Learning to be a Wine Connoisseur

This morning was my first meeting of my on-site art history course which will be looking at Rome and it's monuments. I am really looking forward to learning more about the monuments of Rome, especially from a non-tourist perspective. Today we hiked up the top of the Gianicolo hill and were able to look at all of Rome from above! This city never ceases to amaze me, and while that may be due to the fact that I'm still new to the city, I feel that even after four months of being here, it will still have surprises in store for me. On my way back to my apartment I walked past a Ferrari vespa! Perhaps your more affordable option to the sports car.

Tonight after classes I had my wine tasting class. We tried three white wines and three reds as well as a desert wine. We learned a lot about the color and smell and taste differences between better and cheaper wines. We tasted a more floral wine, wine that had aged in oak casks, and other types. We also had some cheese and crackers to compliment the wine and overall it was a very fun evening. I still have quite some way to go before being a wine connoisseur, but I'm making baby steps!

What Pennies are good for in Rome

Last night a group of us wound our way to the Anglo American Bookstore by the Spanish Steps to get some our our textbooks. Since we were over that way we stopped by the Trevi Fountain, since me and Taryn had yet to see it. It was absolutely beautiful and I couldn't believe how large it was in person! There are tons of people there who try to take your picture to charge you, but as soon as you whip out your own camera they tend to shy away. We all dug out our pennies, which are obviously worthless here, and used those to make our wishes. As tradition goes, I had my penny in the right hand and over the left shoulder it went! Apparently if you make a wish here you are sure to return, and I sure hope that legend is true!  I got some creme flavored gelato, yum!, and we made our way back to Gianicolo.

I'm Gonna Have the Best Looking Legs and Butt

On Sunday we literally walked our butts off. We went on a free walking tour that JCU offered and it was so informative. We learned more about the Jewish Ghetto that we had walked through the other night and saw where there used to be a gate that kept the Jews apart from the other citizens. We also found out that Italy has the oldest Jewish population besides Jerusalem.

We found out more about the ruins we had stumbled upon on our quest for dinner and that it was once a theater. It was also dedicated to Octavia, Marc Antony's Wife and Caesar's sister. Right by that was what used to be a theater that actually served as a model for the Colosseum. There was the remnants of Apollo's temple as well as medieval houses too. It is so interesting how there are layers to the city. The street level is from one period, and down below you find ancient ruins, and on top of buildings are houses and buildings put up at different points. All I kept thinking on this tour was how lucky I am to be here in Rome. We stopped at the Capitol Hill which basically separates old Rome from new Rome and it had a very interesting museum there too. One museum is actually having a Vincent Van Gogh exhibit. From that point we moved on to see the Roman Forum and eventually the Colosseum!

Quick Tip: if you ever get to Rome, don't take a picture with the people dressed as gladiators because you will get charged 5 euros. I must say, coming up to the Colosseum and standing next to where democracy was born was breathtaking. All along the way we kept seeing the letters SPQR engraved in columns and on sewage covers. It stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus which means The Senate and People of Rome. It is the official signature or emblem of Rome, so I am going to try to take pictures of everywhere I see it.

After having walked all that way, we then had to rush back to go on our bus tour. It wasn't really much of a bus tour as it was a get on the bus and then walk some more tour haha. But honestly, despite my legs screaming at me, I am extremely glad that I went on the tour, it was so worth it. We went up to the Vatican and went into St. Peter's Basilica. They still also have their Christmas tree and nativity scene set up. Unfortunately my camera died half way through, but I was able to snap a few pictures. Walking into the St. Peter's brought tears to my eyes because it was so beautiful. All of the marble and mosaics were so ornate and intricate. Apparently you can hike up to the top of St. Peter's dome for 5 euros, and my roommates and I plan to do so. I also found it interesting that Swiss guards are the ones who protect the Pope and the Vatican.

After leaving the Vatican we got on the bus and went to one of the 5 catacombs that are open to the public. We went into the first two levels of the catacombs. Apparently many martyrs and Popes were actually buried there along with other Christians dating back to the 5th century. The catacomb was actually ransacked when Rome was sacked. In response to that, the Catholic Church has collected the bones of Popes and martyrs and now keeps them at the Vatican. The other bones were collected and moved to another part of the catacomb that was sealed off in the 9th century. It was amazing to see the various frescoes of different tombs and what marble plates are still left. The area above the catacombs was beautiful and green with many Cyprus tress and orange and olive trees. We were exhausted by the end of everything, but if I keep doing all this walking, my legs and butt are going to be in excellent shape! There's a reason why Italian women can eat all those carbs and still look great.

The Amazing Race

We had a later start on Saturday considering our festivities of the night before. But Taryn, Sarah L., and I dragged our butts out of bed and headed towards the Tiber campus for our scavenger hunt across Rome. The group was split into three teams and the winners were going to win a free trip to Sienna. Needless to say the three of us had our game faces on. Our tasks were to get to different parts of the city and to take a picture as a group at the different locations. The first group back would win. Unfortunately we had a bigger group and our student guide disappeared when the other groups started, so we got a late start. But we were able to see a lot of interesting sites along the way such as the Spanish Steps (where there was a lady modeling a wedding gown), the Pantheon (unfortunately had construction), Circus Maximus, the major shopping district with name brands, and we even saw some of the buildings that a private sect of the Catholic Church owns. We also got our first experience riding the tram and the metro. We were definitely the last group back however, and what was disappointing was that those in charge didn't wait for us. All the groups were supposed to get prizes but no one was there to check us in. However, we saw a lot of great sites and I completely felt like I was on The Amazing Race, so that in itself was worth it.

We got back pretty late and made some dinner for ourselves. Later we met up with the guys again at this American Irish Pub called Scholars to watch the Ravens and the Steelers play. The guys had saved us all seats at the best tables in the place, and with some drinks, the game, and lots of American music and some Italian techno, we had another successful night out. 

The Mood of Rome

On Friday we ventured out to find the large grocery store that we heard about. We ended up passing the street we needed to turn down because it was called Guiseppe at the one spot and then turned into the other name. We found an ATM that didn't charge me any fees, so needless to say, I'll be going back to that one. If someone hadn't told us what the grocery store looked like, we would have never found it. It was literally a clothing store that we walked into and then the next floor down was the grocery store. A helpful tip when going to the store is to bring extra bags with you, thankfully my roommates suggested that before we left. On our way back we experienced our first taste of the forwardness of Italian men. As two passed by we were greeted with "Very nice. Sexxy." haha It's normal and girls are told just to ignore it, the guys won't be offended.
For dinner our apartment met up with a group of guys who go to John Cabot and we went searching for a place to eat. Without realizing it, we ended up in the Jewish Ghetto of WWII and we walked past some ancient ruins that were actually a circus made by Julius Caesar. We ended up at a restaurant called the Cornucopia. It was a really pretty place and I had the best lasagna and red wine ever! The waitresses here were also amused with our attempts at speaking Italian. It was a fun time making some new friends and we headed back to our apartments to get ready to go out.
Friday night, Trastevere comes to life. Cars and vespas are double and triple parked on the main road. The streets are filled with young people walking to and from bars and mingling in the streets. All the little cafes and bars are crowded and shine light into the streets. There are even some Christmas lights still hanging across the streets and small alleyways. It isn't illegal here to walk around with open liquor so everyone was ambling along with their drinks. We wandered through this fun atmosphere before deciding to walk across the river to a club that the boys had been to the night before. It was quite the hike but we went by the cat sanctuary where the strays are kept and cared for. It is also the place where Caesar was stabbed. But finally we found the place, obvious because of the blue light coming from the doorway. We had come to Club Mood.
This place had a great energy and was the place to be! It was downstairs and had tons of people dancing and different sections of couches for sitting and a bar. I was pleasantly surprised at how tall the Italian men were! As I mentioned before Italian men are very forward and are not afraid to ask you to dance or even to just cut in. One little Italian man in the blue shirt just did not get the hint that we didn't want to dance with him. Even after our guys made a circle around us, he kept dancing next to us trying to cut in. The guys we were with were very protective of us gals and helped us out quite a few times. Overall it was one of my best memories so far! Eventually our group was the center of attention of the dance floor. I'm pretty sure it's because Italian women don't really dance like we do or they were more content sitting on the couches. Or maybe we just stood out as being really American, whatever the reason it was, we had a blast dancing for over three hours! Needless to say we were exhausted when we all finally headed back to our apartments, and the guys were sweethearts walking us back.

Roma Day 2

Today was filled with endless orientation tasks: a permit to stay, getting a cell phone, different meetings, etc. However, I was able to see the other campus which is across from the Tiber River. After the day being consumed by most of these activities my roommates and I came back to the apartment to find that our last roommate Sarah I. had arrived! Coincidentally the two Sarah's share a room. All together we went out in search of a grocery store. We crossed the river and wandered around soaking in the beautiful buildings and the different piazzas we came across. We even found large bathtub looking fountains and a group of tourist nuns. We found a very small store and were able to get a few things for the apartment. We were also on the hunt for an atm but of course the only one we found was out of order. So we decided to eat at this small pizzeria outside in the square of Campo de' Fiori where they were selling fresh flowers. The wait staff loved us and our attempts to speak Italian and even wanted to be a part of the picture. The pizza here is very thin but extremely large and delicious. After this lovely night out we returned to the apartment to finish unpacking and settling in.

On a plane and in a bus to my Roman apartment we go

So my adventure began at the airport at O'hare and thankfully we were able to get out despite the snow. It was a pretty long flight, about 9 and half hours, but the on board movie and my chatty neighbor Greg made the time go by quite fast. When we flew into Fiumicino airport we got off the plane by walking down a staircase on to the tarmac just like you see in the movies! While it took a while, we passed through the passport line with ease, and got my first stamp in my passport.

It took quite some time for our luggage to come and unfortunately mine was all wet and so were my clothes. Thankfully it wasn't anything a drying rack couldn't cure. I'm sure all of us girls were quite a sight lugging our two pieces of luggage through the airport, especially when we couldn't get out of the elevator! We had a check in and after a lot of waiting we were being shuttled to the Gianicolo Residence. Let me tell you, if you think you've seen crazy drivers, you haven't seen anything until you've come to Rome. They don't like to stay in the lines, stop signs are definitely suggestions, and they don't stop for pedestrians. We almost hit a bus head on and barely missed a guy on a vespa. Needless to say, I won't be driving here anytime soon!

I was able to go up to my apartment and I was amazed at how beautiful the residence was! I found out upon entering that I share an apartment with 4 other girls, we have two bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room/dining room. We have a beautiful view from our windows looking up at the Gianicolo hill and other buildings. Right away we had a quick orientation thing at the Guarini campus and after that I had a little pizza sandwich thing which was delicious. The rest of the night was spent unpacking, meeting most of my roommates Sarah L., Taryn (we share a room), and Uliana. We met some other girls and had a nice time chatting and drinking some wonderful Italian wine. I somehow managed to stay up the whole time and was glad to get to bed to try to defeat the jet lag.