Summer's Still Going Strong

Whew! These past two days have been AMAZING! As mentioned before it is hot and humid in Roma, today was 92F! So yesterday IES planned a trip for the whole group to Lago di Martignano which is about 30 miles NE of Rome. We took big old buses (air conditioned and with tray tables lol) but when we were way out in the countryside we all stopped except one bus went up a big hill ahead of us..... because it was barely small enough to make it between the muddy cliffs that lined the road on a twisty killer steep hill that was of course only one way and had zero visibility!! Those crazy skillful Italian drivers! Once there we were free to spread out on the beach (which was just a large grassy field by the lake) and eat the lunches they gave us. For lunch everyone had two sandwiches and apple and water... except many of the sandwiches were disgusting or strange: tons of mushrooms and a tiny sliver of cheese, sardines and eggplant, half of a hotdog in a giant bun/roll. I think mine was a frittata?? which was ok, my second was a tomato/moz/basil sandwich, I wish I had looked sooner!! I couldn't finish both but I did grab an ice cream treat at the bar on the shore. My friends and I laid out and tanned/napped, people watched, they all went out in the paddleboats or sailboat that IES provided for us but I was more shore bound or in the water.

 ~BEST PART~  While in the water cooling off a little girl was swimming near us so of course we were so cool and tried talking to her in Italian "Ciao bella, come ti chiama?" Her name is Lola and we then spent almost the entire afternoon with her splashing in the water and chatting in Italian or on the shore looking at her silly bands and necklace. She spoke clearly and slowly which was perfect for us and she was so excited to review parts of the body with us! She was only 5 and on vacation with her father who we met. He is originally from Germany and speaks very good English but once we starting talking to him in English Lola became very shy because she couldn't understand what we were saying.She was adorable and we had so much fun talking when we truly had to use solo italiano.

Sophia, Lola, Kat, Sarah

After a day in the sun and long bus trips we all came home and settled in, showered, napped, etc. and made a fabulous dinner for ourselves: couscous with basil, lemon juice, and olives with some GIANT salads filled with veggies and that yummy garlic/salt/oil bread again. Our ISC Nicoletta is in the middle of her final exams including her oral defenses and such plus she has two jobs on top of living with us. She is a waitress in a teeny restaurante and a DJ on the radio haha she is so cool. Sadly this means we don't see her too much because she is either studying or working and will sometimes sleep at her home instead of coming all the way back to our apartment at like 2am. So last night was chill for three of us, after dinner we watched a movie (La Vita E Dolce) until our eyes couldn't stay open and we called it quits. Two of my roomies surprised us by making espresso (all coffee is espresso here) at 11:30 so they went out for the night and had adventures with some English speaking Portuguese men. I ended up skyping a little bit before bed.

TODAY:  Saturday, can you believe it gets better??

My roomies and I and maybe 12 other students signed up to go to Spiaggia d'Ostia with another ISC, actually a good friend of Nico our ISC. So we took a bus to the edge of Rome then grabbed a 30min train ride then another short bus ride out to the coast. It was fabulous. This is Kat my roomie looking gorgeous.

It's hard to believe this was the gross touristy beach. It wasn't too crowded, I got a lunch and drink for 5 euro, 1 euro tickets to and from (buses and trains run on the same ticket if you are making connections), the water was warm and fun and salty delicious. We had an amazing time, some of our guy friends (including a Wooster boy) were also on the trip and we made better friends with other people. It was a blast! Every time the sand got too hot we jumped in the water. Between the two days of fun in the sun I am a little rosy :)   oops! My chest, shoulders, and face got a bit too much sun but that's not so bad. It's hard to find sunscreen so we were all borrowing from those who packed it or bought teeny tiny bottles. Now we are rehydrating and resting before another fun adventure in the kitchen to feed ourselves. Tonight IES students are talking about attending a reggae concert/bar (not a coffee bar this time) so we'll see where the night takes us!  Thanks for bothering to read these loooong stories it's partly for your enjoyment so my friends/family can keep track of my life but also a helpful way to remember all the fun I've had when this crazy time in my life is over. I'm looking forward to being home in Dec but am having a great time abroad, what I'm really looking forward to is some fall weather.... summer lasts forever on the Mediterranean.





*EDIT*
So I didn't even mention that on Friday night I met up with friends at the Spanish steps for a relaxing night of conversation. This my favorite picture from the trip so far