Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (February 15th, February 16th, and February 17th)

It is hard to believe that I am getting so far behind with my blog, but I have been very, very busy, and I have been out of town the past two weekends, so it has been difficult for me to be able to catch up on what has been going on in my life in Roma!


Tuesday, February 15th, 2011


So here we go.......

As usually, my day starts with Italian, followed by a quick trip to the cafe down the street for some coffee. (I am enjoying being able to get into a routine, it makes the weeks pass by very quickly)

After Italian, we had the best food and wine class that we have had all semester! We had goulash with kraut. And then another delicious meal made from bread and chicken broth, both of which were amazing. Again I repeat that this is my favorite class because I am learning so much about good food along with being able to taste and learn about the different kinds of wine.

As the days normally go, I was able to take a nice midday break in between my two classes. This break of course involved a nice lunch, and also a nice shower. We have to space our showers because of our hot water heater. I have come to view a shower as more of a luxury than as a necessity.

To end my day of classes, I had my class on the European Union, which is a very difficult class, but I am learning so much!

To end my day, I went back to my apartment to work on homework, where one of my roommates made us all dinner (which I partially attribute to my upcoming birthday). The meal contained pork and shrimp and was a great way to begin my birthday celebration!

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 (The BEST day ever)


Obviously, today is the day that I was born, so no matter what happened, I knew it was going to be a good day. I started my birthday with Italian, and then Somer bought me my coffee, along with a sandwich and an orange. After Italian, we went back to CEA for our class on the Papacy, which is becoming more and more interesting, and also more and more confusing as the weeks go on. Their is just so much information!

During my break between my classes, I ate a small lunch, and then finished up some homework and got together all my documents for my upcoming trip to London!

My last class of the day involved a walking tour that ended in getting gelato at Old Bridge (which is one of the more famous, and one the better gelato shops in Rome) I had ricotta and caramel! After gelato (since it was my birthday, I also got a crepe (nutella and mascarpone aka cream cheese). After getting a crepe, one of my roommates and I went shopping down in the city center. (although I didnt buy anything it was a fun trip to the city center.

When we got back to our apartment we all got ready to go out to dinner for my birthday. All of my roommates and all the girls from the apartment close to us were going to go out for a late dinner followed by some gelato. We attempted to find a Chinese restaurant near the Pantheon, but after having no luck at finding it, we just went back to my old favorite, Rossopomodoro! I had a fantastic meal coupled with some fantastic wine to celebrate me being 21 years old. After dinner, we went to get gelato which was a great way to end the night. I also got some great gifts on my birthday (a cake and some candy from my friends, and then some cards from my family, which all arrived on my birthday).

Thursday, February 17, 2011


I knew this was going to be a long day from the start.

After my Italian class (which took a trip to a local market) I went and grabbed my stuff and headed off to London. To get to London, I had to take a one hour bus ride to the airport, and then take a flight to London followed by a one hour bus ride into the city, and then I had to take the metro and walk to my hotel. Luckily, everything went fine. It was nerve racking traveling by myself though. After I got to my hotel, some of my plans with my friends in London fell through, so I just waited for Katie and Casi to get to London (the reason we were going to London is so that I could meet up with some of my good friends from UT). As I waited for Katie and Casi, I got my first reintroduction to American culture by having some Chinese food and a Dr. Pepper!

This was a great way to start my birthday weekend and in my next post I will tell you all about my amazing trip!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (February 11th, February 12th, February 13th, and February 14th)

So as I keep doing more and more things, I keep getting more and more behind.....

Ill start with the end of my story about my trip to Naples.

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

As we were walking towards our hostel, we noticed a man walking his moped, and as we turned onto the street of our hostel, he started his moped and drove by us. Right as he drove by us, he reached out off his moped and used a knife to clip my friend Kate's purse off of her shoulder. He immediately sped off and my friend Kate was left without her camera, $250 dollars, her i-pod, three credit cards, and countless other things. This was a situation where there was nothing to do, and Naples, little did we know, is an area with large amounts of crime is, along with a large amount of the Mafia. 

Sadly, there was nothing we could do, but the man who ran our hostel saw it happen and called the police. He was very nice, but Kate was very upset and had to immediately cancel her credit cards. Needless to say, this was a very bad beginning to a trip (but luckily the only place to go from here on our trip was up).

Friday, February 11th, 2011

On Friday morning, we were ready to get out of Naples as quickly as possible, so we hopped on a ferry heading to the small island of Capri, which is where the picture above is from. We took the one hour ferry to Capri. Capri is a small hillside town on an island and is very beautiful. Since it was the off season, there was not very many people on the island, so we spent the say hiking around the island. 

The island was amazing and we had a blast hiking around and seeing the views!

 

After we had lunch at a restaurant looking out over the island, we took the ferry back to Naples, so that we would not have to be out in Naples at night. 

Once we got back to our hostel, we went to a local pizzeria that the owner of our hostel recommended. A side note: before we went to dinner, we ended up meeting a girl at our hostel who came to dinner with Jasmine and Kate and I (these are my friends from my GLS program at UT: Jasmine is in Rome, and Kate is in France). Our friend from the hostel had been traveling around Europe for three months teaching English and site seeing. She was very nice.

The food in Naples is the only upside to being in Naples. Aside from the fact that it is dirty and dangerous, the pizza was by far the best pizza I have had in my entire life! Nothing I have had has ever compared to it. 

After dinner we went back to our hostel and went to bed, because we did not want to be out in Naples at night.

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

We woke up Saturday and then proceeded to head out to explore Naples. (and by explore we followed a map of things to see drawn by the man who ran our hostel with highlighted areas of where we should go and areas where we shouldnt go because of the high Mafia presence) Naples has the potential to be a beautiful city and the downtown part of Naples is very nice, but at night it is a horrible place, with trash everywhere because when the Mafia doesnt agree with the government, they dont pick up the trash (apparently they run the trash collectors) 

Needless to say, we saw all we needed to see, had a quick lunch in the city center, and then we decided to change our train ticket to head out a couple of hours earlier. After a nice train ride back, we hung out a little more in Rome before I headed back to my apartment to call it an early night.

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

Sundays are great days, especially at the end of a long weekend of traveling. I woke up late, did some homework, watched some movies, read a little, and began preparing for my upcoming trip to London. 

The highlight of today was a trip to Kebab King where I had some great Middle Eastern food!

Pretty much this was a very lazy, but a much needed day of rest!

Monday, February 14th, 2011

St. Valentine's Day! 

The beginning of my day is class! Back to class, Mondays are very difficult but they I am usually very happy to get back to school. My first class was of course my Italian class, and after Italian, I went to my class on the Papacy. For class today, we went to visit a church near the Colosseum. The church was formerly a monastery, and has some important history that deals with the changing role of the church in Rome in the early 700's. 

After my classes, I went back to my apartment and hung out until it was time for my Valentine's dinner. My two friends Somer and Mary Alexia and I went out to dinner together to celebrate Valentine's Day. We went to one of my new favorite restaurants called Rossopomodoro (which is a chain, but has some very, very good food) After our dinner, we headed over to get gelato for dessert, where we ran in to some other people from our program. We had some amazing gelato. The gelato I had was Oreo, Dark Chocolate, and Banana. It was a very good combination and the gelato is truly some of the best in Rome!

After dinner, we headed back, and I called it a night! 

Thus ends another blog entry. I am almost a week behind, and I am going to try very hard to catch up in the next couple of days!

  

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (February 7th, February 8th, February 9th, and February 10th)

Monday, February 7th, 2011 (yes I realize I am writing a week behind)


So here we are! Monday, February 7th. I'll start by saying that this was the hardest day to wake up for. We were out extremely late (or early depending on how you look at it) for the Super Bowl, so it was very difficult to wake up in the morning and begin a week of school.

So I started my morning with my Italian class, followed by my class on the history of the Roman church and the Papacy. (of course in between class, Somer and I took our daily trip to get coffee from one of the local cafes near school) Luckily, this is all that I have on Mondays so I usually get to take a nap if I am still tired from the weekend. This is not actually what ended up happening today, which provided me with mixed feelings. The exciting part, was the fact that we decided to take an adventure out to the beach. One of the good things about living in Rome is the fact that the beach is only a half an hour train ride away. We took a nice train ride out to where the beach was, and although it was still fairly cold, we still had a fun time hanging out on the beach.

On the way back from the beach, we stopped to have dinner near the Colosseum. We had a great meal (I had my normal choice of pasta alla carbonara). After a wonderful dinner, we proceeded back to the apartment where I had a relaxing night and went to bed early because I was starting to get sick.

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011


Tuesdays are my favorite day for class each week specifically because of my Food and Wine class. Not only do I learn a lot about Italian culture, but we get to sample amazing food and amazing wine. We learn about how to prepare the foods, and we learn about how the wines are made and how to identify good wines. So after Italian, and a quick trip for coffee, I returned for my food and wine class. Each week the chef that we have to prepare our food outdoes herself (she is also a teacher for our class, but she doesnt speak any English).

After class, I had a small break before my last class of the day which is my class about the European Union. The very exciting thing about getting done with class today was the fact that my friend Kate was coming to visit Rome. Before Kate got into town though, we had a CEA sponsored event where we went and got crepes, which are one of my favorite foods. I got a crepe with nutella, and then we sat at a small cafe and ate our crepes.

After my crepe, I went to meet Kate and our other friend Jasmine who is also studying abroad in Rome. Kate and Jasmine had gone to the store and Kate cooked us a nice dinner, and then we went out to get gelato, and also went to visit the Trevi Fountain.

So Tuesday was a long, but fun day, and it was very nice to hang out with some of my friends from Knoxville!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011


So.... of course, my day starts with my Italian class! After Italian, I went over to get a cafe, and then Somer and I met our class for a site visit at a church. The church we went to visit was the first church built over a pagan temple. I am really enjoying learning so much about the history of the church and the different symbols found in the paintings and the murals in the churches. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite classes (which is honestly what I say about all my classes, because I really do love all of my classes).

After this, I returned to campus where I had my class on contemporary Italian culture. After class was over, I rushed to the city center to meet Kate. We met close to one of my favorite pizza places, and I grabbed a quick slice of my favorite pizza. This pizza is the one with the pumpkin sauce topped with provolone and ham.

After pizza, Kate and I went on a walking tour all over the center of Rome. We eventually ended up near one of the churches that houses one of Rome's most famous Christian relics. The church houses the marble stair case that was outside the house of Pilate. These stairs would have been ascended by Jesus right before he was crucified (they were brought to Rome around 350 AD by Constantine's mother) It is a place of pilgrimage in Rome, and you must ascend the staircase on your knees. Kate and I both did it, and we were surprised at how much going up stairs on your knees hurts. This was a truly humbling and amazing experience.

After we were done visiting a few more sites, we went back to my apartment and then went to meet Jasmine for dinner. We ate at a chain restaurant called Rossopomodoro, and even though it is a chain, it is very, very good. I had some great pasta with mushrooms and a garlic cream sauce. After dinner, we went back to Jasmine's apartment to hang out. After hanging out for a little while, I had to leave to go catch the bus to get back to my apartment. (one thing I am beginning to learn is how frustrating it can be at times dealing with a public transit system....) Let's just say it took me much longer than expected to get back to my apartment and I ended up having to get a taxi (the funny/bad thing was that I didnt have any cash so the taxi had to take me by an ATM on the way back to my apartment) Overall the person at fault is not me, it is the stupid metro and bus system that runs slow and closes early.

Thursday, February 10, 2011


To close out this post of my blog I will give you a brief overview of my Thursday. This day will be like a TV show because I will end it with a cliffhanger.

So Thursday, I woke up for class and then once I was done with my morning class, I went to meet Kate to do some site seeing. Again I will tell you the frustrations of the public transit system. The metro and bus system were on strike so it took me an hour to get to where I needed to go, where as it would have normally taken me half an hour. I met Kate in St. Peter's Square, where we hiked to the top of the dome. (yes this was my third time) After hiking to the top, we went to have gelato at one of Rome's most famous gelato shops. By we, I mean I got gelato at Old Bridge gelato. I got ricotta and caramel which was wonderful.

After gelato, I returned to my apartment to pack for Kate and Jasmine and I's trip to Naples and to prepare for my last class. After I got done with class, Kate met me at my apartment and we headed over to the train station to meet Jasmine.

Today was a day of firsts for me!

I got to take my first train ride. It was a two hour train ride to Naples. Once we reached Naples, we got off the train and headed over to our hostel (it was ten o'clock at night)

Now I will leave you with the cliffhanger/bad part of the evening. As we were walking to our hostel.............

Siena and San Gimignano: Friday, Saturday and Sunday (February 4th, February 5th, and February 6th)

So the post before this, I was actually writing it on the day of, but this post I am writing a week after it happened, which proves that I am both very behind, but also that I have had an extremely busy week full of many different adventures and trips to so many different places. Hopefully within the next few days I will be able to get my blog up to date.

Friday, February 4th, 2011


Friday begins with an early start, but not because of class. Friday is the beginning of our weekend trip to Siena and the small town of San Gimignano. We woke up early and hopped on a bus and made the two hour drive to a small town called San Gimignano. It was a very nice and relaxing drive. San Gimignano is the picturesque version of what a medieval town in Italy looks like.

 

We took the majority of the afternoon exploring this small town, stopping seeing the views overlooking the Italian countryside and visiting the small shops that were all over the town. We had a small lunch at a cafe followed by some gelato (this gelato was on top of a fresh made waffle at one of the cafes).

After going around San Gimignano, we made our way back to to Siena. We checked into our hotel which was a very nice break from my apartment in Rome. The nicest thing was that the shower much better water pressure then at our apartment and they also had an unlimited (or unlimited in comparison to the ten-twenty minutes that we have) supply of hot water. After we dropped our stuff off and did a bit of exploring, we went to have a medieval dinner. the dinner consisted of multiple courses, including, a pot roast type meat and some bread with a liver spread on it. The meal was very tasty overall. It was very nice to have a filling meal. After we were done with dinner (which by the way it usually takes 1-2 hours wherever you go eat in Italy for dinner) we explored Siena a little bit more before we headed back to the hotel.

Saturday, February 5th, 2011


We had to wake up early because, we had to be checked out of our hotel, and we also going on a tour of the whole town of Siena. We left our hotel and proceeded to go on a guided walking tour of the beautiful town of Siena.



Siena is home to the Palio, which is a horse race which is held twice a year. The town has many churches and is one the most beautiful towns in Italy. It is so small, quiet, and clean. Our guided tour of the town was a great experience and we were able to learn about the history of the town and the horse race, which has been going on uninterrupted for almost 500 years.

We stopped for lunch in the town square after the tour, and then climbed to the top of the tower which is in the in the square at the center of town. The tower is the third highest in Italy and provided some amazing views of the countryside. After the trip to the top of the tower, we rushed back to the bus, for the scenic ride back to Rome.



When we got back to Rome, we were very exhausted from our trip, so we just relaxed and got a good night sleep, because Sunday we were planning on staying up and watching the Super Bowl.

Sunday, February 6th, 2011


So this Sunday was a great beginning to a Sunday. I woke up late, took a shower, and then did some homework after I watched a movie. I had a small lunch and then the day really began. We were planning on watching the Super Bowl, but to do this comfortably, we had to arrive at Scholars (one of the few places that would be showing the game) very early. I went early with some the people who actually had a stake in the game and wanted to make sure they had a good seat. We went to Scholars around sic, and the game didnt start until midnight.....

Needless to say it was going to be a very long night, but it was very fun because all of my roommates and many of our friends from CEA were there to watch the game. Even though we had to wait a very long time, it was worth it, because we were able to have fun and hang out until the game started, and we also ended up having some of the best seat in the house.

Overall the weekend was a very fun, but exhausting weekend!

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (February 1st, February 2nd, and February 3rd)

I start with this picture as a way to show you how socially accepted dogs are in Rome. This man brought his dog in to the department store, which I find very, very strange, but I suppose that this is just how things work over here....


Tuesday, February 1st, 2011


And so begins my first day of February in Rome! As usual I started my day with Italian followed by a quick trip to the cafe for a salami and egg sandwich and a cappuccino (My now typical start to a day involves coffee). So after the trip to the cafe (luckily, one of my friends has almost the same schedule as me, so we always go to get coffee and do things in between the breaks that we have for our classes). After the break, we returned for the once a week food and wine class. One of the fun things about this class is that we get to sample local cuisine made by a real Italian chef. They are teaching us different things about the food (how to prepare it and the ingredients) along with histories of the region and histories of the certain foods. This week we had gnocchi in a Gorgonzola cheese sauce. Gnocchi are essentially fried potato dumplings. The cheese sauce also contained sausage and it was a delicious meal. Along with trying foods, we are just beginning to learn the basics of wine. How we should go about tasting and drinking it, along with the processes that go in to making different kinds of wine. I am very much enjoying this class. The histories of the food along with the many different things that I am learning about the food, is right down my ally. To end the day, I finished with my class on the European Union. So far I have learned more than I ever could have imagined learning about the EU.

Once class was over, I decided to call it a night, and headed back to my apartment for dinner. I worked on some homework, made myself some dinner, hung out with my roommates, and then called it a night.

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 (Two Weeks until my 21st Birthday!)

(This picture is from a few days ago, but I thought I would put it on here)

I know it will be shocking how I started my day, but like every other day, I went to Italian followed by a quick trip to our local cafe for a cappuccino. After the cappuccino, my friend, Sommer (the one who is in most all my classes) and I went to meet our class onsite. For my class on the Roman church, we went to San Giovanni's. This is technically the first church that was ever built for the specific purpose of being a church. It houses a piece of the table that the last supper was held on. It is the church that is the official church of the Pope. The church doors have also been replaced with the doors that were once on the building where the Roman senate used to meet. This was a very cool onsite visit. Being able to visit the places helps me learn so much. The benefits of having classes onsite are amazing. I have already learned so much about the church, Rome, and the papacy. After my class on the Roman church, I went back for my next class which was class on the culture of contemporary Italy. As a lead up to the trip that I am going on this weekend with school, we talked about the town of Siena and the differences in the culture of Siena and the culture of Rome. Each year Siena has one of the biggest horse races in the world. The members of the town are divided up in to what are essentially rival gangs, with mascots, flags, and anthems. (There are seventeen of them and there are ten that race in the race each year). I am very excited to take my first trip out of Rome and I am sure that it will be amazing.   

After class was over, I went to the market with one of my friends, and we got some food to make dinner. I am slowly becoming a much better cook. I am learning a lot more about cooking with very little ingredients. After I had dinner, I went to the cooking class hosted by CEA. We learned how to make tiramisu, homemade pasta, and we made lasagna as well. Learning how to make these three different things was very fun and we got some very good tips on how to make other types of meals.

After my cooking class was over, I went back to my apartment to eat some of the dinner that I had just made. I finished the day with some homework and the movie Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges.

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011


Italian class! (the great start to every day) After class I had a quick lunch (just a sandwich today) and then I went down to the city center with one of my roommates. We went to the American bookstore to get some books for class and then we wondered around the city center. I had to make it to class, so we walked back to where I was planning on meeting the bus. (I had one hour to get back to CEA for my class) I have never had any problems with the transit system here in Rome, but of course the day that I have to be somewhere is the day that the transit system fails me. People were moving as slow as they possibly could, the metro was not on time, and then it moved slower than it normally does, and of course the bus i took encountered more traffic then I have ever seen. So sadly I was late to class.....

After class, I went back to my apartment and made myself some dinner and then relaxed and decided to write this blog entry. So now I am officially caught up! I will be leaving early tomorrow for the small town of Siena and the town of San Gimignano. We will be having a medieval dinner and who knows what else we will do.

Hope all is well on the other side!

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (January 29th, January 30th, and January 31st)

As seen by the names of my recent posts, I have very quickly run out of witty names for my blog entries. So until I have something witty to name a blog post, I will just use the days of the week. I am going to try very hard to get myself caught up, because I am leaving  in a couple of days to go to Siena, Italy.

So onto Saturday.....(as I am beginning to write this I am realizing that I am going to have to describe the inexplicably long day that I had on Saturday)

Saturday, January 29th 2011


Today started very early. Katie and Casi, my two friends from Knoxville, were still in town, so today was a very big site seeing day. We got up early and made our way to the Vatican. On the way to the Vatican, (or Il Vaticano) we stopped to get cappuccinos. After coffee, we made our way to the Vatican museums, which house the Sistine Chapel, along with countless pieces or art and sculptures. Below, is a very nice picture. (a secret picture that one of my friends took. They do allow photos in the Sistine Chapel. They have people prowling around stopping people from taking photos and even sometimes taking their cameras and erasing the photos of the Sistine Chapel.



After our trip to the Sistine Chapel, we made our way to St. Peter's Square, where we proceeded to climb to the top of the basilica. I had just done this the other day, but the views were so stunning, I knew that my friends would need to see this while they were in Rome. After a long hike, both up and down, we made our way to the city center. From the city center, we proceeded to my favorite pizza place where they have the pizza with the pumpkin sauce. It is one of the greatest things that I have ever had. We decided to take a quick trip to the Colosseum before we met up with another one of Katie's friends from Switzerland. After the Colosseum, we made our way to the city center where we met her friend, Jillian, along with some of their mutual friends for dinner. We went over to a restaurant by the Colosseum for dinner and had a fantastic meal!
to end our day, we went over to the Trevi Fountain for gelato.



One of two things about this photo. One, you will see the jacket, that I purchased for 15 euros at the flea market, and two, right before this was taken, someone proposed to their girlfriend in front of the Trevi Fountain, so it made this a very cool visit. After gelato, we headed back to my apartment, because the girls had to be at the airport by about 7 AM.

To end this day, I will tell you that I left out many of the details about the fact that I walked ten million miles. The friends that Katie brought along were at times very difficult and some of their mutual friends caused many problems that forced me to walk ten million miles...... My feet have never hurt so much in my life.....

Overall though, I was very happy to have my friends from Knoxville visit!

Sunday, January 30th, 2011 


On Sunday, I woke up at 5:45 AM, to see Katie and Casi off. After that I went to bed and didnt wake up until 1 or 2 o'clock.....

After I woke up, I proceeded to have a lazy day around the house, after which, I met up with some of the people from my program. We decided to take a walking tour of Rome. We went to Piazza del Popolo, which is one of the most famous Piazzas in Rome (Piazza means square in Italian). This is where the picture at the top of this entry was taken. In Piazza del Popolo, we got to watch a magician along with a Michael Jackson impersonator, both of which were very good. After our visit to the Piazza, we went back to Bologna for dinner at Stuzziko, which is one of the very few restaurants that are open on Sunday.

One of the exciting things about the weekend, is that I get to lay around and relax, so that is exactly what I did, and this is where my day ends!

Monday, January 31st, 2011


Monday starts with my favorite Italian class! I really enjoy my teacher and I really enjoy the class. After a quick trip to the coffee shop after class, I returned for my new class (I changed my marketing class for a class on the Papacy). I don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but this was the class that I took the trip to the San Sebastian catacombs with. With this class, I have already learned some much about the early church, and I am so excited about all the things that I will learn about the church and its origins.

After class, I walked my laundry to a self service laundry mat where they do your laundry. I decided that it was better to pay someone, then to let all my clothes air dry. It was only 12 euros for all of my laundry, so I thought that it was worth it. I also took a trip to the market where I picked up some blood oranges, which are my new favorite fruit. I then worked on some homework. (and also watched some movies on a website that I found). I was able to watch the movie the Kids Are All Right, which was a very good movie. I was planning on eating a small dinner at the apartment and then just having a relaxing night, but around 9ish, one of my friends from the program, Mary Alexa, said that here and Sommer were going to go out for gelato with Matt, another guy from our program for his birthday. So I ended up going to get gelato, and then an early night turned into a late night, because I didnt get back until one in the morning. Needless to say, I immediately went to bed because I had to get up and go to class.

Thus ends my month of January in Rome! On my next entry I will try to write a quick but about the names of the restaurants and the places that I have visited, just in case I ever want to look back and know specifically where I went, or if I ever need to tell anyone about where I went that was good and what kind of things that I did that were fun.

Hope all is well on the other side!