i compiti

You have GOT to be kidding me. My homework for Advanced Comp is such:

PRENDENDO SPUNTO DALL’ULTIMA SCENA DEL FILM E DA QUESTI DUE ARTICOLI PROVATE AD INTERVISTARE TRE PERSONE DI ETA’ DIFFERENTI (20 – 40 – 70) PONENDO LE SEGUENTI DOMANDE:

L’ISTITUTO DEL MATRIMONIO E’ DESTINATO A SCOMPARIRE?

LA FAMIGLIA SUBIRA’ UNA TRASFORMAZIONE?

Yes, that's entirely correct. I have to find THREE TOTAL RANDOS and ask them their opinions regarding marriage. Problem #1: um.. la lingua? Problem #2: if I ask a man of 20-40-or-70 years, he'll probably follow me. And definitely ask for my number. Good.

il turismo

So there are a lot of tourists here. July-September is big-time tourist season here in Roma, which kind of doesn't make any sense to me because it is SO FREAKING HOT HERE during those months. Well, whatever. Since we've been here a month, we have seen thousands of weeklong vacationers pass through our pretty city. And yes, I do roll my eyes and dodge them (my walk to class is along the Vatican wall, aka Vatican Museum territory and St. Peter's Square..daily) but it makes me so happy to be living here for real. So... one day after class I decided to play Tourist.

These pasticcerie (bakeries!) are every five feet... but the cheapest crostatine you will find near Medag. They're also the best... pictured is one on via del Corso-- the 5th Avenue of Roma. I have such trouble passing these up.

The Ginaculo is relatively undiscovered by tourists. It's a hill overlooking the city and has beautiful views...
Lots of ancient temples and ruins are now sanctuaries for unwanted cats. Note the kitsia.
This is yours truly taking a picture of herself in front of the Roman Forum. I can't really articulate how touristy I felt taking this. I generally am somewhat annoyed by tourists because they walk in huge, sloooooow groups. It's all for you, my friends. . I know you miss my shining face.
... But this guy LOOKED like a tool, legit. I've seen some tourists get a huge kick out of men dressing up like pharaohs or the Statue of Liberty and standing reallllllllllllly still..
In addition, there are tourists of the Eurotrash variety. They are typically found snuggling or exhibiting extreme PDA in extremely public places. Like Piazza Venezia, for example. Note this man's leg and hand/face placement.

Oh yea, and I updated my Picasa site with pictures from a hiking trip I took to Monte Circeo. Our guides were these crazy old italiani who kept asking me "sei italiana?" Translation: you one of us? I loooove that my mova is getting better. Not quite a native speaker... but getting way, way better!! Oh, Roma... no wonder everyone falls in love with you.

Viaggi

Real update later, but for now.. this is going to be my own notepad. Planning travels is actually picking up now (as in.. excursions to Termini to buy tickets and stamp the Eurail are happening like crazy).. soo new and updated travel plans in order:

ottobre:
-3 daytrips-- Napoli, Ostia Antica, then some rando village for a wine festival
-(staying in Roma for midterms, possibly traveling with Alysse?)
-ZURICH! (tickets bought a few weeks ago!)
-PARIS (tickets booked a few hours ago!!!)

novembre:
-MUNCHEN (tickets just booked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
-London!! (thanks for the 40Euro roundtrip, RyanAir!)
-(staying in Roma while ND London comes here)
-SALZBURG
-(pending- Firenze? Sicilia?

dicembre:
-(Roma the weekend before finals? or crazy last-minute trip?)
-go home to Ohio.

Vitellone

I did just post yesterday, but today (rather-tonight) was so epic that I had to share. It all involved copious amounts of Italian food and wine and gelato.

Earlier today- Jacqueline, Katrina, and I went to church in the Pantheon. Because when else are you going to get to go to church in a building built before Christianity even started? Afterwards we kind of roamed that neighborhood for a bit, consulted Rick Steves, and decided on a place for lunch, a little trattoria on Via delle Collonne. It turned out to have the second best pizza in Roma, secondo me (La Scaletta in Trastevere being the best). Afterwards we tried Della Palma [usually not an option for me due to its proximity to Giolitti] where I had cioccolato fondente (seriously BLACK chocolate) and tartufo palma (cherry liquor-dark chocolate-chocolate shavings). More wandering. Some Americans in Piazza Navona asked me to take a "PHOTOGRAPH of THEM, pear favoraaaayy, GRATZI, GRATZI SEEGNOREENA" thinking that I was not, in fact, American.

Went home, did a little homework (what little that I have..) and went out for din-din to Sexy Wine, aka Micky's, aka Miscellanea. The meal started out fairly normal- fettuccine ai funghi was it, and it was great. These two guys from Stanford were eating next to us (apparently studying at Oxford this fall), so we chatted with them for a bit. Then I noticed that the three women sitting diagonally from us were speaking.....ukie. Chysta ukrainska mova, like hardcore ukrainski slova, no rosiyska mova/slang/verbs/anything. So I listened more to make sure. Yup, def ukie. Definitely. So eventually, after lingering for like forever, the Stanford guys left and the waitstaff took over. They wouldn't leave us alone, and yours truly consumed several glasses of fragolina (potent strawberry wine- so so good) because the waitstaff kept refilling and I totally wasn't paying attention. So in the midst of all of this, I start talking to the ukie women, who turn out to be from Lviv (sweeeeet!) and we talk about Roma, Kyiv, Ukraina, the diaspora, Ukraintsi in Roma, and Trastevere. In the midst of THIS, my vision is getting fuzzier and my speech much less effective, and the two guys (30s) sitting over THERE come over to our table and pull up chairs. They buy us MORE wine, yes MORE WINE, calling me furba, which I think is an accurate description of me. Yes, oh yes, so we talk to these two italiani for a solid two hours, during which Batman, il doppiaggio, gli sottotitoli, Heath Ledger, our lack of homework, Roman wine, the upcoming American elections, gelato flavors, and various other topics were discussed AT LENGTH. Plastered. Not on purpose. Then we all went and got gelato- myself, Jacqueline, Katrina, Alessandro, and Valerio. Who did not pay for our gelati. Vitelloni to the MAX.

I love this country.

come bello il mondo insieme a Roma

Ciao! Come state?

Sorry about the last post. One of you suggested that I post one day in italiano, so when I was in an obnoxious mood I went for it. Basically it was just a recap of my day. ANYWAY.

Classes are going well. I really love my art histories (especially Ancient Rome& its Monuments) and italiano is cool because my pffssa. is really hilarious/the natives in my class are really cool (Dario, Linda, Paolo, and Ada). The workload is not even minimal. I had a viewing assignment for my Baroque class worth a significant portion of my overall grade.. and my quest was to visit the Galleria Spada (once upon a time the palazzo and private art collection of Cardinal Spada, now a gallery and government building) really close to Ponte Sisto on the Tevere. That was yesterday.

Yesterday was probably one of my favorite days I've ever spent in Roma. So it's been significantly cooler here (FINALLY) and slightly rainy recently. It usually warms up midday, and even on the cooler days it'd get up to like 75-80. Yesterday was a "make up day" mandated by the school because they give us Thanksgiving off, so we had to have an extra day of Thursday classes. Two of my professors rolled their eyes and said that there was no WAY they were coming in an extra day (haha! I love Italian defiance to authority- it's so funny) so I only had my history class at 9,00. After that, I decided to go to Zara on Via del Corso to buy this gorgeous cream wool jacket that I'd found the day before while wandering. So I did, I bought the probably overpriced jacket, and it's a good thing I did- the skies above Roma opened up and poured and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees. So it was probably in the upper 50s. (in settembre? a Roma? che schifo!) So anyway, there I was, strolling around Roma with my umbrella and black messenger bag, wearing this awesomely italiana giacca (jacket) midmorning as the tourists ducked for cover and as the natives barked into their telefonini.. as the pasticcieri (bakers) unveiled their crostate and pane, their panini e i formaggi. The rain flowed in rivers around the grey cobblestones, the statues on the bridges stood keeping their watch, bored shopkeepers sat watching the world go by, and Roma- medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, ancient, and modern Roma- stood true to her eternal beauty. I watched as a man bought a huge bouquet of pink flowers wrapped in brown paper at Campo dei Fiori, probably as a surprise for his someone. I bought a crostetta in a tiny pasticceria on Via Candia. Wandering through the back streets of centro storico, I blended in and soaked it up- the rain, the beauty, the la bella figura. Just- ROMA. This place has a way of making unsuspecting people fall head over heels in love with it. Its history, attitude, art, colorful gelato, two-hour lunch breaks, evening passeggiate, singsong language, impatience, love for beauty, and hot Mediterranean sun have a way..

This place is incredible.

oh yea, ps--> TRAVEL PLANS! Europe is the greatest place in the world..

SEPTEMBER- Cinque Terre (check), Abruzzo (check), Rome (check), Lazio hiking trip
OCTOBER- Munich (Oktoberfest!), Rome, Zurich (CHOCOLATE), Paris (YAY!)
NOVEMBER- [TBA--Brussels? Sicilia?], London (birthday!), Rome, Dolomites (mountains!), Firenze (shopping!)
DECEMBER- Roma!

Io ci sarò

Allora, amici ed amiche. Io non vi prometto qualcosa che non ho- anche se quasi tutti che leggono questo blog non hanno una conoscenza perfetta d'italiana, il mio amico mi ha detto che lui voleva vedere qualcosa nella mia nuova lingua.. spero che tu mi capirai, leggente. Quindi oggi io parlando in italiano anche lo scrivo. Stamattina mi sono alzata e sono andata a scuola. Ma oggi le mie classe erano nel Campo de' fiori, un monumento vecchio. Questa lezione ho con degli amici dall'appartamento, quindi siamo andati insieme a classe. Era un'esperienza fantastica.. mi piace molto la mia professoressa. Poi io con la mia amica Michela sono andata al mio ristorante preferito in Trastevere, dove si trova la nostra università. Il ristorante si chiama la Scaletta.. e in questo luogo si mangiano le miglior pizze nella tutta la città eterna. Ho prenotato una pizza con i funghi (la mia preferita, ma non è amata dai tutti, che peccato). E poi siamo andati a scuola, dove abbiamo scritto un scritto per la classe d'italiano. Lo scritto era del doppiaggio italiano e la storia dei film e il cinema. Troppo noioso per me. Ho gia scritto forse duecento scritti sul questo. A presto- con una canzone.. che sempre suona nella mia testa..

so che nelle fiave succede sempre che
sul cavallo bianco arriva un principe
e porta la bella al castello
si sposano e sarà l'amore per l'eternità

ci vediamo.

Bella Sulmona

So I really wanted to see eastern Italia. Rick Steves told me that it was super cheap to get to Abruzzo, the region next door to Lazio (in which Roma is located). And so it was decided by me that my roommates and I should take a trip to Sulmona, located in central Abruzzo at the feet of the Apennines- a central Italian mountain range. And a mountain town it was- sleepy, with a centro storico that was literally all there was in the town. A few hotels, no hostels, and some restaurants. On the recommendation of Let's Go! Italy, we found Hotel Italia-- an old mansion filled with antiques and a really nice old nonno running the place. We were literally the only tourists in town.. and no one spoke English at all. SWEET!! Finally an escape from the oppressive tourist mobs in Roma. It was also really cool there, temperature-wise.. hooray mountains!
We left Saturday, were stranded in Avezzano (tinier town) for a few hours, and then finally got to Sulmona. The train ride there was worth every euro- trenitalia took us up way high.. so we got to see some incredible mountain views. Sulmona's main claim to fame is its signature candy, confetti, which are candy-covered almonds. However, confetti are not like your classic wedding almonds- here they twist them into flower shapes and sell them in bouquets! We toured the candy factory and museum (.....good thing it was free. kinda boring but definitely fun) and then explored the beautiful, beautiful, bella Sulmona for a few hours until dinner. The locals were REALLY friendly and all about great small town manners, which is something that's not always present in a huge city like Roma. Dinner was at the best pizzeria in town, which it totally was. :)
On Sunday we woke up and explored again- this time, to see the mountains and peek into all of the churches in town. We also ate the best pasta in the ENTIRE WORLD, EVER. If you ever find yourself in Sulmona, go to Al Quadrivio. Get the gnocchi ai 4 formaggi. Your life will be complete.

And so was our 2-day trip to see the mountains and a sleepy mountain town in Abruzzo. Legit italian life. Bella Sulmona..

Miscellanea

things to update about later:

-class in the Musei Vaticani
-class on Palatine Hill and in Foro Romano
-class in the coolest museum ever today
-the day two Notre Dame students illicitly snuck into a formal Loyola Chicago-Rome program welcome dinner and reception
-my experience in the best bakery in Roma
-upcoming trip to Abruzzo (Sulmona, Italy) ..at the foot of gli Appenini
-my Eurail disaster-made OK
-being mistaken about 2938 times this week for an italian

pictures from Cinque Terre: http://picasaweb.google.com/cstecyk116/CinqueTerre#

Italian Riviera Post

Buona sera! Sooo a few days ago, at the end of last week, 7 of us packed our backpacks and took the Metra to Termini and boarded our train to la Spezia to Monterosso! Monterosso is a coastal town in northern Italia that is part of a string of five fishing villages known as Cinque Terre. That part of coastal Ligura (the region) is the riviera italiana, aka azure waters, jutting cliffs, and hot pink, orange, and soft pink flowers climbing buildings and floating on the breeze. We took the midnight train and had some really interesting encounters (fyi, total sketchballs ride European trains..) with some interesting italiani.. got next to no sleep.. and at 5,00 am after transferring trains at 4,30.. arrived! It was completely pitch black when we got off the train and all we could hear was the sound of the Mediterranean roaring on the shore. EXCITEMENT. So we found some benches and decided to nap for a bit and then explore, find food, and check into our hostel. Well, I was sleepless. Sooo gradually as the sky lightened before dawn, I realized that there was a huge...black... outline, like a shadow in the sky to my left.. OMG THE CLIFFS AND MOUNTAINS OVER THE SEA!! The sun rose and lo and behold, gorgeous scenery all around us.. and despite the clouds overhead, the water was this incredible shade of dark turquoise. Liguria is famous for its pesto, foccaccia, and clearly its seafood, so we found a panettiere baking some foccaccia con il formaggio and partook. Best tasting food of my entire life. Explored. There was a huge statue of St. Francis petting a dog on top of a mountain, and throughout Monterosso there were lots of cats and dogs wandering around.. but we saw pet food dishes everywhere. What gives? Then we figured out that the town feeds its strays and that St. Francis, the italiano patron saint of animals, is the town saint. Yay. We went swimming in the Mediterranean (so salty) and napped. For dinner, we found a place called il Trattoria da Oscar. Amazing pesto gnocchi. The trenette con le patate e il pesto were incredible, too. So much that we went back the next night and I got those. Sleeeeeeeeeeeeep.
Next morning, bright and early, we make a foccaccia run from our friendly neighborhood panettiere. Mmmmmm. le Cinque Terre are connected by a super awesome hiking trail, so seven hours of hiking on nearly vertical cliffs was our quest. That was amazing. Think hell hike, but with vistas of the Mediterranean and turquoise water framed by jutting cliffs and the hot Italian sun. Mmmmm. We started in Monterosso al Mare, took the coastal path (basically cliff hiking with a constant view of the coast hundreds of feet below), made our way to Vernazza, weaved through Corniglia, tromped through Manarola, and ended in Riomaggiore. In Riomaggiore we went swimming in this cove at the edge of town.. and cliffdove. No big. I actually cut my hand on a rock when I was trying to impersonate the Little Mermaid and lay on a giant rock. Oops. All in all, gorgeous and amazing and wonderful. We decided to take the train back to Monterosso, where we showered and ate and hung out for the rest of the night. More to come later (with pictures) because right now I am in the computer lab with crazy Italian keyboards, plus I need to go meet my roommate at the Tiber campus so we can go to the Pantheon to get Giolitti. Amo Roma..

Eccoti, Roma

A common theme in my life over the past few days has been the daily Roman ritual known as fare la passeggiata. It's a walk, and it's a habit every real Roman sticks to. Every day around the city-wide siesta time (between 12,30 and 14,00) you see businessmen in their suits and ties (though because of the intense heat they lose the jackets) and students wandering the city among tourist swarms and you see shopkeepers and restauranteers closing down shop for a few hours. So everyone goes for a walk. It's basically a glorified lunch break, a chance to see and be seen around the neighborhood. I don't stick to one neighborhood of the city.. no.. my passeggiata involves leaving Trastevere, wandering into centro storico, into the Pantheon neighborhood, up to Piazza di Spagna, to Piazza Venezia. I just wander. It gets pretty hot, but there's always some shade. Usually a gelato stop is involved, and I see the COOLEST things.. now for a picture tour of what I've seen on my passeggiate a Roma e fuori Trastevere e la cittá Vaticana:

Abandoned osterie and trattorie...
...smoke breaks...

...gorgeous berries for sale at Campo dei Fiori.....
...this woman and her closest 9000 pigeon friends having lunch....

....and some excellent italian graffiti..

a presto!

John Cabot High School

So all classes have started and it looks like it'll be interesting.

Baroque Rome and its Monuments- on-site, "the hardest part of this class is showing up at the right place on time," free admission to pricier musei and gallerie around the city, and no real workload, just a few presentations and short papers.

Western Civ- my history requirement because history has never been my friend. Looks like it will be a snooze. I fell asleep on syllabus day. ....

Advanced Comp- this professor's italiano is so unlike that of any of my other professors. No more baby italiano.. this is big kid modo, tempo, tono.. Pffssa Ada spoke for a straight hour and a half in rapidamente italiano senza i problemi. I think my head hurt when I left because I was concentrating so hard to comprehend. EEk, two native speakers in a class of six, plus a pffssa who isn't going down without a fight. On the first day of class she made me describe in detail what a FABLE is. I def can't even tell you that in English, let alone nella lingua del questo paese. Forse che si fa quello che si puó, I guess. Fra quattro mesi ovviamente io saró sfortunata perché la mia lingua avró stato bene ma oggi e qui io vorrei qualcosa da bere or something.

Pathways of Faith- Msgr. Wells is some honcho at the Vatican and said he'd get us an audience with the pope. Sweeet! Scavi tour, too. Plus he seems to love ND- perhaps because Fr. Jenkins hired him to teach us? Who cares, this class will be awesome with all the churches we're going to visit and all the things we wouldn't be able to see if he weren't teaching!

Ancient Rome and its Monuments- BRILLIANT professor. Really enthusiastic and I totally eat this up. On-site as well, meaning that class today was on Circo Massimo and next week is on the Palatine. Three hours of standing and taking notes, though.. might get old. But who cares. This is like being on a really educational tour and just like my Baroque class, it seems SWEET.

More to come. Sleep calls. Ciao!

Roman Fairytale

School started today. On our last night of not being bound by books and classes, a group of us went to one of the highest points in Roma to watch the sun set over Vatican City. Set it did- and the sky was washed with the most gorgeous tones of orange and coral-y pinks. The cyprus trees and umbrella pines turned into silhouettes and it was just really really cool. We stopped at Old Bridge on the way home, hung out for a bit, and crashed. This morning at 8,30am a group of us left for the Guarini campus in Trastevere.... a 45 minute walk. This morning, though, it took a bit longer- because it is officially September. Italy's nationally mandated vacation month (hint hint United States) is August, meaning that Roma, Firenze, Milano, and all other major cittá italiane are ghost towns (relatively speaking) during the month of August. True story. The Romans came home today and the city was way more packed with (gorgeous) businessmen in their (beautiful) Italian suits. I had my first class (Baroque Rome and its Monuments) which apparently is an on-site class (this I did not know, but hey- it's going to be AWESOME). So this class meets once a week for 3 hours at a different location every week. Guess where next week's class meets? Oh..... MVSEI VATICANI! As in.... the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is a little different from Sargento Family Auditorium aka Jordan 105.. But so yea, after my class I went with Nick, John, and Joe to Pizza Art, an al forno pizza place with beautiful focaccia piled really high with the best toppings I've ever seen on pizzas. Wandered for awhile around centro storico via back roads. I visited Campo dei Fiori, Via Giulia, and finally ventured into the Pantheon neighborhood and of course made it to Giolitti's (visciola, mirtillo, pera). La vita é bella..