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!
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