When In Rome

Okay, I know this is super late, but I've discovered that with the winding down of my Italy trip, I have lots more time to do the things I didn't have time to before!

I had anticipated our Rome trip since before I was even admitted into the Italy program! When I had ever thought of Italy, gelato, vespas, and images of Rome always flashed through my mind. Plus, we've all seen Lizzie McGuire, right? How could I not be excited?!

We got up super early on that Saturday to head to Rome because it was a 3 hour ride on the train. We would be going inside churches, so I needed to adhere to the dress code. If I were to NOT cover my knees or shoulders, I wouldn't be let in. Unfortunately for me, it was too hot to wear pants, but the only long dress I brought had zipper issues. There was not a SHOP in Assisi that would fix it (and trust me, I looked!) A group of about five of us went around Assisi asking in broken italian if they could fix my dress, and no one could. I showed them the dress and everything, so we were left no other choice than to sew the dress onto me the day of--which Ana Laura did successfully!



Can you tell? I tried to cover it with my left arm in most of my pictures!



Hope not! Anyway, after our three hours of traveling and hour and a half of being lost, we found our way to our hotel and headed off to the Vatican!



I was warned about the vendors in Rome, but I didn't know how bad it really was! They seriously would come and hold their merchandise up to our faces as if that would convince us to buy them. Guys with tacky scarves, purses, umbrellas, and weird sunglasses lined up around the entrance trying to sell whatever they could. After awhile, I learned to say no. And not just no. More like, NO NO NO (which I hate doing by the way) because not everyone gets it after the first couple Nos.

Our tickets had a time stamp on them, meaning we had to enter the museum at a certain time so the wait wouldn't be too severe (at least compared to others, anyway). But before we knew it, we were in the Vatican Museum (cameras and audio guides at hand, of course)!













I wasn't too into art before coming to Italy, but as soon as I got to the Vatican I DEFINITELY saw what the fuss was all about. It's hard to even imagine how much work goes into a painting or sculpture until you see it in person. The longer I looked at them, the more I liked them.

I will admit, however, that my favorite part was the Sistine Chapel.

To think that someone had to complete every single gorgeous detail from the perfect cocktail of inspiration and imagination seriously blows my mind. But after hours of walking, our group realized we lost one of the gals in our group: Courtney.

Crap.

You can imagine what the stress was like. It was scary. Every blond girl with salmon bottoms and a scarf got some serious attention that day because we stared every girl who matched that description to see if it was her. And after about an hour, we realized she was nowhere to be found. We did what we could to contact her and our advisor, but we couldn't get a hold of Courtney. I knew the girl had a good head on her shoulders, but I felt horrible knowing one of us was alone! Gladly enough, she showed up at our hotel a few hours later--and in one piece!

During the evening, some of our group went out the The Hard Rock Cafe, while others were nowhere to be found. Luckily Eileen knew someone in Rome who could show us around, so Me, Bree, Courtney, and Eileen got ready for an exciting adventure in Rome! It was probably my favorite night of the trip. I mean, with a few girls with a great attitude, how could we not have a good time? We met a few people on the way, including a couple guys from Budapest, as well as a handful of creepy natives.

We started off with a couple of us in heels, and ended the night without them. The areas in Rome we visited had roads of cobblestone, so I wouldn't recommend wearing heels out! But when I say we walked everywhere, I mean we walked everywhere. We walked from the Trevi Fountain to the Pantheon and then the Spanish Steps. It was so pretty at night, and it helped that we didn't see the buttload of tourists you'd encounter in the daytime.

Everything was seriously sooo pretty at night. Also, Eileen, Courtney and I managed to, well, make our marks around Rome (Spanish Steps, anyone?). And that's all you'll hear about that!

We met the guys from Budapest at the Spanish Steps, which proved to be interesting. After having random guys trying to take photos of us, offer money, and just over all creep us out all night, I had no patience for anyone looking for anything more than small talk. I told them I didn't want to mess with anyone creepy, which lead to a lesson on the meaning of "creepy" in like 30 words or less (it included words like weird, bad, etc. although I couldn't figure out how to explain it myself). They picked it up quickly, which was awesome because they were spotting out creepers for us before we did ourselves!

We tried to catch a cab to go back to our hotel, but because we were a group of five, no one would take us. Eventually, I got so tired, I ended up hiding in the back of a cab car (head down and everything) as everyone else stayed straight for the cab driver's head count. That nipped us in the butt later, as he discovered there were five as I ran outside and hid behind a car. Fail, I know. To make a long story short (or not), the cab driver ended up yelling at one of us as well as proceeding to push one of us. We were just glad to be home. We were hungry, and because things aren't open all the time in Italy, we found ourselves getting a few snacks at the hotel's fridge, but glad nonetheless.

I quickly went to bed--we had a long day ahead of us on Sunday!

I tried to get up and ready as soon as I could the next day because I wanted to take advantage of the free breakfast as well as our tour early that day. Our tour guide was really funny and was always on the lookout. She seemed to know a lot of people on her tour route as well as the times our group seriously needed a break. We hit all sorts of places while learning random stuff on the way!

The gladiators were vegetarian (said our guide). I have a chance then, right?

They tried cleaning part of the Colosseum in 98' and it made a huge difference. It would be awesome to clean the rest, however it would take three years to do, and they'd have to shut the place down for visitors!

Apparently you can drink from all of the water fountains in Rome safely!

The Trevi Fountain is owned by the Vatican, so all the change they get they donate to charities!

Ana Laura, Allie, Angelina, and Kelly and I ended up sort of taking our own route after our tour. We got amazing gelato of course, and I even found a Sephora to replace the foundation I was running low on (I know, not something I should be doing in gorgeous Rome, but I was desperate). We found out way back to the hotel where I dipped my feet in the pool and relaxed a bit before heading back to our little town in Umbria. I absolutely loved Rome, and you can bet I'll be coming back one day. Ciao Ciao!

My Italian Way of Living

We've had connection issues with our internet in the apartment, so I've been loitering around a few wifi hotspots around town to get online! I've been in Assisi for about two and a half weeks now, and although I haven't spent too much time at home (between class and errands and such), I'm getting more and more comfortable with the italian way of living! Everything is ancient and Assisi is something out of a storybook or video game (guess it depends how you look at it).

We make our way up this street before making it to class at 9.



We pass this fountain every morning!



Here is the entrance to our school. Piccolo, eh?





After class, we head home to have lunch. I like to have lunch on the terrace because it is gorgeous.



Okay, so the terrace doesn't ALWAYS look like that simply because we almost always now put our clothes outside! Yeah, I haven't seen anyone with a dryer around here, so many people hang their clothes out to dry.

One can imagine how tricky this can be, because your wardrobe is at the mercy of mother nature.
In fact, my roommate is missing a sock, and I am missing a bra. If anyone in Assisi is reading this, we live in apartment no. 2 of 10 Via San Gregorio.

Please and thank you.

Here is our little kitchen!



And right around the time we get out of school, everything pretty much shuts down.



Many stores close for what is often called a "siesta," essentially a time to have a nice lunch and take a nap if you'd like. I have only actually napped maybe once or twice during this time, but I am looking forward into getting into that habit. It also gives people a chance to pick up their kids from school and just spend some time with family. I thought it was a brilliant idea, although it does make after school errands a little difficult. Sometimes a store won't open back up until 4 or 5 in the afternoon, which can be a small inconvenience for a fast paced gal from the US.

If you've ever been to Italy long enough, you'll know that their way of working with food is a bit different from ours in a couple other ways. Take for example:


1. Grocery shopping--there are no wal-marts here. When you go to the store in the US, you are more than likely going to go to Trader Joe's or Safeway--places where you can get a number of things in one place. We don't exactly have those here in Italy! See, there are a number of stores that sell a number of different types of a few products:

Exhibit A: Fruit & Veggie Store



Exhibit B: Olive Oil & Wine Store



Exhibit C: Meat & Cheese Store



Exhibit D: Gelateria/Sweets Store




See what I mean? It is pretty cool because it gives you more of an option of the different types of thing you want.

Also, everything is pretty fresh too, which brings us to number two:

2. Food is pretty fresh (not as many preservatives/pesticides on the food as in the US) It CAN perish, and if it is an apricot in Chelsea's apartment, it will. A few days ago, Jonathan washed me an apricot, and I totally forgot about it (even after he had reminded me like a bagillion times). Yesterday morning I was running late for school, so I grabbed it on my way out for breakfast. As I looked down to start to eat it, I realized someone had beat me to it. And when I say someone, I mean a chubby brown worm.



Exactly.

And it was only a matter of days old! You think I'd learn my lesson after I accidentally ate spoiled buffalo mozzarella the day before that. Now, depending on whether or not you consider yourself a food pioneer of the cheese terrain, you may be asking yourself one of two questions:

Chelsea, why were you eating buffalo mozzarella that was spoiled? Or:

Chelsea, why were you eating buffalo mozzarella?

My answer to both is buffalo mozzarella is just too toooo goooooooood. Seriously. Ciao!

Keep Your Eyes Open, Bambina!

Buongiorno, Amici! I have been in Italy a little less than a week now, but we just recently got internet in our apartment so I'm going to have to rewind a little bit!

I'll start with saying the trip to Assisi was nothing less than a disaster. I can't talk about the trip here without commenting on how bad it was, however I PROMISE everything from here on out has slowly gotten much much better.

We left LAX last Saturday after a long train + bus ride from Stockton. Soon after the picture above was taken, I called my family to apologize for not being able to attend my little sister's graduation as well as say my last goodbyes. We took the absolute last flight from the US to Italy we possibly could without missing class on Monday (which we realized would nip us in the butt later), but I still wasn't able to see her watch the stage. Luckily for me, I know I will have many more ceremonies and celebrations involving the successes of my bright little sister in the future!

Our first flight would take us to Dusseldorf, Germany. I did what any other person would do on a 10+ hour flight. I slept a little, listened to entire pop albums, tried to make the best of the view, and enjoyed all the free beverages offered to me. By the way, when you ask for root beer in Europe, chances are they'll give you actual beer.

I've heard that root beer is the flavor of cough syrup around here, which makes Dr. Pepper and Cherry Coke as popular as garlic smoothies.

Exactly.


While the passenger next to me had little problem falling asleep on the plane (Ana Laura), I did a lot of thinking. Here I was, thousands of miles away from the country I've lived in my entire life, about to leave it for a place of pizza, pasta, and gelato (or so I thought). We were enrolled in an Immersion Program offered through our school in Assisi, and we weren't the least bit prepared. Would it be hard to get around? Would we get to class on time? Would my straightener work?

And after our first night in Italy, we were able to answer no to most of these questions (and it wasn't the first one). Ana Laura was kind enough to let me study her lingua mappa, which gave me the boost I needed before getting a little lost in Rome.

If you really want to know how we got lost in Rome, ask me in like 67 years (when I am old enough to laugh at my foolishness), because this is going to take at least 30 years before it is even something to be talked about. I will tell you that it was quite an adventure, if not our greatest one thus far! I learned a few things that night.

1. When in Rome...don't go to the terminal past 9 pm. It's where the italian male species go to feed/find potential mates/whistle at you/pet you/try to steal your stuff.
2. There is a small population of females in Rome (not including the bag ladies or ladyman prostitute).
3. Filet-O-Fish is universal.
I'll go as far as saying that we saw parts of Italy we never ever thought we would see.

Exhibit A: Italian McDonalds, the only thing aperto 24 ora!

Exhibit B: Roma Termini at three in the morning, the place to go when the McDonalds security guard gives you 20 seconds to leave the restaurant.

Exhibit C: Foligno at 7 in the morning, our last stop before finally getting to Assisi.

(My hair is up--you know it's serious).

And after traveling for over 24 hours, we were finally in Assisi.

Keep your eyes open bambina, there are things to see and creepy men lurking around! Ciao!