Today I will start with a picture. This a picture of me today at the top of the Spanish steps. You can see much of the city in the background. We are right in front of a very big church at the top of one of the seven hills of Rome (The legend goes that Rome was built on seven hills and that it is a magical city, I am hoping that I will get to visit each of the seven hills in Rome). Up in the upper left corner of the picture you can see an obelisk. There are multiple obelisks all over the city. Many of these obelisks were brought in from Egypt by some of the different Roman leaders (Augustus, Caesar, and various others), and on the obelisks, you can actually see the Egyptian hieroglyphics.
On to day nine!
Day nine began as many of my weekdays do, with my Italian class. It was very hard for me to wake up for my class today because we had gone out on the town the night before, but luckily I had a very long break in between my two classes. So I went to Italian and then immediately returned to may apartment. I took a wonderful nap and then proceeded to my class on the European Union. This is going to be one of the best classes that I will be taking while I am in Rome. It is a small class with only four people in it being taught by one of my most knowledgeable professors. He worked for the world bank after the Berlin Wall fell and was the senior manager for Czechoslovakia. Essentially he was one of the head people who helped rebuild Czechoslovakia's economy and help them make the transition from a planned economy to a market based economy. He is very strict, but is also very intelligent and I am very excited about his class.
After class was over, I went back to my apartment and we decided to head down to the city center to see some sites and do a little bit of shopping. We saw the Spanish Steps (which is where my picture is from) and then walked around and looked at some of the shops. We walked down the main fashion strips with the best stores in Rome, like Prada (thats really all I can name, but anything you can think of in fashion was there). After we walked around for a while, I split from my roommates to meet my friend Jasmine for our weekly dinner. We went to a nice cafe right near the Pantheon. The food wasnt that great, and neither was the restaurant choice. (one of the things that is very different about Rome restaurant from Unites States restaurants is the face that they have people who stand outside and try to convince you to come and eat at their restaurant.
After we finished dinner, I took the bus back to my apartment. On the way back, I stopped by some of the girls in our programs apartment. They live only a couple blocks from my apartment. They are the ones that we mainly hang out with in the program, and it is very convenient that they live so close. It was very cool to see another Roman apartment. So we hung out and watched some Italian TV and then I headed back to my apartment. Once back at my apartment I ended night with one of my greatest discoveries here in Rome. I watched Modern Family (1. It was through an illegal webiste, but I need my TV fix and 2. If you havent watched Modern Family, it is the best show on TV).
As I switch from Day 9 to Day 10, I will give you my Italian word of the day. The word for today is vorre. This is basically like I want, or I would like.... So I use this word a lot when I point to things and pick something to eat. Whenever I am at a cafe or restaurant there are many many things that I want, especially since nestled all over Rome are little pastry and candy shops with home made treats.
As day 9 ended and day 10 began, I got to engage in one of my favorite activities! Sleeping late! I slept till about oneish (I won't tell you the exact time because it might have been a little later than that). I woke up and watched an episode of the Office and an episode of 30 Rock and then after a little while I had to run over to the CEA campus to switch one of my classes. I decided yesterday that I wanted to switch my International Marketing class for a class on the Papacy in Rome. It was going to be a very interesting class, but it was going to be going over many things that I had already learned before so decided to take a class that would visit the religious sites in Rome, including many sites that are not often open to the public.
After CEA, my roommates and I had a quick lunch a Stuzzico. I had fettuccine with mushrooms with Parmesan on top (the Parmesan here is amazing, and it has such a fresh taste in comparison to the Parmesan that I generally have at home). After Stuzzico we lounged around our apartment and did some homework.
Later that night, I went over to the we met some of the girls for dinner at a cafe that was close to their apartment. I had a panini made with cheese bread. After dinner we went to go withdraw some money from the ATM and to try to make some plans for the rest of the night. One of the girls had some of her friends in town (they were studying abroad in Florence) so we decided to try to find something cool to do in Rome. So we literally did something cool by going to an ice bar. We went to a bar that was entirely made of ice. We had to go through an airlock and the whole room was made of ice. The walls, the seats, the cups, and little caves. It was a very "cool" experience. I am very glad that I got to go. I will post some pictures that were taken while we were there, but I wasnt carrying around my camera so I wasnt able to take any pictures.
So that brings us to the end of day 10. So far my experience in Rome has been filled with so many amazing experiences. I am very blessed that I have been able to come to Rome and take classes and explore the city. Although there are things that I do not like and that there are things that I miss, I am having a wonderful time and I cant wait for the many different trips and exciting things that I will get to do later on in the semester.
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