Julie in Rome: Better Late than Never!

Hi everyone!

So, despite the fact that I have been here for close to two months, I finally decided to start a blog. Thankfully I get my memory from my mom, and not my dad (sorry Dad)! I guess I have quite a bit to catch up on so here goes nothing!

Rome is beautiful! I arrived on January 10th, 2012, but I feel like I have been here forever. My apartment is two metro stops away from the main train station, Termini, which makes getting places pretty easy for the most part. The area we are in is called Piazza Bologna. It is definitely more of a residential area than a tourist area, so I feel like I am living the true Italian lifestyle. My apartment is a 6 minute walk from the CEA "Global Campus", which is where all of my classes are. I am taking Photography, Italian, Business Ethics, International Marketing and Theology. All of my teachers are very laid back and flexible, which is a nice break from what I am used to at PC. My program is very small (about 70 kids) but they are all very nice and friendly.

The first week we had orientation, and it was a blur. Everyone was very overwhelmed and jet-lagged, so sitting through presentations was preeettyy tough. On Thursday, we had a welcome lunch in Mussolini's old summer home. The lunch was advertised as "light". When the waiters brought out plates of mozzarella balls and prosciutto, we all ate healthy portions, thinking that was it. We were very, very, VERY wrong. After two more rounds of appetizers, a round of pizza, a round of pasta and dessert to top it off, we realized that despite how skinny Italians are, they can absolutely put away food. I don't know where they hide it! Needless to say, the Flat Belly Diet isn't exactly going to fly over here, but I can't say I'm upset about it. Friday of orientation, our program scheduled a 3 hour walking tour of Rome. We all strapped on our walkie talkies and earbuds and took on the main sights. We saw the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Hadrian's Temple, Spanish Steps and Piazza Navona. Piazza Navona was my favorite, and it is where the Bernini Four Rivers fountain is that where (SPOILER ALERT) one of the Preferati is almost drowned in the book/movie Angels and Demons. One fun fact that we learned from our tour guide is that the fountain is so shallow it would be nearly impossible to actually drown in it. Once orientation was over, I felt like I had a much better feel for how to get around in Rome. As big and overwhelming as it may seem, it is really not that bad, and the public transportation (while not always reliable) is everywhere.

On Thursday, Andy Steeves, son of the famous Rick Steeves, came to talk to us about traveling and such. That night he was hosting a quick tour of Rome, ending at a popular student restaurant, Mikki’s. The fixed menu is 15 euros for bruschetta, two pasta dishes, pizza and dessert. OH, and UNLIMITED wine. Quite the deal. With the dessert, the waiters popped a bottle of Fragolino, or strawberry wine, better known as “sexy wine”. This is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. I will absolutely bring multiple bottles home so everyone can try it.

Also during orientation, one of the CEA staff took us to the nearest grocery store. The grocery stores are very different here, so it was an eye opening experience. Eggs are not refrigerated, you have to pay for bags, and you can’t go in the self-checkout if you have more than 10 items (learned that one the hard way). Everything is in Italian. The food here has no preservatives, so there are no canned vegetables or anything like that. All fresh stuff, so it is delicious!

Classes started on Monday, January 16th. We never have classes on Fridays, which is great for traveling purposes. I have Italian Mon-Thurs at 10am, which, if anyone knows my tendency to sleep in, isn't that easy. Thankfully the teacher is Italian, so 10am for him is actually 1015. So far, I don't think the classes here will be much of an issue. Most of the teachers understand that nothing they can teach in a classroom will stay with us as long as the experiences we have exploring Europe.

During the first week of classes, some of us took advantage of a beautiful afternoon and went to the Colosseum. No picture can ever capture the pure enormity of it. The thing is HUGE. We got a guided tour, and our tour guide, Victor, was very smart and enthusiastic. The coolest thing to me was thinking about the fact that old Roman Emperors stood on those exact stones thousands of years ago.

The weekend after the first week of classes, my program had an included overnight trip to Florence and Tuscany. The trip lasted from Friday to Saturday afternoon, but a bunch of us opted to stay on Saturday night so we could continue to explore. On Friday we went to San Gimignano, which is a medieval town just an hour or two outside of Florence. The funny thing about towns like this is that people always ask what there is to do or see, but the main attraction to such towns is the town itself. The quaint streets and alleyways are unlike anything I have ever seen in the United States. We walked around and got lost for a few hours, just taking in the beauty of the Tuscan countryside. The views of the hills were incredible. We had a delicious lunch at a cute café, complete with a ciocolatta calda. Ciocolatta calda is Italian hot chocolate, and it seriously puts American hot chocolate. It is basically melted fudge. We got banana flavored, so it tasted like a chocolate covered banana. Delicious!! After exploring a little more, we headed back to the bus and we were off to Florence!

When we got to Florence, we checked into the hotel and had a great dinner. Once again, I ate too much pasta and didn’t have room for the additional 4 courses. We went back to our room and got ready, and we went downtown to a few bars. I realized very quickly that Florence is a MUCH smaller city than Rome, because the first person I saw when I walked into the bar was one of Ryan’s friends from UCONN. AND, the kid he was hanging out with was a friend of one of my roommates. Crazy. THEN we went to a different bar, and the first person I saw there was one of Laura’s good friends from PC. Such a small world.

The next morning, we got up bright and early for a walking tour of Florence. We saw the David, the Duomo, the Neptune statue, Ponte Vecchio, and a bunch of other sights in Florence that I can’t really remember (oops). A lot of people have said that the David is disappointing, but I thought it was spectacular. Just like the Colosseum, no picture can do it justice. After the tour, we were ready for lunch. We took the lovely Danica Lynch’s advice and found her favorite panini place, Salumeria Verdi, better know as Pino’s! A picture of Danica and some of her friends was hanging behind the cash register, right next to a picture of Pino’s family. I can’t honestly say I’m surprised. Anyway, Danica was right—the man makes a darn good panini. As soon as I said I knew “Deenica”, I got VIP treatment, and I was invited behind the counter to take a picture with Pino himself. Once we were sufficiently full, we went to the San Lorenzo leather markets. This place is DEADLY. Amazing quality leather, scarves, jewelry, etc. for unbeatable prices. I fell victim to the pashmina stands for the most part, but I did also get a thin silver belt.

After the markets, we went and checked into our hostel where we were staying since we opted to stay an extra night. The hostel was…not the cleanest. It was our first hostel experience, so it came as kind of a shock. On the bright side, there was a free sangria party on Saturday nights! After we checked in, Shannon, Meghan and I climbed to the top of the Duomo. We got to the top just as the sun was setting, and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. When we got back to the bottom, we rewarded ourselves with an iced coffee. Iced coffee is VERY hard to come by in Italy, so it was an extra special treat! We got dinner and headed out for the night!

The next morning, we were rushed out of the hostel at 9am, and we were all definitely ready to get back to Rome. We got a delicious American breakfast (eggs, French toast and hash browns) and another iced coffee, and headed to the train station.

I absolutely loved Florence. The whole feel of the city is so welcoming, and being able to walk everywhere is definitely a plus! I am glad it was my first big trip, but it set the bar high for the rest of my travels! I am so excited that I get to go back with my mom, Patti, and everyone else!

So, that’s it for now, but I promise I will try to get all caught up in the next three weeks! Also, this would have been more detailed, but it got deleted and I had to start from scratch, the worst. So the future ones will be better!