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!