Il Compleanno!

Today is my 21st birthday!! 

That is all.

The calm before the storm....

So, I won't be adding any pictures today. :( I haven't taken any since the weekend trip, and I don't want to use those because that'll mix everything up. So, I apologize.

In my art and architecture class on Tuesday, we met at Santa Maria in Trastevere, which is a church from the 12-13th centuries.  Getting there was interesting, because we had to take a bus, and the bus was, of course, late.  So we were, of course, late (by almost 20 minutes... oops).  So we learned about the church and others of its kind.  Santa Maria's is absolutely beautiful.  The decoration on the inside is an incredible mix of mosaics and frescoes with a beautiful gold ceiling.  After that we were supposed to go to another church, whose name I don't remember, but it closed literally 5 minutes before we got there. So we went to Santa Cecilia's instead.  Saint Cecilia has a pretty interesting story about her, and she's come up in several of my classes now.  She was from a wealthy family and didn't want to get married because she wanted to keep her purity for God, but eventually found a guy she could tolerate (or was forced to marry? I've gotten different versions of this part).  They had a really big house, and since Christians weren't allowed to have places of worship, she hosted services in their house.  Well, someone found out, and they tried to martyr her by locking her in the room with the hot baths in her house without food or water.  After 3 days, she was still alive, so they slit her throat.  She was buried, and when her body was found centuries later, it is said to have been found perfectly preserved (without the aid of any chemicals or anything) and displaying three fingers on one hand (father, son, holy spirit) and one finger on the other.  That is said to be a miracle...  Anyways, so this church was built on top of her house, and nowadays, you can go down there and see it.  It's decently preserved, and you can tell what the functions were for the different rooms.  So we explored that, and looked at the church above as well.  Overall it was a pretty interesting class, but at the same time completely and totally boring.

In theology, we learned about Taoism, which of course wasn't very exciting, but what was exciting is that he cancelled class for tomorrow (my 21st birthday!!).  He also cancelled class for next Tuesday, but because of that we have to write a 5 page paper, due next thursday... :-(

Last night I basically passed out.  I was just hanging out in my room on my computer, and the next thing I knew, it was an hour later and I woke up using my computer as a pillow (its not very comfortable).  I decided to just go to bed for the night at that point, but it was super early!

This morning I woke up early-ish because I had gone to sleep so early the night before, and caught up on american television (GLEE!!).  When I finally got up, I went to the grocery store to get the stuff I would need to make dinner tonight.  But now it's 9 pm and I haven't cooked anything yet... it's not looking likely at this point. Maybe I'll cook myself a nice big birthday dinner tomorrow night.

Anyways, tomorrow is my 21st birthday!! hooray! I'm really excited.  I found out today that my friend from home that was going to come celebrate can't come anymore, so that put a damper on things, but I don't think it could possibly ruin my birthday.  I don't have any plans set in stone yet, which could turn into a disaster, but we shall see!  For obvious reasons, I won't be updating this tomorrow, but I'll let you all know how my birthday goes at some point this weekend.

Semester Trip Continued

Back in Capri!

Okay. Sorry I couldn't just finish this last night, but I was so exhausted. So here goes the rest of the weekend.

Clouds on Capri

So after Pompeii, we went back to Naples.  We had a little time to rest/shower/get ready and then we went out for a group dinner.  We went to a little restaurant around the corner from our hotel.  Our chaperones ordered basically one of each appetizer that they had on the menu.... fried polenta, meatballs, fried sardines, anchovies, fried potato balls with mozzarella inside, and little balls of dough with spinach inside.  For obvious reasons, I didn't eat either fish option, but the rest of the stuff was really good! It was interesting to try some of the local food.  For dinner, I ordered spaghetti con aglio e olio.  It's spaghetti with garlic, oil and pepper.  It was really good, but really really spicy.  I definitely enjoyed it.  Then we went to get some gelato nearby.  The gelato wasn't amazing, but it was far from the worst I've had.  That night we slept soundly after a really long day (at least I slept soundly... no one else seemed to).  

La mia amore, Isola di Capri

On Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early to take the ferry to Capri.  I was beyond excited because as we all already know, Capri is my favorite place in the world.  It was very overcast, but wasn't raining, so we boarded the hydro-foil and left the port.  The sea was choppy-- very choppy.  The waves had to be at least 20 foot swells.  The boat was full of French tourists, all of whom decided to get sea-sick simultaneously.  That was interesting.  There was basically a chorus of the typical throwing up noises, along with the usual sights and smells of such an event.  The 45 minute ride felt more like several hours, but no one in our group got sick, and we all made it there in one piece.  By the time we got there, it had started raining.  

Capri

We decided to climb up to the center of Capri from the port.  It was a long walk basically straight up the mountain.  I was dying by the time we made it to the top, but of course it was worth it because of the views from up there.  Absolutely stunning.  We stopped to take pictures and then decided to head to Marina Piccola, in hopes of going swimming.  The walk there is long and winding and downhill most of the way, but in my opinion, has some of the greatest views on the entire island.  It rained off and on during our walk.  When we got there, we realized that swimming would be impossible.  The waves were huge and the tide was really high.  We walked around the beach taking pictures and when it started pouring, we went into the restaurant/cafe on the beach to get out of the rain and eat lunch.  There was 6 of us, so we split 3 Magherita pizzas.  I had eaten the same exact thing in the same exact cafe when I was there before, so I already knew it was going to be good pizza.  We sat in there for awhile, bonding and watching the rain.  The worst of the storm passed while we were inside, so when it was done raining, we left and took the bus to Anacapri.  

sign in Anacapri

My previous knowledge of the island was very helpful.  I ended up being quite the tour guide for the day.  When we got off of the bus in Anacapri, I literally felt as though I had returned home. I absolutely adore it there. We walked through all the little shops in town before deciding to go to Faro.  No one knew what Faro was, but it was one of my favorite places from my last trip to Capri, so I suggested we check it out.  Normally, people would take a bus down there, because its quite a long walk, however, the group I was with really wanted to walk, so we did.  

Faro! 

It's a long walk, but it was actually really pleasant.  I don't know how long it took us, but we had lots of beautiful views and entertainment.  When we got down there, it was quite obvious that we wouldn't be swimming.  The waves were absolutely crazy, but beautiful at the same time.  It got so bad that they actually had to close the beach! We went into one of the bars on the beach and rested for a little while.  We were running short on time, so we took the bus back to Anacapri.  Basically each of us had something we had seen that we wanted to buy, so we each went and made our purchases quickly, because it was almost time to go.  I bought a blue bracelet that reminds me of the color of the blue grotto, and a charm so I can start a charm bracelet! Then we had to hop on a bus and head back to Marina Grande to meet up with our guides.  The bus ended up getting stuck on the road a million times because the streets are so narrow and there were so many buses running at the same time.  We were late, but we made it onto the hydrofoil in time.  The ride back was choppy too, but there was far less puking.  

boat off of Capri

Once we got back to Naples, we had some time to rest/change/shower before we went out for a group dinner.  This time, we went to the pizza place that we had gone for lunch the first day. I ordered pizza again, because it had been so delicious the first time.  It was less delicious this time, which in no way means it was bad. Just not AS good.  We went for gelato again, which was better the second time around.  That evening, we went back to the hotel, and some of us went up to the terrace on the roof to hang out and enjoy the beautiful Napolitan night.  

Street in Naples

The next morning (Sunday), we checked out Naples.  First we walked to the church of San Severo, which has the statue of the veiled Christ.  Right as we got there, a group of 140 Italians arrived, and got to go in before us.  It was pretty crazy, because its a tiny church.  When we got in, we all got yelled at for having our cameras, because theres no photography allowed, but I used my super-stealth ability to snap a pretty awesome picture of the statue of the veiled Christ.  The church also has an strange room in the basement.  A scientist person hired by San Severo found a way to inject bodies with something that makes their circulatory system harden and safe from decomposing.  The basement now houses 2 bodies which have completely decomposed, except for their perfectly intact circulatory systems.  That was pretty cool, but to this day, scientists haven't been able to figure out exactly how it was done.  

Statue of the Veiled Christ

After seeing the church, we walked to the archaeological museum.  It's a pretty big and pretty famous museum, with all sorts of really interesting things.  Unfortunately, I could not understand the map at all, and the one exhibit I really wanted to see (mosaics) was closed for renovation.  Me and Lorraine wandered through the museum and saw some pretty cool statues and paintings and an exhibit of coins.  When we were done there, we walked to the Medieval Royal castle in Naples, which I found really really cool, and then to the royal palace that replaced the castle.  At the palace, we walked around through the rooms that were all elaborately decorated.  We were really tired at that point, and my camera battery died, so the day sort of just ended there.  After the palace we went back to the hotel, collected our bags, and headed to the train station to go home to Rome.  

Me in the museum with some frescoes from Pompeii

All in all, it was an amazing weekend.  I didn't really know any of the people I was traveling with when we left on Friday morning, but now I feel like I genuinely know them and they know me.  We really bonded, and got along really well.  Our group just meshed well.  We get to go on another school-sponsored trip in October, this time to Florence, so thats definitely something to look forward to! This weekend may have even been the best weekend I've had since I've been here (the Capri weekend definitely gives it a run for its money though!!).  I'm also excited because these people will be here all semester.  I was worried because most of the friends I've made here are leaving on thursday (my 21st birthday) because they are DTW.  So all my friends from the weekend have agreed to celebrate my birthday with me. :)

Arch at the Castle

Today was Monday, so that means volunteering at the nursery school.  It was still very difficult, but I suppose it is getting a little easier.  I'm more at ease talking to the children, but switching back and forth from French to Italian is killing me.  I think today my Italian was better than my french (I practiced all weekend) but that did nothing to help the french kids out.  The little girl was trying so hard to tell me something, but I didn't recognize the word.  One of the Italian boys (probably my favorite) was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't understand what he was saying.  It's so difficult.  And the nun kept yelling at him. Poor kid.  Today the nun had me draw leaves onto paper and have the kids color them in.  I have no artistic talent, but I could handle leaves.  She only wanted some of the kids doing that and some of the other ones tracing boxes on graphing paper.  I wasn't sure of the distinction  between the two groups, and neither were the children.  Things are certainly different here.  But it was fun.  I'm looking forward to going back next week and continuing to get better.  

Inside the palace courtyard

Well, that's all for now. Feel free to comment so I know that someone is actually reading this... Ciao!

Semester Excursion Numero Uno Part 1

Pompeii

This weekend was the first of two semester trips we go on that are paid for by the school.  Only the St. John's students go, so there was only six of us (me, Lorraine, Cos, Matt, Vicken and Luis) plus our two chaperones (Stefano and Flaminio).  We left on Friday morning at 6:15, headed for Naples.  We got to Naples at like 9 am or so.  We checked into the hotel, but our rooms weren't ready yet, so we dropped off our stuff and me, Lorraine, Cos and Matt decided to go explore the area near our hotel.  We walked around and Lorraine did some shopping.  We got lunch at a pizzeria and we all had our first Napolitan Pizza.  I had Magherita pizza, and it was delicious.  Absolutely delicious.  The crust is thicker in Naples than in Rome, so it was doughy, and  the sauce was saltier than usual.  Very enjoyable.  We hurried back to the hotel to get our rooms and get ready to leave for Pompeii.

Columns in Pompeii

We took the train to Pompeii, which took about 45 minutes or so.  When we got there, we had some time to kill, so we walked through the little stands and looked at the trinkets they had.  The people there are so pushy, and they don't sell much of any use at all.  We met with our tour guide at 3, and headed inside the city. It was pretty cool to see the city, but I think I was lead to believe that it was preserved better than it was.  I mean, it was amazing, but the ruins are still, well, ruins.  But we walked around and learned some history about it all.  We could see Mt. Vesuvius, so it was interesting to think of how it all went down; how it was before the eruption, and how it was immediately following the eruption.  

Columns from the Forum in Pompeii

The tour was okay; it touched on most of the important stuff, but I didn't feel like I was learning anything new and interesting.  The thing I found the most interesting was the bodies.  They had two bodies on display.  When the people were trapped under the ash, they were stuck there.  Over time, their bodies decomposed, leaving their skeletons inside a hole in the ash.  One of the archaeologists had the idea to fill the holes with plaster and create perfect molds of the bodies, which would contain the skeletons as well.  They're shaped exactly as they were when the eruption occurred, which is what makes it most interesting, however, I was disappointed in the ones they chose to display.  I know for a fact that they have far more interesting ones than the two of slaves that we were allowed to see.  

Head of the plaster mold person

There was other interesting stuff in Pompeii, but I honestly can't remember it all.  One of my favorite things about the place is that there is a colony of stray dogs living in the city that just wander around and interact with the tourists.  The people who work at Pompeii take care of them, and let people do distance adoptions to fund food for the dogs.  They were adorable, and just wanted to be petted.  It was nice to be able to play with the stray dogs and not really have to worry about it.  

Street in Pompeii

Okay, I'm completely exhausted from the long weekend, so I'm going to stop there for now.  I'll write about the rest of my absolutely amazing weekend tomorrow when I have nothing to do.  Ciao!

Io procrastino i compiti da scrivo l'entrata nel blog!

Ciao a tutti!

The pope, welcoming you to my blog, obviously

Today, the pope waved to me! No, really. He did! Alright, I'll start at the beginning.  This was a trip organized by the school.  My theology teacher works for the pope, and he got a bunch of tickets for the students.  It's kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity, so obviously I went.  I felt a little awkward about it, because I'm SO not religious, but the pope is far more than just a religious leader.  He's one of the most well-respected people in the world, he's a world leader, the head of his own country, and he's a celebrity! So I went to see him.  Mostly I wanted to experience the papal audience.

The pope

So I woke up at the crack of dawn and got slightly dressed up, but not too much because they say you don't have to, but enough so that my knees and shoulders and such were covered. Anyways. We got there like an hour and a half before the pope started, so we got pretty good seats... like 20 rows back or so from the stage.  People filed in for the next hour and a half or so, and basically we discussed the architecture of St. Peter's Basilica and played hangman while we waited for "il pappa" to arrive.  He flew by the back of the piazza in his helicopter (pope-copter?) and everyone got excited.  Then he hopped in his pope-mobile and rode around the crowd in circles for a few minutes.  He was pretty darn close.  It was a little overwhelming. Finally the pope-mobile brought him to the stage, and he got off and said a few words in Latin (I think it was Latin...).  Then a cardinal came up and translated to French, then English, then Spanish, then German, then Polish, then Italian.  Then he welcomed groups individually.  He gave a shoutout to St. John's and we all stood up and cheered.  It was amazing seeing all the people from all over the world, literally.  There was a large group from Nigeria there that were really enthusiastic, and quite a few Polish people.  We were sitting near a bunch of German people.  Literally, everywhere.  Some of the groups sang songs for the pope (note to self: next time you go see the pope, sing him a song!).  Then he told us a story, and that was translated into a million languages.  Finally, he sang the "Our Father" in Latin and blessed all the religious items people had brought with them.  Then it was over.  Pretty amazing experience, but fortunately for me, not a once in a lifetime experience, because I'm here all semester and the school goes 3 times, once for each discover the world module, so I can (and will) go again!

Still the pope. 

After that, Domenico brought us to Old Bridge to eat gelato. yummmmmmmmmmmmm. Old Bridge Gelato is certainly something everyone should experience in their lives.  This time, I had half mint and half chocolate... like mint chocolate chip! It was absolutely delicious.  I was almost licking my cup clean.  I can't capture the taste in words, but trust me, definitely something you want to taste.  Then I came home and watched Glee, which was AMAZING. But has nothing to do with studying abroad. So now I'm working on my Italian homework (since the post's title) and not enjoying it! School trip to Naples/Pompeii/Capri/Paestum this weekend! I'll let you know how it goes... Ciao!

Non capisco i bambini!!

Ciao, I don't have the time/energy to post about my whole weekend and such, so just know that nothing exciting happened, except a visit to the San Callisto Catacombs.  Basically there were a bunch of holes in the walls of an underground cave.  Thats the gist of it.  They don't even have bodies in them anymore.  More importantly, I started doing service at the school today... It was interesting....

So I was told that I would be working in the nursery school instead of one-on-one with the French girl.  I was excited, because I love working with that age group.  I really do. I have lots and lots and lots of experience with that age group, and I understand their thought processes and know how to communicate with them.... in english, that is.

So I woke up early this morning, and actually felt a little nervous.  My Italian is choppy at best (although it could be so much better if my mind would work at its normal pace!!), and I knew the kids didn't speak English.  The director of the St. John's study abroad program walked me over and introduced me to the nun whose class I would be helping in.  She speaks some English, which is great, but she has far too much faith in my Italian ability and immediately started speaking to me in Italian-- very quickly and with crazy vocabulary that I couldn't follow. I smiled and nodded a lot.  She asked if I spoke French... I told her I speak some, and she immediately brought me over to a set of twins from France, who speak no Italian and are basically off in their own little world all day because of the language barrier.  I was not expecting to be speaking French, so it took me a minute for the shock to disappear and the french words to start flowing from my mouth, but I'm glad that I'm there to help them, because the teacher just speaks italian at them and uses hand signals.  They were/are so lost.  Apparently the nun expected me to be TEACHING the class... I'm not sure what exactly she wanted of me.  They're like 3 years old; I'm not sure what you teach 3 year olds.  So we gave them colored pencils and paper and they drew pictures.  I tried my hardest to communicate with the italian children and the french children, but my Italian was TERRIBLE. I couldn't say hardly anything.  Mostly it was nerves, because when I left, I could remember all sorts of things that I had tried to say.  It's also nearly impossible to switch back and forth from Italian to French without completely butchering both languages.  I was using Italian words to speak French and French words to speak Italian.  After we drew for a while, we took the children out to the "giardino" or playground. This was when the nun gave me a little less direction and some space, and I was more able to speak to the kids without being paranoid about messing up.  It was still really hard.  I forgot the italian word for feet... "i piedi" That was rough.  And the kids don't understand that I don't understand them, so they just talk and talk and talk assuming I know what they're saying.

The kids are great though.  There was only 8 of them today (I don't know how many there usually are).  They mostly all warmed up to me pretty quickly.  Only two of them wouldn't talk to me at all (one warmed up by the end and was singing some sort of italian song and bossing the other kids around). It's definitely something that I want to keep doing, and I'm sure it will get better/easier the more I do it.  It's just really really difficult right now.  And pretty overwhelming.  I don't go back until next Monday, so I'll definitely keep you posted on that.

Sorry for the lack of pictures today; I haven't uploaded any in a few days.  Maybe I'll add some to this post when I have more time.  Ciao!

io esploro la bella citta solo.

Lion Statue in Villa Borghese

Ciao! My last update was on Monday, so here goes since then...
Tuesday I had classes.  My art class met on site at the Pantheon.  We learned about the Pantheon (nothing particularly useful or exciting), and we had to sketch the pantheon.  Please keep in mind that I have no artistic talent.  Then we walked to the Ara Pacis, or altar of peace.  I didn't even know that existed, so I suppose it was interesting.  The downside was that we had to sketch that as well. I'm not liking this whole sketching thing.  And we had to show our sketches to the class... ugh. I also had Theology, which was as boring as usual.  I'm tired of hearing how everything relates to Christianity, especially while we're supposed to be learning about Buddhism! I would enjoy the class much more if we learned what we were supposed to learn.

Piazza del Popolo

Tuesday was one of the girls' (Miranda's) birthday.  We went out to the Hard Rock Cafe to celebrate.  It's a long walk, but well worth it.  I ordered a BBQ bacon cheeseburger that was absolutely delicious, and a welcome break from the usual italian fare.  The waitress sang Happy Birthday to Miranda, and we walked back to campus.  We didn't get home until after 1 am, so I crashed pretty much immediately.

A Roman Palm Tree!

Yesterday, I slept late because I had been up so late the night before.  When I got up, I decided to go to Villa Borghese by myself to explore.  I walked to Piazza del Popolo, which took about 15 minutes.  It was a nice walk, too.  I like Piazza del Popolo because there's all sorts of people there, and its different than most of the Piazzas because it seems secluded.  It isn't lined with shops and cafes like most piazzas, but instead has a ring of traffic buzzing around it constantly.  I took some pictures in Piazza del Popolo and watched a homeless man attempt to swim in one of the fountains.  Then, I ventured up the stairs to Villa Borghese.  

One of the millions of fountains in Villa Borghese

First, I stopped at the Pincio, and looked out over Piazza del Popolo and all of Rome.  It's a really beautiful view from up there.  You can see for miles, and have a clear view of St. Peter's Basilica.  I watched the skyline for a little while before venturing off into the park.  I didn't really know where I was going, or what was even in the park, so I just wandered around for a few hours, and came across some pretty awesome things.  

One of the hundreds of turtles that I found!

I wandered for hours looking at different fountains and statues and trees.  Eventually, I sat down under a big tree far away from everyone else and did some homework.  It was actually quite pleasant.  After that brief break, I continued my exploring and found a small lake! The lake had little row boats that you could rent for 3 euro for 20 minutes.  I would have done it, but I was alone, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to row it by myself. So I walked around the lake and watched the ducks and swans and people in boats.  Going around the edge of the lake, I found a little alcove that was full of at least a hundred turtles! I stopped and watched them for a while; they were so interesting.  Some were just tiny babies and others were huge.  They were all pushing each other around, trying to get in the sunlight.  And the ducks kept coming over and snapping at them to keep them under the water.  It was actually very funny.  The lake also had fish in it-- really big fish; at least 2 feet long.  While I was watching the fish and trying to figure out what kind it was, an older Italian man came up to me and asked me something in Italian.  I told him I didn't understand, and he started speaking English.  It turns out he was from Capri, and was in Rome for the first time ever! He asked me questions about what to see and what to skip.  I was the local, and he was the tourist (even though he's italian and I'm not)!! 

Duck!

After the little pond, I found myself a bench on one of the main paths and sat down to do some reading for my theology class.  I picked that place so I could do some people-watching, and it ended up being a very good place for that.  I stayed there for an hour or so, and then continued on my journey.  I was interested in seeing where the Galleria Borghese was, because I'm very interested in going there to see all the famous pieces.  I saw some signs that pointed towards it, so I followed them. It's in a really beautiful building.  Of course, I couldn't go in, because you need to make reservations well in advance, but now I know where it is for when I actually can go inside.  

Galleria Borghese

I wandered around a little more, and found the area of the park where everyone brings their dogs to socialize.  I didn't have a dog, so I didn't stick around.  Eventually I figured I should make my way back to campus because I didn't want to be stuck in the park after dark.  So when the sun started getting low, I found my way back out, and headed home.  On the way, I treated myself to some fragola (strawberry) gelato, which was delicious. I got back here and finished up some work before having to go to bed.  

Twin Cathedrals in Piazza del Popolo

This morning I woke up bright and early to go to Italian class.  We reviewed verbs, which wasn't exciting, but oh so necessary.  We talked about the service requirement for our class, and there is a service opportunity at the school across the street.  It turns out, they have a girl there who just moved to Rome from France, and she only speaks French.  They would like someone who speaks both French and Italian to help her.  It would be one-on-one tutoring.  I volunteered, but I'm not even close to fluent in French, so I suggested that if someone with a greater knowledge of French stepped up, they should definitely let them do it.  If I don't end up doing that, then I will be helping out with the nursery children across the street.  So either way, I'm going to be doing something enjoyable! :)  I'm actually really excited about this.  It would be pretty cool to work on my French and my Italian... I just can't seem to escape French! 

Sunset over Roma!

I also had theology class today, which is not worth typing about.  Other than that, it was a pretty chill day.  I have a killer headache right now, presumably because I've been grinding my teeth. Stupid jaws.  My plans for my fall break have changed once again, but this time they're almost definitely final.  Now it looks like me and Katey will be going to Prague for 6 days and Copenhagen, Denmark for 3 days.  I know, it sounds completely random, but we both really wanted to go to Prague, and Copenhagen is the cheapest place to fly from Prague, so that's just how it worked out.  Plus, how many people can say they've been to Copenhagen?!? Exactly. Well, that's all for now.  Buona notte!

Orvieto e io cucino il mio primo pasto.

Entrance to the walled city

I'm going to do this in backwards, starting with today. Here goes....

View from Orvieto

I just cooked my first ever meal by myself and without the use of a microwave!! This is a momentous occasion! I absolutely despise cooking, and avoid doing it at all costs! But I've been eating such crap here (okay, basically pizza for every meal) that I realize it's time I started eating healthier and more balanced.  So this morning I ventured to the grocery store to get some ingredients.  I got a LOT of stuff.  It should last me a week or so, and I got breakfast and lunch meals too, so I shouldn't have to eat pizza at all this week. I decided to cook penne, chicken and broccoli with olive oil and Parmesan cheese.  

Orvieto

 So when it was time for dinner, I made my way down to the kitchen, armed with all my ingredients, and claimed a spot on the stove.  I got my water boiling without any assistance from salt, and added my penne to it.  While the penne cooked, I chopped up three chicken breasts into small pieces.  Once the chicken was cut, I took a frying pan and covered the bottom with olive oil.  Then I added the chicken (I had to only do a little at a time because the pan was tiny).  I cooked the chicken until it was a little brown on both sides and I took some out to save it for later meals.  When the pasta was done, I strained it and left a little water in so it wouldn't stick.  Then I added the broccoli to the chicken and let that cook for a few minutes.  Once the chicken was cooked through, I put it all on a plate and mixed it up.  Then I added some Parmesan and voila! I wasn't expecting much, but it was actually really good.  Since I didn't have any garlic or seasoning of any sort, I figured it would be really bland, but it wasn't! I saved enough for probably two more meals, so I can just heat it up when I get hungry. And I only burned myself once! Unfortunately that burn is on the middle joint of my middle finger, so it hurts a lot. But this is still super excited, and everyone should be super proud of me!! 

Orvieto

Okay, so now back in time to yesterday.  I got up at 11, and we went to Termini to catch the train to Orvieto.  This time, we actually made our train! The conductor-woman was completely evil though. She yelled at us several times. The ride took about an hour and 15 minutes or so.  When we got off the train, we had to take a bus up to Orvieto, because its on a hill-- a really high hill.  I used my broken Italian to ask the man what time the bus was coming, and obviously it got the point across, because he told me 10 minutes, but when asked in English, he said 45 minutes (the bus showed up in 10). So we took the bus up, which was oddly reminiscent of the buses in Capri (curvy roads up the hillside).  

Cobblestone streets of Orvieto

Once at the top, we went into the walled city.  It was an Etruscan city, looking out over all of the Umbria region.  We went onto the walls, and could see for miles.  It was really beautiful, and it was a really nice day, too.  After seeing that, most of the other girls were ready to go walk around the town to see the shops, but there was so much more to see within the walls! So me and Abbye went and explored the rest of the area.  We found some pretty interesting spots to explore, and ultimately ended up sitting on a bench overlooking Umbria and just talking for awhile.  It was lovely!

The theatre in Orvieto

Eventually we decided to rejoin the group, so we walked through the town by all the shops.  We didn't really look into many of them, although I did contemplate getting myself a small, cross-body leather bag (I really want one now... regrets, regrets). When we found the group, we decided to eat lunch (it was 4pm, and definitely didn't want any repeats from the night before!), so we went to a little place where we could sit outside and eat.  We all ended up getting margherita pizza, french fries and a coke.  It was okay, but nothing special (we would have ordered something different, but the servers didn't speak any english and the menu didn't make any sense at all!). Around this time, I befriended a stray cat.  Stray animals seem to like me.  This one was starving and really loud.  He walked around under our table and begged for some food.  Then he left for a while, and then he came back again, under my chair.  So I fed him some pizza.  He was very grateful, and adorable.  I took pictures of him.  Kind of wanted to take him home with me.  Oh well.  After we ate, we headed home.  I used some more italian, which is always exciting, and we got home around 8pm or so.  

My new friend! 

Other than cooking and doing homework, I didn't do anything exciting today.  Tomorrow I have classes, but maybe Wednesday I'll make it to Campo Dei Fiori in the morning to see the market! I'll keep you posted, of course. Ciao!

Meow!

I Ragni!

So this is just a really quick update...

After two weeks of living in peace, me and my roommate have discovered that we have spiders in our room.  Anyone who knows me understands how much of a problem this is.  When my roommate woke up this morning, she found a huge one, and had to go beg neighbors to kill it for her, and she found one in her clothes later.

Well, I just found one of my own, but fortunately, its the stupidest spider in the history of the world.... It thought it would be a good idea to make a web inside my theology book.  Unfortunately for him, the book ended up squishing him to death. Silly thing thought he could live there.  One less spider we have to find other people to dispose of! But I still have spider guts inside my theology book....

I'll post later about yesterday and today.

la fine settimana rilassante

Ancient Roman Paved Road (really hard to walk on)

Ciao a tutti! I last updated on Wednesday, so here's what's happened since.  I did nothing exciting on Wednesday.  On Thursday, I had classes.  In Italian, we started our review, and I started remembering everything.  I've used the same notebook since my first Italian class, and not to toot my own horn or anything, but my notes are amazing.  If they weren't so good, I'd be super behind in all my Italian classes. I would really like to get post-it notes so I can use my old notes as reference easier, but unfortunately, they don't seem to sell them anywhere.  I'm still looking though! I also had theology, and I also still don't like my theology class.  Because the teacher is a priest, we started class with a prayer, and ended the class with a prayer (I HATE that). He also uses his "sermon voice" for his lectures, which seems inappropriate because its too quiet and the inflection is all wrong.  He doesn't write anything on the board, or use powerpoints or anything, so it's difficult to pay attention and/or learn anything.

ancient sign

On Friday, I didn't have classes, as usual. And once again, I really didn't do anything productive.  I slept super-late, and rested, which probably was a really good thing, seeing as how today went down (more about that later).  Last night, I was on skype with my mom and my sister.  We booked our tickets to London! We're meeting at Gatwick Airport on November 10th and staying until the 14th. The Harry Potter movie premier is on the 11th, so we'll go to that.  Kayla also wants to do a Harry Potter tour of London, so we'll do that too.  We haven't figured out the rest of the weekend yet, nor have we booked a hostel (suggestions are appreciated!). It didn't end up being too expensive, but I definitely have to watch my spending for awhile.

awesome mosaic floor!

This morning we were planning on going to the walled city of Orvieto.  I woke up around 11, and was ready to go at 12.  The train was at 12:45, so if we had left then, we would have made it in plenty of time, however, due to several hindrances, we didn't leave campus until around 12:15.  When we got to Termini, we had to purchase our tickets, and just about every other ticket machine in the building was broken.  By the time we all had our tickets, it was 12:42, and we had to find the train platform.  For whatever reason, the train didn't pull all the way into the station, so we were forced to run all the way down the platform and out of the station.  We watched as the train left without us.  Fortunately, our tickets are good for a few weeks, so we're going to try to go tomorrow instead.

Theatre

Determined to do/see something interesting today, some of the girls and I decided to go to Ostia to see the ruins.  Back in the days of ancient Rome, Ostia was used as a port for Roman trading.  It was a pretty sizable city.  Now it is known for the well-preserved ruins it holds.  You can clearly see what some of the buildings had been used for, and their theatre has been kept functional even after all of this time.  We walked through the ruins for a few hours, exploring and imagining how it used to be as we went.  It was actually really interesting, because ruins like that aren't really in Rome.  Most of the Roman ruins are functional buildings (pantheon, colosseum, forums, basilicas), whereas the buildings in Ostia were a lot of houses, and shops and secret underground tunnels.  It was an enjoyable experience, until I started to feel terrible....

ruins!

About an hour before we left, after having walked for hours and hours in the hot sun, I got really really hungry.  I had eaten breakfast, but apparently not enough.  There wasn't really anywhere to eat in the ruins, so we decided we would wait until we were back in Rome.  Unfortunately, I had finished my water about halfway through the ruins, so I was getting dehydrated, and I knew it.  It took all my strength to get out of the ruins, and once we were out, there was a public water fountain, where I drank a bottle and a half of water.  Then we stopped at a shop near the train station and I grabbed a granola bar with chocolate to hold me over until I could eat real food.  Thinking all my problems were solved, I ignored my stomach and brain telling me something was wrong.  The first train (of the three it took to get back to campus) was fine.  I knew I didn't feel 100% but I figured it would just take time to get better.  On the second train, I felt a little worse, but I didn't want to alarm the girls I was with, so I didn't say anything.  We had to stand up on all three trains. On the final train, it was just me and my roommate, because the other girls decided to stop at a bookstore.  Thats when things took a turn for the worst.  The train was packed to capacity, and there was no room to move around (I witnessed a pick-pocketing!).  It was about a million degrees, and sweaty and smelly on the train.  We didn't have too many stops to go, so I just focused on surviving.... About 2 stops from school, I got really light-headed, nauseous, and confused.  One stop from school, everything went white.  I could still see-- sort of. Everything was glowing so brightly that I couldn't tell what I was looking at.  My muscles all got really weak and I was swaying around uncontrollably.  My legs tried to give out a few times, but I stayed standing.  Finally the stupid doors opened at our station, and I stumbled off and got my roommates attention (she had headphones and hadn't looked at me).  When she looked at me, she asked me if I was going to be sick.  My lips had gone completely white, and I didn't look so good.  She gave me her water bottle and I downed the whole thing in about a second. We walked slowly to campus and once I got to my room, I grabbed food, water and collapsed onto my bed.  I'm reasonably sure my blood sugar was really really low, which caused all the symptoms.  I ate what I had quickly, but I only had crackers and nutella, which would have to be broken down into simple sugars before they had any affect.  My roommate just so happened to have some hard candies, which break-down much faster (shoutout to my Nana for teaching me that!!), so I ate a few of those, called my mom and fell asleep for awhile.

Pretty awesome Corinthian Column

My primary thought through the whole ordeal was that if I actually fell to the ground, I wouldn't be able to speak enough Italian to explain what was going on, and if they took me to a hospital, I would be screwed, because I didn't have my health insurance card, and theres no way my italian skills could have handled that.  I'm feeling much better now, after a few bottles of water, a lengthy nap, and some pizza.  I'm still looking a little pale and feeling a little light-headed, but I'm sure I'll be fine by morning time.  Needless to say, it was a scary experience, but I got through.  I also tried a new type of pizza... it was weird.  It had pepperoni (salami?) swiss cheese, lots and lots of basil and tomato sauce.  I'm not sure why I picked it.  It was okay.  I don't know if I'll get it again-- I had to pick off most of the basil to make it edible.

More ruins

Well, I'll leave you with that for today.  I was invited to go out tonight, but I declined.... probably not a good idea for tonight.  Tomorrow morning we're going to that walled city, so I'll try to post again tomorrow.  Buona notte!

non voglio andare alla scuola!

The Castle St. Angelo

Monday I didn't have classes, as usual.  I slept in and hung around.  Then I went to the super market all by myself, which was super scary.  But I did it and survived.  I didn't really get anything substantial, mostly just food to pick at and eat for breakfast, because thats what I needed most.  I also got orange soda (aranciata) which is so much better here than it is in the states.   We had our weekly meeting, and discussed the school sponsored trips we get to go on.  The first one is in like 2 weeks, and we're going to Pompeii, Naples, Sorrento and if the weather is nice, we'll go to Capri! That will be awesome.  The second one is in October, and we're going to Florence and Siena. So now I don't have to worry about getting myself to those places.  I also had to do some homework Monday evening.  It was reading for my art and architecture class and it took me almost 2 hours to finish. It was so boring.  I don't think I did anything productive on Monday, seeing as how I don't remember the rest of the day.  

St. Peter's Basilica at night!

Yesterday I had to go to classes.  The first one was art and architecture, and we were meeting on-site at the monument to Victor Emmanuel II so we could walk around the ruins of the ancient forums.  It was a lot of walking and it was really hot out, thus, it was miserable.  I did learn some things, but the teacher was hard to hear and difficult to understand, and taking notes under those conditions was almost impossible.  She also went almost a half hour over class time.  That plus the commute to and from the site turned a 3 hour class into a 4.5 hour class.  When I got back to campus, me and my roommate got pizza from a restaurant across the street.  I'm not sure what kind of pizza mine was, but it was really good.  Later on, I had my first theology class.  The professor is okay. He works for the pope, so he's getting us tickets to one of the pope's masses, which is cool.  But he's a priest teaching a course called "religions of the world" and he's not unbiased as I feel he should be.  The first class was all about why we should be catholic basically, and I didn't enjoy it.  I'm hoping he will get better when we are learning about specific other religions, but we'll see.  

Vatican at Night

My friend from high school, Zoe, arrived in Italy last night.  She's going to be here for a few months traveling to organic farms and helping them with their farming. She was in Rome yesterday, so after I got out of class, I met up with her at the Colosseum.  We walked around the city for awhile, hitting up some of the major tourist attractions including the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and eventually ending up at the Vatican.  We grabbed some paninis in the Vatican and sat in front of St. Peter's Basilica to eat them.  The sun set as we were sitting there, and the basilica lit up.  It was really beautiful.  We then walked towards my school, stopped for gelato (this time I had one that was cherries, cream and had some sort of nut.... it was SO good!) and then I showed her how to get back to her hostel.  It was really nice to see someone from back home all the way over here.  She's going to be back in Rome for my birthday at the end of the month.  When she's done farming, she's going to be traveling around a little, and I may travel with her on the weekends.  We'll see! But it's nice to know someone is here if I get homesick.  

Top of St. Peter's dome

Today, once again, I haven't been very productive.  I was up really late last night doing laundry for the first time, so I'm pretty tired.  I spent a while looking into travel options so Kayla can come to London and we can go to the Harry Potter movie premier.  It's much more complicated than it sounds.  But hopefully all will work out in the end.  I've got to do some reading for my theology class today.  I was supposed to go to the Colosseum today to see the inside, but my roommate changed her mind and I didn't want to go alone.  I might just have to wait until the 3rd DTW rotation when my friends arrive! Well, thats all for now! Ciao!

Voglio stare nel Capri per sempre!

First view of Capri from the ferry

Ciao tutti! I just returned from the absolute best weekend of my life.  I went to Capri with 7 other girls from the study abroad program.  While words (and pictures) cannot accurately capture the absolute beauty and uniqueness of the island, I will attempt to give you loyal readers a glimpse into life on the island.

Capri! from the taxi on the way to the hotel

We left our campus around 7 am on Friday morning.  We had previously gone to Rome's Termini Station to purchase our tickets to Naples, so we took the metro to termini and grabbed our train.  The train to Naples took about 2.5 hours or so.  Once in Naples, we didn't exactly know where we were supposed to go.  Also, Naples is really not a safe place to be, and it's one of the dirtiest cities I've ever seen.  We ended up eating in McDonalds and asking for directions on how to get to the ferry at the port.  We took a bus from the train station to the port, and purchased tickets for the next ferry.  We got on the ferry and sat outside on the top so we'd be able to see everything.  The ferry ride took about an hour and 20 minutes or so, and while the forecast said it was going to rain all day, during our ferry ride, the clouds broke and the sun came out! I fell in love with Capri at first sight.  As we approached the city we could all tell that it was the most beautiful place in the world.  Seriously, there isn't a single place on the whole island lacking something absolutely beautiful (even the flowers are bigger and brighter in Capri!!).

A street in Capri (note how narrow it is!)

When we got off the ferry, we grabbed two taxis to take all 8 of us to our hotel.  Our hotel was in Anacapri, which is one of the two towns on the island (the other being Capri...).  The drive took about 25 minutes, and it was absolutely terrifying.  The roads are really narrow and the people drive really fast.  The roads wind up and around the mountains and cliffs, and it constantly looks like you're going to fall out of the car and into the water a million feet below.  In addition to it being terrifying, it gave us some of the best views of the islands and the Mediterranean Sea.  The taxis dropped us off about a 10-minute walk from the hotel (the taxis couldn't fit down the narrow streets).  We learned pretty quickly that despite how narrow the streets are, cars and motorbikes of all shapes and sizes still try to squeeze down them, and if you're not pressed up against the wall (there's no sidewalks!), you will get run over.

Our hotel

We stayed at the Hotel Bussola in Anacapri.  It's in a quiet area, with a sheep farm next door.  The people who own the hotel were super nice to us.  They gave us a discounted rate, and helped us find our way around town and showed us what we should do and what we shouldn't.  We got two rooms, one for 5 people with 3 single beds and one double bed, and the other for 3 people with three single beds.  The room for 5 people had more amenities and was 5 euro more expensive.  That was the room I stayed in.  The rooms were fairly simple but very functional, and it fit our visit perfectly.  They gave us breakfast each morning, and the staff could not have been any more helpful.

Capri!

After we got in and got settled a little, we decided to hit the beach! We got directions to Faro, which is a beach in Anacapri.  We had to take a 15 minute bus ride to get there, and the buses on the island are always full to the brim (there is NO personal space).  Once we got to Faro, we had to walk down to the beach.  It was a short walk, and once we got there we were somewhat surprised at what we found.  The "beach" was a concrete slab that people swam off of.  Normally, this would be very disappointing to me, but we knew going in that they didn't have sandy beaches, and its surrounded by cliffs, so a traditional beach is not easily created.  We picked a spot near the water and went in immediately.  I swam in the Mediterranean Sea!!! The water is really deep once you jump off the concrete slab (not sure how deep, I was far from the bottom and didn't attempt to check it out).  The water was so nice.  It had been a cloudy and rainy all morning, so the water was a little chilly, but it felt really nice.  The biggest difference is that the Mediterranean is much, much saltier than the ocean back home, but it felt nice.  The sea was relatively still, and we stayed in for awhile just treading water and relaxing.  We laid out on the concrete for a while and got some sun, too.  Somehow I sliced my toe open on a rock or something there and bled all over the place without even knowing I was injured.  That made things a little more interesting.  We stayed there for a few hours and then took the bus back to the hotel.

Faro, where we swam

Once back at the hotel we started discussing dinner options.  We settled on a restaurant recommended by a travel guide one of the girls had, called Aum Aum.  We went in relatively early, before most of the locals eat dinner (6 or 7 pm!), and so we got seated immediately.  I ordered a prosciutto pizza.  It came out in a heart shape (they make all their pizzas hearts!) and with big chunks of real ham instead of the bacon-like prosciutto that I've been stuck with in Rome.  The pizza was delicious.  Everyone else liked their meals too, and it wasn't very expensive, so definitely somewhere I would recommend.  After dinner we returned to the hotel to shower and get ready to go out.  

Most of the girls at the bus stop en route to Faro!

That night we decided to go to a bar/club named RED.  It's in the middle of "downtown" Anacapri.  When we got there, there was a private 18th birthday party going on, so we talked to the bartender and he got us some seats in the corner.  Besides the birthday guests (and a dog... the italians bring their dogs EVERYWHERE!), we were the only ones there.  Once the cake was cut and distributed, birthday goers left pretty quickly and a group of older twenty-somethings from England arrived.  Our group started dancing, and the brits followed suit.  It ended up being a really fun night, and the bartender was great.  He liked us, so we got special treatment, haha. They played American music, too, just for us! 

Me at Faro!

The next morning we got up around 9 and had our complimentary croissants and strawberry juice (which is super popular in Capri, though I'm not sure why-- I've never seen it anywhere else).  That morning we decided to go into Capri and look at the shops.  We took the bus (which was also terrifying... narrow roads with two way traffic... ahhhh!) and it took 20 minutes or so.  Once in Capri, we looked at a few shops and then decided to walk to the nice beach in the area, Marina Piccola.  It was about an hour long walk, down curvy pathways and stairs and around cliffs and mountainsides.  By the time we finally got to the beach we were sweaty and tired, so we very happily got right into the water.  Marina Piccola is one of the really nice beaches on the island because its almost like a sandy beach, it just has stones instead of sand.  There were a LOT of people there, so we camped out in a tiny spot in the shade next to one of the restaurants.  We went into the water almost immediately and swam around the rocks and into the open water.  It was beautiful.  The water is so clear and SO blue.  We stayed until we got tired and then went back onto the beach to lay out for awhile.  After awhile we were starving, so we went to one of the restaurants on the beach and had pizza (yes, again!).  I split a salami pizza with Ligia, and it was, once again, delicious.  After we ate, we left the beach and headed back to Anacapri.  

View of/from downtown Capri

From Anacapri, we wanted to go and check out the Blue Grotto.  People who have been here in the past (as well as the guidebook we were using) said that after 5 pm, when the rowboats stop going in, you can swim in on your own.  We went there with the intention of swimming in and seeing it on our own (and saving ourselves some money!), but when we got there, a local came up to me and told me we really shouldn't go in because the water was so rough that even the boats had to stop running.  We considered going anyways, but once we got down next to the opening and stairs where you get in the water, we saw that the water was really high, and it looked really dangerous, so we didn't go in.  We looked at it from outside! We found out later that some fellow tourists that we had run into a couple of times did in fact swim in, just an hour or so after we left.  

view on the walk to Marina Piccola 

When we got back to Anacapri, we decided to check out some of the shops in the area.  In case you weren't already aware, Capri is famous for handmade leather sandals. We went immediately into a sandal shop and almost all of us ended up buying a pair.  They were a little pricey (mine were 55 euro), but SO worth it.  The woman selling them adjusted them to fit our feet and they are really comfortable.  Mine are like t-strap sandals in a brown/black color.  They are adorable and I really love them.  After the shops, 4 of us decided to go to Faro to watch the sunset, while the rest of the girls went back to the hotel.  We took the bus out to Faro and got there around 6 or 6:30, just as the sun was beginning its descent.

Sunset from Faro

We staked out a spot on the concrete and hung out waiting for the sun to set.  No one was swimming, presumably because the water was so rough, so we didn't think we should go in, even though we really wanted to.  But then a family of locals came and all three of them jumped right in, so me and Alex deemed it safe, and went and jumped in ourselves.  Somehow the water was even nicer than it had been the day before.  The sea was really rough and the waves were probably 6 feet, but it wasn't overly hard to swim, and the water was actually warmer than it had been the day before! We actually had an easier time getting in and out of the water, too, which was quite unexpected.  We only stayed in for a little while because we got tired, and treading water while tired in rough seas isn't the best idea.  When we got out the sun was starting to get really low, so we went up the hill and found a spot where we would be able to see best.  The sunset was absolutely GORGEOUS.  So amazing.  Words cannot describe it! We stayed until the sun left, and then headed back to the hotel.  

Me, near the Marina Piccola

When we got back to the hotel, we rested for awhile, and ordered pizzas for take-away (thats what they call take out... lol) from the same place we had eaten last night.  It took forever for the pizzas to be ready (like, after 10 pm... ugh!) so we hung out for a long time and got ready to go out again.  The pizza was, once again, delicious and heart-shaped.  We decided to go back to RED again, partly because we had such a good time, partly because we had promised the bartender, and partly because there weren't really any other options! It was midnight before we were ready to go.  There was no private parties that night, and there were more people.  A bunch of 16 year old locals were there, and the Brits from the night before.  A good time was had by all, once again.  Thats where we ran into the people who swam into the grotto, and a local we met offered to bring us in, if we would get up really early the next morning.  

THE BLUE GROTTO

The next morning, we didn't wake up early enough to swim into the grotto, so we had to wait and take a boat.    Little row boats come and take people inside. Theres always a huge line outside waiting to go in, and inside there's a line waiting to come back out.  The passage to get in and out is tiny, and if the tide is high, it can shut completely.  There's a lifeguard-ish person on a boat right in front of the entrance to monitor the water.  We got into two boats (4 on each) and went in at the same time.  I was alone in the front on my boat.  You have to lay flat to get through the passageway, which was pretty interesting.  The boat paddlers pull on a chain to get in and out, and they have to time it perfectly for it to work.  But once inside it is absolutely beautiful.  The color is unlike anything I've seen before.  The bluest blue.  Even the pictures can't capture the real color.  The water was so clear that you could see the fishes swimming under the boats.  Inside the cave is actually pretty big (7 or 8 rowboats were inside at once with plenty of room to spare) and apparently it gets shallow enough to stand up in some places.  I'd say if you're ever given the chance to see it, definitely do it.  It was definitely worth it.  

La Grotta Azzura! 

After the grotto, we sadly had to leave Capri.  We went back to the hotel and got our stuff and then began the long journey home to Rome.  We took a shuttle to the port, the ferry to Naples, the train to Rome Termini station, and then the metro to campus.  It was a long and tiring day of traveling, but we eventually all made it home safe.  Overall the trip was one of the best experiences of my life.  I can't wait to be able to go back to Capri on a vacation and stay longer and really experience everything it has to offer.  It's such a unique place compared to the rest of Italy, and by far the most beautiful place I've ever been.  The trip ended up being somewhat expensive, but it was honestly worth every euro cent we had to pay.

Boats waiting to get into the grotto

Well, thats the entire trip.  It was amazing, and thats the end of that.  Tomorrow I'm probably going to spend a lot of time being lazy, and I may have to do homework (!!!) but I'll keep you all posted on my life.  Feel free to leave some comments! Ciao! 

The Sea through the trees