Roma, Roma, Roma

Today we got our tickets for the AS Roma vs. Inter Milan game! The game is this Saturday at 8:45. We have seats somewhere on the long side in the middle.. I don't really understand the ticket so I can't tell exactly where. But I'm SO EXCITED. And little did I know, but girls get big discounts on tickets. My ticket was 45 euro and the guys I'm going with had to pay 73 euro each. I guess being a girl soccer fan is strange...? Oops.

Also, I went to the doctor for my sickness. They said it was a sinus infection and gave me some antibiotics (a zpack) and some decongestant. I'm feeling a little better already, but trying to rest a lot and take it easy. He said I should be better in 2-3 days. Also he used to teach a wine class around here (only in Rome do you find a doctor who used to teach a wine class...) and gave me a ticket for free entrance for me and a friend. The class is normally 20 euro and he said even that was a good deal.

Now to start memorizing...

Plan, Plan, Plan..

Inside the Colosseum  

Colosseum

Time is already flying! It's already been almost three weeks since my feet were still on American soil, but it seems as though I left just yesterday. I'm finally getting adjusted and can find my way around this huge, crazy city and I'm loving every minute of it. This past week has been insanity between classes, sightseeing, and going out during the nights. I am loving it! My roommate Kristen and I have been trying to hit up Saldi to find some new boots before all the sales are over, but we've been unsuccessful. It has helped us learn our way around the city though!

Roman Forum

Wednesday was our first real day of my Art History class, and I can already give a huge THANKS to David for suggesting I take it while I am here. I've been saving my Non-Lit requirement for Clemson (which you usually fill first semester freshman year) so I could take an art history class while here. It's an amazing class - each class is an on-site visit to a historical sight. Basically, I am getting class credit for taking tours of all the sights I would want to see anyway. For our first class, we hit up the Roman Forum and Colosseum. It kept hitting me while I was in class that everyone back home normally is studying this stuff out of an art history book and just looking at pictures, while I'm standing in front of these treasures listening to my teacher lecture. It's AMAZING being here and being able to have a class like this. We were able to bypass the line and go into both sights and explore everything. The main reason I came to Rome was for the history, so I was loving it! 

I've also started my job here, and spent a lot of this weekend working. They were short-staffed both Thursday and Friday night, so I ended up working both nights. I made 85 euro though! Working is difficult here because I do not know the language, but it's interesting learning the culture! It's funny because the place I work is catered toward American students, so I am meeting a lot of people from my school. This can also be funny because the students mistake me as an Italian (not sure how with my blond hair) and ask me for local places to go. The look on their faces when I tell them that I'm studying too and have only been here three short weeks is hilarious. I am only going to be working one shift a week from now on and will only be working until mid-March. I am trying to make sure that this job does not get in the way of my experience here, but rather enriches it with a way to launch myself further into Italian culture. Plus it's obviously nice to have a good amount of extra spending money! 

My travel plans so far

Christina and I have been working on our travel plans. We're determined to not have a single weekend where we don't travel somewhere new! In my plans so far I have Venice, Sicily, Prague, Florence, Cinque Terre, Brussels, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Munich! I'm also planning on using the money I make at my job to go to some more areas close to Rome for day trips, which most of them only cost about 10-15 euro. These first few weeks have been fun getting settled and planning what the rest of the semester is going to bring, but now I'm ready to start traveling!!!! I've also been trying to plan places to go to in Rome, so I can make sure to experience everything this amazing city has to offer. I know how easy it can be to stick to the same routine, so I'm trying to make sure my routine includes exploring new places around Rome.

Unfortunately, these plans have been put on hold for me because I've caught the sickness that has been spreading around CEA. Through my stubbornness of not wanting to waste a single day here, I have not let myself rest so I have come down with what may be strep. I'm going to go to the doctor on Monday, but now I have had to miss out on a day trip to Assisi that some friends went on as well as missing going to the Vatican tomorrow. It also doesn't help that I have no idea what kind of medicine I'm supposed to take here, which resulted in me taking three times as much cough medicine as I was supposed to take. Where's the Theraflu when you need it?!

Survival

I survived my first day working in Italy! It actually wasn't so bad, despite the fact I'm the only student working there... and the only one who doesn't know any Italian. It's a really laid back place and I basically just help get people drinks and collect the empty glasses. It's very easy work; I don't even really have to take orders. I get paid 40 euro plus tips each time I work, which averages to about $55 plus tips. And the best part is that almost everyone who works there lives around the area where I live, so they drive me home and I can get home safely :) I work again tomorrow night because they were short staffed for tomorrow, but from then on I should just be working one shift a week. Yay! Such a relief to be having some extra money coming in.

amuurrica

Update: I got a job! We were out the other night and the bartender offered me a job waitressing. I looked it up and it's legal for me to work part time here on a student visa :). I'm going to be working 6 hour shifts 1-3 times a week for 40 euro plus tips. It's an American bar, so I don't even have to speak Italian. I'm doing a trial shift to see if I like it on Thursday, so hopefully I do so I can have some extra money coming in!!

Monet, Dana, and I with our burgers

On Monday night some friends and I met two guys from Los Angeles. They showed us around to some new places, including a burger place!!! I refuse to go to the Hard Rock while I'm here, but this burger place is an Italian American restaurant. It's all American food (including Heinz ketchup!) but the restaurant is filled with Italians. Basically it's where all the Italians actually go to eat American food. It was one of the best meals I've ever had in my life, and a really cool place. We went late so it was a super crowded bar downstairs and a restaurant upstairs. The bathroom was set up like a disco and when you closed the door strobe lights started flashing and it played Dancing Queen!

Although everything here has been incredible, after two weeks with a diet of only pasta and pizza, we were ready for a burger. I got my favorite - bacon cheeseburger. AND they didn't even charge for water! YUMMM. 

Nachos

Toscana e Firenze!

Our weekend travels 

Tuscany vineyards!

This weekend we had our first weekend trip with CEA to Tuscany and Florence. We started our trip at 8:30am on Friday (UGHHH) when we boarded our bus. Our first stop was in San Gimignano, a small medieval town in Tuscany that is about 3 hours from Rome. It was absolutely gorgeous! There were torture museums everywhere, but the town was completely dead because it thrives on tourism. There were only about two restaurants open in the entire town. The views were spectacular though, and it was such an interesting town. It was all built within the city walls and all the buildings were connected, so it felt like you were walking through a maze. We were only there for about two hours to eat and explore, which an Italian meal takes about an hour and a half anyway. Since this was our first stop in Tuscany, we made sure to get some wine which was made in the vineyards surrounding San Gimignano. So delicious!

Walking into the main entrance to San Gimignano

After lunch at San Gimignano, we got back on the bus and drove another hour or so to Florence. I barely remember Florence from the first time I was there, so it was cool to go back. We stayed in a hotel right by the Duomo. When we got there we all got a much deserved (and delicious) three course meal provided for us by our program. In Italy they always have both pasta and meat for every meal. We had a pasta bolognese then kabobs and they surprised us with FRENCH FRIES then chocolate cake!!! YUMMMMM! Even though I've eaten some of the most amazing food ever over here, I miss food from home so much... mostly Monterreys enchiladas and queso dip! Wahhh. I've resisted the urge to go to McDonalds and Hard Rock so far though, unlike some of my friends here haha. 

On the terrace with Liza, Christina, Dana, Sally, and Monet

After dinner we found a really cool terrace on top of our hotel and hung out there for awhile with our friends and took some pictures. It was freezing, but it was so gorgeous. Then we went to a couple bars before going to a really cool discoteca called Space. All the people from our program were there, so it was really fun going out with everyone! It's easy to get lost in Rome, so being in a smaller town for a day was a nice break from constantly being lost. 

Duomo

Piazza Repubblica

The next morning we woke up at 7am for a tour of Florence. We went to David first then to the Duomo. I'm all for tours, but this was honestly one of the worst tours I've ever been on. Would've been wonderful if I was an art history major, but she talked about everything in SUCH intense detail that we couldn't even pay attention. Aka... she talked for an hour about each panel of just one of the doors on the baptism building of the Duomo. We wanted to make sure we saw more of Florence than what was on the tour, so we ended up just asking our guide where else we were going and went ourselves. This was fun because we found our way around Florence very easily and were able to see the sights that we wanted to see. We went to the Duomo and Piazza della Repubblica.

After that we found a hole-in-the-wall place to eat and I had Carbonara, YUMMM. After that we did a little bit of shopping in the market, and I was able to find a satchel made of Italian leather for only 14 euro! I really needed a satchel for while I was here because I had to leave mine behind (weight restrictions) and this one made a great cheap souvenir! After that it was time to head back to Rome, which everyone was so thankful for. It's amazing how attached you can grow to a city after only having been here a week and a half! I loved being in Florence, but being there made me so happy I chose Rome. 

There was an option to stay in Florence for an extra night, but I decided not to do that. I have a bunch of friends studying in Florence and they all get there this week, so I'm trying to go back and visit them for a weekend when it gets warmer and see more sights then!

Torre Argentina

When we finally got back to Rome, I went almost straight to bed because I was so exhausted. Today I even slept in really late, but it was much needed. After waking up, my roommate and I headed to explore. On the way there, we stopped by Torre Argentina, a cat sanctuary. This sanctuary is actually on the ruins where Caesar was murdered. It was buried for hundreds of years because the Romans kept building on top of it. When they were digging to build a new stop for the metro, they stumbled across these ruins. It is now where they keep the stray cats of Rome so they are in a protected area. It is so funny to see all these cats walking all over such famous ruins. It was definitely my crazy cat lady moment of the day and made me miss Kali :(.

View of the Vatican on the bridge to Trastevere 

After our stop, we headed to Trastevere an adorable area with so many small winding streets to get lost in. We used my top 10 guide (thanks David!) to explore some of the things around that area. We didn't really follow directions and just stumbled across stuff, which was so much fun! We went to Santa Maria Cathedral and Santa Cecilia Cathedral. Santa Maria, built in the 340s, is the oldest church in Rome. It was so incredible seeing all the different decades of art. You could see how it changed between styles throughout the building as different parts were added on- ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. It was really cool because the church was actually built on top of a spring that spouted on the day Jesus was born.

Santa Maria Cathedral

Santa Cecilia Cathedral wasn't as over the top as Santa Maria, but still gorgeous. The church was built over the house where Santa Cecilia lived. Cecilia was Roman patrician and a secret Christian. She was sent into Roman baths for three days by political enemies, and came out singing. They tried to behead her, but she did not die from the three strikes and lived three more days converting hundreds of people to Christianity during this time. The entire church is covered in pictures of her and her life. It was incredible.

Santa Maria Cathedral

After this we headed home and ate more carbonara at a restaurant by us. After that we satisfied our chocolate craving with some gelato. I had dark chocolate and chocolate chip. Their dark chocolate is incredible - it literally tastes like eating a piece of chocolate cake!
Now I'm headed to bed considering it's 2:30am here and I have class at 10 eeek. Tomorrow we're working on budgeting trips to travel for weekends and Spring Break here :) My roommate and I are also going shopping and I plan to look at some clubs to get involved in at JCU!

First Full Week in Rome

View of the shopping from the top of the Spanish Steps 

This week was our first full week of classes. I have the best schedule ever: 10-12:45 and 7-8:15 on Mondays and Wednesdays, no class Tuesdays or Fridays, and 10-12:45 on Thursdays. I'm taking Italian (Intermediate 2), International Marketing, Statistics, and Art History. My Italian class is impossibleeeeee, eeek. The teacher speaks in all Italian, and it's all oral stuff... which my old teacher didn't do any of. It's going to be very difficult. My International Marketing teacher is AWESOME. Our first day we just watched a full comedian show haha. The Art History class is an on-site class where we go to famous places (Colosseum, Pantheon, etc) and study how they were made, their art, and their history. I'm so excited for that class!

Valentino's apartment

I'm starting to adjust more. The bus system is so confusing here, and it seems like the second I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of it, I get lost again. It's so frustrating. This week we've mostly been hanging out and adjusting. Everyone is adjusting to having different groups of friends and making new ones, which has been fun. I've been trying to hang out with lots of different groups. We've been to the Spanish steps a couple times to do some shopping during saldi, a huge sale going on right now that happens twice a year. Everything is 50% off or more! We also went by Valentino's workshop and apartment, it's right by the Spanish Steps.

Colosseum at night

We've also been out a couple of times - we did a pub crawl which was really fun. It's fun exploring the city and seeing how different everything is here. Next week I want to really start finding cheap and free tours to go on so I can learn about all these buildings I'm seeing. The fascinating thing, and one of my favorite parts of being here, is how the city of Rome is actually built around all these historic landmarks. Everywhere you turn, whether you're shopping, at the grocery store, or on the way to class, there are beautiful buildings that are thousands of years old, and the city is just built around them. You can literally be walking down the street and turn the corner and be standing in front of the Pantheon. It's not like a lot of cities where the sights and historical parts are outside the city.

Cafe Latte, yum!!

Speaking of that, we found out that we are only about 3 metro stops from the Colosseum. We rode down on Wednesday on the way to class and walked around. The colosseum is hands down my favorite part of Rome (well, as of right now). It is just amazing. We walked around the entire Colosseum, then stopped for a delicious cafe latte in a coffee shop right next to it. It was so awesome being able to be there at night and in the winter when there were no tourists or anything. And also that we were able to do that on the way to class. I really want to spend more time there.

We are off to Tuscany and Florence early in the morning, and I'm so excited! It's a trip that is included in my program.

I am one of the luckiest people to be able to be living in Rome for an entire four months. This is truly the most beautiful city in the world.

Ciao da Roma!

My apartment building :) 

Hello from Rome! These past couple days have been some of the craziest and most overwhelming of my life filled with orientations, tours, and exploring this new city. It is absolutely bella though! All my roommates are here and they're awesome! We have 6 girls living in our apartment. It's 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. And  it is actually the upgraded apartment which means we get maid service! I got lucky and somehow got put in the upgraded apartment even though I didn't pay for it. It is on a square called Piazza Regina Margherita and in the Bologna area. It is in the residental area of Rome, so all of our neighbors in our building are Italians. It is still very small and old, however. I share a room with Sarah, she's from University of Arizona. We hang out with one of our other roommates, Nicole, who is also from University of Arizona and Liza, a girl from the apartment building next to us.

Living room area

Kitchen with our miniature fridge and stove

This week has been insane. When we got here on Tuesday, I had a hard time adjusting to the time especially because I had food sickness the entire night before I left to come here. I was exhausted. But our apartment and the apartment next to us all went out for dinner and wine and had amazing pizza! Then we met up with some guys in our program that live in the apartment building on the other side of us for a couple beers before going to bed.

Nicole, Sarah and I with our cafe latte

We had orientation on Wednesday morning at 9am (eek). Our school is absolutely gorgeous. It is an old villa in a neighborhood. Our school is right by Piazza Bologna, about a 10 minute walk from our apartment at Piazza Regina Margherita. The staff is amazing, too. I will be taking 3 of my 4 classes at that campus. We got to take a break to explore the piazza, and we stopped for our first Rome cafe latte, which is only 1 euro here and so delicious!

That night we went to dinner with the guys who live in the apartment by us. We had some more delicious wine and me and Nicole split a steak, which tasted so good after only eating pizza. That night we had a bunch of people in our program over to our apartment which was a lot of fun getting to know everyone!

Dinner with Sarah, Nicole, Liza, and I

On Thursday, we had more orientation. This day we heard Andy Steves talk about how to travel on a budget in Europe and how to make the most of your experience studying abroad. It was really helpful and he knew so much! We had a lunch with our whole program after that. That afternoon we had someone from our program come to our apartment and show us how to use everything - the stove, heaters, washing machine, etc. He also took us around our piazza and showed us the basics like using the bus and trams, where the main stores are like the pharmacy and electronics store, and took us to the grocery store to show us how to get groceries in Italy. It was so helpful!

Pantheon at night

That night Andy Steves did a nighttime walking tour of some of the sights of Rome. This was FINALLY our first time out of the neighborhood we live in and into the centro historico (historical district of Rome where all the sights are). It was so exciting to finally see so many of these sights for the first time since we had been here! We started in Trastevere (a beautiful area across the river where my other school is and where a lot of the college students, both Italian and foreign, live) and did a walking tour over to the Pantheon. We saw Piazza Navona with the Fountain of Four Rivers and Campo de' Fiori, which is a really popular piazza for bars. It was so amazing to see all these places that have so much history. We ended the tour at a restaurant and had a five course meal and unlimited wine, yum! We got to try 4 different kinds.

Sarah, Nicole, Alex, Ryan, Kyle, Rez, Liza, and I at Scholars

After the tour, we went to a bar named Scholars. This is a big American hangout, and felt a lot like we were at TD's at home. It even had the Saints game on TV (who dat!). It helped my home sickness a little at first, but then we realized we should go to a club so we could experience real Italian nightlife. We went to La Maison, and it was really different.. but fun! The Italians were relentless though, which none of us were used to. After about an hour there we headed back to Scholars. That night we were told that the taxis were on strike, which we never really found out if this was true or not. It was a mess trying to get back since we didn't even know how to use the bus system. But we somehow made it back around 4:30am.

Pantheon

Dana and I at the Trevi Fountain

We had to get up again this morning and be at our other school in Trastevere at 9am, meaning we had to leave here at 8am. It was so early and that school was very confusing, but I'm only taking one class there. We went out to lunch at a small restaurant then went on a two hour walking tour of Rome. Despite this tour being two hours, we still barely saw any of Rome. We have yet to even make it to the Colosseum or the Vatican! We went by the same squares as the night tour, the Vatican, and the Trevi Fountain. I, of course, already tossed my coin in the fountain today. Also, we learned that in the Pantheon there is a hole in the ceiling that is always open. This is for the gods to come in. When it rains or snows, it does so right into the Pantheon and drains through holes in the marble floor! Also, the door is a square to be a human shape and the hole at the top is circular to be the eternal shape of the gods.

Piazza Navona

We're finally done with all of that though and have the weekend free. I (lamely) decided to stay in and cook for myself tonight so I can get some sleep. I'm so worn out and it's making me homesick, so I decided I needed the night to collect my bearings and chill out. We start classes on Monday, which I'm excited about so we can meet more new people and get on our regular schedule. I only have classes Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, which is awesomeee. I'm taking Italian (last semester!), International Business, Angels Demons & Artists in Rome (an art history class), and Statistics.

Overall I'm loving it here so far, even though it is so difficult adjusting, and I cannot wait to explore the city on my own this weekend and get adjusted! :)
Ciao!

see ya BYE, USA.

I leave this Monday for Rome FINALLY! Only four more days and I'm so excited! I'm living 2 miles from the Coliseum and 3.5 from the Vatican. I'll be living in an apartment with five other girls that I don't know. It's going to be beyond cramped and completely different from having my own bathroom and bedroom in Chimney. I'm ready for the change though. Here is the picture of my apartment (well according to google maps)!!!!

It's on a really pretty square andddd that little shop in the bottom is a wine and liquor store ;) Plus there is a gelato shop in the same square! Perfect location :)

I started packing a little bit today, and it's already driving me crazzzyy. How am I supposed to fit four months of clothes in one suitcase?!?! .. one that can only weigh 60 lbs at that. It's gonna be interestingggg.

Anyway, I'm going to try to keep this updated as much as possible. Keep checking back to see what I'm doing during my time in Rome! Also, there is an app you can download to be able to text me for free. I have a new number, so let me know if you get it so I can add you to my phone! Here is a link to download it: http://www.whatsapp.com/

YAY!