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!