Doing as the Romans do...

“When asked about personal growth, 97 percent said studying abroad served as a catalyst for increased maturity, 96 percent reported increased self-confidence, 89 percent said that it enabled them to tolerate ambiguity, and 95 percent stated that it has had a lasting impact on their world view.” - World Study Abroad Survey

Thanks to the people that helped me get through it when it was rough <3 

I cannot believe it. I’ve been away from the US for a month and a half now. Time is the weirdest thing ever here, I feel like UMass is an ancient memory and sometimes like NY doesn’t really exist. I haven’t been home in NY for more than 4 days since January, it’s crazy. But at the same time, I have no idea how 41 days have already passed here, each week seems short but each day seems long. It makes no sense I know. 

As you all know, I am leaving here Wednesday, the 29th, and will go back in time and arrive to JFK at 6:10 pm. It’s definitely bittersweet because I feel as if this time here could have been better if it was more of what I expected and with a group larger than four. I know I will want to study abroad again though, because even with the circumstances, I made the most of my trip and saw everything I wanted to. Yea, study abroad again if I ever make back my museum, pizza, panini, cappuccino, and gelato money! 

In the past few days, I’ve really had to get into project mode, not even to mention, I haven’t started any actual studying. I did however, get to see Rome Tre University yesterday with the interns, Flavia and Alessandra, they go there. It was cool to see a Roman college, and it was set up sort of like a high school in FL or CA where everything is a separate outside building, expect it was really spread out. We ate lunch in the cafeteria and it was a great experiance although with the stares I recieved, I felt a little bit like I was in the movie Mean Girls. The food was pretty typical cafeteria food, thank goodness UMass saved me from experiencing that type of college food! 

Then this morning, me and Judy finally got to see St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. I’m so glad we saved it for last. We got up to get there right when it opened, at 8am, and it was great because since you must wear sleeves and pants, going out when it was only 75 and no line was better than 88 and a 3 hour line! The 551 stairs to the top were as promised, tiny, cramped, and creepy. Some were crooked, the walls were uneven, and some were the tiniest sprials with nothing but a rope in the middle to hold you up. After the trecherous walk up, we got the best view of Rome that you see in photos, we even spotted the Pantheon and our street from the top. 

So as promised, I will now make a list about things I miss from the US. IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER :) 

- UMass and my biotap family (will restrain myself from making half of this list about these amazing people and this amazing place.) 

- the UMass rec center, yes it deserved it’s own spot, I haven’t excersised since I was there because I didn’t bring sneakers here, hey it’s hot anyway! but yea that place really made it fun to stay in shape

- my friends from home, i haven’t really seen you guys in such a long time, and I cannot wait to have an amazing summer with you filled with beach visits, city trips, and chick flicks 

- the city and the beach <3

- my mom’s cooking, italian food was great sure, but I miss this sooo much

- my family and extended family, I can’t wait to see everyone! <3

- my bed, my house, my PHONE (ok people, you know me, so surprising that I survived i know) 

- a guaranteed hot shower and a washing machine that works, plus a dryer, period

- time to relax! i went from finals week at umass, to here! let’s stop the hw and papers! 

- chinese food, bagels, iced tea, not food shopping :D 

will post pictures later, check back at least once also in the next few days also for at LEAST one more blog entry, where did the time go?!!?!? 

So Monday after class, I decided to walk around by Piazza Navonna and go to the Campo Di Fiori Market. At the market, I bought two of those silly maps of Italy cloth poster things for Mr. Bruno, one showed cheese, the other, bread. I think he might have one of them but they were so cheap so I got 2 to be safe. I also got green beans, tomatoes, and garlic. I used them for dinner that night with fresh gnocchi from the store also, yummyyy! I also went to the bookstore, I’d been there twice before, but I finally bought something: Harry Potter e i doni della morte. Yes everyone, that’s Harry Potter 7 in Italian. I heard that reading a book in another language is a perfect way to strengthen vocabulary and why not read something I know the story of! I read the first few pages and there’s about two words in every paragraph that I can’t understand. If I read it with a dictionary next to me, I’ll learn tons of new words! I also read on the internet that there’s a Harry Potter challenge, for people learning languages. It consists of reading each of the Harry Potter books in another language, I think I’ll save that for later in life. 

Yesterday, I had class and then at night, we had dinner at the director, Sonia’s house. She lives in a cool part of Rome called Monti, right near the Colosseo. We arrived a little before nine and left at 11:30. Her house was really cool, it reminded me of what a flat might look like in SoHo NYC. She had lots of cool posters an decorations from Urban Outfitters and the playlist for dinner was something straight from that store ahah.  We had a special type of bread she makes from the north of Italy where she’s from, and some antipasto. Next, we had mixed roasted veggies, like eggplants, onions, zucchini, and potatoes. After that, was Carbonara, she claims it’s the easiest pasta to make, I didn’t know that. For dessert, her interns had prepared tiramisu using ricotta instead of marscapone, it was so good, Dad I got the recipe!  : ) After dinner, we took the two metro lines back home. It’s beginning to feel like when we navigate around our home cities, we barely even have to think anymore! 

Today I had my two classes. In food and culture, we learned a lot about the European Union and the beginning of such food policies like labeling and controlling food sources. It was a very interesting lecture and the teacher compared, but mostly contrasted, the EU’s policies with the US. It’s scary how much we don’t really regulate where and how our food gets to our tables! Now, and probably for the rest of my seven days, I must do my research project : ( What a sad way to end the trip haha. But since there is only ONE WEEK left from today, I decided I’d add something fun to this post:

Things I will miss when I am back in NY in 7 days:

- a cappucino everyday with my cornetto and nutella

- gelato (ahhh this will be hard) 

- living in a really nice area in a beautiful city

- being able to practice another language everyday

- hearing 15 different languages being spoken just on my walk to school

- my walk to classes consisting of walking across one of the most famous bridges in Rome, and right past the Vatican

- being forced to be completely independent, perhaps! 

- panini’s and italian pizza ….sooo yummy (wow so much food on this list) 

- the people I met here

- the fact that almost every building, and certainly every monument, ruin, and church, is amazing to look at 

- the little winding cobblestone streets

- the constant sunny 83 degree days

- did I mention nutella and gelato?!  :D 

Clearly there’s a lot more things, that’s just what I came up with in the last 5 minutes. Check back in 3 or 4 days for a list of what I miss most from the US! Time to go research! A presto! 

Let’s try this post again… after writing the longest post I have thus far, I deleted it. Oops. 

 So yesterday at about 4pm me and Judy returned from Florence. On Friday, we left right after class at 12:15 to run to our 1:15 train. We made it with about 10 minutes to spare and found our seats quickly on the train. The Eurostar was very nice! Each set of four seats faced each other and had a table in the middle, me and Judy had the two window seats and no one ended up sitting next to us. The ride was a quick hour and a half and the whole time there was a great view of rolling hillsides, hundreds of rows of olive trees and vineyards, and cute little hillside towns. Once in Florence, we walked to our hotel to drop off our bag with our clothes in it. As soon as we exited the train station, I noticed the city was nothing like Rome. First of all, it seemed quieter, sure there were people on the streets but it was different. Also, it was so much smaller, walking from one end of the city to the other took about 20 minutes when we did it that night. As we walked the quick 10 minute walk to our hotel, we came across the Duomo. It was the craziest looking building I have ever seen, it was made of white marble with gold, green, and maroon accents. It was hard to look at just one small part of it because each inch of it was so detailed with moldings, statues, and paintings. Judy described it perfectly as “the magical fairytale building”. Once we stopped staring we found our hotel that was just two small streets away. It was called “Albergo Firenze”. It used to be used for study abroad dorms and still when we were there, seemed to be housing mostly people our age. Our room (number 318 <3 miss you dickinson 318 and erica) was simple with two small beds and a nice little bathroom. I was excited that I’d probably get a hot shower in the morning because here in Rome, that has only happened about 5 times, I always shower last because I’m last awake on weekdays! 

We left the hotel and headed straight for the David by Michelangelo which is in the Galleria Academia. We waited on line for about 45 minutes and saw lots of paintings first. Then we turned the corner and there it was, it was amazing. We were so excited to actually be up close to it and able to see how large, perfect, smooth, and white it actually was. We stared at it for about 20 minutes and I though it was interesting that they have small fiber optic sensors on places they think might be cracking. Also, they monitor levels of movement and watch for earthquakes, although I’m not sure what they would do if there was one! We saw more paintings and sculptures after that, and then went back to stare at the David some more. We even managed to sneak a few pictures even though you’re not allowed! We finally got out of that museum around 6pm and nothing else was open. Good thing we were staying over! We walked around and made our way to the Ponte Vecchio, also known as the “jewelry bridge”. It is a bridge across the Arno River literally lined with jewelry shops, definitely one of the shiniest and flashiest streets I’ve ever walked on! After that, we wandered around and just enjoyed the little shops, streets, and scenery. We then eventually made our way to dinner at Il Latini, a place Chelsea told me I HAD to go to! 

Dinner lived up the the expectations I had from reading reviews. The ceilings were lined with hams that were curing for prosciutto and they were constantly being taken down and sliced for ever table. The things about the restaurant you must know are that they sit you with random people and that they try not to let you order off their menu. At our table, we met two older women named Lynn and Deb from Texas. We ended up speaking to them the whole time! The waiter asked if we wanted antipasto, we said yes. First was the fresh prosciutto with melon, I don’t like ham but it was good! Then there was a cold salad of barley, tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers. Next was pieces of toast with chicken liver pate, I tried it, but it tasted like dirt to me. We ended up getting a menu from the ladies and ordered roast chicken for me, and roast pork for Judy. The waited seemed distressed we got our hands on a menu but I was glad when there were things like pigeon and lamb on the menu. It was soooo good, it was glazed and cooked well. After that, they gave us dessert that I asked to NOT have, so luckily they took it back. After dinner, we just walked back to the hotel after getting fruit popsicles at a fresh fruit place. They were soooo good ! 

The next morning we got up at about 7:30, ate breakfast at the hotel, and left for the day. We first went to the Uffizi Gallery and waited on line for over an hour even though we got there right when it opened. The gallery was filled with famous paintings and sculptures by artists like Michelangelo and Rafael. It was cool to be able to tell which paintings were most famous because they were behind glass. The tour groups were so annoying though, every famous painting would be blocked by a group listening to their guide about it, move to the side people! After that Gallery, we planned on going inside the Duomo Cathedral but the line looked to be about two hours long! Instead, we admired it from the outside again. We ventured to find some lunch, and even walked past the place “O Vesuvio Pizza”, which was right behind our hotel and where the Jersey Shore cast worked. Guess what, they left yesterday to go back to the US, so close yet so far haha. There was still a line out the door however! We did some shopping, including at Lush : ) then got lunch and headed back to the station. 

Florence was amazing, I wish I got to stay there longer. I think if I return here, I would want it to be to there. It was much easier to handle even though I’ve got Rome down pretty well now. It would be wrong to say it was more laid back than here, because it’s Italy, everyone is layed back! But there was definitely just something about the city that made me feel more like I was meant to be there, kinda strange! 

Wow, can you guys believe it? I have only 10 days left here which means this is my last full week of classes. I feel like once I’m home, I will feel like this didn’t actually happen, like I was just daydreaming about being here, time is strange here, it seems like forever and nothing all at the same time. Here’s the schedule until I depart in case you’re wondering how I’ll spend the rest of my time here! 

Monday: Food and Culture class 9-10:45, Italian 10:45-12:15

Tuesday: Italian 10:45-12:15, (walk around by the school by myself, shop, look around), Dinner at Sonia’s 8pm 

Wednesday: Food and Culture class 9-10:45, Italian 10:45-12:15, Aperitivo with Professor 7pm 

Thursday: Food and Culture class 9-10:45, Italian 10:45-12:15

Friday: Italian 10:45-12:15 (shop for some gifts? sorry family, you’re too big to buy for :(  ) 

Saturday: studying and projects ( St. Peter’s one of these two days) 

Sunday: studying and projects 

Monday: Food and Culture final long answers 9-10:45, Italian 10:45-12:15

Tuesday: Italian Final 10:45-12:15, Food and Culture Project Presentation 2-5 pm, Farewell dinner at 7pm

Wednesday: FLIGHT HOME TO JFK LEAVES HERE AT 2:40 pm (with sal actually!) , back in NY at 6:10 pm! 

The project is still going to take a lot of work, we only have the research and observations, so that last weekend is probably just going to be filled with studying and typing a paper! It’s okay though, I’ve had a great time here so far, and I’m ready to spend the last week and a half really making sure I’ve seen everything I wanted to, eaten as much gelato as I could, and enjoyed living here. The weather is a steady 83-85 degrees and sunny for the rest of the trip!  : ) Buon giorno tutti, ci vediamo presto! 

Hello all, you might be wondering where I’ve been for the past few days, but I haven’t really been anywhere but here! Only went out really one day for a few hours with my friend Molly from U of I before she and her family left Rome. We saw three churches: Santa Maria Maggiore, Basilica Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, and Capuchin Church of the Immaculate Conception. The first two churches were giant and ornate, I didn’t realize that almost every church here in Rome is just as fancy as the other. Every inch of ceiling and walls was covered either in artwork or in gold and marble moldings and decorations. The third church was the weirdest and creepiest thing I have ever seen. In the 1600’s, Capuchin monks decorated this church entirely with bones and skeletons of up to 4000 individual monk remains. Unfortunately, you cannot take pictures in this six room crypt but I will attach some from the internet. I had fun looking at the bones and being able to recognize some, I was only creeped out a little in one room that had standing monk remains, not just the bones. After the churches, we walked past the Trevi and I finally saw it during the day but there was still just as many people there! Besides that, I haven’t really eaten or seen anything special recently, we’ve just been sitting around and working on our project, collecting data and doing interviews. 

Yesterday, we had our last planned activity besides class which was an ancient Roman dinner. We got to watch how to make recipes like fish garum (anchovy paste), meatballs with pork and lamb, and a barley soup. It really didn’t taste like much but it was a cool experiance and we had to use our hands to eat and ate only by candelight. Also, the dessert was great, it was a simply cake with apples drizzled in honey. I think I like modern Roman cooking better though!! 

However, this boring week will change soon because tomorrow after class, me and Judy are going to Firenze! Yes, Florence! I’ve been waiting to go probably since I knew what Italy was, and the best part is, my mom paid for a hotel for the night for us. We are going to go to some museums, see the doors of paradise, the Statue of David, the Ponte Vecchio, and probably many more things! I will have tons of pictures after this trip I’m sure and I will have a more exciting post for you! Only about 2 weeks left from yesterday so I must make sure I see the last few things I wanted to see here, also, finals are going to be a lot of work. I’ll write again soon!