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

Weekend!

Today is Thursday which makes it the official last day of class for the week (not that we've been going to classes). IES gives us every Friday off for weekend trips or exploring Rome, the only exceptions are Field Studies with our classes. I have one trip with one of my art history classes and we'll be going down the Almalfi coast and visiting Pompeii!!! The art nerd inside of me is freaking out a little. That'll be mid-September.  We've gone over all our classes, though I still will meet with an advisor to review my individual choices with her, and I've been placed in my intensive Italian class for next week's suuuuper long Italian classes. Sadly it's a little lower than I was expecting but I was on the cusp so my instructor said I could ask to be moved up a level if I find the work too simple. We've been through lots of pointless orientation sessions, probably about only half of these big meeting/presentations are useful or informative [for the 90% who read the massive texts they sent home].

Today I officially received permission to stay in Roma! Not only do we need a passport and a visa but once here we need Permesso di Soggornio to live here since we don't belong to the EU. I had to go to the copy shop down the street for a couple extra copies [besides being stupid and walking in when they were closed for their lunch/siesta hour] it was really successful. I told them what I wanted and went the cashier to pay and asked how much it all was etc felt pretty proud. I'm getting the hang of this.

OH MY GOD! Big news! So last night the roomies and I went to Piazza Navona because one of my roomies knows a ridiculous amount about architecture in Rome! She's wonderful :)  so first we took a bunch of side streets looking for a restaurants when lo and behold I saw a bumper sticker on the chalk board outside a bar that said "Steelers Nation".... my reaction? "OMG OMG STOP GUYS I HAVE TO GO IN!!!" haha yeah. So I took a peek inside to see Steelers, Penguins, Pitt jerseys everywhere!! Pennant flags from Edinboro (sup Kleebs?!) and Pitt. It was beautifully decorated in my opinion. There was someone there with a yinzer accent and the owner is from the North Side. It made my night. So the other girl from the Pgh area and I will be going to watch some games. Hopefully the early afternoon ones cause that'll be much better than starting games at like midnight. I'M SO HAPPY it'll be my little indulgence of US life.

After the excitement we went to dinner, only so-so but it's hard to mess up mozz and tomatoes on bread mmmm.  Then we got a personal tour of the piazza from my roomie and got some gelato. There is a small but to scale version of St. Peter's (with the bell towers still attached) in the Piazza which is the size of like two blocks, it was one guys personal church and now the city owns it I think. There were three fountains and in the center one was an obelisk, pillaged from Egypt and brought back to Rome. Very cool! It was a little touristy meaning lots of random people walking around trying to get your money shoving toys and flowers in your face. It makes me not too happy about going to even more touristy areas like the vatican and pantheon. Oh well thus is the price of living within walking distance of such amazing artifacts!   We ended the night at a bar even closer to home and split a bottle of wine before coming back and hitting the hay [I did sneak in a skype with Mama B though! family first].  Lake tomorrow with the whole program, beach on Saturday!! yay!

Not my picture but it gives you a good idea of the landmarks:

Here's a pic of my beautiful roommates (no ISC):

Ps. these posts will prob get shorter as I am busier or traveling more so enough them while they last

First Long Update

Ciao tutti!

Finally found a moment to rest and reflect. After a long (mostly sleepless) flight from Philly to Rome I was met at the airport by IES (my study abroad program) representatives. They organized the ten or so students who were all on the same flight and packed us into vans to be driven to our apartments or homestays. I've heard driving in Rome can be an adventure but MY it seemed like we have a lot of close calls!! Motorinos dodging in and out of traffic, lane lines are not acknowledged and stoplights are more like suggestions. I am located in the more historic, classical part of Rome not too far from il vaticano. We are very close to the center where we will have classes and where we are currently being "oriented". Most students live further away in Trastevere, but we walked there last night and it took maybe 20 min. My apartment is spacious and nice for IES (and Roman) standards. Since we are in a language pledge house, meaning we are to try and speak only Italian, we were given some of the better housing. Our ISC said she likes this apartment best out of her three years with IES, but the neighborhood is a little bit pricier. We have a kitchen, living room, tiny balcone (where we keep the washing machine), one large room that I share with two other girls, a single for our ISC, and a medium double room. The double has it's own shower and water closet and the rest of us share another bathroom. Two bathrooms and lots of living space!! It's amazing.

After the most amazing pesto lasagna with prociutto, cantalope, and garlic/olive oil/salt bread (sooooo delicious) for dinner thanks to my ISC, we Americans did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Then we all headed out to Trastevere to meet with several apartmentsworth of IES students. We went to "il bar"  literally the name of the bar, where we ordered Caffe con Amaro. First you must drink the teeny tiny cup of esspresso which scalds your mouth (I don't know how the Italians do it) then you sip on a small glass that is part amaro and part jager. It wasn't as good as promised and I didn't drink much of mine. There were maybe 30 or so IES students milling around outside and I met so many I can't keep all the names straight! But it made it more fun to go to orientation today already recognizing faces. I even met a kid whose mother has recently moved to Ithaca! Sadly there is only one other language apartment so most of these students have limited or no Italian skills :(  I've very happy I get to practice Italian in my apartment with my roommates and ISC.

I'm learning that while it is very hot all day and night, and my huuuuge floor to ceiling window in my room is wonderful for breezes..... all the traffic in the morning and late at night can make sleeping difficult. Oh well, by late Sept or Oct it might be cool enough to keep it closed.  Loving living in Europe so far! It's very different but that's the point!

More later

What time is it?? Is it still Tuesday??

I'm HERE!!! Very tired but now clean thanks to my awesome shower in my wonderfully spacious apartment; and full thanks to my amazing ISC (Italian Student Companion) who made walnut and cheese pasta for lunch. I've been on a quick trip to the grocery store which is at the end of my street, since it's a nicer neighborhood it's a little pricey but so convenient.  We've got 3 of 5 American students here and the last two should be arriving any minute! After introductions and a quick tour (takes about 30 seconds) I think we'll all be dropping down for a nap. Maybe later we'll go out and explore a little of the area. It's a very hot day (hello summer weather) so gelato is part of my plans for this afternoon!  More to follow, I send my love to Ithacans and Cornellians and Pghers alike!!


Ps. There's at least two Steelers bars in Rome... oh yeah... that's happening



View from my room :)