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..