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.............
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