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!