On Friday, my roommates and I decided to explore some more of Rome since there is always something new to see. Steph and Sydney were on a mission to find a place they could get their noses pierced, and Cara wanted to see the Vatican since she was in Florence the weekend before when we all went. Korissa and I joined Cara because the Vatican is just so amazing that we didn't mind going back again; however, we didn't do the Vatican Museum because it takes too long and costs money so we just went into St. Peter's. Before the semester is over I want to go up to the dome because apparently it's awesome.

After exploring the Basilica, Korissa, Cara, and I wanted to do some shopping, and we heard that there was good shopping near the Spanish Steps. I didn't buy anything, but I probably should have because I didn't bring nearly enough "going out" clothes! We passed by the Pantheon and went inside for a few minutes. It was a rainy day out (I finally got an umbrella) but it had just stopped raining -- my Rome guidebook says that when you're in there while it's raining, the rain falls through the oculus (the hole in the dome) and splatters on the marble floor then drains. It also says that watching the snow fall is even better. Of course I recognized things from Angels & Demons (thank God I read that book before I came) like the tomb of the artist Raphael.

Korissa and I outside of the Pantheon

Once we left the Pantheon, we made our way to the Trevi Fountain. At this point it was dusk, and I think that made it absolutely amazing. It was so beautiful and so graceful (Tara: I know you're going to make fun of me for being corny but that's really the only way I can actually describe it). Of course I made a wish which means I'll one day return to Rome. St. Peter's Basilica and the Trevi Fountain have definitely been my favorite sites so far.

Korissa and Cara ate gelato at this place next to the fountain a few weeks ago so they took me there for a pre-dinner snack. Cara said the mint chocolate chip was good so I got a scoop of that and a scoop of coco. The mint chocolate chip was too minty but the coco was amazing! Coconut gelato is definitely my preferred flavor. At this point, our legs were exhausted from walking all over the city so we headed home.

Making a wish in the Trevi Fountain

Korissa, Cara, and I at the fountain

Saturday, the five of us wanted to go shopping again. Sydney and Steph walked all throughout Trastevere (the part of Rome that I live in) unsuccessfully looking for a place to get their noses pierced and said there were a lot of good shops past our house. We found a store of just random stuff, kind of like a dollar store, and got some stuff we've been looking all over the place for. Cara got a hair straightener, and we all got HANGERS! I was so excited when I saw this because my closet was a complete mosh of clothes and desperately needed to be organized. We spent the whole day going into various shops and making a few purchases. Again, I didn't buy anything because I was really not in the mood to try on clothes, and I hate shopping with other people because I feel rushed when looking around. That night we went to On the Rox which is my favorite bar here. This Sunday they have a Super Bowl party which I'm really excited to watch.

Sunday morning we woke up early to go to the Porta Portese market which is right outside of our apartment and huge. They close down the streets every Sunday morning and vendors set up tents with random stuff they are selling. They had some awesome boots which I really wanted to get but I felt awkward trying them on (plus I was with Steph and, like I said, I don't like shopping with people). I did buy a bracelet for 1 euro which was my only purchase. Cara wanted bargained with a man for a 15 euro belt and got it down to 3.30 euro. Next time I go I'm on a mission to get some new shoes!

Nothing really eventful since then has happened -- besides stepping in dog poop on the sidewalks. They really need some sort of law to change this. I shouldn't have wrote about it in my last blog entry, because I think that I jinxed myself!

I'm determined to become a better cook by the time I leave Rome. Not because I'm in Italy though, but because my roommates are such good cooks. Last night Korissa and Cara made everyone gnocchi from scratch. It was delicious. I think Steph is cooking tonight. I'm going to have to make dinner at some point which will be interesting because the only thing I can really make is rice.

We also booked our flights to Greece for Spring Break. I can't wait; I know it's going to be gorgeous. Before I go, I'm going to have to ask Morgan about her trip there last year and get some advice. We are going to Venice for the day on Saturday for Carnivale and may go to the catacombs on Friday!

A few pictures

I've figured out how to upload images onto my blog but it takes forever! Here are a select few:

The Tiber River

Posing with a Swiss Guard
I think I read in Angels and Demons that Michelangelo designed their outfits.

St. Peter's baldachin

Marks St. Peter's tomb and was designed by Bernini.

Sydney and me in St. Peter's Square

Inside the Colosseum

A Weekend of Sightseeing!

A large group of us went on the Colosseum Pub Crawl on Thursday night -- it was so much fun but a little disorganized. At one of the pubs I talked to an Australian who was touring the world with his two friends for their summer break. He told me they had been to Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York (they spent New Year's at Webster Hall in Manhattan), London, Barcelona, and now Rome. They were going to Berlin (I think) and Hong Kong after leaving Italy. After their trip, they would have spent two and a half months traveling and about 15,000 Australian dollars (which he said was about $13,000). I thought that spending four months in Rome was cool but traveling the world must be so much cooler!

JCU doesn't offer any Friday classes so Korissa, Steph, Sydney, and I took advantage of the first day of the three-day weekend to go sightseeing. We decided to go to the Colosseum; we've seen it multiple times since we arrived but we hadn't been inside. It cost 12 euro to get in (no tour or headphones included) which is about $18, so it's pretty pricey but I know that I have to go at least once in my life or else I would regret it later. It was cool inside but not too much to see because of its simplicity. It was fascinating to think about how old it was and that it's still standing. We wandered around for an hour or so and realized that we were all starving, as well as freezing (definitely the coldest day that we've been here for so far). We walked to Piazza Navona which has some good restaurants plus Fontana delle Quattro Fiumi, which is a fountain by Bernini that I recognized as the fourth Illumanti marker in Angels and Demons! However, it's currently under construction and has no water which is kind of a bummer. We didn't go out Friday night because we wanted to get up bright and early for Vatican City.

On Saturday, we left our apartment just before ten and took the tram then walked a bit to Vatican City. We first went to the Vatican Museum which took at least two hours to get through. I was excited when I saw the painting "The School of Athens" by Raphael since I learned about it in my Art History class sophomore year. There were also so many ceiling paintings that my neck was sore from looking up so much. They had about 20-30 signs that said "Capella Sistina" which was a tease since the Sistine Chapel was all the way at the end of the museum and the museum was huge. When we did finally make it to the Sistine Chapel, however, it was just as amazing as I had thought. Sydney got a headset for the museum and she let me listen when we got to the Chapel. I learned that Michelangelo had little experience as a painter before painting the ceiling since he was mainly a sculptor, and it took him four years to complete. He had to paint so many people with such detail that I'm impressed that it didn't take him longer. My favorite part was the Creation of Adam which is the famous scene of God giving life to Adam through his finger. It was also so surreal to be in the room that is the site of Papal conclave. I really wish I could have gotten a picture of the ceiling but the guards were getting very angry at the people that tried. Apparently, their biggest concern is that people will use the pictures for commercial reasons and try to make a profit off of it.

The Sistine Chapel was the last stop in the museum so after that we went through security for St. Peter's Basilica (also known as Papale di San Pietro in Italian) which was free admission. St. Peter's is by far the most amazing place I've ever been. It is absolute beautiful and so huge. To the right as soon as you enter is the Pieta by Michelangelo! All I said all day was how excited I was so see the Pieta. From reading a few Rome guidebooks I found out the reason why it is in a glass case -- in the 1970s, a man stormed the sculpture and screamed, "I am Jesus Christ" while taking a hammer and damaging Mary's nose and some of her fingers. It is also historically inaccurate because Mary is portrayed as much younger as she really was at the time of Jesus' crucifiction. There were so many other beautiful pieces of art. The alter by Bernini is over the tomb of St. Peter, an apostle and the first Pope. There was a small, quiet room off of the side where Sydney and I went in to pray for a few minutes that was not any less beautiful than the rest of the basilica. I was so overwhelmed by everything there that I am definitely going to go back at some point to take it all in again.

After our long day of sightseeing the Vatican, we stopped at the supermarket and bought ingredients for dinner. Korissa was the mother of the night and made us bruschetta, salad, and pasta while we drank wine. I don't like tomatoes so I didn't eat the bruschetta but it looked delicious! That night Korissa, Sydney, and I went to a bar in Campo di Fiore, the "Drunken Ship", which had a lot of Italians. A few groups of them came up to Korissa and me to chat. I still don't know anything in Italian except how to say "Non parlo Italiano" (I don't speak Italian) but a lot of them had a pretty good understanding of English so it wasn't too difficult to communicate. Plus, Korissa took a semester of Italian at St. Mary's so she knew a little bit. One of the guys was Roman but lived in Morocco for a while so he knew French too (this was the first time I heard that they speak French in Morocco). I pulled out some of my knowledge from my seven years of taking the language and tried to talk to him in French -- I'm trying to practice for when I go visit Paris which is number one on my list of places I have to see while I'm in Europe! We went home rather early, and I slept in this morning and have had a lazy day. Class tomorrow -- I'm beginning to forget why I'm here in the first place!

PS. Last night, I booked a flight to Barcelona for the weekend of February 18th to visit Jenna Shulman who is there for the semester! At least two of my roommates, Cara and Sydney, are coming too. I can't wait to see her, and I heard Barcelona is awesome!

First weekend & first classes in Rome!

So, Saturday during the day we had orientation for John Cabot University. They told us about clubs and sports teams that we could join while here, plus other resources that might be helpful to us. After that, Korissa, Cara, Steph, and I went wandering around trying to get something to eat for lunch. We ended up splitting up and Steph and I went to a restaurant, and I got a salad and some fries. We also had an appointment for our "Permit to Stay" which is required by Italian law to stay in the country. I'm not sure how it differs from a Visa but apparently they won't let us stay if we don't complete the process. We waited in two lines literally for forever -- it ended up taking us about 2.5 hours and we still have more steps to go. Then the four of us wanted to see the Spanish Steps so we walked over the Tiber River and finally found them. I'm not sure what the significance of them are because they just look they regulator steps but it was cool to actually see them in person. It's also pretty looking down at the city when standing at the top. We were all tired of walking so we got back to our apartment but not before stopping to pick up a few things at the grocery store. I just got the ingredients for grilled cheese because I didn't feel like thinking about what stuff I wanted to buy; I still haven't gone back to the Supermercato but I really need to get food so I can eat at home!

Later that night we went over to our guy friends' apartment to hang out before we went out. We planned on going to a discoteca. However, when we got to the trolley stop, our friend Jordan randomly ran into a girl he graduated from high school with who goes to JCU full time. She said she knew of somewhere fun to go and that she would take us there. We took the trolley all the way to the end and then she was like, "Oh, this isn't it", so we followed her all the way back. Then it seemed like we did four laps around the perimeter of Rome until we got there (later we found out it's only a few blocks away from our apartment - ha!). It didn't end up being a discoteca but it was so much fun; they had televisions up that were playing American football. I'm always up for watching football no matter the time or place!

Yesterday, Sunday, we went on the free SAI walking tour of Ancient Rome at 3PM. There were so many people and only one tour guide that it was impossible to hear what was going on. So a group of about ten of us went off on our own and walked to the Colosseum. It was just as cool as I thought it was going to be. It wasn't open to go inside so we could only see it from the outside but hopefully at some point during this semester we'll take some time to do that! We ate at a restaurant around it -- I just got pizza (which they say is the size for one person but it is huge). At all restaurants in Italy, you can't just order tap water. They bring water in bottle and it isn't free -- that's one thing I really don't like at the restaurants here. We walked home after that and got things prepared for our first day of classes which was today.

My first class, Italian 101, was at 1:45 PM this afternoon. I really hate taking languages and always struggled with learning French, but I figured that it will be beneficial to have some knowledge of Italian while I'm here. It's been so hard not knowing more than 6 or 7 words in the language. That class ended at 3:35 and my next wasn't until 5:15. One of my roommates, Sydney, and I both had the same break so we took a walk up to the Vatican to see St. Peter's Square. It was so cool (and so weird to technically be in a different country) and I can't wait to go in and see the Sistine Chapel! I saw the Swiss Guards (who are surprisingly very cute) and having just read Angels & Demons, I recognized a bunch of things from the book.

We went back to campus for our 5:15 classes; mine was American Foreign Policy. I have this class with my friend Jordan so it will be good to have someone I know with me for the semester. The class seems like it will be a lot of work; we have a film review and two book reviews plus a research paper, a presentation, and a midterm but I don't think that the professor is going to be too difficult. We'll see how it goes.

I'm back at my apartment now just hanging out -- more later!