Primo Giorno di Scuola

Marianna & Holly 

Claire & Mathilde

Obviously the first day of school was a while ago, but I thought all these pictures were really great. 

Anyways, our schedules go something like this: wake up at  6:30 (I think only Holly and I do this, haha...), have breakfast at 7, head to school at 8:30, be in class at 9:00, break at 11, and class ends at 12:30. From there, students either eat at da club (lol) which is basically the school's small cafeteria/cafe in the basement, or go and eat lunch elsewhere - the train station has good selections like McDonalds and Mr.Panino. 

It's a really nice schedule because we really have all afternoon to do whatever we want whether it be exploring the city, doing our homework, reading at a cafe, or sleep (lol). 

Emily, Holly, Paulina, & Sarah

Paulina, Professoressa Laviosa, & Holly

Ciao!! We have now been in Rome for a week, and I couldn't be having a better time than I am right now. While I expected to see all of the things that Rome is so well known for such as the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and The Vatican, what I did not expect was how genuinely immersed I would feel in the culture. After only one week, everyone I encounter in the streets speaks exclusively Italian to me, I can almost walk 10 minutes away from the hotel without getting lost (which everyone on the trip knows is a big feat for me), and I now know how to make authentic Italian cappuccinos.

Class has been interesting, and every day we get to hear from a speaker, discuss Italian current events, or present to each other what we have seen and learned about Rome (all in Italian, of course!)

To the right is a picture of what my favorite American beverage, Diet Coke, looks like in Italy. It's like it was made for me, haha.

Gli Italiani con Stili

Jan 6, 13 | La Piazza di San Pietro

Jan 8, 13 | La Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti

Jan 8, 13 | La Via del Corso

Jan 8, 13 | La Via del Corso

Jan 8, 13 | Vicino al Pantheon

Jan 8, 13 | La Piazza della Rotonda

Italian Movies!

Ciao!  I hope you are all enjoying reading our blog.  There's so much going on in Rome and I'm glad we can each give you a little taste of what we're experiencing. 

Today was our second day of class.  We started out by sharing our experiences from the previous day and new vocabulary words we had learned.  We then covered grammar and discussed Osvaldo's presentation from the previous day.  The three and a half hours seemed to pass quickly!  After class, most of us decided to have lunch in our school.  We ended up sitting, eating, and talking for an hour and a half!  Then we went back to the hotel to do some of our homework and make plans for the rest of the day. 

The highlight of my day was going to see an Italian movie at a cinema!  After doing a lot of research, I was able to find a cinema near our hotel that was playing an Italian movie.  You wouldn't think it'd be that hard, but most films in Italy are American or English movies dubbed in Italian.  Surprisingly, the only Italian movie I found at the cinemas near our hotel was a movie about a group of Italians traveling to America.  How ironic!  In the trailer, they were constantly struggling with language barriers and other cultural differences so I thought it would be funny and somewhat easy for us to follow.  After dinner, Professoressa Laviosa, Cindy, Sarah, Hannah and I all went to the 21:00 showing of Mai Stati Uniti.

It was SO funny! We laughed the entire time, including Professoressa!  The movie was about 5 Italians who are called together and are told they all share the same father, a man none of them have ever met.  In order to receive their inheritance, they must travel to their father's favorite place, a lake in Arizona, to scatter his ashes.  Of course they all have crazy personalities, run into several wild American animals, and are constantly losing their father's urn (and sometimes their clothes).  Oh and the main song of the movie was Drive By by Train...which played at least 4 times in the movie...(along with other random country songs) so obviously we thought we were so cool when we knew all the lyrics to the songs played in Italian movies.  Anyway, we all had a good time and it was a great way to end our day. 

Here's the link to the trailer if you'd like to see it (whether or not you understand Italian):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwPiyg22hHk

Also, shout out to Graeme: I've eaten SIX oranges today!

Buona notte!

Emily

When going to school....

This is pretty much how I feel when following Professoressa in the morning. 

January 7th: Fast food, Italian style.

Still trying to overcome jet lag, we’ve managed quite well “grazie a” the tastes this city has to offer. 

I’m not a fast food junkie but could be convinced if I lived here for a while.  Hungry for a little snack? Here’s a peek at yesterday’s highlight in Campo dei Fiori.

             

 A daily fix of Italian gelato may be the best cure of all.  Vanilla and chocolate are passé….we’re on to fichi con noci (fig and walnut), marron (chestnut), sesame e miele (sesame and honey), pistachio, fior dip anna, cocco (coconut) and nutella…. These flavors are beyond description.  Ci vediamo alla gelateria! Buon appetito!

Cinzia                

A Great Day to Explore

Yesterday was incredibly busy as our first full day in Rome! I was most excited for sightseeing and, of course, gelato (which we eat daily). Sunday morning a group of us decided to go to Piazza Navona for the Feast of the Epiphany Festival, and stopped by the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon along the way.

 This is the Fountain of the Four Rivers by Bernini in the center of Piazza Navona. For L'Epifania there were stands set up in a ring around the piazza where you could buy food (including giant donuts) and souvenirs.

After Piazza Navona and a quick lunch near Piazza Campo Marzio, some of us decided to explore Trastevere.


On our way to Trastevere, we stopped at the daily market in Campo de' Fiori. In addition to souvenir stands, there were places to buy fresh produce, spices, and favorite local snacks.

 
 This is a view of St. Peter's Basilica from the Ponte Sisto, one of the bridges to Trastevere. We've been lucky to have really beautiful weather.

  In Trastevere, we wandered along several side streets before discovering Santa Maria in Trastevere, a beautiful church made up of many different styles. I particularly loved the apse mosaic!

Buona giornata!

2nd day - Pope and giant nutella yay!

So, as some of you might be aware of, the Pope gave an annual blessing at Piazza San Pietro at noon today. Therefore, Maria, Liz, Cassie and I decided that we were going to see him in flesh for the first time!

We made the plans during our short and lovely breakfast. (The hot chocolate was so good!)

(photo credit to Holly and Marianna)

Around 10, we took the A line at Piazza della Repubblica all the way to Ottaviano. Then we joined the crowd and walked to the Piazza. The Piazza and the basilica were absolutely bellissime! The scale of the corridor, the sculptures, the friezes, the complex was totally stunning.

(So done with typing....writing a blog is so much harder than tweeting!)




 There was a parade, with people dressing in very cool costumes.

Seriously, how many people could they possibly fit in this plaza.

Okay, I was totally trying to take a photo with the guard, which was the beginning point of this blog. But all of them were behind the fences and we can't get any closer. *sad face*

Finally! After 2 hours of waiting, we finally saw the Pope! Even though we can't really see his face because the building is just so far away, it's probably the closest we can ever get anyways. After saying the long blessing in italian and latin, he repeated a short blessing in spanish, french, german, english, and polish.






 

It took us an hour to leave the piazza, because of the crazy crowd. We stalked the parade people a little bit and took pictures with them. (That little boy is just so adorable!)

I also stopped a priest for a photo cuz he's got swag. Totally not ashamed.

















We also went to Piazza Navona for the festival later today, amazed by the frozen man and the giant donuts and nutellaaa!!

Buona notte a tutte and a domenica!

Lost in Translation

Personally, I hate flying. I'm not usually claustrophobic, but something about airplanes just irks me and seven hour flights seem never ending - luckily, I was not stuck in the middle seat. In any case, we have arrived to Rome! 

For some reason - which I still do not know - we didn't pass through customs and instead exited the airport quite easily. We didn't even have the opportunity to put our bags down before Professoressa Laviosa popped out of no where and began to greet us each individually. 

As we boarded the charter bus, Professoressa Laviosa welcomed us to Rome. 

On the way to Hotel Dorica, our home for the next three weeks, we passed by ruins, old basilicas, and the famous Colosseum. Honestly, I'm really excited; after taking Art History 100 this semester and learning all about Rome from Professor Cassibry I actually know the importance of all of the buildings our hotel is just walking distance away from. 

As we entered the hotel, the man in the lobby greeted us "Benvenuti a tutti - i belli e anche i brutti!" Which translated into: Welcome, everyone - the beautiful and the ugly too! Our names were called out and we were given our room assignments and the keys to our rooms. 

The rooms at Hotel Dorica are very small but after living in Pomeroy for three semesters, I don't have a problem with the smallest of rooms; I've found that if you have a good roommate, you're set (HOLLY SHRECKENGAST *wink wink*). We set down our things and a couple of us headed out into the city where we each ordered a panino and for dessert, gelato. 

Finally, in what seemed to be days, we took a much needed nap before orientation in the hotel lobby. Holly and I would have slept through the whole thing were it not for Emily who knocked on our door. 

"WHO IS IT? WE'RE SLEEPING", Holly answered.We soon realized it was 4:02pm and orientation started at 4. 

We stumbled into orientation just as soon as we stumbled out of it and started to make plans for the evening. 

Perhaps, we were a little too ambitious in thinking we would explore the city all night long.. Actually, we were. While a large portion of the group went out into the city, I waited in the lobby to meet up with a friend I had had since middle school. Once she arrived, we called Cynzia and decided to meet at the Trevi Fountain, or la Fontana di Trevi. 

Holly and Mathilde 

Having not a clue where to go we decide to ask what looked like a group of locals by the Repubblica Teatro dell'Opera subway stop . "Sapete dove la Fontana di Trevi è?" I should note, translating with locals has thus far proved.. challenging. Fortunately, these guys knew no English and didn't switch to English as soon as they realized we were American. After a couple of exaggerated hand gestures and some broken Italian and Spanish, we knew that we needed to go down Via Nazionale in sight for a tunnel on our right that would eventually lead us to our destination. 

We were really glad to find that we had actually understood the three lanky Italian men because fifteen minutes later we found the rest of the group at the Trevi Fountain. 

The rest of the night included delicious and authentic Italian food served by wonderful people who were willing to speak to us in and only in Italian. 

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Afterwards, on our way to find a good gelato place after dinner we strolled by the Pantheon, which seemed to glow in the darkness of the night. 

Honestly, I can't even explain how excited I am to be here. After posting a picture of the Pantheon on Facebook, my father commented "Que la belleza que te rodea inunde tu alma," which translate into "Let the beauty that surrounds you flood your soul". I couldn't have said it better myself.

Ciao from Italia!!! Today (yesterday?) our class convened at the airport  in Boston and embarked on the 10+ hour journey to Rome. We were all smiles at the airport as we visited with friends and caught up on our winter breaks. Our first flight went well, and we refreshed ourselves with free cappuccinos at the airport in Frankfurt during our layover. I tried a drink called Weiner Melange. Anything for a pun.

After our much shorter flight from Frankfurt to Rome, we were greeted by Professoressa Laviosa at the airport and headed to our hotel.

Hotel Dorica is a very nice place to be living for the next couple of weeks, as long as you like your roommate (Shoutout to my roommate Marianna for already almost sleeping through Orientation with me). But really, it is essential that you are friends because otherwise this could get awkward.

The view from our room is beautiful and a very kind man named Marco has been politely listening to my broken Italian all day and answering my questions. 

He has been much more willing to comply with my attempts at language immersion than the waiter at the restaurant where we ate lunch. I ordered a sandwich in Italian to which he responded, "Toasted?". Subway autentica! 

After lunch and a much needed nap, Professoressa held our Orientation and passed out  dolci (see left). Hearing about all the places we will be able to go and the things we will see is so exciting!