Rome is Home

This weekend I didn't have any travel plans so I decided it would do me some good to stay put in Rome and get to know the city better. After all, I did choose THIS PLACE to study for a reason. So glad I did because Rome is amazing and the places I went to I simply don't have time to go to during the weekdays. We only have class Monday- Thursday so most of my days I'm in class until 5 or 6. I really hate how the scheduling is done at the school because sometimes I have 3 hours in between classes which isn't enough time to do things outside the school without feeling rushed but is also too much time to just linger.

Most of my weekend was dedicated to visiting the sites of Ancient Rome because I've always been fascinated with the Great Roman Empire since my World History class in 10th grade. I had my Rick Steves travel guide explaining all the details of the ruins I saw and it made it even that much better. The inside of the Colosseum was cool but I was a little disappointed to find out that only about 1/3 of it is original since a lot of the original building was lost to earthquakes or looted. My favorite parts were Julius Caesar's temple where they burned his corpse and people today still place flowers marking the site and also the courtyard where he was assassinated. I mean, who can forget "Et tu, Brute?" I think those words are the essence of Rome and it was a little odd standing in the same vicinity where they were uttered. I also really, really enjoyed Palantine Hill (especially the throne room) where the old imperial palace used to be and many emperors used to live, and the old Vatican Treasury room. It was a great experience getting lost in this city because I saw some places that I otherwise would never have seen, places that are extremely sheltered from Tourist Rome. I attempted to visit the Jewish Museum because I love Jewish history and there are a lot of Italian movies I love on the deportation of Italians during the Holocaust, notably La Vita e' Bella (Life is Beautiful) and La Finestra di Fronte (Facing Windows), but it was closed so I'll have to go back another day. I also got to see a ton of parks and churches that were stunningly beautiful and have absolutely no comparison in the US except for maybe the Washington National Cathedral. And I thought St. Jerome was a beautiful church.

Saturday night I went to dinner with two of my roommates and Katharine to this place we thought was Sicilian but when we got there actually discovered it's Sardegnan (Sardegna is another island off the Italian peninsula). My other roommate, Leighton went to Oktoberfest this weekend in Munich which I'm still really jealous about, and yes, the real Oktoberfest, not the shitty frat party imitations. Camie had been to this restaurant 5 years before and raved about it naturally exciting the rest of us. It didn't disappoint! SO... MUCH... FOOD! First, they brought a basket with about 10 different kinds of sausage, 4 plates of different cheeses, all kinds of marinated vegetables and breads, 3 different plates of pastas, wine, dessert and of course shots of limoncello to digest it all. We went back to the apartment of one of our ISCs and shot the breeze with some beautiful Italians who were telling us all these stories from their summers. Even funnier when you're buzzed!

I didn't leave my apartment Sunday because I was dead tired. I threw together pasta from things we had in the fridge and cupboards and it was actually pretty good. I'm skipping class in the morning on Wednesday to see the pope (tickets reserved!) and we're having a small dinner party at the apartment later that night so things to look forward to! This weekend I'm also going to Venice on a sponsored field trip. I'm grateful I don't have to pay for this trip because Venice is expensive!!! Anyways, life is good and I'm so blessed!

Weekends = Exhaustion

I made it back to Rome about an hour ago from Cinque Terre, Italy. I went with my roommate Camie and also Kathryn, who lives about 15 minutes from us. We left Friday morning and took a 4 hour train to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. Seeing the tower has always been a Bucket List goal of mine and sitting on the train that morning was a weird feeling to think that I would be seeing it in a few hours.

We finally got to Pisa and followed Rick Steves' (he is a very famous Europe travel guide writer) advice to take the LAM Rossa line to the tower. We did that but got the Pisa suburb countryside tour included in our bus fare and then we got cursed out by an old crazy Italian lady IN ITALIAN because I put my backpack on my seat while I went to ask the driver what stop to get off on. I'm not exactly sure what she said but I'm sure it wasn't nice. About 45 minutes later, we got off the bus right in front of the tower. Breathtaking! We did the whole tourist thing, taking pictures with tower, holding it up, blah blah blah. The good thing about Pisa is that there is nothing to do but see the Tower so three hours after arrival, we were on our way an hour northwest to Cinque Terre. (Galileo is actually from Pisa which makes it a little more cool because Galileo is THE MAN!)

Before I proceed, a little background on Cinque Terre. CT is not a city but a string of 5 consecutive towns on the coast of Northern Italy and is pronounced "chink-way/ tair-ay." It literally means 5 Lands in Italian and each town has its own accent so residents of other towns can detect which land one belongs to. We arrived in the third town, Corniglia on Friday night and it was already pitch black outside. We met a nice couple from Chicago by the train station that showed us how to get to our hostel because the shuttle buses were done for the night. They walked us up the 378 steps to the top of our hill and pointed us in the direction of Corniglia Hostel, where we had a reservation. This is where the excitement started!

Apparently, once we arrived at the hostel in Corniglia, I was informed that I had booked our hostel for Sunday, not Friday, and they couldn't squish us in because it was full. Great. So the attendants referred us to a hostel in Levanto which is outside the Cinque Terre and luckily they had room. The hostel room was very clean with a private bathroom and even though it was a 6-bed, the 3 of us had it to ourselves. That night it rained cats and dogs and from the continental breakfast on Saturday morning, our planned hike wasn't looking good. We heard that the trails could possibly be closed due to the weather but we had no choice but to go see for ourselves because checkout was at 10:00am. When we stepped outside at checkout I said a little prayer and asked God to spare us the rain since we had come so far. After that moment, the rain was never a problem.

We took the train into Monterosso, the fifth most northern town of the Cinque Terre and started our hike. I'm glad we went North to South due to the fact that the first two hikes were definitely the most difficult. We stopped in Vernazzo (4th) for lunch and gelatto and made it to Corniglia (3rd) before taking the train to Riomaggiore (1st) where we stayed for the night. The trail from Corniglia to Manarola (2nd) was closed for the day due to the rain but we wouldn't have had time to hike it anyway because we had to check-in to our suite by 6pm. The hikes were demanding but an amazing experience and accomplishment.

On Sunday, we got out on the trails by 8am and made it from Riomaggiore to Corniglia heading north this time, completing the 7 mile hike between the 5 towns. Once we made it to Corniglia we turned around and started heading back in the direction of Manarola because we were determined to cliff jump before we left. By this time it was 10am and the storm clouds were rolling in. We found a small cliff, maybe 15 feet or so high and figured this was the only opportunity we would get. It had a ladder built into the rocks so obviously it was meant for deep sea swimming but Camie checked out the area before we decided to jump any cliffs. When the coast was clear, we went for it and had a blast. We all jumped twice and then it started to drizzle which wasn't a problem but the lightning was.

We hiked back to the Manarola train station and took the train to the La Spezia train station where we caught our train back to Rome. It was a great weekend and my back is killing me but totally worth it. Make sure to check out the pics on my Facebook album. I'll probably just scamper around Rome next weekend...

Monday Funday

Today was the first day of classes. I had Italian Economy within the European Union, Italy and the US, and Italy and the EU today, all of which are either econ or IR classes but will fulfill requirements for my major. My professors seem very knowledgeable which is wonderful because the EU is something that really intrigues me.

After class I took the Metro (subway) to Santa Susanna which is a small but BEAUTIFUL church for English mass. It is the only day of the week I can make it in time for mass because other days I don't get out of Italian until 6. It was my first time going to church in English and I wasn't that impressed with the priest. His name was Father Greg and he was clearly American but he didn't seem very devoted and after the final prayer/ blessing he skiddadled like there was no tomorrow. He obviously didn't care to meet new faces. Anyway, there is a used book stand by the church and I bought my first Italian novel for 5 euro. I was really enjoying my alone time in the city so I decided to go to the Spanish Steps because it's my favorite place in Rome to people-watch. I met these four Canadians probably in their sixties at the train stop who asked me how to get to Piazza Spagna. I love when tourists ask me questions on the street because it makes me feel like I don't stand out as one of them. At first I didn't know what the guy was talking about because he pronounced it like it would be read in English- "Spag-nuh"- but then I gave the group a lesson in Italian 101 and told them in Italian it is pronounced "Spawn-yah." I then proceeded to tell them about the two times I was in Canada and what I did there. One of them asked me if I now lived in Rome and I said I did not feeling the need to divulge I have only been here two weeks and only until the middle of December.

I led my Canadian friends to the steps, snapped some photos for them and sent them on their merry way. I sat on the steps observing the large group of Australian students, probably high schoolers posing for their picture among all the lovers, both Italian and foreign. Then I was approached by Felice, a nineteen year old Roman native I would come to find out, who told me I was "byooo-tee-ful" in his adorable little Italian accent. Needless to say, we're friends and I invited him to the discoteca on Wednesday night at midnight. He wants to go to Campo di Fiori before that which is this small piazza with lots of bars known for its high volume of Americans but we'll see about that. Last time I went drinking before a discoteca it was no bueno (that's Spanish). Enough about Felice (which means "happy" in Italian- yeah, weird). We'll see how that pans out at a later date.

I got back to my apartment around 8 to the smell of my roommate Camie's stirfry. It was amazingly delicious and about 12 people came over and indulged, including Elly and Izzy (our Italian life-savers). Thank God we have at least one great cook who lives here. When everyone left, Camie made crepes with nutella and banana which were equally as amazing. Everyday I'm here is like eating in heaven and I haven't gained any weight due to all the walking and shuttling around.

GREAT day today. I'm making plans for the weekend to go to Cinque Terre with Camie and our friend Kathryn which should be really fun. We watched this video on Youtube called "Cinque Terre cliff jumping" which we totally plan on doing and the train we're going to take to get there apparently stops in Pisa for an hour and a half so hopefully we'll be able to see the Leaning Tower. Things are looking good. I hope they stay this way!

Weekend in Firenze

I got back to my apartment from my short weekend in Florence about 3 hours ago. Great trip!! I loved the smallness of the city so that it was very do-able in a day and a half and I didn't feel like I was missing anything when I left because I had seen everything. Florence certainly doesn't have an American equivalent city that I can compare it to.

My friend Tina, who lives down the street from me got a cab to the main train station at about 5:20am on Saturday, in time for our 5:57am train that took 4 hours. It was my first time meeting most of the other girls who I think are great. In total, there were 7 girls and 2 boys. Everyone slept on the train there. When we got to Florence, we took Bus 12 all the way up to our hostel. The hostel was quite an experience because it was comprised of tents that each had 3 beds in them. It sat at the top of one of the hills of Florence, Piazza Michelangelo, and the view down on the city was absolutely beautiful. We walked down about a quarter mile of extremely steep steps into the city center and did the whole walking tour of Florence with the help of trusty maps we picked up at the train station. The size of the Duomo in person is overwhelming, so much so that you can't get the whole cathedral in a picture unless you're standing about a mile away from it. We went to the Accademia Gallery where the original statue of David is housed. I'm not really a fan of museums especially when they cost 10 Euros but I really wanted to see David and didn't expect him to be so big, which is kind of ironic because yes, it's true... the boy is small even in person. While we were waiting in line to get in, everyone illegally signed their names/ their soroity/frat letters on the doors to the museum. The rush of that was exhilirating to say the least.

We also checked out the leather market which for those of you who don't know, Florence is one of the best places in the world to buy leather and for cheap. It was pretty extensive but not quite what I expected. I didn't buy anything because nothing really caught my eye but almost all the other girls did. While they were shopping I bought gelato which was the first gelato I've had that I've actually ever liked. We stopped at a few more churches, none of which I remember the names but one that apparently holds the tombs of Dante and then we headed over to the Ponte Vecchio which is a bridge that has shops on it, most of which are unbelievable jewelry stores and cater to some of the world's wealthiest people. I was so proud that the group could see so many things on our own based off of a 3 euro map and it made me regress back to when I was younger my mom used to make us take organized bus tours when we went on vacation and my sister and I would be the ONLY kids among a group of old people, median age 65. Ugh... bad memories.

After around 6 we decided to head back up to the hostel so we could watch the sunset over Florence from up top. On our way back up we bought 4 bottles of wine, cheese and salami which was a great choice. Hiking back up the steps as you can imagine was killer but totally worth the experience to witness Florence transition from day to night. We sat on the steps with a crowd of about 50 other people for about 2 hours and completely went through all the food and wine while being serenaded by a 3-person American band during the sunset. There was a bass player, a flute player, a guitar player/ singer. Everyone was so drunk and happy-go-lucky that it amazes me how simple sitting on steps and watching the sun disappear into the night could be the best part about a trip. It was beautiful!

When we got back to our hostel which is about a 5 minute walk from the steps, I decided it would be a good idea to chug half a bottle of limoncello before dinner. I was so drunk I don't remember much of what happened in the hours to follow. Somehow we ended back down in the city and we went to this one bar called Zoe which we were promptly kicked out of for not drinking enough. If you think that's funny, you'll find it even funnier that 30 min later we got kicked out of an outdoor wine bar for the same reason. I can understand though. Whatever. I know we also tried to go to this outdoor club or "lounge" called Flo that these two old Italian men told us about and which happened to be next door to our hostel, but by 12:30 the line was insane and you could see from the sidewalk how packed inside it was. I know NYU has a program in Florence so I'm pretty sure there were mostly Americans inside. I ended up not going to the bar that 6 other people went to for unknown reasons but I heard it was a blast and I'm sad I missed out.

We took the 3:15p train back to Rome and arrived at 7. The beds at the hostel were fine and I was also really tired and drunk but I wouldn't want to do the whole outdoor adventure again, though I'm glad I tried it. I'm more of a hotel and personal bathroom kind of gal. Something about coming back to Rome was so refreshing, like I knew it was home. It was the way I feel when I come back to LA from school and just the sound of the city is so reassuring and rejuvenating. Florence was amazing and I'm glad I got to see it because it was good times but I'm also so glad I get to call Rome home for 3 more months and now comparatively I understand why it's labeled "The Greatest City in the World". I would have to agree.

Thank God for Italian Hospitality...

I've been in Rome for 10 days now and just today did we get internet in our apartment. I don't even know where to start for this blog. I guess I'll start from the beginning and just list the important things- I got to the airport at LAX and saw a girl from my high school, Jen, standing in the baggage check-in line in front of me. It took a second for it to dawn on me who she was but when I saw her I was like "Jen?" and she gawked at me for a full two seconds and said "Oh my God? Courtney?!" I don't think I had seen her since high school. Turns out we were on the same flight to London and once we got there we went our separate ways, Jen to a semester in Madrid. I'm glad I saw here because her dad carried my 45lb bag to security for me after the handle broke at check-in.

By the time I got to Rome I had been up for about 24 hours. I don't know why I didn't sleep on the planes, I just stayed up watching movies and House. I saw The Soloist for the first time which was borderline disappointing. At the Rome airport one of the program interns gave me a packet which explained what to do once I got to my apartment and then I split a cab with this boy named Avatar who lives a few km away. I recognized my street from Google Maps but all the apartments kind of looked the same. The cab driver dropped me off (after he told me my Italian was very good) and pressed the buzzer to have someone let me in but nobody responded so I figured my roommates were just out to dinner or something. Finally someone came out of the building and I lugged my 100lbs of luggage inside and up the world's tiniest elevator to my floor. I rang and rang the doorbell but no one answered. I saw on the paper I was given a number to my Italian Student Companion but of course my dad had already turned off my service so I couldn't call a soul. That's when the "What the fuck do I do now?" (excuse me) switch turned on in my head and I sat on my bags for about 5 minutes trying to come up with a game plan.

I then decided to schlep my bags back in the tiny elevator (Thank God for the elevator in all its minuteness) and go back down the empty lobby. I threw my bags in the corner with the intention of walking outside but then I remembered I had no key. Luckily, I saw a girl about my age leaving the building and I didn't know what to say or how she could help me but I figured it was my only chance to ask someone for anything. "UHHH scusa, hai una telefona posso usare?" I don't even know how that came out so fluently but the girl looked at me and said "Si" all confused. When I looked back at the paper with the number on it my heart sank yet again because all I saw was a strew of numbers and symbols and had no idea which digits I actually had to dial so then my instincts kicked back in. I just handed this girl the paper thinking she would understand it. Then she pointed at the address and said something to me in Italian I didn't understand but I figured since she was leading me outside and her mom was following us with my bags that I obviously was at the wrong address.

In all my retardedness I thanked the girl and her mother profusely and the buzz at my actual residence worked. My roommate Camie let me in the front door and this guy and his wife/girlfriend/ mother/ I have no idea because I didn't see her face helped me load my bags in the identical tiny ass elevator not to mention with two extra people plus their groceries. I can't even begin to explain how small the elevators here are. At the elevator in my building you can only press one floor at a time (so if I press 7 before 5 it takes you to 7 first) and even though the floor is the last one, on the top, they let me go first and helped me unload my bags. Obviously they could sense my idiot side. I hope I don't give Americans a bad rep although I'm sure plenty who've come before me have already completed that task. Proud to confirm it. Anyway, I arrived, we met the other students who live in the area and our Italian Student Companion (ISC) cooked dinner for the 14 girls who live in Pratti at our apartment that night which was really fabulous. That's my arrival story. It's one for the books. I see the girl around every couple of days and I'm so embarrassed to say ciao to her.

I have a million other things to write about but this is enough for today. My train to Florence leaves at 6am tomorrow so that'll be interesting. I'm going to dinner in about an hour with my roommates but obviously we'll be staying in tonight because they're going to a small island by Capri at the same time tomorrow morning as well. It's good because we've practically gone out every night since we've been here (que the stories). I'll blog more often now that I have reliable internet.

Ciao a tutti. A presto...