Second Week of Classes

The second week of classes went really well. I'm really enjoying most them. My Italian teacher is the funniest woman ever, and is just so cheerful all of the time. Italian is becoming one of my favorite classes. She is also from Florence, so we always hear how wonderful it is there, which is making me excited for our trip to Florence this weekend. My Italian Cinema class has also proven to be quite interesting as well. I don't know anything about Italian Cinema so I can't wait for all of the movies that we are going to watch. Right now we are looking at neorealism. For my on site course, we went to the Capitoline Hill which was designed by Michelangelo. It separates the old center of Rome from the new. We also got the opportunity to go into the museums which had some really interesting sculptures and frescoes. I got to see the original wolf statue, which is an iconic symbol for Rome referring back to it's founders Romus and his twin brother Remulus who are said to have been raised by a wolf. 

We had our train early Friday morning that would be taking us to Florence so going out was definitely not an option. However, we wanted to hang out with some of our guy friends so we invited them over for a little dinner party, which ended up being a blast of course. The boys brought over most of the food, and Tony played the role of Mr. Cook for the evening. Sarah L. and I lent our helping hands. We ended making a feast of breaded chicken breasts, a tomato and zucchini side dish, spaghetti and sauce, as well as a big ‘ole salad. With some very good wine from Rome and with some good company we all sat down and enjoyed our dinner at the dining room table. We ended up playing a card game that is new to me, and I was the president in the first round with some serious beginner’s luck! For whatever reason, I didn’t end up going to bed until around 2 or 3 in the morning and had to wake up only three hours later, but it was worth it and I had a four-hour train ride to sleep on. 

Bargain Shopping

Sunday morning we woke up early to go find the flea market that we had heard about that is in Porta Portese. Basically it is a straight shot down the Tiber River. The Sarha’s, Taryn, and I all headed there for the morning. It reminds me of Rice’s outdoor market in Pennsylvania that I often go to when I visit my family out there. They had everything from boots, to scarfs, to jewelry, and even bras and underwear. It was such a fun time, despite how cold it was! I bought myself a pashmina scarf, which comes from India I believe, because I lost my cream scarf at the club. I was also able to find a cute pair of black boots for only 10 euro! They were great deals and it was just a fun experience going from vendor to vendor and trying to haggle. I know I’ll definitely be coming back here on another Sunday (especially since it is only open on Sundays). That night we decided that we had to get some gelato again and we went to this place not far from the Pantheon called the Gioleteria. My oh my did they have an assortment of flavors, and what I got was absolutely amazing! I ordered raspberry with this type of caramel flavor, and they put fresh whipped crème on top! I love this country. 

Not Quite Coyote Ugly

 I met this really cool guy in my Italian class this week, named Jared. We decided to get together and to have a dinner party at his apartment tonight, which is up by the Vatican. So the Sarah's, Taryn, and I whipped up some bruschetta and bought some wine and made our way to his apartment. We had to walk through this extremely large tunnel and pretty close to where the Vatican is. We finally made it to where his apartment was and went up to the sixth floor. There we met his two other roommates, Jack and Mike. Jared had made an awesome dinner all by himself, obviously being the chef of his apartment. He had a great time chatting and then decided to show them our apartment too and to go out. We came back to the residence and had our first experience with having to check in our guests. You have to check in guests here and they have to leave by 11:30. They keep their ID's so they know whether or not you have indeed checked them out. So we made sure that we were out on time and headed to Testaccio, which is one of the club districts in Rome. All seven of us squeezed in a cab to get there, it was quite a sight. We went to this club called Coyote, and again got in for free. Unfortunately it wasn't like Coyote Ugly, but it still had a pretty sweet name. The place was pretty chill at first but then after a while as it got later, the energy definitely picked up. There were crazy lights and there must have been a fog machine too and we all had a blast! We actually ran into the other guys’ roommate, David, who I had actually talked to a bit on the Facebook group before we came. So it was great to meet him in person! We also met his friend who is an Italian policeman who does some sort of secret police business. Some of the girls were ready to head home, so we grabbed a cab and were on our way. 

Some Catching Up to do

Ciao everyone! Yes, I am FINALLY updating my blog. I apologize for the delay, but things happens here and there and before you know it you are extremely behind! I've never been the best daily journaler, but I swear I'm working on it. So since there is so much catching up to do with all of my adventures, I'm going to try to post a few stories each day so as not to overwhelm you with too much at once. I have already been here for over a month, which is absolutely insane, and so much has happened! So if you are looking for a good read for the next few days, you've found definitely found it. We are going to pick up where we left off with my second weekend in Rome.