's what I'm excited to do. It's just that everyone wants to do the touristy stuff now, and that's cool I guess. I'm just ready to go explore more of Rome and the surrounding towns.

So, I like my apartment mates. They are all nice and fun to hang out with. But all the same, I wish I was getting to know more people. I suppose I'll make more friends in classes, which start tomorrow. Well, the beginning Italian intensive starts tomorrow. I look forward to learning Italian. The very little I do know I've been using in shops and the like and its so much fun. Oh, and my apartment mates and I + a girl upstairs are all going to Carnival in Venice in two weekends. It is really expensive. But I feel that I'm the perfect age to go to Carnival and when else will I have the chance? I'm just nervous about how much everything costs here, especially cos I wanna save a lot for when I travel with Emily during the summer. Man, expenses are getting stressful, and this is only day 5. What else? Oh, the metro closes here at like 12:30 and we learned this the hard way--an hour and a half walk back home at like 1 in the morning. The bars--we paid for three drinks and then because we were 1. girls and 2. americans got like 4 free drinks each from the bartenders. I guess it probably helped that one of my roomies did a body shot. Italians don't really get drunk so all the Italians we met in Campo de Fiori (one of the main piazza filled with bars) were super sketch. Lastly, I think I already weigh like 5 more pounds. This is bad news bears.

So...I'm moved in.

Alrighty, so a recap of the events...I get to the study center to pick up my info and I'm sweating bullets. I was wearing my long peacoat and hauling around two rather large, heavy pieces of luggage. So, I get all my information and what not and they tell me to follow some guy to get a cab. Another girl is there who is also supposed to follow the guy. I smile at her and am about to introduce myself when she takes one look at me, sees how sweaty I am, and looks away very quickly. Anyways, I get into the cab, he brings me here. I give him a ten cos I don't have the exact money. And before I know it, he's driven off without giving me my change. Whatever, it was only a euro and 20 cents, but all the same, what a dick.

So, I get to my apartment door, and try to get in. There is no nob. How the hell are you supposed to get into a room with a door that doesn't have a nob or handle or anything?? So I struggle with that for like a minute until the people inside hear me and let me in. So far 3 of my apartmentmates are here and the last will be moving in tomorrow. 3 girls from Berkeley and one from SD. They all seem really nice. The rooms are bigger than I was expecting. Here's some pictures are my room. It actually has a loft above the bed where currently my luggage is. But I could totally fit a bed or something else up there. Not that I'm gonna spend the money to put a bed up there. I got the smaller of the two singles (and the smaller of the beds). I don't blame the other girl for picking the bigger one, cos I probably wound have done the same. But I get a cool loft and I think my bed is a bit less stiff. Tonight I plan on getting groceries and then orientation starts tomorrow.

The first batch leave...

I'm writing again way before I expected to. Well, I suppose I may be writing more leading up to the start of my program because I have all these emotions.

Firstly, I realized I wrote last night that we went from Florence to Venice. I typed up that whole thing way too late. Between Florence and Venice we went to Cortina for three days. There we skied the Italian Alps. It was crazy beautiful. I only went skiing for two days (instead of the full 3) and have been regretting that decision since. That was the only time I'll get to ski this entire season. Boo.

So, a couple of hours ago my dad and I dropped Mom & Kyle off at the train station. Really weird. Its so strange knowing that I won't see them again for 5 months. And I went through all the goodbyes with extended family and friends before I left. But that was different--it wasn't real yet. And everyone was saying goodbye anyways cos it was the start of winter break. This was far more real. I went off to college 3 years ago, but I only moved an hour and a half away. And I tried to come home for a day at least every month so that Kyle wouldn't have to be the only child for a day. I really like taking care of him, and its so strange to know that I won't be.

I'm also nervous because people can change a lot in 5 months. I know I will. But Kyle is like that age where change happens. I know my junior year of high school I matured and went through a transformation. I hope that Kyle & I stay in contact enough that if he does change he won't seem foreign to me when I return. I know the rest of the family and the majority of my friends will be the same, so I'm not so worrying about that with them. Its gonna be hard not to see familiar faces for so long however. Alright, that's it for now.

S

p.s. Kyle & Mom--I (strangely given how much you guys piss me off) miss you both already. = )

Roma!

So, we got in to Rome around 3:30 p.m. Earlier tonight Mom, Kyle, and I walked around and did all the major landmarks for them before they leave tomorrow. They've been here before so they didn't really feel the need to go into anything. The Forum is so beautiful by night. I took some pictures and wanted to post them, but my computer is on the fritz and keeps on freezing up whenever I try to plug in any external devices.

Okay so, I last wrote while in Florence I believe. The rest of Florence was alright. One day we did a trip out to San Gimignano and Siena. I got terrible motion sickness on the bus to Siena which I feel probably was a good thing... Only about 2 months ago I realized I could have also gone to Siena without taking Italian classes. The classes there are easier AND there is an entire class on wine tasting. = / So, I was sick enough that I didn't get to enjoy the city which makes it easier to keep on telling myself that even given the new information, I'd still pick Rome. Anyways, in San G. there were torture and death penalty museums. Holy hell, I felt so disgusted and nauseous. Kyle and I were so grossed out and Mom & Brian were loving it. Ewww, just thinking about it is hard. Its really messed up the type of tortures that humans can think up, and that they'd disrespect others' lives so much to actually perform them. Gross.

Okay, so yea, Florence was alright. Then we went to Venice. It's a beautiful city, the canals are so crazy. And I'd go out to just walk around the neighborhood and would keep on turning down alleys that led right into the water. It is incredibly easy to get lost, and unless you wanna walk around with a nerdy tourist map, you better expect to have to back-track very often. On the downside, I ran into far more tourists than Italians. And the only Italians there were old ladies with little yappy dogs. It was strange--I didn't see a single none tourist person around my age. Veneto, which is the region of Italy in which Venice lies is where tiramisu was invented, so yesterday I was on a mission--to find the best tiramisu in all of Venice. I only ate at 4 different places, but I don't think I could have tiramisu again for a while. We were only in Venice for two days, which was enough. I do however want to go back in 2 weeks so very badly for Carnival. Problem is, hotels/hostels are filling up and since my program hasn't yet started, I don't have friends to make reservations with yet. Hopefully it'll work out. I really hope it works out--that would be such a crazy experience.

So, Mom & Kyle leave tomorrow, Dad & Brian on Tuesday and I move into my house on Wednesday, and start orientations and whatnot on Thursday, then the intensive Italian class begins on Monday. I do that for like a month for too many hours a day and then take another Italian class plus 3 core classes. They sent me my list today--I'm in Roman Art, Medieval Rome, and Women in Italy in the 20th century. They all sound interesting. I just hope they aren't too hard. I really just want to dick around this semester and travel and not worry about grades. That in itself would be something completely new for me.

Alrighty, you're now caught up to date. I'm gonna spend the next couple of days buying myself some beautiful Italian boots, checking out beautiful Italian boys, and trying to figure out the city. I'm gonna try to spend an entire day by myself just roaming through my soon-to-be neighborhood. If I don't post again before classes start, odds are I won't be posting again for a while. Oh, and like I said, my computer is seriously messed up. I'm gonna have Brian look at it, but I may not be able to upload pictures onto snapfish again until I get to my study-center's computer lab.

Ciao,
S

Pictures from Paris

...Are now up on my snapfish. I've also added some pictures from my dad's & Kyle's cameras in both Paris & London's albums. I'll get around to uploading Cinque Terre in a couple of days. The whole uploading and then rotating thing takes forever and I'm already so over posting pictures. Here's a picture from up on Notre Dame.