Everything since Wednesday

No post in four days! Oh no! I actually do not know why I have not posted in so long. It was a good week and I was in the library a few times to use the internet, but for some reason, I just haven’t written. Well, here is an account of everything (as I can remember properly) since Tuesday. Wednesday was quite a hilarious day. It started out as always with class which was good and followed by lunch which also good. I did not stay long at Villa after lunch as I was quite energetic and wanted to be out and about the town. I headed for Piazza Spagna (Spanish Steps) to see the steps and to walk around the shops there. This I will remind you, is where all the big deal designer stores are and I really wanted to go and just look as if everything was in a museum. It almost felt like being at Harrod’s in London again. After walking around and silently laughing to myself about incredibly price tags for things as small as wallets, I started to really watch the people going into these shops. Of course there were normal people like me who were just walking around, but every time I watched someone go into a shop, I tried to listen to their conversation if they were talking to someone. Almost everything single person that I could hear was American.
When I had first come here, Antonio told me that it’s mostly foreigners who shop on this street and you actually won’t see a lot of Italians going into the shops. It’s completely true. I watched one women asking her very young (and very bored looking) sons if she could just pop into Prada quickly with the promise that she wouldn’t buy anything, she just wanted to take a quick look around. I actually saw one boy roll his eyes as he followed silently behind. How could you blame him? I laughed.
I’ve thought for a while that would be kind of cool to own a small piece of designer fashion. Mostly I had it my head that this would come in the form of sun glasses. So each time I would walk past a shop, I would look at their display case of sun glasses, feel extremely sick to my stomach, and promptly walk away. Finally, just off the main strip, I found a store that sold nothing but designer sun glasses. There were lots of display windows so I didn’t even have to go inside. (A note about this: I don’t think I will ever go into one of these stores for fear of breaking something and for fear of feeling extremely dirty, as if the contamination of American high brow life could infest its way into my skin.) I looked at the sun glasses and found some really cool pairs. One was a pair of Dolce & Gabana that I thought would be cool to wear and craned my head to see the price tag through the window. Once again, I felt quite sick as the little white tag said in printed, matter of fact, solemn black ink letters… €440,00. *GAG* As my Mother so wisely put it “So, bring your brother to Europe for two weeks, or designer sunglasses?”
Thursday I ensured that my class loved me by singing for them. The walls of Villa are relatively thin so we can hear the other classes going on during our lesson. Well, me singing was really no exception and when I got to my first high note, all the other classes went totally silent. (On Friday, everyone was asking who the singer from yesterday was.) It was pretty cool and my classmates seemed to enjoy it. I did not return to Villa after class and instead went for lunch and park time with the Brazilian girl from my class. We stopped at Termini station to buy some food at the large market there and then took the Metro to Flaminio and ate our lunch in Villa Borghese. It was a beautiful day (as always) and we had every intention of studying for our exam the next day. Another girl from our class, Anna (who is from Germany) met us there after her private class and the three of us talked and laughed extremely loudly, getting a few turned heads from the other people lying in the sun. It was a grand time that of course ended without a lick of studying to be had. But no matter, it was a great bonding experience and Anna was leaving Saturday anyways. After dinner that night I went into the library to do my homework and actually get some real studying done. It wasn’t long until I had gotten an invitation for gelato which I turned down because for some odd reason, right before dinner, I had developed a weird sore throat that I figure probably wouldn’t be helped by gelato. But of course, a little while later, I got another invitation and decided it was a sign and accepted. We went out to another historic gelateria called Old Bridge which is near the Vatican. Very tasty.
We walked around Vatican square for a loooong time ended not returning to Villa until around 2 in the morning. I did a little more studying and crashed in my bed. The next day I got up a little early for some extra studying, had breakfast with some of the guys in the mini kitchen and then headed for class. Class went swiftly by and ended with my singing again, except with extra people from other classes joining the audience. I was sad at the end of class because most of the women were done and heading home the next day. We all took pictures and swapped emails and then Maite and I headed for the exam. It wasn’t too hard but much to my dismay, I will not find out until Monday whether I will go on to the next level or not. Ah well.
I went back to Villa and spent the afternoon reading and walking and taking a bit of nap as I was tired from getting no sleep the night before. Instead of going to dinner, I went with Loris and Francesco to a concert at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory. They were all older voice students singing Verdi, Donizetti, Gounod, Messenet, and Puccini. All but two were absolutely fantastic. The women especially were incredibly mature for their age and had lovely tone and line. One girl sang “Signore ascolta” from Turandot and another aria from Rigoletto and was just… amazing. What was weird was that all but three of them were Asian. Strange, but they were really good, so it doesn’t really matter. We rushed back to Villa to have choir practice and afterwards I went out with Paolo for a late night romp around Rome. We went to a park in an area called Gianicolo which sites on top of one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Obviously, the view was amazing. Today, I’m not quite sure what is going on other than almost all of the guys are in a practice test until 8 for their English exam next month. A 6 hour exam? That’s a bit rough. We shall see what I decide to do.

I apparently forgot to post this...

*So this is wrote I wrote for my day on Tuesday and apparently forgot to post. Woops.*

After a wonderful and very fulfilling day I suddenly came to the jolting realization that I’ve officially been here for two weeks. TWO WEEKS?!?! I can’t believe it’s already been so long! For the longest time I would have taken oath on saying that days in Rome are the longest in the world and like some parallel yet unequal universe, time runs differently here. But it turns out that the sands of time slip through your fingers all too quickly anywhere your physical self may be and the flight of time is no trick of any fairy but rather the workings of misplaced imaginations and time spent with your dreams. Goodness!
But that aside, it was a very good day. We finished most of our work on prepositions and articles today (although the work of prepositions will be an ongoing and very annoying process for me) and we then started work on the second worst of all… passato prossimo. This is really a very tricky concept for me because in Italian, the past relies on two verbs before each past participle which are avere and essere and I always seem to screw up when to use one or the other. We shall see how this turns out. My test to proceed onto the next level of classes is Friday, so I will have to pay close attention!
After class today my classmates seemed to have forgotten that I agreed to sing for them today and so I quietly slipped out while the thought was still out of their minds. I headed back to Villa and managed to give every single UD student the cold shoulder even though some of them tossed looks of “Is that the UD kid that lives here?” I ignored them and did my best to speak as much Italian as I could so that I could separate them from myself even further. I also have found another reason to hate their presence: with 20 extra mouths to feed, the cooks resort to things easier to make in mass quantity, as this never bodes well for quality anywhere, the food at lunch is becoming less than desirable. I mean, for God’s sake, yesterday we had chicken fingers. *sigh* How could I ever have thought to hate Canadians when it is obvious that I can find enough animosity for just one nationality.
After lunch I headed back to the Center to meet up with the Brazilian girl, Maitê, from my class. She had never been to Piazza Venezia and had nothing to do all afternoon so we decided to meet up because I had seen it. We met at Termini station and tried to take a bus, but the bus she thought went there actually went to a different monument that she thought was Piazza Venezia. We finally found the right bus and went there… missing the closing time by 15 minutes. Ah well, more incentive to go back, right? She ended up getting invited to have dinner with one of the other girls that is also living in Rome and sharing the same apartment building as her. So we headed out separate ways and for some reason I decided to go for another run. I don’t know why I all of a sudden feel the drive to do all this cardio, but at the end of the day in the hot Italian sun, it feels great. I come back just in time for a quick shower and to head to dinner. The fast paced motion feels good after sitting all morning and seems to give some vindication to the sweat I produced during my romp around town. It makes showering feel AH-mazing.
After everyone had left dinner I sat with the guys who had come late and we talked for a long time which was really cool. I met the girl who apparently every single guy in Villa wants for himself. Her name is Matika (I think that’s how you spell it), and she is an aerospace engineering major and apparently is some kind of crazy genius. Oh, I guess it would help to mention that she’s well… beautiful… to say the least. You know Sofia Loren? Yeah, this girl has about the same legs, certainly a good representation of the same front, classic Italian face and gorgeous “let me run my fingers and then smell it as I’m sure it smells like Heaven” hair. I understood why every guy tried to sit at her table. It was quite funny. The best part was that whenever she would talk to the guys, then never, ever, even once, looked at her face. Ah well, boys will be boys. I came to the sickening realization today that I have not had any gelato since last Thursday. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! I’m going out with Antonio after his German lesson. Mmmmmm… gelato…

Sunday and Monday Blues

At day’s end, with my tired body getting comfortable in my crispy old sheets with my scratchy wool blanket tossed aside to avoid dying of heat while sleeping and my mind in some kind of mixture of Avalon and Rome, I realized that not much had happened on this brief Sunday. After sleeping off the Canadian hatred I had acquired the previous day (well, actually, I started hating them after midnight, so I guess I had gotten it Sunday), I went to lunch and found myself irritable and quite discontent with how my day was to pan out. I did some studying and reading and then hated being inside, so I ventured out for a run. The sun was hot as it started to fade from the sky but the heat just fueled my want to run harder and relieve my pissy attitude.
After I thought my lungs would rip open, I walked back to Villa and watched the soccer match going on between the two Villa teams. It was exciting and I loved how seriously they all took it even though they all live together and find no competition against each other otherwise. During the match I went inside to shower and throw in a load of laundry that I needed for the next day. The match ended up being a tie, but was still exciting as it drew to the end. I ate some dinner with a few guys who weren’t apart of the match and then headed out with Antonio and Mario to see Angeli e Demoni (Angels and Demons, except we of course watched it in Italian). This of course is a real plot with complicated twists and turns and not the easy “let’s just make a whole lot of action scenes with some crappy dialogue thrown in” that X-Men was, I really had to pay attention and even so, I only caught a few phrases and a basic understanding of what was going on. Antonio made me recount the plot to him… in Italian. It was really hard.
I came back and watched some soccer and drank some milk with two guys from my floor and I was amazed that we spoke almost the whole time in Italian. I want to say I’m getting better, but then I find myself in conversations where I have no idea what’s going on and can’t respond or understand and then I don’t feel like I’m learning anything. It’s frustrating but I guess I just have to keep chugging along and remembering that I’ve only been here two weeks and that after two months even, my speaking will certainly be better but I should have no fantasies of real fluency. I crashed in bed.
I woke this morning at 7 without the help of my alarm which I had set for 6:30. I looked at the shelf next to my bed and realized that my alarm wasn’t even there. I vaulted out of bed frantically trying to find it so I could know what time it was. Somehow I had apparently heard it go off, grabbed it and turned it off and set it under my pillow… I have no recollection of doing this. I didn’t have time now to hang my clothes on the line, so I dressed quickly, grabbed a bite from the kitchen and headed out the door. Of course since I was rushing I got to school extremely early and the school wasn’t even open yet.
Class went incredibly fast today which was disappointing because I had no desire to return to Villa. This is not because I don’t like Villa, I love Villa, but today was the arrival of the summer study abroad program from UD. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t know any of them, and in all honesty, I really don’t like the majority of students from UD. But alas, I arrived home and decided to kill as much time as possible before heading for lunch. When I got there it was exactly as I had expected. Not only did I not know anyone, I was glad for it. It’s incredible how fast you can pick out a UD student. Every girl in shorts that no society could ever find an acceptable length with bleach blond hair, guys that put whole tool boxes to shame with pants half way down their butts, slouched in their chairs acting like they own the world and that being American gives them privilege anywhere they go. I wasn’t very hungry so I shoved some pasta down and left quickly. I was almost embarrassed to show my face, not to the students, but to the Villa guys. I hated that I had to be associated with the other UD students.
When I got back to my room I felt a pang of guilt and ended up finding myself in a confused state of emotion. I felt bad that I had such a lofty opinion of myself and that I had any right to hold myself above the other UD students. It’s not as if I’m smarter, more cultured, or better than them. But at the same time, I think in a lot of ways, they are everything I hold them as. Sure, I know they all have their own sets of qualities good and bad just as I or anyone does. But this isn’t an opinion that I was born with or just clandestantly had, I gather this opinion from my own experiences with the students whom I study with. I am not one who goes out drinking every possible moment in the ghetto and I don’t always drink with the sole intention of getting drunk, I don’t walk around flaunting my nationality, I don’t dress like a tool (usually) and most of all, I am here to experience Italy through the eyes of an Italian, not to find America in Italy. There is a section of Rome that not a single Italian lives in because it is unofficially known as “the American district.” There are nothing but American stores, souvenir shops and the only food and drink you can find is at American style bars… full of nothing but Americans. Francesco asked them where they had been so far (they arrived Friday) and the only thing they had seen was that square. Are you kidding? We shall see how it pans out, but at the moment, I’m confused between being disgusted at myself or them or perhaps both.

Blame Canada

Hurray for Saturday! I slept in until 9 and felt guilty for it so I decided to make it worth the time I had left. I honestly had no idea just how much I would be making up for this lost time of sleeping. But more on that a little later. I got up and had some breakfast and then set about to doing my homework for class and a little bit of studying. It was a much nicer day than Friday and it was nice to sit by my window with music playing just studying Italian, in Italy. Excellent.
After lunch I walked around with Antonio and Grabriele for a while and we talked about the night to come. They had invited me to watch the movie Hitch in English with their English class at 4 so I agreed to go just for something to do, although it seemed a great shame to waste such a nice day. Antonio had invited me at lunch to go with him to White Night which is an event that happens around the entire city of Rome where every public museum and church is open to the public free of charge from 10:00 to 1:00 am. I wanted to go but I had been asked by Francesco to go out with him for the night. Sadly, I declined the invitation. Francesco is part of an online networking service called Coach Surfing. It is basically huge network of people all over the world and you can request to hang out or even stay with someone who lives in a city that you’re travelling to or even have them house you for a night. It’s basically a way to find your way around foreign cities or possible even avoid staying in a hostile. He was picking up two Canadians from the airport who were on a long vacation and coming to Rome from Athens and then we were all meeting two Americans from Babylon, New York.
When were going to leave Francesco told me to change my shirt because he wanted to go out dancing and I did so thinking that dancing sounded fun. Well, we picked up the Canadians which took forever because not only was their flight delayed and the luggage apparently took a long time to come out, but they also came out a completely different exit than Francesco and I expected. So finally we headed for the Center where the Americans were staying. We met up with the Americans but the Canadians still had to check into the hostile that their friend had booked for them. So we left the Americans so they could shower and we found out when we got their that the Canadian’s friend apparently never booked their room and the hostile was full for the night. So drove back across the Center which on a Saturday night during White Night took nearly 35 minutes (and I’m sure it was no more than 3 kilometers). We met back up with the Americans who then proceeded to help the Canadians find a place to stay.
Two hours later…
We finally find a place for the Canadians to stay and it is now 11:15 (Francesco and I have not even since lunch at 1). During the search for logging, the Canadian girl (both couples were boy/girl) started having some kind of reaction on her legs. It started as just some incredibly large bug bites and slightly swollen ankles. By the time we finally made it to a restaurant… 2 hours after seeking one out, her “reaction” as we were calling it, had gotten much worse. She said it didn’t hurt too bad except for when she would bend her ankles too far and her “bites” would split open. Yeah, it really was quite disgusting. Her ankles were at least twice their normal size, huge welts that looked like sacks of pus from a rash like you would get from poison ivy were popping up (and open) all over her calves, ankles and feet, and they would randomly burst open and ooze down her leg and some of the ooze had blood in it and from the swelling (I’m guessing) her feet started turning purple and it was getting hard for her to walk.
We ate an a pretty fancy but not too expensive Mexican style restaurant but since it was already 1 by the time we sat down, the kitchen was getting ready to close and we were all just kind of past our hunger. I was really beginning to hate the Canadians. We ordered three pitchers of sangria and within the first glass and a half, I was already feeling it since I hadn’t eaten in so long. The bill with two appetizers ended up being 47 Euro and Francesco and I both said we would buy a pitcher each. Somehow, he ended up putting in 20 and I put in 10… what? Yeah, I don’t understand either. Another strike against the Canadians. The Americans were very cool and had just finished an 12 day tour of Italy and seemed to be very experienced travelers. I didn’t get the sense that they were a couple, but rather very good friends and were a blast to hang out with (both 24). The Canadian girl was really cool and I felt horrible that she was having this… whatever it was, her first day in Rome and still had 10 days of her trip left. The guy however, was a different story. He apparently wasn’t gay, but I would have laid down money that he was and he fulfilled every stereotype that gives gay men a bad rep. He was loud, out spoken, absent minded, incredibly rude to the girl as he kept laughing at her and saying that “The Europe trip is over,” and just over all being a pain.
After we ate we headed back to the American’s hostile and bid them goodnight and goodbye. Then we went in search of a hospital for Lauren which I would out later, was the real beginning of my night. We went to a hospital in the city arriving after 3 and waited there until a little after 4. This apparently is not the best hospital in Rome and the women who had checked Lauren into triage ended up telling Francesco that we would have better luck at Gemelli which is actually close to Villa. We headed all the way across town and got to Gemelli around 4:30. They took her immediately and did some blood work… that we didn’t get the results for until 7. We took them to the pharmacy to fill the prescription for Lauren, all the while Josh was complaining about how the trip was over and he was going sight seeing with or without Lauren no matter what and I seriously, in my extremely tired and grouchy state, wanted to deck him in the face and make the rest of the trip a lot easier for Lauren.
In the end, we got back to Villa at 7:30 and I was supposed to be heading with a group from Villa to San Paolo in 2 hours for the afternoon. There was just no way I would be able to keep my eyes open through mass and priests talking about the church in Italian. I very sadly scratched my name off the list and went to bed. So that was my night. Instead of seeing every museum that I possibly could in one night, filling myself to the brim with history and culture and things that I might not have the money for later, I spent it with two pretty cool Americans, a gimpy Canadian girl and an incredibly rude, loud and annoying Canadian guy. Not seeing museums, not going dancing, not bar hopping, not meeting more really cool people, not doing what I came here to do since basically the whole night I was actually playing the role of interpreter for Francesco and not speaking a lick of Italian. As much as I tried my hardest to actually enjoy myself and see it as one of those things that would make for a great story later, it really just felt like a waste and it was hard to control my disappointment as the person I really felt for was Francesco who had to do all the driving and paid for more than the should have. There was talk of going to the beach today, but seeing as it is nearly 4, I don’t believe that will happen. I am buying a ticket sometime this week for a trip to Florence next weekend to be sure that not another moment is wasted in this amazing country. Stupid Canadians.

The first rain of the voyage

*I think officially I have wished away my first Friday. Although it will be nice to have the weekend, it officially means that I have been here nearly 2 weeks already and my time is almost a 4th over. So much still to do!! Maybe I be sensible and wise enough to use my time fittingly.*

So it was the day of the strike and I really had no interest in opening my eyes and get out of bed. I hadn’t showed the night before and for a very brief instant pondered the possibility of just going without one. I then quickly remembered that it is far hotter in Italy and last night I had heard it raining outside which was to continue during the day, so it would be extra humid. I quickly showered, grabbed some breakfast, and ran out the door. I made it with 10 minutes to spare before the sciopero began so I bought some coffee and sad in my classroom to read for a while. Class went by rather quickly and I was pleased with how well I was picking up prepositions until we left the realm of prepositions for the world of reflexive verbs. Not so easy. Ah well.
After class I had nearly 4 hours to kill before I could head back to the Metro. So what did I do? Oh that’s right, I did what any self-respecting Kreidenweis male would do and had lunch with 5 women who were at least 40 or more years older than him. Four Germans and a Brit and I was set for excellent conversation and of course my fair share of being set up on dates with their granddaughters. A hilarious time accompanied by AMAZING food. We went to a trattoria (the Italian equivalent of a small café) and found that they had a lunch special of bread, a drink, a main dish (no meat), either dessert or fruit and coffee for just 10 Euros. I had the gnocchi and I was quick pleased that I had. It was like no other gnocchi I have ever had before. Picture a tomato soup (but with chunks of tomato and some kind of peppers and torn basil leaves) filled with gnocchi and then smothered in cheese and put under a broiler so that when served it almost looked like French onion soup… except… gnocchi style. I nearly cried it was so good.
Since the majority of the table was German and I made the very poor mistake of asking if the restaurant was far from the school in German, they decided it was perfectly acceptable to have a great deal of the conversation in German. Jenny (the Brit) and I would just kind of give each other this “Yeah, I have no clue what the hell they’re saying either” kind of look when they got to speaking quite quickly. However, I was surprised by just how much of the conversation I actually understood. When they were asking me about my age, where I went to school and some other mundane questions, I actually held my own relatively well in German. What made it even more challenging is that they would often remember that we were all studying Italian and would switch mid-sentence into Italian or English and then back to German and Italian and English and German… so on and so forth. Quite confusing at times.
After lunch we parted ways and I decided that even though the weather was not promising and I would likely get rained on at some point, I headed on a long walk to Villa Borghese. Where else would I want to spend 3 hours while being stranded? I made it with no real trouble of direction and just walked around while being amazed by the amount of people out and about the park even though it kept intermittently sprinkling and the sky was a perpetual gray. When it had stopped sprinkling for a long period of time and I thought it was safe, I pulled out my book and read next to a pond under a willow tree; talk about perfect reading spots, eh? Finally, I walked back to the Metro and headed back to Villa. I went for a run before dinner and it felt good since I had been sitting most of the day. I quickly showered and then after dinner I went to choir rehearsal. It ended up lasting nearly 2 hours which was a little annoying, but still fun. During rehearsal while Fabio was working with some other section, one of the girls was asking me what I did today and I started by saying that I left for school early to get there before the strike. She replied by saying “Oh yeah, I was a little surprised it didn’t actually happen today. Oh well, I’m sure there will be another one.” Great. I was “stranded” all day when the Metro never actually closed down. Oh well, it was still a very good day to walk. After rehearsal I somehow got roped into singing Ave Maria for the choir which was a little scary since I’m sure they all know that prayer in Latin far better than I do and I was worried I would forget a word or two, but I never did and they apparently liked and I was asked to sing at two of their weddings whenever they should happen. Another excellent day, natürlich.

A lovely Thursday

*OMG two days with no blog entry!! Not to worry, it's not for lack of writing, just lack of getting to the library for internet access. Mi di spiace.*

What a beautiful day to be in Rome! I started the day as always, getting up at 7, having breakfast in the little kitchen and heading for the Metro. It has yet to do anything but be sunny while I have been in Rome and today was no exception. I am becoming more comfortable with my morning commute as I now know where I’m going and I’m starting to trust my sense of direction a little more now that I have found my way around Rome pretty well even when getting lost. Now that I am not such a novice and can actually look up from my feet to really take in the city while I’m walking about, I am starting to become more aware of my surrounds, not from a point of mistrust, but rather a sense of pleasure in really taking in the city.
Most people seem to think that the first thing you really notice about a city when you start becoming more comfortable with it is the sights and sounds, but for some reason, the firs thing that I really started to notice was how different Rome smells. It not quite the dirty smell of New York or London, but rather it is a more primal smell, the smell of bodies baking in the hot sun and of sweat and the smell of busy lives. But as with practically everything in Rome, it can surprise you. You can be walking down the street and become quite aware of the pungent body odor around you and in an instant your nostrils are filled with the smell of bread, or fruit, or even more often, the very strong smell of flowers. The air in the Metro is much the same of any big city, thick and damp, almost like breathing a syrup of air; not my favorite part of my commute.
Class went well although my classmates gave me hell because I promised I would sing for them today but it wasn’t until I was on the Metro that I realized I had forgotten my music, so I told them I would do it tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I found out in class that I am to experience my first “sciopero” – Italian for ‘strike.’ These happen quite frequently in Italy when it comes to the public transportation system and I’m sure it won’t be the last one I have to endure while I am here. So from 8:30 to 5:00 tomorrow no public transportation will be running. This means two things, first, I will have to leave extra early for school so I can get there before the Metro stops running (risky but I have no other option), and second, I have no way to get back from school until 5. So it looks like I have a lot of time to walk around and really dig into Rome! The most difficult is that I will actually have to get some courage and actually order lunch. Until now, I have avoided this because for some reason it makes me really nervous that I’ll really screw up my order and feel like an idiot. Yeah yeah, I know, time to get over it and just do it because that’s why I’m here, right? Yes, I know.
Today after lunch I took a break while letting my Zune charge and then headed back to the city. I hate doing homework inside when it’s so nice outside and now that I’ve been to Villa Borghese, it’s really the only place in Rome that I don’t think I could ever tire of going to. In that same late, there is so much of Villa Borghese that I could go everyday while I am here and probably not see the entire park. Why waste a beautiful day? I walked around for a very long time just soaking up the sun and the happenings around me. I ventured to a side of Villa Borghese that I had not been to and was not disappointed at all that life that lay around me. I finally picked a bench and sat down to do some reading. After reading for a while I decided to head back to Villa… in a very round about way that involved taking 45 minutes to get back to the Metro. 
I got back a little after 7 and since I had some time to kill, I decided I was well over due for some solid practicing. I headed for the piano which is in the large conference room, and found out to my great surprise that not only was the piano actually pretty decent, but the hall has wonderful acoustics and will be actually fun to practice in. I headed to dinner and much to my horror, I was seated directly across from the Cardinal. I do not think I have ever eaten under such nerve wracking conditions in all my life. I don’t really know why I felt such an obligation to have impeccable manners and posture, because really none of the guys here (the Cardinal included) eat with any kind of real manners. But nonetheless my back was painfully straight, my shoulders pinned back, I didn’t take forkfuls of food that were too big and I was constantly wiping my mouth. Afterwards I really felt quite ridiculous and realized that it would probably have been better had I just relaxed and not looked like such twit.
After dinner I was invited to have a couple beers in the fourth floor lounge with Francesco and some of the other guys. Before we met I fell into conversation with Gennaro and another guy named Giovanni about random stuff to do with school, life in America, my friends, ect. They showed me how to use the washers (which I still have to buy detergent for) and then showed me to a room that I had not seen yet. When Giovanni first arrived at Villa he found this room was completely empty and decided to turn it into a music room. I got some money together and bought a stereo with good speakers and eventually bought a turntable as Villa apparently has a large collection of vinyl. However, this is no ordinary listening room, it in fact is filled with nothing but classical recordings, some I’m sure you cannot even find anymore without a very experienced eye for finding such things. He played for me a 1930’s recording of the Berlin Philharmonic performing Bach’s “St. Matthew’s Passion.” It was incredible and made even more so by the fact that I was standing in a room with someone who found equal pleasure for it as I did. A rare find in a person and one I certainly cherish here at Villa. We talked more of music and recordings he said I could borrow (his two favorite composers are Verdi and Puccini. Yay opera!!) and eventually parted ways.
I headed for the lounge and ended up laughing a great deal before the beer even arrived. Apparently Peroni is the Italian version of Miller Lite, but even so, it was good. It was quite an amusing time because they would get into long strings of conversation in Italian and then suddenly remember that I was still there and fill me in on what was being said. Around 1 I decided that since I actually did have class in the morning and had to get up extra early to make it there before the strike began, I should probably head for bed. A very good day followed by an equally good night.

A relatively simple day in Rome

All in all it was a pretty uneventful day. That sounds so awful since I am in Rome and I should using everyday to go explore and check off more and more things on my list of life experiences, but then again, when living in a foreign country, should you not at least once in a while just live like they do? “When in Rome…” Yeah yeah… all that crap. It’s a pretty lame excuse, but I for some reason have not slept for two nights in a row (perhaps the backlash of jet lag?) and today it started to wear on me a great deal.
Class was good and I am realizing that I really enjoy my classmates. The girl from Brazil, Maitê, sat with me during our break between lessons in the garden and we chatted a great deal. This girl has been everywhere! Her Father owns a business that he moved to Miami, Florida for a while so that’s where she learned English, she learned Spanish because as a little girl she loved watching Spanish soap operas, she learned French because her Father speaks it and demanded that she and her sister learn as well. She got extra practice on all these languages because she lived for a year in a boarding school in France for international students. She’s only 18!! She’s also quite funny and it was nice to feel so comfortable while at school.
After class I came back and had lunch then went on a walk with some of the guys around the Villa gardens (always an adventure with them, involving a lot of laughter). We went back inside and Antonio asked me to help him with his English homework. This was a great relief to me (in a very selfish way) to see someone struggling with a foreign language like myself. After we finished his work he asked if I wanted to read a book in Italian. This is something I have been planning on doing since before I came, so I accepted his invitation to the library (which he has the keys to). Mostly classical literature and Italian translations of scholarly essays, it was hard to find something that I could actually stand a chance at even getting past the first sentence. *For Dr. Bob: they had Dante but Antonio suggested against it since Dante’s wording is quite complex.
We finally decided on two books, one a French book translated into Italian (which Antonio thought would help because the translation would be more simply worded) called Memorie di Andriano by Marguerite Yourcenar which is true story about a man and his homosexual relations… interesting? We shall see. The other is an Italian novel called Il deserto dei Tartari by Dino Buzzati. I have yet to figure out what this book is about, but hopefully I will soon get the gist. I was also given two dictionaries, one that is Italian to English and English to Italian (this book is enormous and weighs at least 10 pounds) and another that has Italian words and English translations throughout. Very helpful.
After this trip to the library I headed back to my room to let my Zune charge and to read for a while before I finally went out for a run. I left at 4:30 which was a poor choice since the sun was incredibly hot. I went to the pine forest that is across the street from Villa (not really a forest but rather a park with lots of very tall pine trees). There was a good amount of shade under the trees but on the other side of the trees is a huge open field with lots of hills and winding pathways through the long grass. I ventured away from the forest into the crispy grass with thin pathways flecked with old people taking leisurely strolls in the sun. The sun beat down on my arms and I suddenly desperately wished that I had a tan so I would not burn.
The field was amazing and it weaved around hills and suddenly came to the top where you could see a great deal of the city, including a clear view of Saint Peter’s. I suddenly felt as if I were a child peeking into some taboo place or event, as if I had sneaked up behind Rome and taken it by surprise with my sudden appearance at the top of the hill. I stopped running for a time and took in the sight. It’s a great thing to behold Rome in such a grand fashion. You think of Rome and you think of Italy, and for me at least, it is not until I really draw myself up and open my mind that I really think about the former might and strength of Rome. The solitary hand that once gripped multiple nations and huge masses of land and people and had the power to control all it touched with but a finger of command. Yes, a great and overwhelming thing to behold. I continued running.
After lunch I had been invited by Luigi (another guy on my floor) to possibly play tennis at 6:30 for a while before dinner. He ended up not coming to get me and for that I was very grateful. The sun had nearly killed me and I desperately wanted to take a shower before dinner since I felt like a salt lick. I made my first mistake at Villa by showing up to dinner in flip flops which apparently is taboo because the Cardinal wants at least some show of respect in clothing. Luckily for me, he was not at dinner and I was kindly informed by Gabriele of this apparent rule. In class today we were assigned some homework out of our book and strangely, I’m almost grateful. In a very odd sense, I feel like having some sort of responsibility for my studies is in a way validating my being here. I am surrounded by guys who study a great deal and work on their schooling just as hard as I do, and to not take part in some of that was making feel kind of like a slacker. But at least now I have a real reason to go to the library, aside from just updating my blog and whatnot. Ciao!

p.s. I write all these entries like a journal I'm keeping on Word. I'm only using 11 point font and it's already 23 pages long :-)

Tuesday - A day of amazing history

So truthfully, today was really my first day of class. My class is now only seven people consisting of three women from Germany, one girl from Brazil (who is only 18 and can speak fluently in Portugese, Spanish, French and English, so Italian really is no big deal to her), one guy from Japan who is learning Italian so he can make better business for his jewelry line, a woman from English (near Brussels), and of course, me. It is a pretty cool class and we work well together. Our teacher, Laura, is very nice and is kind enough to annunciate and speak slowly to make sure we all understand. I get the slight sense that I’m the underdog in this room, save for maybe the guy from Japan, but it’s a good environment for me to be in since I work best under pressure. In the end, it’s fun and even in though it’s only my first real day, I think I’m going to enjoy the challenge.
After class I rushed back to Villa to catch the end of lunch. There were other guys who also came late so luckily, I did not have to eat alone. Antonio said today would be our first trek out together for him to show me Rome. We decided to meet at 4 and so we did. It was incredible how much he knows about Rome and its history. It makes sense of course that he would know so much since he is about to finish his degree in art history, but even so, this guy is a complete encyclopedia to Ancient Rome. We started at San Pietro (St. Peter’s Basilica). Never in my life have I seen such an amazing man made structure. Certainly the collaboration between Michelangelo and Bernini caught some essence of God and the workings of Heaven in this great hall of artistic masterpiece. I say masterpiece in the singular since in this place, there is no collection of art, but rather, the entire place is a work of art in and of itself. Every painting, sculpture, statue, wall, ceiling, marble floor piece, column, etc. was simply a part of a grand piece of creativity and unworldly imagination.
Perhaps the most startling part of this place was the vibes. They truly came up through the floor, from the walls, down from the ceilings, everywhere. After walking around the basilica, we ventured down into the tombs where there are many popes and cardinals laid to rest, including John Paul II. Certainly you at some point in your life have felt grass between your toes or sand piling up around your feet, or even snow freezing yet plush beneath your soles. This was the feeling of the vibes coming from this place. They were so thick, so full of silent history wanting to come alive, so rich in emotion and understanding and anger and confusion and happiness, defeat, victory and a myriad of human emotion that it was if they had some sort of tangibility. It was elating and unnerving at the same time.
After this, we ventured to many other places including Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum (WOW!!), the Pantheon, the Forum, Piazza del Popolo, the Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese, and also (finally!) Giolitti’s!! Piazza Venezia (which I had found on my own a couple days ago) was much more interesting (although I’m amazed that it could be since I thought that just looking at it was cool) with an art historian telling me all about it. He told me all about the different ruins and what they used to be and of course the history behind them. We then walked down to the Colosseum (which is right behind Piazza Venezia) which I then got a huge earful of history on that. The Colosseum really is all they say it is. Not only is it made amazing by the fact that it is surrounded by such a historically rich area, but it’s just, huge and amazing and old and just, cool. We didn’t go inside because it is apparently 8 Euros and I told him I could go by myself sometime.
After the Colosseum we headed over to Giolitti’s!! I was very excited to finally be going to the oldest (and supposedly best) gelateria in Rome. Amazingly, it was not as crowded as it has been every time I have passed it so we got our gelato relatively quickly. I had strachiaterra (I think it might be chocolate chip but I’m not really sure, all I really know is that it was really good), biscotto (cookies), and frutta di bosca (blackberry). Yes, if you were wondering, it really is all it’s cracked up to be and it was by far and away the best gelato I have had yet. Most gelaterias put a big scoop of fresh whipped cream on top of your gelato and of course Giolitti’s is no exception. However, they also don’t skimp. I’m sure on this cone (yes, cone) there had to have been at least half a pint of gelato if not slightly more and of course a huge dollop of cream. Sadly (or perhaps luckily) when we walked out, my dollop of cream slid off my gelato and onto my shoe (luckily not my new ones). But even creamless, it was amazing.
We then headed for Spanish Steps which nearly killed me as I had just eaten my weight in gelato. But we climbed to the top and then walked along the outer edge of Villa Borghese which is a huge park in Rome that lies against a huge hill that overlooks the city. There is a spot in front of a huge garden where there lies a terrace, and on this terrace, you can take a perfect panoramic shot of practically all of Rome. I think this made up for me forgetting my camera in Ariccia. Bellissimo. We headed back to Villa while talking of politics and our favorite periods in history and periods of art and music. It was truly a wonderful day and certainly one I cannot forget or keep out of my mind.

First day of class

*I wrote this late last night so this is an account of Monday*

First day of class! Since I jumped the gun a little bit last week I did not have to arrive at Torre di Babele until noon, unlike the rest of my class that had to arrive at 9 to take the entrance exam. Torre di Babele is very close to University City which houses Rome’s largest university which is Sapienza. This campus is the largest of three that are part of Rome University and it has roughly 150,000 students; take that OSU! So in any case, a lot of the guys at Villa study at Sapienza, so it was not hard to find someone who was going in that direction the same time I was. I was accompanied by a guy on my floor named Angelo. He has a basic understanding of English but is one of the students who will soon have to take their English examination test so he is eager to be around me. It’s an even exchange of understanding and confusion and laughter which leaves us both feeling awkward and comforted by the fact that we both have trouble with each other’s native tongue.
I exited at Politicano which is the stop before his, so we bid each other good day and I went to school. I arrived well in advance of my class but there was a lot of confusion since it was the first day of classes for many others as well. The first meeting of the day was an orientation about Rome which was slightly helpful but nice because everyone seemed to be on a basic understanding of their surroundings. There were two meetings, one in English and one in Italian. In the English meeting there were 6 Germans, 3 Australians, 1 New Zealander, 1 Brit and 2 Americans, myself included. After our orientation we had an hour break and then a lesson. Since it was the first day my class was big with about 14 or 15 people. We were split into two classes that would start the next day, one group in the morning and one in the afternoon (almost all of the afternoon people were very disappointed at this), and luckily, I got to be in the morning. The class was brief but after doing some exercises on introducing ourselves (which I absolutely hate, whether in English or Italiano, they just suck and I felt like I was back in high school drama class trying to play charades with my name) we dove right into work on our book.
After class as I was walking back to the Metro stop, I ran into a girl from my class, one of the Australians. I had pinned her for being a bit of a whiner and the moment we started talking (as we were going to the same Metro stop), I immediately knew I had her just right. She tried to get switched into the morning class after already being annoyed that the fact that she had to (and I quote) “demote herself to such simple things as will discussed in our level 2 class.” I was suddenly very glad that she was not in my class. But other than that, she was relatively nice and at least amicable toward me. She invited me to go out for her birthday which is next Monday. I appreciated the offer although later I realized I would probably never see her again since our classes did not overlap in time and her cell phone was stolen two days ago. I late appreciated this lack of communication.
I was very tired as I had woken up very early (why, I have no idea) so I had planned to head back to Villa, but as should happen when in a foreign country, my curiosity go the best of me. Angelo had told me that I should eventually go to Piazza di Popolo which is near a Metro stop called Flaminio. I got off at Flaminio and then never made it to Piazza di Popolo. I was too amazed by the park that stretched out endlessly next to the Metro. It was beautiful and I couldn’t help but to continue walking. There were children playing, couples laying on blankets, old men watching the time pass, parents and children riding in pedal cars, people in boats on the pond, gardens that lay about in sunken terraces, trees offering abundant shade, the whole scene was truly out of a book and I had trouble containing myself while taking it all in. I was truly taken aback by the smell of flowers that seemed to be the air itself as the scent was so strong.
After walking around and enjoying my fill of smiling strangers and the laughing of children, I found a bench under a tree and pulled out my book. Being in such a beautiful and mystical place certainly made picturing the lands of Avalon much easier to picture. I thought about pulling out my headphones to listen to music until I realized that everything going on about me was music in itself. The combination of laughter, the water, the wind against the leaves, the soft tread of leisurely walking footsteps, the heavy breathing of passing joggers, and of course the abundance of the Italian language being spoken by all passers was a complete symphony and I had no need for the composed music of those who probably got a great deal of their inspiration from being in situations such as the one I was currently in. Truly, the most pure form of music I have yet to hear.
After tiring and rapidly becoming very aware of my stomach (since my first day prevented me from having lunch at Villa, I had to suffice with just an apple which I had eaten 4 hours ago), I decided to head back toward the Metro, very slowly. I made it back to Villa with enough time to taken a short rest then head to dinner. After dinner my friend Antonio took me to his room to give me a lesson on the geography of Italy. We were soon joined by Gabriele who wanted to show me pictures of his trip to Sardegna which apparently is the most beautiful seaside town in all of Italy (pink sand?!). It was then apparently time for a spot of limoncello which was then accompanied by an invitation for late night gelato. I decided it was time to try some fruity flavors since I have been mostly sticking to abundant varieties of chocolate and biscotti. I had a combination of lemon, strawberry and amareno cherry. They were all good but I have a seriously weakness for amareno cherries, so it was by far my favorite.
Feeling like an incredible glutton, we headed back to Villa where for some reason I tossed and turned for a good part of the night. Oddio.

Just a quick update

So I don't have much time to update right now because I usually pre-write my blogs and then post them when I can get to the library but that has yet to happen for today. I also have been invited for a late night trek out for some fabulous gelato and more bonding time with the guys. YAY!!

It was a lovely first day of classes and I am also the only American in my class... great.

More later when I have time to write something good! Ciao!

Sunday's Exploration

*Note: I wrote this yesterday (Sunday) so forgive the different tenses*

This morning I woke earlier than I expected to be able to after a night of such extreme merriment. Everyone seemed to be occupied with certain things this morning. The hallway was quiet and it wasn’t until I remembered that it was Sunday that I could actually figure out why, church. I went in exploration for the kitchen where they usually have breakfast. My memory served me well from my first day when Francesco had showed it to me. I grabbed some milk, a piece of sweet bread and an orange that I had snagged from lunch the day before and munched them down in my room. I was not yet in the mood to trek about the city so instead I went back outside to the garden and continued filling my head with thoughts of Avalon (I am currently reading “The Mists of Avalon” by Marion Zimmer Bradley). *I plan on buying a book in Italian as soon as I can get my nerve up to actually go into a bookstore and ask for what I’m looking for.
After some time in the garden I went to the library do some posting (as you saw) and to check email, etc. Then I headed for lunch which I ate with Padre Samuele and a new student who I found out is going to studying at Torre di Babele! He is from Italy but he is studying to become a teacher of Italian for foreigners like myself at a language school. It will be nice to have at least familiar face tomorrow when my classes start. Since tomorrow is the first day of class, I do not have to be there until the orientation meeting at 12 which will last until 1 and then I have class until 4:40. This does however mean that I will miss lunch at Villa. So hopefully the new guy can help me order lunch if he isn’t busy… otherwise I might be slightly screwed… or just look like a typical American tourist… damn.
Walking into lunch today was quite funny as when I came into the room everyone started laughing, clapping and asking how I enjoyed the previous night. After lunch some of the guys decided to take me on a tour of the Villa gardens. We talked a lot sports to which I was pleasantly surprised by how well I could fake knowing what I was talking about. At 2 I headed back to the library for a previously schedule Skype date with my parents. Of course it was Mother’s Day, so it made good reason to retreat from the guys for a while and chat it up with the parents. After a lengthy conversation I decided it was time to hit the city. I got sidetracked on my way back to my room by a couple guys watching the Grande Prix… quite boring… I didn’t stay long. But they did invite me to watch the Milan vs. Juventus match that was taking place tonight. So I at least had something to do after dinner.
I decided it was time to go back to the center and take pictures of all the things Francesco had showed me on day #1. I made it to my destination and was amazed to find that I actually remembered exactly how to get to the Fontana di “”. I took loots of pictures today. Every time I would turn my camera off, I would instantly find something interesting and have to turn it back on. I went through two batteries but thankfully had spares in my bag. I don’t think I will ever finish being amazed at just how many churches there are all over Rome. The best part is not only are they all different, they’re all beautiful and most are open to the public. I went to the Forum, I passed Giolitti’s, and then I saw something down a street that looked particularly cool. I walked well out of my way and suddenly found myself in front of huge structure that was swarming with people. There were statues everywhere, horses, men clad in armor, angels, pillars, huge staircases… what could it be? I kept walking around trying to find a sign and while I walking I was amazed to find myself in the middle of ruins… lots of ruins.
There were excavation sites that you could actually go into, huge walls falling apart, another huge church and yet still this huge and amazingly decorated structure that I had yet to indentify. Finally on the side of the building was an entry way and at the top of two very large doors was a sign etched into the marble that read “Museo Centrali del Risorgimento.” Incredible. I kept walking around the winding street that wrapped behind it and low and behold, more ruins. Huge ruins. Truly there were ruins as far as I could see. I walked up the back staircase which wrapped back around to the front. People covered every inch of the place like flies on spilled soda. I got some incredible pictures, but of course they are pictures that can never recreate what I got to see with my own eyes. I did not get so far, but in the distance I could actually see the Coloseum. I could have easily walked to it but since I am housing with several art history and architecture majors, why would I go without one of them who can fill me in on gobs of history while taking in every detail? There will be time later.
I decided to walk around the streets for a bit longer as I still had plenty of time before dinner. This is a slightly foolish thing to do in Rome since the streets can be quite tricky. Needless to say, I got lost. Very lost. Luckily, getting lost in Rome (at least while in daylight) is not so bad since there is always something to look at. Finally, after a long while of walking, I came across a sign that pointed me in the direction of Piazza Barberini (my Metro stop). I walked in that general direction until I finally came upon the stop. Twice in one day I had passed Giolitti’s thinking that I should stop in and grab some gelato. But both times the line was out the door and not moving in any sort of quick fashion. Not to worry, I will get there soon enough.
I made it back to Villa in time to take a quick nap before dinner… the dinner that did not exist. Apparently no one informed me that we are on our own for dinner on Sundays. Luckily, the cooks leave the leftovers from lunch out for us, so I wasn’t completely dead in the water. I ate some supper and then went to watch the first part of the match. It was quite obvious that Milan was going to murder Joventus so I decided to go watch a movie with some other people (they watch a movie of some importance every Sunday evening on a projector). It was called Doubt, staring Meryl Streep. Obviously I understood very little, but I got the basic gist of the story. I went back to my room with the sincere hope of getting a good night sleep before my first day of classes in the morning.

Ariccia

It’s amazing how much can happen in one day while in Italy. After my post yesterday I went to lunch which was hilarious because almost all the guys who can actually speak decent English are out of town for the weekend, so I am left with the guys who can barely stumble through. This of course makes for very interesting table conversation. Individually they keep asking me “Quando io parlo Inglese, tu corregi me?” which means “When I speak English, will you correct me?” To which I reply “Si, ma tu corregi mio Italiano.” It seems to work out in the end.
After lunch I met a guy who had just returned from visiting his home in a town near Napoli. A group of us stood around after eating and just talked. These kind of encounters are my favorite because it’s a mix of them trying to get me to speak in Italian, while also testing their own English skills. We talked about soccer, which after telling them that I’m a Germany fan, they were quick to tell me to support their own individual soccer clubs. Gennaro (the guy who just returned to Villa) seemed to be the most convincing so I learned to say “Io tiffo Napoli!” (“I support Naples!”) These guys crack me up.
After departing from the guys I went out the garden in front of Villa and read in the sunlight. I didn’t have much time before we were leaving for Ariccia, so I decided to at least be outside even if I didn’t have time to do some city exploring. It’s incredible how much Italy can get your creative juices flowing. I ended up going back to my room and writing for almost an hour. It was a good afternoon.
Finally it was time to hit the road for Ariccia. This is where the grand adventure really started. We were supposed to leave at 5 which turned into 5:30 when we finally headed for the car. Then we apparently couldn’t figure out who all was supposed to come with us. Finally we left after about 20 minutes of phone calls. We drove around the block, got gas, then realized that we needed one more person. They met us, we waited for the other car, and when it finally came, we were on our way… at 6:15. I found the whole ordeal very funny while the other guys seemed very annoyed. Sometimes it’s fun to not be the responsible one. 
The city is south of Rome in the hills and on our way there, we missed an exit which added another 10 minutes to our drive. Now, for those of you who have been to Europe, you know that most of the cars are relatively small. We had three fully grown guys in the back of a two door Citroen. This caused the entire drive to be quite… tight. Ascending the mountains was beautiful. We passed a hillside city called Marino and on the other side of Marino was a lake which we stopped to look at. It was gorgeous. We parked next to a mobile café that had tables set up, people drinking and being merry, the sun just beginning to think about setting, the trees all green, the water a deep blue, certainly a wonderful time to whip out that new digital camera and snap away some perfect shots of the Italian hillside, right? Oh wait, of course now is the moment that you suddenly realize that you forgot that one precious little piece of equipment, the ONE and only electronic device that you really even need in Italy, the ONE and only thing that you bring to Italy that is worth ANYTHING. But no, you don’t have that, and you’re 35 minutes from where it is, and you haven’t even reached your destination yet. There is only one word that can adequately describe this incredibly huge faux pas: FAIL!
But I did not really start kicking myself until we had arrived in Ariccia. Ariccia is really only famous for two things which is a church and a palace that were built by the 17th century artist Bernini, and a wonderfully amazing kind of pork called porchetto. However, another thing it should be famous for, is the view. There is a bridge that connects the highway to the main section of Ariccia where the church and palace is (The Old Bridge), and from this bridge, you can see Rome… all of Rome. There is not just Rome, but the city of Ariccia cascading down the hillside in brightly painted and rundown apartment buildings with little ladies hanging their linen to dry on windows, kids running up and down the tight alley ways between the buildings, farms covered in different kinds of plants, trees everywhere, the whole of Italian charm right there from this old cobblestone bridge just begging to be photographed. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to scream so badly in my whole life.
Finally I realized that being pissed at myself was not going to bring me my camera, so I put my mental memory to work and did my best to remember every detail about this quaint and yet amazing little village. The palace had already closed for the day but the church was still open, with a concert about to take place. The concert was performed by the Alpini which are an old faction of Italian guard that fought in WWII. Nowadays that can be found wearing cool hats with feathers on the side. But you really can’t make fun of their hats, because they are one kickass choir. We only stayed for a couple songs because we had to meet the rest of the Villa crew that were coming later, but just those few songs were amazing.
You really don’t understand just how much music can make a profound effect on you until you are in a 17th century church, on a hill, at dusk, paintings all around you, and the robust yet gentle voices of men filling the old walls with sound. The experience was enriching and gratifying. But, on to porchetta. We walked around Ariccia trying to figure out where to meet the others for a while, the whole time I was talking to Gennaro who spoke very little English. It was a fun conversation because we both found amusement in trying to understand the other. We finally stopped in front of a row of restaurants and waited for the others. I really didn’t know how many more we would have. We ended up being a party of 21. This was the most amazing night I have had in a long time.
The menu was of course set up for family style eating. I have never ever eaten so much in my entire life. We of course started with wine and bread and everyone was toasting and the large party of guys next to us kept toasting along with us (Italians are very loud about toasting) and there was singing and then they toasted to their “amico americano” (that’s me!!). It was awesome. Here was the menu: lots of wine, bread, more wine, 2 kinds of salami, 3 kinds of sausage, prosciutto, porchetto (OMG SO GOOD!!), lentils, beans, more wine (this was just the antipasto course), then you could have pasta carbonara, Amatriciana, or gnocchi (I had carbonara), and of course more wine. We washed it all down with espresso and limoncello. I was stuffed.
Now, everyone was full of wine and quite relaxed, which apparently meant “Let’s talk to the American!” Everyone was teaching me phrases from their own dialects, taking pictures with me, asking if I liked this or that, how I liked Italy, who I should support in soccer, which operas I liked, if I had a girlfriend, did I want a girlfriend, did I like Rome, did I like Italian wine… etc etc. I can’t describe this night to you in enough detail to have you actually understand just how amazing it was. We made it back to Villa and after having to answer my door twice for guys who wanted to say goodnight, I finally, exhausted, crashed on my bed.

As always, more later. Ciao!

Last night

So last night after choir practice was quite the adventure. First, let’s talk briefly about choir practice. A.) I love how well I can sight read. B.) The tenors kept trying to steal me from the only other bass and he claimed me as his own. C.) When we started warming up, everyone kept looking at me. D.) It was fun.
After choir practice I went out with Antonio, Nino, Felice, Angelo, Alessa, and Febbrize. Cool names, eh? They wanted to give me a tour of some of the cool places in Rome, all while giving me history and Italian lessons. On the bus they kept quizzing me on random Italian words and phrases. They taught me a lot of bad words which sound much cooler in Italian than English. Our first stop was Piazza Venizia and the Fontana del Ventro which began my first history lesson. Antonio is a world of knowledge when it comes to not just Roman history, but all kinds of history. It seemed like each time we went down a different street, he had something to tell me about a building, or a statue, or sculpture. (He’s the one who I’m helping with English so he can be a tour guide.)
The best part of last night was all of us trading back and forth between English and Italian. At the end of June, they are all taking an exam to test their English skills. So as much as possible, they would ask me questions in English (I would correct them) and then I would answer in Italian to the best of my abilities. Va bene.
Another thing I learned last night is that if you think Rome is beautiful during the day, you should see it at night. The moon was nearly full and actually quite bright. The entire time we were walking around, it cast a glow on the town where there were not as many street lights and the effect was just so perfect. I really did feel like I was in a postcard.
After looking at many churches and other monuments, we decided it was time for gelato. We ended up at the same place that Francesco took me on my first day here (which was fine because just at this one gelateria, the have over 50 different flavors). We ate our gelato and then got kicked off our table because it was late. Our last stop was Spanish Steps. HOLY CRAP THEY ARE HUGE!! But to get there, we went down what the Romans call “The richest street in the world.” And they’re not kidding. In the spring there is an event where they set up a catwalk and there is a fashion show, right there at the end of the street, in front of Spanish Steps. There is every major label known to man on this street and then some. Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, Dior, Louis Vuitton, you name it, it’s there.
After Spanish Steps, we headed for home. On the Metro we ran into another student from Villa, Marco who had just seen the new Star Trek. Apparently it’s pretty good. When we returned to Villa, we left the girls at their dorm and then very loudly entered our own and got some water. I was then invited to join a group of students to go to a city near Rome (don’t ask me the name because I keep forgetting) to go out and then have dinner. It should be a blast.
This morning I woke up early and went in search of the gym that Francesco told me was in the basement. I found it and it’s quite… simple, I guess is the word I would use. Staying fit in Italy is going to be harder than I thought. What, with pasta and fresh bread with meal, gelato, poor exercise facilities, it’s a wonder that in three days I haven’t managed to gain 10 pounds already. Well, wish me luck on that one.

More later tonight hopefully. Ciao!

Friday - Part B

Wow, this has been quite the day. I was mad that I had slept away a good portion of the morning, but I think I definitely made up for it in my afternoon exploration. After lunch I went to update and check email and whatnot. Then I went back, planned out a semi-organized route and hit the road. I decided first that I would practice getting to my school again just to make sure I wouldn’t get completely lost on Monday when my classes actually started.
I walked around with a little more confidence since I at least had some idea of where I was going. I even listened to music on my way to the subway! Then I put it away since I was afraid I would either lose my concentration and get lost or do something stupid like not notice that someone’s hand was down my pocket trying to steal my wallet. I made it to my school just fine in almost exactly 40 minutes. Since I had the entire afternoon for exploring I decided to have a look around Piazza Bologna. Romans tend to orient themselves with land marks and they usually use the Piazzas where the metro stops are (or at least that’s what it feels like). I didn’t find too much other than cool architecture (which is always good), a Volvo dealership, and lots of shops that had extremely pleasant aromas coming out of them.
I got back on the Metro and decided to head back toward the center to do some more touristy sight seeing. After getting on the A line I thought I would go back to where Francesco had taken me so I could take pictures of the Forum and the Fontana del Vitro, but alas, I was a sucker and stopped and the Piazza Rippublica first. This is where you get off to find the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. It took a long time to find. First I just started looking around taking pictures of anything I thought was cool (which proved to be a lot of things). Every time I would walk past a street, some interesting façade or sculpture would catch my eye and I would go in search of the next best shot. I kept walking down one street until I came to a very large building that I either think was San Pietro or the Spanish Steps. I’m not sure so I have to ask one of my friends what it was because I could not find a sign or anything to tell me.
I walked to the other side of the square and back again for about an hour and a half until finally I got my nerve up and decided to ask someone where it was. “Scusata’me, dov’e il Teatro dell’Opera?” After asking this to three different people and getting answers completely in Italian (which was daunting but kind of cool that I actually asked my question correctly), I finally found it. Even in its humble state, it was beautiful. A simple front with a small sort of quasi-courtyard in front of the marquise made out of granite and marble. Over the marquise was a bust of what I am guessing is the Muses. It was glorious. I went up to the biglietti (tickets) window to look at the program and to see what was showing. This apparently is also the place where the Ballet de Russe has many performances. The operas were ones I had not heard of except Pagliacci which still had not been sold out like the many of the others. The Ballet had just finished a set of French ballets from Debussy (Les pre midi de un’faun) and Petrushka by Stravinsky. Last month they did a recreation of Stravinsky’s Les Sacre du Printemps which I would have given anything to have seen.
After looking around I just kind of stood in the center of the square and soaked up everything around me. Each street seemed to have its own personality and each had something interesting that never failed to catch my eye. Of course I already knew this city was old, but what I didn’t know and certainly didn’t expect is that it feels old. The vibes shooting up through my body from the cracked and craggy streets, even the newer streets are just radiating with age and history. I have never been to a city where the newer looking complexes just look, out of place, even now after how many years of modernization. I also think Rome likes getting looked at. Certainly the people of Ancient Rome desired to be seen as glorious, and I think that attitude lives on in the walls of Romes walls and more than 105,000 churches (I found that out through Francesco). It’s a thrilling feeling.
After walking around for a very long time I decided that I was quite tired and headed back for Villa. It’s really like people can smell “American” on you. I really think it’s because I’m so pale and technically to Italians, I would be considered blond. But as I said earlier in my posts, not all Italians are the stereotypical dark skinned and black haired people we think of them as. But still, I believe my German roots completely give me away, and also probably how much I look at everything. I made it back in one piece and took a quick nap before dinner. Dinner was an event because both Frencesco’s (who speak probably the best English of the students) are out of town for the weekend, so I was left to defend myself at the dinner table. My friend who I am helping with English, Antonio, was my main conversation buddy and helped me talk to the rest of the table but for the most part they just all helped me stumble through my Italian. I think it’s sort of a game to them. I was invited to go out with some of the guys after choir practice. They are apparently going to be my designated “tour guides” – complete with gelato, of course.

This was before we went out. That comes next.

For Phil and Heather

So this post really is only for Phil and Heather since they are probably the only ones who will really understand just how dumb I feel.
I was just looking at the Santa Cecilia (the conservatory here in Rome) website because one of the guys on my floor studies piano there and said that he would get me in contact with some professors to see if I could maybe take a lesson with them.
So anyways, I was on their website and I was looking at the concerts that were coming through their auditorium. Oh yes, as you have probably already guessed, this is where Sokolov was playing. When I first heard about the concert, the tickets were outrageous. But this is a school... so of course there are student prices... for students... students... I'm a student... I could have gotten a cheap ticket... because I'm a student... two words... EPIC. FAIL.

*sigh* I'm and idiot.
Ciao.

My first night on the town

So my writing stopped quite abruptly last night not because I had to, but because in all that I had written yesterday, that was only what had happened until dinner. So I will pick up where I left off. At dinner there was a celebration for one of the Villa students, Fabio, who had just received his PHD in mathematics from Rome University. His family and advising professor were there along with all of the Villa administrators and some of the girls from Villa. It was very cool. Francesco explained to me that when there is a celebration for you, it is tradition that you bring things from your own region. I really had no idea how different the regions of Italy are. For example, when they all speak in their own dialects, they cannot understand anything of what the other is saying, they’re just that different.
So the celebration was grand the food quite plentiful. The wine from Fabio’s region almost smelled like vinegar, but it was quite sweet and aromatic. Not particularly good for eating, but still good. The only thing that was more plentiful than the main food, was the desserts. There were at least eight different kinds of biscotti (which in Italian means ‘cookie’, so get the idea of long flat dipping sticks out of your head, although there were those too), some kind of flat pie filled with berries, and tiramisu cake (as if tiramisu couldn’t get any better, eh?). Then to was it all down, we had champagne. Again, stuffed.
After dinner I was invited to accompany Francesco and his friend who lived across town (actually about two blocks from Torre di Babele) to see the new X-Men movie – in Italiano, of course. The ride over was fun because I am now trying my hardest to speak as much Italian as I can, whether it is correct or not, I’m just trying to get it in my mouth more. Francesco, like most of the others, is very patient and willing to help and correct me and it was comforting when he would ask me questions about his English. If you have never been to Rome, you might not know that all of the main streets are in circles. This isn’t like New York where the streets cross one another and split the city into neat little blocks. No, this is FAR more confusing, although I would not understand just how confusing it can be until after the movie; but that comes later.
Francesco’s friend was hilarious. She did nothing but laugh and had a ball stumbling through English (which was peppered heavily with Italian when she didn’t know the English equivalent) and we had fun trying to understand each other. The movie was interesting but Francesco explained to me that before he come to study in the States for a year, he knew very little English and so he taught himself by watching lots of movies he had already seen, but in English. There is a very large video library in Villa and he suggested that I start watching movies in Italian without subtitles and that I would be amazed at just how much I remembered after about 10 movies – I have my homework cut out for me! I was pleasantly surprised by how much I understood from the movie and actually walked away with a pretty good idea of what had happened (of course it helps with watching what is going on).
After the movie we went to a bar and got cappuccinos which were… how would we say… amazing? Not only were the only 1 Euro a piece, they were splendiferously delicious. One thing I have noticed here in Italy is that people eat and drink extremely quickly. At every meal I have been to so far, I am always the last one to finish each course. I think Francesco drank his entire cappuccino in about 2 sips (mind you, they aren’t that big, but still). We walked his friend home and then the real fun began. We could not, for the life of us, remember where we had parked. We had driven around and around for about 20 minutes just trying to find a spot and now we couldn’t remember which streets we had driven down and which we hadn’t. After about 40 minutes of looking, we finally lucked out and found the car. I couldn’t help but laugh at how silly the whole ordeal was. We got back to Villa at about 1:15 in the morning.
Wire from downtown excitement and of course cappuccino, I decided that since it was only 7:30 back in the States, it would be a good time for some Skype-ing, blogging, picture uploading, and of course, Facebook-ing. I was SO happy to find that Alex was online and we ended up video chatting for half and hour. During that time I uploaded my friend album of pictures onto Facebook, updated my blog (as you have seen), and talked to Christine and got scolded by my Mother for being awake at 2:30 am.
Finally I decided that it really would be wise to turn in, I headed back to my room and amazingly, fell asleep… without setting my alarm. Damn. Oh well, I still woke up relatively early and read for a while. Then went to take a shower and didn’t realize until I came out that I had kept the cleaning lady from cleaning the bathroom – great, I’ve been here three days and I’m already a typical American jerk. *sigh*

More later tonight! Ciao ciao!
Sam

First full day!

My first full day in Rome! Last night after posting on my blog, I headed back to my room with every intention of reading for a while and listening to some music. Well, to any who have done any international travel, you know that after a full day’s worth of travel, very little sleep (and uncomfortable sleep at that) on the plane, then trying to stay awake for as long as possible upon arrival to defeat jet lag will eventually catch up to you. I was out cold the moment my head hit my pillow.
Although I don’t remember dreaming last night, I might as well have woken up in one when my alarm went off at 7. I woke up to a strange but familiar room, big open windows and lots of interesting noises floating in on the breeze. I laid in bed for about 20 or so minutes just soaking up my first Italian morning in Rome. It was really quite amazing, just as I’d hoped.
Students up and down my floor were already ahead of me, bustling about to the showers, to breakfast, to class, doing what they each have been doing here for at least a year, or for most, many years now. I finally got out of bed and started with a shower which was initially awkward because the person in the stall next to mine started greeting me in Italiano and after I fumbled my way through my own greeting he quickly realized I was “Il bianco Americano” (The blond American).
Villa Nazareth is much bigger than I had ever expected it to be. It is a gated community with a huge building that is actually three buildings that are connected and then a girl’s dorm that was built two years ago. Where is not a building, there is nothing but gardens. Everywhere there is life and is simply gorgeous. At the top of the farthest building that is connected to the men’s dorm there is a reading room that has an open deck. From this deck you can see all of Villa Nazareth and through the forest that is across the street, you can see the San Pietro duomo (St. Peter’s) which is amazingly huge. But I digress…
After showering and getting dressed, I got lost trying to find the second kitchen which is where everyone goes for breakfast (consisting of milk and maybe fruit), so I decided to just hit the road. Once again, I got lost. After walking up and down the same set of blocks for about half an hour, I finally found the Metro and got on the A line heading toward the center of Rome. I was bound and determined to find my school, Torre di Babele before lunch. I was amazed to find that even after switching lines at Termini (the largest subway station in Rome which also acts as the train station), I still go to my correct Metro stop. Then I came out from the Metro… and here I was thinking I was so clever for having survived the subway!
I spent the next 45 minutes walking around with a vague idea of what streets I needed to take to find TDB but obviously, I really had no idea where I was going. If there is one thing I hate, it’s looking like a tourist. Odd, I know since that’s exactly what I am and like it or not, people can spot me like a black sheep, but still, I try my best to at least look like I know what I’m doing. I’m quite sure it never works, but hey, I try. Every time I felt the need was great enough to actually relinquish my map of Rome from the depth of my Mary Poppins bag, I tried to find a place where the least amount of people would see me. Don’t judge, you know you hate pulling out maps and unashamedly gawking at them while the natives around you roll their eyes in a mixture of amusement and disdain, never pity.
Finally, after feeling like a complete navigational idiot, I found Torre di Babele. Wow. This is not a school, it’s a wonderland of magic and I’m sure there are mythical creatures and other things of the like just lurking around in the STUDENT GARDEN (yes, that’s right, we don’t have a lounge, we have a garden). After I took a lot of pictures of the building and the other amazing apartment buildings around it, I went inside and met the receptionist, Viola who had helped me when I was booking my classes a few months ago. I decided to take my placement test right then so I wouldn’t have to get there early on Monday. I took the test out in the garden which proved harder than I would have thought since really all I wanted to do was look around and bask in the sunlight that was pouring down through the tall trees and just listen to the neighborhood sounds. But there would be time enough for the later.
The test was a breeze for about the first one and half pages… then I pretty much knew nothing. However, much to my surprise I tested out of the first level and nearly the second level except that I had read the directions wrong on one section and started writing my answers in past participles instead of reflexive verbs. Give me a break, the directions were in Italian. I met with one of the teachers and we talked about my studies and my test and I left with a schedule and a good feeling of accomplishment. It’s about finding the small things, right?
I found my way back to Termini and then, big surprise, I got lost again. I could have sworn I was headed back to the A line, but it turns out that unless the sign is orange, Ai line can also mean the actually trains that travel above ground. I eventually found my way back to the A line and before I knew it, I was back at Villa. I came back to my room and munch down a large helping of the snack mix that I had bought in Newark and went uneaten on my flight to Rome. I hadn’t eaten all morning and my journey, with all of its delays, had taken about 4 hours. I then took a small nap before lunch.
When Francesco had shown me around Villa yesterday, he took me to lunch (which consisted of left overs, which I swear were amazing), and told me that lunch (pranzo in Italiano) is ‘small.’ If they consider this meal small, then I have absolutely no clue how all these guys are still so skinny. Today’s meal consisted of fresh bread (as is with every meal), some kind of flaky quiche (although I don’t think it was actually quiche) that had cheese and prosciutto in it, sauteed peas, prosciutto slices, salad, and fruit. One word: stuffed. The guys obviously seem to find it very interesting and funny to watch me stumble through Italian, so they enjoy talking to me. Most of them can speak a little English but very few do it well. I actually have been enlisted by two guys to help them with their English, while in return they are helping me with Italiano. BENE!!
After lunch I headed for the library in Villa (the only place that has wireless internet) for my first Skype date with Mom and Dad. Seriously, Skype is the greatest and coolest thing of my life. Here I am in Rome, having already had nearly a full day, talking to my parents who were just waking up and drinking coffee. How flipping cool is that? We talked for a while and after setting a time for our next day which would be on Mother’s Day, we parted ways. As I was coming back to my room I met up with one of the guys on my floor (another Francesco) whom I made friends with last night at dinner. Francesco is now my personal Italian tutor. We talked for a long while as he corrected my sentences and gave me a lengthy lesson on passato prossimo (past participles). He plays piano but is a student of literature. Most awesome guy I have met so far. Tomorrow he is leaving for four days to visit his girlfriend who is from and lives in Paris.
He invited me to listen to him practice later in the evening and then went to study. After being in my room for a short while, Francesco came back to my door with another student who directs the choir at Villa. After telling him that I am a singer, I was promptly invited to join the choir tomorrow evening. How could I refuse? After all, isn’t music the international language? A little later I met another student who studies piano at Santa Cecilia (the conservatory in Rome) who took me to see the piano and then made me Italian coffee. Yeah, you know how all of you think that espresso is different from coffee? Well, that’s all they drink here. It is thick, dark, strong, and delicious.

I'm here!

I’m here. It’s really… real. I am actually in a foreign country, completely alone, just a plain white American in a city full of diversity and people who don’t speak my language. Luckily, Rome is probably the most touristy city in Italy, but even so, I’m doing this by myself. I keep thinking about other people who have gone abroad that I know and only two of them did it alone. Even more than that, they certainly had more than one year of the language under their belts. WHAT WAS I THINKING?! Well that’s really a no brainer, I was thinking that I’m a smart kid who wanted to do more than just sit in a restaurant asking people what side item they want with their burger all summer. I want to be in the city where my art was actually born. I want to soak up the richness of a culture that is nothing even close to what my norm is. I wanted to be stretched, forced, scared, excited, amazed, taught, nourished, challenged, and here I am, doing it.

My travel day started with getting a call from Delta informing that my flight from Dayton to Newark had been cancelled. FUCK! But not nearly as much of a FML as I had thought because not until we had figured out all the details with finding me a new flight to Newark (then changed to a 4:40 out of Cincinnati) that when Mom called to confirm my flight from Newark to Rome that we found out that not only had Delta rescheduled my flight from Dayton but they had also rescheduled my flight to Rome. DOUBLE FUCK!! Luckily, my parents are both traveling BAMF’s so in a matter of calm and controlled minutes of my Mom working her magic, I had a seat on my original flight to Rome. Lovely. We spent most of the day packing up furniture and unloading it at Alex and my new home. We had to give up our couch because it wouldn’t fit up the staircase, but if that’s the worst that happens, it can’t be worse than the old place.

At 1:30 we left for Cincinnati Airport and checked my luggage and whatnot and then had some time to kill so we sat talking and prolonging our time together which had a strange feeling of wanting to stay with them for as long as possible and yet, I just wanted to be gone. I wanted my trip to start, to be in control (even though I would soon figure out that being in control was completely beyond my control). I had spent a whole day in anticipation and I was really for it to be over and to start this new chapter, for lack of a better term.

The flight over was relatively uneventful. Actually, that’s being generous. I think the most exciting part was actually laughing at Bride Wars which was the in-flight movie that I decided to watch during the first leg of our trip and during my dinner. Dinner was a classic, coach class meal consisting of “pasta and meatballs” (note to self: when the type of pasta is not specified, just say ‘no’), a bland salad of iceberg lettuce, two cucumber slices and a barely red tomato wedge, a stale role made edible only by a heavy application of practically unspreadable butter and some kind of surprisingly tasty dessert bar that kind of tasted like a cross between a crumb cake and a brownie (don’t let that description fool you, it was still shit, I just have always been one for metaphors). Of course, I hadn’t eaten in hours so I ate everything in from of me including the lime wedge that came in my tonic water.

Finally we landed and I was met by two students from Villa Nazareth, Francesco and Giuseppe. They were really nice and I ended up sticking with Francesco for the rest of the day. He is a 25 y/o engineering student who has actually done an impressive amount of study abroad (including visiting every European county, South America and much of the United States). After we had a left over lunch (which was pretty much better than any normal lunch I've ever had in the States) I went back to my room (which is a single and pretty sweet) and unpacked my things and took a quick nap. Francesco took me out after all the shops had reopened and he took me to the center to see some monuments. I don't even remember all the names of the ones I saw because in just 2 hours, I saw so many.

He then took me to the second oldest gelateria in Rome and I had my first taste of what I am now positive is what everyone is thinking of when they say the word "Manna." We walked around for a bit longer and then took a very long and traffic filled bus ride back to Villa. I went back to my room once more and started my journal until it was time for dinner. Dinner consisted of bean soup with croutons, some kind of amazing chicken, amazing bread, and salad with the best tomatos I have ever put in my mouth. Obviously, the experience was thrilling. As soon plates were out of the way, I was instantly the most intriguing subject in the room and everyone wanted to meet me and fumble through as much Englitaliano they could muster. I have already met some amazing guys who I think I will get along with very well during my stay.

Well, I believe that is all for now! More tomorrow after I trek out on my own to find my school and to do some more sight seeing. Ciao ciao!