Thoughts of a European Wannabe

I'm home!!!!!!

Sat, 07 May 2011 16:06:34 -0400

La Mia Famiglia Viene a Roma Click this picture to see our...

Wed, 04 May 2011 02:51:00 -0400

La Mia Famiglia Viene a Roma

Click this picture to see our adventure in Italy!

The DeBenny's Come to Roma :)

Tue, 03 May 2011 05:43:56 -0400

Ciao tutti!

For this post, I thought it would be fun to describe the 10 days my family spent in Rome… from my mom’s perspective. You’ve heard me babble on and on about my experiences so far, so why not hear about it from Linnet DeBenny’s perspective? Right? My thoughts exactly :).

I’ve divided it into two separate emails she sent me (you’ll understand why) and put everything she said in “quotes.” My own personal commentary will appear in (parentheses). Got it? Here we go…

Email #1:

“My time in Italy was spent with my daughter Aria, my 70 year old mother, my son Anthony who just graduated college and last but not least, Ani, who is about to graduate 8th grade. From the minute we left the airport our trip summed up in one word was: a WHIRLWIND.

We started our trip packing light in very large suitcases so we could bring home the many treasures Aria had acquired during her time there. Our trip began on the 23rd of March, with a stop in New York, Spain and finally arriving in Rome on the 24th. The weather was beautiful there 60’s to low 70’s and true to Mr. Steve’s travel guide there are plenty of taxi’s with the logo their car door to give you a ride anywhere in the city for the low low price of 40E. The part that I didn’t remember was the fee for loading each bag of luggage in the trunk 1E per bag.

We had rented an apartment only blocks from the coliseum and all we had to do now was call the rep because we had arrived earlier than our scheduled time. My son’s phone was not activated yet for Italy soooo I saw a young lady across the street and kindly asked her in English if she could call this number for us and let them know we had arrived (surprise, surprise). She confirmed that we were visiting Americans and yes in her broken English would call for us. I thanked her again and again for her kindness and off she went.

3 minutes later the front door of the apartment building opened and there was our apartment representative. Aria had not yet returned from Greece so we explored the Coliseum and forum that day on our own. We found 2 grocery stores that first day within walking distance of our apartment. Wait, let me rephrase that, everything is in “walking distance”, it just depends on how fast you want or need to get somewhere. I will explain more on this later…

Our plan was to eat breakfast at our apartment everyday, pack some kind of sandwich or snack and eat a wonderful dinner every night. That was my plan and we stuck to it pretty well. The next day we went to the Trevi fountain, walked along the cobblestone streets, stopping in shops all along the way, followed by a quick gelato (naturally).

By evening we met Aria at a bus stop with hundreds of other Romans and tourists before heading somewhere, anywhere for dinner. If I sound a little impatient regarding eating and food, it’s because I love eating my biggest meal earlier in the day; preferably no later than 5 or 6:00. In Italy, however, restaurants close around 3:00 and don’t reopen till 6 or 7:00 and the natives don’t usually show up to eat until 9:00. Our first dinner was jovial, informative and decisive on what we wanted to do for the next few days. We still hadn’t made arrangements on where we wanted to go the last 6 days of our trip. And I personally wanted to wait and see how things went but this weighed heavily on Nani and Anthonys’ mind. So we decided we had to make time to plan the end of our trip.

After dinner, Aria took Anthony to get minutes on his phone so we could always be in contact with her. Our final decision was to meet Rosa, a cousin to my husband who is about 80 some years old. We had met her 12 years earlier on our first trip to Rome and I was excited to see her again. The time was set for 10:00 am the next morning along the front street of the Coliseum. It was a little overcast that morning, so I went to meet her and was going to bring her to our apartment. I watched as 100’s of children were marched into the Coliseum for tours just as it began to rain ever so slightly. Needless to say after 2 1/2 hours and one trip back to the apartment to try and call Rosa, we never hooked up that day (welcome to the world of miscommunication and living in a foreign country, haha).

Our dinner that night was a cute little red-checkered tablecloth (she would describe the color of the table cloth because she insisted we eat at restaurants with only white table clothes) restaurant that Aria’s friend recommended. The prices outside of the restaurant looked quiet reasonable, but I was a little confused by the price of the sea bass since it only said 4E. A few weekends before a dinner with sea bass cost me $30.00. What I soon learned was that it was priced per pound. How wonderful to see fresh fish before me! I was starving and it was 9:00pm when they brought the whole fish to the table and placed it before me. As everyone else received their dishes, I realized I had been given the tools to do the cutting of the head, tail and removal of bones. YIKES. After just a short moment the waiter came by and asked if I would like him to do the honors - I think that’s what he said in Italian, and I ever so graciously nodded my head :).

I think after these last few days of interaction with native Romans, I quickly realized my interaction of sign language and not trying to speak Italian, was embarrassing my children (just a little). I couldn’t help it, I took 1 year of Spanish in high school and “ola” (she meant, “hola) and “por favor” (that one’s right) kept coming out of my mouth instead of choai (she meant, “ciao” lol)

UUUUGHHH. This is toooo long Aria, I’m starting over……”

Well after receiving that email, I told her she could write as much or as little as she wanted. Now keep in mind, everything you just read all only gets you to day 3 of thier trip. We still have 7 more fun-filled, jam-packed days to describe to you! But I let her give you the spark notes version. I think she realized the intensive concentration and time commitment blogging is (thank you very much!). So here’s the story continued and with much less detail….

Email #2:

“Ok, I’m starting over. I don’t have time to write a story…

Once upon a time, a young lady by the name of Aria DeBenny decided she wanted to study abroad in Rome, Italy. Here Nani with much cajoling promised to visit her. Her Mom, younger sister Anielle, and big brother Anthony also decided to take this wonderful opportunity to share the adventure.

Italy, in 2 weeks, in one word, waaaaassssss a WHIRLWIND. We saw Pompeii, toured the Vatican for 3 ½ hours, spent 4 hours at a winery in Florence, and visited my husbands family one day for lunch and another for a homemade dinner (ooouuulalalalalala).

Then we spent 5 days along the Amalfi coast, found a small fishing village in Sorrento, sunbathed on their black sand beach for 4 hours and then enjoyed a wonderful fresh fish dinner. The isle of Capri was beautiful, we took 3 different buses to get to the other side of the island to shop, walk, spend 1E to use a bathroom (hahaha welcome to Italy), walked some more and found a little cove that had a rock beach. The weather was so warm that day I changed into my bathing suit standing in a corner of a building with my youngest daughter holding a towel around me (true story, that actually happened). But it was definitely worth it. The water was incredible! 3 shades of blue and the water felt likes pins and needles all over your body as you swam. Ani describes swimming under the water as, “the water was soo cold it took my breath away!”

Then it was back to Rome one night before returning to the United States. Have you caught your breath yet?! Even on the days we weren’t traveling, we were scrambling to figure out what we wanted to do next. Running (literally sprinting, ask Nani) to catch a train, bus, tram, trolley or ferry was an everyday event.

But, I must say, people outside of Rome seemed much happier than the locals in Rome – and I liked that. They just seemed to smile more and share a lighter spirit. Everyone says the Italians can tell by our gym shoes that we are Americans. But if our shoes didn’t give us away, it was the 5 of us running all over the streets of Rome that showed we had “Americana’s ” stamped all over us!

The best part of my trip happened during the 3rd day. There we were, casually walking behind my 3 children after dinner, and I turned to my mom, and said how awesome it was to share this quality time with them (I didn’t know that this happened). To see each of them show their independence and share their gifts of love with family, friends and total strangers (awwww, so precious!).

Anthony, was always jumping on the computer to find destinations and figuring out how we were to arrive at each. Aria, used her (incredible) foreign language skills and knowledge of Rome to maneuver through the streets of Italy. Ani helped by making sandwiches and keeping each of our backpacks stocked with edibles (or at least her backpack was always stocked with edibles, lol).

By the next day at dinner, however, it seemed like each of us had some sort of melt down because the dinner ended with all of us venting our frustrations. It must have been good though because it didn’t happen again. And I think we all realized we couldn’t keep up at the pace we were going.

I’m very blessed to have had this time and experience with my family. The weather, the gods, the total strangers, all seemed to be in our favor. This type of trip is not for the faint of heart, or people in poor physical condition (haha true statement). But I loved every minute of it and look forward to our next BIG adventure!”

So that’s that. What did you think? Pretty cute, right? Now you got a glimpse of the 10 days spent with my family struggling to adapt to the Roman lifestyle as I had nearly 3 months prior. It was quite the adventure and full of laughs and love. I’m so grateful they were all able to come visit me in Italy. It was exactly what I needed to help me get through the last month and I wouldn’t trade those 10 days for the world.

Ti amo la mia familglia ♥

Spring Break 2011: Greece! Click here for pics :)

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:17:52 -0400

Spring Break 2011: Greece!

Click here for pics :)

Spring Break 2011: Corfu, Athens and Aegina

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:44:15 -0400

Ciao tutti,

First off, Buona Pasqua! I hope you all had a nice Easter. Although I missed finding Easter eggs with my family and having a massive Easter brunch, Sunday mass in St. Peter’s square was truly awe-inspiring! (More on that later, I’m so behind in blogging haha).

Anyway, since I’m going to put up about 170 pictures from Spring Break this blog post won’t be as long as the rest. I’ll let the pictures tell the majority of the story and leave the rest up to your imagination!

Some background info: we chose Greece for Spring Break since we all had a strong desire to go there and wanted to spend more than a weekend in the beautiful Grecian lands. So, literally the first trip we booked upon arriving to Rome was Spring Break in Greece.

We booked it through the travel company, Bus2Alps, to save us the trouble of planning an entire week’s worth of transportation scheduling, hostel research, restaurant searching and tour bookings. And it was definitely worth it! In the words of one of our tour guides, it’s nice to do some “thoughtless traveling” for once.

We began the trip with a 5 hour bus ride to the Italian port, where we hopped on a “ferry” that was going to take us to the island of Corfu. Now, I put “ferry” in quotes because our ferry was more like a cruise ship than anything else. And I couldn’t help but feel like I was on the titanic (probably because I’ve never been a boat larger than our pontoon on Lauderdale Lakes). Thankfully, however, this ferry/cruise ship was well stocked with lifeboats and other amenities like restaurants, bars, a mini-casino and let’s not forget our “airline type sleeping accommodations.” Oh yes, that means another wonderful night sleeping in an upright, cramped space – my favorite! But it saved me 40 euro since I didn’t buy the “cabin upgrade” Oh the life of a poor college kid….. :).

Anyway, after our 16 hour ferry ride we arrived in Corfu, Greece and couldn’t be happier. The ride up the island was beautiful with lush green forest on the left and a bright blue ocean on the right. I was in paradise!

When we arrived at the Pink Palace (our weekend accommodations) it was a bit chiller than the flip-flop and shorts weather we had anticipated, but we made the most of it – as always.

As soon as our luggage was tucked away in our rooms, we decided to stretch our legs and go exploring! Probs one of my most favorite things to do, haha. We walked down by the beach and I encountered something unlike anything I’ve ever experienced… want to know what that was? Going to the beach with an umbrella. Happy Spring Break 2011…..?

I never thought I’d be on the beach with an umbrella, but on that wet Saturday I was, haha. One thing I learned very quickly is that island weather is extremely temperamental. Once minute it’s raining and storming, the next it’s sunny blue skies. Which I learned to quickly accept.

The best part of the Pink Palace was definitely the dinners. Every night we had traditional Greek food (Greek salad, pasta, meat, etc), 2 bars and a dance floor at our disposal. We never had to leave the palace! Which was also unusual compared to other trips we’ve taken. So that was kind of nice.

The next 2 days were spent both sun tanning on the beach and further exploring the island. By far the best part of my whole Spring Break (and definitely one of the best experiences of my time abroad) had to be ATVing through Corfu. We literally spent 6 hours, practically all day, on an ATV.

Now, those of you that know me are probably shocked that I took part in this. But what’ll shock you even further is that it was all my idea :). I guess I really am changing, because I absolutely loved it! There was no radio, no talking, just me, my ATV and the beautiful scenery passing by. It was truly breathtaking.

We drove along the beach, up the island, through numerous little towns and had lunch at the peak of a mountain. Casey and I were truly in our glory. I only wish I could’ve video-recorded the entire thing! I could only snap some pictures when we stopped (since I was busy driving and watching the road) but Casey and I took lots of mental pictures. Every time we passed a gorgeous setting she’d yell, “ARIA, MENTAL PICTURESSS!” Hahaha, I know I’ll always remember that experience.

On our last night we went to my first ever, real life, Greek Toga Party. For our attire, we were given a bubblegum pink silk sheet for a toga. That. Was. Interesting. I’ve never wanted a few safety pins, double stick tape, or a needle and thread more in my life. All I had was this sheet and my imagination! After twisting it every which way, nearly choking myself with the fabric a few times, and utilizing my gold bracelet as an accent… I had done it! Pink Toga – accomplished.

Feeling a bit silly, we headed down to dinner. After dinner and dancing, we had a traditional Greek dance show. It started out innocent… with just 2 men dancing to a Greek song and all of us gathered around them in a circle…. Then, an assistant was brought out with a table full of plates and lighter fluid….

Yup, the plates were lit on fire and a man carried the table in. his. mouth. Can you believe it? You better, because it happened! And I saw it all right before my eyes (don’t worry, I snapped some pictures too). He carried this thing around, passing the crowd, and all within a separate flaming circle on the ground. I’ve never been so mesmerized by ceramic and fire in my life, haha.

After that show, they came around giving shots of Ouzo (a Greek liquor, which kind of tastes like black licorice) and smashing plates on our head. Of course, I let them smash one on my head! Are you kidding? I wouldn’t leave Greece until that happened. Little did I know it hurt more than it looked, haha. But when in Greece… do as the Greek do lol. With a lifetime of memories made at the Pink Palace, we moved onto our next destination… Athens.

Athens was much calmer, haha. It was a pretty modern city with a lot of history too. All the buildings had Greek letters on them, which I only wish I could read. I literally felt like I was walking through a sorority and frat town the entire time. It was strange to see all the Greek letters used for actual information and signs, but definitely cool. I was totally out of my element and immersed in this new, fascinating culture.

For the next 2 days we spent touring Athens and seeing all the mythological ruins. We saw the Olymic Stadium, the Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis, the Parthenon etc. Lots of Greek Mythology. On the last night in Athens we went to a Greek restaurant were I had, literally, the best meal of my life. We had Saganaki (fried cheese) and Tzatziki (cucumber sauce) as an appetizer, calamari and a Greek salad (which doesn’t have any lettuce btdubbs) as a snack, Moussaka (Greek lasagna) as a main dish and some sort of Baklava for dessert. Either way, one thing is for certain: my new favorite food to order out will be Greek food. Greek restaurants here I come!

Anyway, on our last full day we decided to take a ferry to the island of Aegina (known for their pistachio nuts). We thought it would be a nice way to get out of the city and just relax on an island that isn’t filled with tourists; and we were right. It was nice to walk through the streets of a quaint, quiet, traditional Greek town. Blue shutters and blue water surrounded the island and we literally had the day to explore.

After catching some rays for a little bit, we walked around most of the island and realized there wasn’t a whole lot to do, haha. Which was more than ok with me, but definitely not what we were used to!

We actually genuinely considered renting an automatic car for the day to go cruising around in (my idea). We didn’t have much else to do and we thought we might as well see the whole city from the seat of a car! After attempting to negotiate with the car salesman though, we decided against it. He wanted 20 euros each to rent the car for only an hour. Bummer, had he said 10 euros each I woulda been all over that! Haha, but oh well. We decided to explore on foot instead.

We ended up finding this little trail near the shore’s edge that supplied the most breathtaking view (check out the pictures). I thought it was really cool but I am oddly obsessed with oceans and mountains. Which might be a sign that I need to escape the Great Plains someday, haha. Just saying….

After exploring we tried to find a place for dinner before catching our ferry back to Athens. We ended up eating at this little, local restaurant hidden along a random side street that we just sort of stumbled upon. It looked like the living room of someone’s house but the food was really good. There is something oddly comforting about local, small restaurants – I love it! And wish there were more of them in the United States.

Amanda ended up actually sitting on a freshly painted chair and didn’t realize it until we got up to leave. When the owner of the place saw, she apologized profusely and started running around like a chicken without her head looking for something. After finding a rag and what smelled like acetone, she (much to Amanda’s discomfort) stuck her hand down her leggings and cleared the spot of paint. Now where else in the world can you find that kind of treatment? Haha, it was awesome.

500 pistachio nuts later, we left Aegina happy to have explored a small town and take in the small town lifestyle for the day.

And with that, our trip came to an end! We woke up early for another 24 hours of traveling as we made our way back to Italian soil. After, of course, stopping at our favorite 2-euro Gyro stand for a snack on the bus. Oh, and we made a pit stop at the Corinth Canal – which I would love to return to someday and go bungee jumping!

So that was Greece! Definitely the best Spring Break of my life. There was sun, fun and self-reflection. Ciao Greece! Mi manchi già.

Here are the pictures I promised! Enjoy :)

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:40:29 -0400

Here are the pictures I promised! Enjoy :)

Siena, Venezia, Firenze

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 04:43:00 -0400

Guess who’s back? Back? Back? Back again-gan-gan? Aria’s back, back, back. Tell your friends… Eminem anyone? No? Ok :).

I, once again, find myself beginning this blog apologizing for the massive delay in updating you all on my life. I’ve gotten numerous emails and requests for an update, pictures, and just to verify my existence. Recently I returned from Greece, where I spent my Spring Break and the past 10 days have been spent exploring Italy with my family. Therefore, I’ve been busy traveling and enjoying my time with them. But, good news is: you can expect lots of updates within the next week – yahoo!

Throughout the month of February and into March I took some random day/weekend trips to Siena, Venice and Florence. So let’s start at the beginning…. Siena.

The Streets and Sweets of Siena

Casey and I ventured to Siena with the school, woke up at the crack of dawn, hopped on a bus and made our way to the oldest city in Rome. Walking through the streets of Siena reminded me of walking through an old 1940s romantic movie set (except I was seeing everything for the first time in color!). I really don’t know how else to describe it; just know that it was, in one word, very…. quaint. And it was nice to escape the hustle and bustle of Rome and wander the streets of Siena.

Along the way we came across Basilica Cateriniana Di San Domenico a very famous church near the center of town. Inside, I was able to snap a few pictures but in one particular spot pictures were strictly forbidden. Want to know why? Well, Caterina’s skull is proudly enclosed in a glass case for offering and worship purposes. Good thing pictures aren’t allowed, huh?

If you think that’s strange, get this: alongside her head (about 2 feet away in a separate glass case) is her…. finger. Yup, just a head and one finger. Don’t ask me which one it was, I could hardly look at it long (but if I had to guess I’d say it was her pointer finger, lol).

Where’s the rest of her body you might wonder? Well, I believe her legs are in Rome and some other extremity is in France. Apparently she wanted to be remembered all throughout Europe. But she was an important lady, so I hope all her pieces are resting in peace.

Moving on to more lively things… we continued our tour through Piazza Salimbeni, Palazzo Chigi Saracini, and Piazza del Campo. My favorite was probably Palazzo Chigi Saracini. It was this old, tiny courtyard with intricate artwork on the building, an old well and a nice place to sit in the sunshine. Apparently the school of music meets in the building next door and on summer days it’s the perfect place to sit in shade (or sun) and listen to music. Ah, life’s simple pleasures.

Anyway, after our tour of the city we got to eat lunch (obviously my favorite part). We ate at an old Siena restaurant with traditional homemade food. Siena is known for these long, skinny noodles – like spaghetti but thick like a pencil - and we ate them in a tomato based lamb sauce (the people of Siena like their meat). It probably doesn’t sound very appetizing, but, take my word for it, it was surprisingly tasty! Then, as a second course, we had chicken and potatoes (good thing I’m not a vegetarian). And to top it all off, we had a sweet but light traditional Siena dessert. All very good.

As if that was not satisfying enough, Casey and I hit up the bakery afterwards. Siena is known for their sweets; specifically panforte margherita and ricciarelli cookies. The panforte margherita comes in a dark, brownish/black color (which is the spicier, more traditional recipe) or a lighter tan/beige color (which is sweeter). I bought a slice of the spicy, traditional one… and ate the entire thing! It was very flavorful but definitely more sweet than spicy and, overall, a very dense dessert. But when in Siena…. I figured I’d at least try it!

I also bought a ricciarelli cookie that our tour guide described as a “cloud melting in your mouth.” Well, she was right! It was the softest, lightest and sweetest cookie I’ve ever tasted. Needless to say, I definitely like Siena – especially the desserts. I’m such a goloso :).

Carnevale Celebrations in Venice

Towards the end of February and into the beginning of March there is an annual celebration called, Carnevale that occurs throughout Europe. With a name like “carnival” my friends and I decided this would be an excellent time to travel to Venice, so off we went!

Imagine walking down the infamous water streets and romantic city of Venice…. pretty, right? Now imagine all of that and about 10,000 people dressed head to toe in costumes…. Welcome to Carnevale, friends!

It’s basically equivalent to our Halloween but 10x better. These are real costumes. I saw everything from a life size deck of cards to Baywatch cross dressers. It was quite the experience, haha.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t match the local competition but we did buy pretty extravagant masks and walk around the city in complete and utter amazement. I definitely had a “Cinderella Story” moment all night (minus the fact that I was wearing a leather jacket and a scarf, lol). Regardless, I felt disguised and fit right in!

We pretty much spent the entire day exploring the streets and heading to the main square, Piazza San Marco. There we threw around some celebratory confetti and admired all the costumes around us. That night we spent in the main square dancing to live music and watching the costume show. I will never look at Halloween the same, lol.

Other than that, there isn’t much to describe! My pictures are worth 10,000 words, haha. But one thing’s for sure, I’m definitely going back to Venice and riding a Gondola with my significant other someday :).

Florence: the Land of Leather

Casey, Meredith, Kiri and I took another day trip with the school to the land of leather… aka Florence. We were dressed to impress and ready to shop! But before burning through all the euros in my bank account we, of course, did some sightseeing and eating.

First up on our list was the statue of David and Piazza di Santa Croce to see some more of Michelangelo’s infamous sculptures. Next, we got tickets to go intoSanta Croce Church where both Michelangelo and Galileo are buried. We got an extended tour with a woman who told us all about Michelangelo’s life and how proud Florence was to be his final resting place.

Next, we saw the duomo(similar to Siena’s) with white, black and red tinted marble – all very breathtaking. The colors and elaborate architecture are truly commendable.

Then we had lunch (my second favorite part this trip), which consisted of a very light spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and a delicious roasted chicken. I’ve never seen meat fall off the bone so easily. It was no KFC chicken that’s for sure!

After being stunned by the city’s beauty and filling our bellies with good food, we ventured across Ponte Vecchio and went… shopping! (Shopping will literally be the death of me while I’m in Europe… and Florence isn’t helping).

I don’t know if it’s because I still compare euros to monopoly money or if it was the intoxicating smell of fresh leather…. whatever the case, it caused me to spend way more than I should have. I can’t help it though, I like everything I see! I’m quickly realizing I’m becoming a shopaholic, which is a problem with my current financial situation. But admitting you have a problem is the first step!

Anyway, one of my purchases included a real Italian leather jacket. There’s actually a really good story that goes along with the jacket but you can ask me about it when I get back :).

I will tell you, however, that I wear my leather goods loudly and proudly in the streets of Rome. I’m quickly becoming a true Italian. I wear scarfs when it’s 55 degrees outside (because I consider that cold) and I get quickly agitated with tourists crowding the streets. I should probably come home soon before I pick up smoking and soccer (I won’t though, don’t worry). How I’m going to survive Milwaukee’s winter next year is beyond me. But at least I have my leather jacket to get me through the fall :).

Aright that pretty much sums up Siena, Venezia and Firenze! You can expect an album of pictures within the next day or so. Ciao for now!

Czech-ing Out Prague

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:15:51 -0500

Hello friends!

I apologize for the massive delay. I know it’s been awhile.

In case you were worried, yes I am still alive and breathing with all of my limbs still attached :). And although my body is in good physical state, my brain isn’t.

We had midterms last week, which were ruff. There is so much more to studying abroad than traveling and living in a foreign city for 4 months. There’s this little itty-bitty thing called “school” that actually takes up a lot of my time. Sucky, I know.

But, don’t worry, that didn’t stop us from traveling the weekend before midterms! For better or worse we headed to Prague Thursday night and didn’t arrive back in Rome until 5:30 a.m. Monday morning. It. Was. Ruff. But, obviously, totally worth it!

Ok, let’s start at the beginning…

We decided to bus our way to Prague instead of fly, which was…. interesting.

For starters, we almost missed the bus (surprise, surprise). I’m always running late and studying abroad hasn’t changed that. I’m commonly chasing planes, trains and now busses. So while we had a minor panic attack when we realized we were going to be late, our Bus2 Alps leader thankfully eased our worry when he called us and said he’d wait a bit longer for us – phew! (I really need to become more time sensitive).

Anyway, when we arrived at Termini we were kinda surprised to only see a few other Romans waiting for us. And we were even more surprised to see a double decker bus for the 8 or 9 of us - we were thrilled! Having a full bus to stretch out on, fully equipped with a TV and American movie pending, would be noooo problem… or so we thought. But we started counting our blessings a little too early.

We shortly found out that the bus would eventually be filled seat to seat when we stopped in Florence to pick up the other students. Sweet. A 16 hour bus ride to Prague in a 5-by-5 ft bubble of personal space – GREAT.

Since I’ve been on numerous mission trips you’d think this would be a piece of cake, right? Wrong. I’d much prefer St. Mark’s maroon vans filled with dirty teenagers than 70 some dirty adolescent strangers all crammed on one level – much worse. I didn’t get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time and tossed and turned all night. And by “tossed and turned” I really mean “tossed my head left to right” all night. There really wasn’t much moving, haha. Anyway, it wasn’t sooo bad. Getting there was definitely easier than coming back (more on this later). And we finally arrived safe and sound in Prague at about 10:30 a.m., woot woot!

Happy to finally stretch our legs and breathe in some fresh air, we walked to our hostel. Which was by far the nicest hostel I’ve ever stayed in. It really was more of a hotel than a hostel and kind of reminded me of Anthony’s loft right freshman year. Granted we shared a room with a total of 8 girls and the bathroom was down the hall, but the powerful hanging showerhead (Italian portable showerheads aren’t doing it for me) and breakfast (I dream about American breakfast on a weekly basis, kid you not) made up for it!

So first thing we did was drop our bags off and head downstairs for breakfast. And although they didn’t provide pancakes, french toast, crepes, and waffles (like my dreams have predicted) they did have fresh fruit, granola, and cheesy scrambled eggs. I was in heaven. I didn’t even have to see Prague, I liked it that much already.

After eating like we were starved barbarians, we headed out to the city. We got a tour of Prague by this quirky Australian-born Prague fanatic. I’m telling you, the tour guides make all the difference. And while she was really entertaining at first, I quickly got annoyed. Not with her, necessarily, but more the fact that I was overtired, cold, and just wanting a hot shower. So, needless to say, my listening skills weren’t exactly 100% in tune with my surroundings, but I gathered what I could about the city of Prague and realized how young of a city it is.

From what I remember…. during the Cold War Prague was a city in the territory of military and political control of the Soviet Union. Then the Soviet Union and its allies reacted with the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the capital on August 21, 1968. In 1989 students of the Velvet Revolution crowded the streets of Prague. And in 1993, after the split of Czechoslovakia, Prague became the capital city of the new Czech Republic and is now an important cultural center of Europe…. Give or take a few dates.

I’m totally kidding, I copied that from Wikipedia. Sounded smart though, didn’t I? We did get a very similar, long history lesson of Prague and I (and my handy dandy friend Wikipedia) condensed it for you into one paragraph. Anyway, from that paragraph you can see that it is a fairly new city. So I was kind of surprised by that.

The first 30 pictures of my album sums up that historical tour nicely. I have about 100 other pictures just from that afternoon but I tried to pick my favorites for you all. I’ll show you the rest when I return back home.

Well… that brings us to our first night in Prague. We signed up for a pub-crawl with the massive group of students we were with and it turned out to be a lot of fun. It was nice meeting other people our age and they took us to all the hot spots in Prague without the fear of getting lost. My favorite part of the night was teaching Chile people how to play flip cup. They had never heard of it, caught on fast, and even had a chant for their half of the table. Overall, it was a fun night!

The next day we were up bright and early for the beloved breakfast and were out by 11 for another day of roaming through the city. We saw the Charles Bridge, John Lennon wall and Prague Castle – it def beat the day before. I am OBSESSED with the John Lennon wall and the tiny bridge in between Charles Bridge and the JL Wall.

In between both you’ll find “locks of love” where couples come, lock their names on the fence and throw the key in the river – so precious. Apparently there are spots like that all over Europe!

My new life goal: visit each one someday with my significant other. Don’t hold your breath waiting though, it might take awhile ;).

Anyway, back to the John Lennon wall… it’s awesome. To many people it just looks like a wall filled with spray paint and graffiti. But to me, it’s pure art. The wall was dedicated to JL after he was killed and signifies free speech. So every week people come and spray paint a message, a quote, a name etc. on the wall and you can’t get in trouble for it.

If I had a spray can, I’d be all over that wall – literally. You’d see “ARIA” in big bubble letters. I’m kidding. As an avid doodler and song lyric junkie, I’d probably put up a million meaning(less)ful quotes and random song lyrics. It is any doodlers, daydreamers and analytical person’s ideal outlet for self-expression. I want one in Bloomingdale. Too bad it’s illegal in the states.

But since it isn’t in Prague, I did decide to write my name on the peace sign (naturally) and take a picture next to it all. So my name will forever (more like temporarily) be tattooed on the John Lennon wall peace sign – my life is complete!

After that, we hiked to the very tipy top of the city to see the famous Prague Castle and Cathedral. The hike itself was exhausting but the view was incredible. There are so many places in Europe that you can just randomly climb up and see the entire city. I only wish Chicago was as hilly and rolled with the land instead of plowing through it. But I’ll just keep enjoying it while I’m here :).

To end the trip we went out to a 80s/90s club in downtown Prague and danced and sang to Michael Jackson, Spice Girls, and countless other one hit wonders all night. They need to open one of those in Milwaukee. It would make a fortune, no doubt. Besides everyone loves the 90s!

And while that was all fun and games, the bus ride home was a nightmare. We didn’t leave Sunday morning until 11 a.m. and on the way there not only were we anxious with anticipation but we were also asleep for 75% of the ride. On the way home, however, we had alllll day.

By the time we reached Germany, I was ready to hitch hike all the way back to Rome. I was so antsy. Between the guy hacking every minute (he literally would go into a coughing fit every 5 min – no exaggeration and I have him to thank for my sickness this week) and the man’s head literally the width of the entire TV made me claustrophobic, irritated and restless for Rome.

After 2 pit stops and 16 hours of riding, watching, talking and “napping” we arrived in Rome at 4:30 a.m., spent 15 min waiting for the night bus, and another half hour booking it back home. I couldn’t have been happier to stretch out in my tiny twin bed at 5:30 a.m.

But, unfortunately, 5 hours later, I was up to do homework and go to class. Needless to say I was EXHAUSTED and it was midterm week. Hence the lack of blogging, I told you I was busy! But now you’re a little bit more informed of my crazy, adventure to Prague.

As always, no regrets. Prague was a really cool city and I’d go back again in a heartbeat. Although, next time I’ll probably just fly :).

I decided to mix it up a bit… Prague pics first, then...

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 05:37:05 -0500

I decided to mix it up a bit… Prague pics first, then prague blog post.

Click on this picture to see my album! And stay tuned for my post :)

Dublin, Ireland

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:06:48 -0500

Dublin, Ireland:

Click here for pictures from Dublin :)

Grá Dílseacht Cairdeas: Love, Loyalty, Friendship

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 18:34:55 -0500

I am very happy to report our trip to Dublin, Ireland went much better than Brussels haha. It was our first successful traveling weekend and we had a great time!

Our plane left early Friday morning again and we slept most of the flight… until our pilot informed us that we were going to have a little bit of a “bumpy landing“– ha, what an understatement!

Our landing had Casey holding on to the seat handles as if her life depended on it. I, on the other hand, couldn’t help but laugh at the whole situation. When we finally landed the flight crew informed us that we’d only be exiting the plane through the front entrance due to the high winds. We anxiously awaited our turn to experience the winds for ourselves. I was the first brave soldier to venture out, and got that feeling of excitement all over again at the thought of being in another foreign country.

As I stepped off the plane, I breathed in the windy Dublin air and (legit) almost blew away! I’ve never felt winds so strong in my life! And that’s saying a lot coming from the “Windy City” haha. It was hilarious. We were all a little slap happy due to lack of sleep (or at least I was) so I thought the strong winds were the funniest thing on the planet. As we headed from the plane to the airport I, jokingly, started flying my feet up and down as if I was flying away and, much to my surprise, I definitely caught air! It was so comical. I wish I had it on video. After being reprimanded by the airport security, we finally stepped foot in the airport practically in tears from laughing so hard.

After taking the bus from the airport to our hostel, I saw a building that immediately made me feel at home: Fitzgerald’s Irish Pub. I saw it and couldn’t help but smile. I was reaching out to my Irish roots and a wave of comfort and security passed over me. I liked Dublin already.

We arrived to our hostel without any problems and couldn’t be happier. It was our first hostel experience and we were excited to meet our 10 other “roommates.” Luckily, there was only one other girl sleeping in the room when we checked in, so we dropped our stuff off and headed back into the city to go exploring.

Walking the streets of Dublin was refreshing. It felt like much more of a city than Rome. There were shops, stores and services of all kinds on every street and there were people everywhere! Not to mention, a genuine Irish Pub on every corner :). It honestly looked like there was a “Mo’s Irish Pub” on every street - it was great (all my Milwaukee readers know what I’m talking about)!

After wandering, exploring, and just taking everything in, we decided it was time to find some grub. So we headed back to the hostel to get some suggestions for a genuine Irish meal. She directed us to an Irish Pub called “The Lott.” So we thought, why not? What better place to get a real Irish meal than an Irish pub, haha.

After scanning the menu and finding a lot of meals with various meats and starches, a little voice came into my head… He said, “Now this is my kinda meal! Steak and potatoes, mmmm!” Although I couldn’t afford the steak on the menu, I went for what looked like a chicken sandwich with potato “chips,” in honor of my Irish heritage…. thanks Papa :).

Turned out to be the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had! No joke. I’d specially order that sucker from the United States if I could. It was that good. And, of course, to go along with our Irish meal we ordered a genuine Guinness from the tap.

Now… anyone that know me, knows, I am not an avid fan of beer. I know, I know. How could I not be? I go to school in Milwaukee. I’m part Irish. It’s in my blood… blah, blah, blah. Sorry, it’s not my favorite thing. But I promised myself, while in Ireland, I’d at least try different beers to see if my taste buds had miraculously changed by the Leprechaun’s or something.

Well, sorry to disappoint, but the Leprechaun’s magic didn’t make me like the highly coveted Guinness any more than any other beer. In fact, truth be told, I didn’t taste a difference between Guinness or Keystone. I know, it’s practically sinful. But it’s true! I will say, however, that it did go down smoother than other beers… but that’s about it. I pretty much drank the whole thing and chased it with my chicken sandwich. Call me classy, haha.

After dinner, we decided to take part in a pub crawl since we had no idea how to get around the city and didn’t want to get lost in all the chaos. In retrospect, it was definitely a good choice. We got to go from bar to bar and meet different people while experiencing various Irish pubs along the way. Although they all look similar from the outside, each one is very different on the inside. On that tour, I found the only beer I’ll ever drink (for taste)… it was a strawberry flavored Irish beer…. yup you read that correctly, strawberry flavored. It was sooo good! I even grabbed a coaster so I’ll always remember the only beer I actually like, lol.

The next day we did another hop on hop off bus tour and got to see the rest of Dublin! We thought the wind on Friday was funny but the rain on Saturday was far from comical. It literally rained from Friday night until Sunday morning. When people say it rains in Dublin, they aren’t kidding, it really rains! Talk about constant precipitation.

Anyway, we were happy to do the bus tour so that we could have some breaks out of the rain. Although our pictures didn’t come out as great as Brussels, due to the fabulousss rain, we did see a lot of cool landmarks. Including: Trinity College, Temple Bar, Dublin Castle (which was hardly a castle), St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Guinness Storehouse, Old Jameson Distillery and Kimainham Jail. The last two, Jameson’s Distillery and Kimainham Jail were by far my favorite.

We went to the jail first and it was overall….. spooky. We thought we would hop off, go inside, walk around, snap a few pics and be done. Nope. We ended up going on an almost 2 hour ghost tour. And by “ghost tour” I don’t mean fun little tour promoted by the jail. Oh no. It was a tour, with an old Irish man who had a thick Gallic accent as our tour guide. He lead us through the ancient prison and told us ghost stories along the way about all the ex-prisoners and crimes they committed. Spooky, right? It was. I had the chills nearly the entire time. Which, I’ll admit, was partially due to the rain and lack of heat but also due to the tour and atmosphere of the jail. Needless to say, it was an interesting 2 hours. But overall, it was really cool to go inside and check it out. Look for spooky pictures of that soon.

Then the Jameson Distillery was next! We got to go on a tour and learn all the secrets of how Irish whiskey is brewed from start to finish and we watched a nice video about Mr. Jameson himself. After the video, the tour guide asked if he could get 4 female and 4 male volunteers and my hand shot up right away! Oh yes, I was the first person to volunteer. Little did I know what I was volunteering for…

At the end of the tour we all got a glass of Jameson’s Whiskey prepared in various ways. For the truly brave (and mainly the men) they offered it on the rocks. For the American travelers, they had a glass mixed with coke. For all the Italians in the crowd, they offered it with cranberry juice. And for all other European travelers and UK fans, they mixed it with ginger ale. I went with the ginger ale in hopes that the carbonation would drown out the taste. But we all got different mixed drinks and the cranberry one turned out to be my favorite! The Italian drink… naturally :).

After drinks the tour guide called the volunteers to the front table where there was a plate lined with shot glasses… You betchya! I signed myself up to be a Whiskey shot taker. Oy vey.

In the end, it turned out to be very…. shall we say… educational? Betchya didn’t think that, huh? But it was! There were 3 different shots for each of us. One whiskey from Scotland, Johnny Walker Black (big rivalry apparently), one whiskey from the US, Jack Daniels (represent!) and the last one was Jamesons (obvi, lol). Now I’m no whiskey drinker, but there really is a big difference in each of the liquors and it’s all because of the way they distill their barley and prepare their whiskey.

Johnny Walker Black had a very distinct smoky flavor and was definitely the hardest to drink. Jack Daniels was a little ruff to go down as well because it’s only distilled once and has a much sharper taste. Then Jameson’s, of course, tasted the best. It had a sweet flavor and the triple distillation really helped make it go down smoother. Whether or not it’s true, or it was just my taste buds and brain convincing myself, I’m not so sure lol. But I can honestly say I’m a certified whiskey drinker and I’ve got the certificate to prove it :).

After that whole fiasco we hopped back on the bus, continued the tour, saw some more monumental buildings, and ended at the Guinness Factory. Although we didn’t have time to walk through the whole thing, the building itself was pretty sweet. Unlike Jameson’s Distillery, Guinness beer is brewed in the same building you tour through (Jameson’s has been recently moved to southern Ireland). Either way, they were both neat to walk through and see the science behind all the liquor. Plus Guinness advertising is pretty notorious. So, naturally, I bought a postcard with the toucan character that says, “it’s a lovely day for a Guinness!” Although I don’t necessarily agree with it, I still think the campaign they put together was genius! Sign me up for that ad agency please :).

After a full day of sight-seeing and exploring, we headed back toward the hostel to grab something to eat and warm up for a little bit before calling it a night. We found what looked like a tiny bar from the outside with a good meal combo special and decided to try it out. Let me just say, never judge a bar by the front door!

Geeze, this post seems to be all about alcohol (sorry family) but I’m serious! The bar was elegantly designed on the inside, despite it’s somewhat shady external appearance. It had a bridge that stretched horizontally across the ceiling toward the second level and it was the perfect way to end the night. Besides, when in Dublin… do as the Irish do, right?

Haha well that was Dublin! My favorite, and only, souvenir I purchased in Dublin was a ring that reads “Grá Dílseacht Cairdeas” which means “Love, loyalty and friendship” in Gallic. It’s also carries the same meaning as my claddagh ring, so my right hand is now decked out with Irish rings, haha.

The only regret I have is not being able to see more of Ireland. I especially wished I could have visited Galway. From what I hear, it’s an absolutely beautiful place with fantastic people. So, needless to say, I’ll be back someday to explore the Northern parts of Ireland. But for now, I feel a wee little bit closer to my Irish heritage :).

Brussels Pics

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 17:39:56 -0500

Brussels Pics:

Click here to see all my pictures from Belgium! Enjoy :)

Brussels, Belgium (continued)

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:58:58 -0500

Let me begin by expressing my sincere regret in missing the snowstorm of the century. My mom always talks about the blizzard of the 60s and apparently this one is much worse. But, I can’t complain too much because it is in the high 50s here and sunny. So although I am disappointed I am missing a historical blizzard for Chicago, I really can’t complain :). I hope you are all staying warm and enjoy the snowfall for me!

Ok, back to Belgium. After finally arriving to our hotel we showered, got ready and decided to head out for a nice Belgium dinner. Although, we weren’t really sure what a “Belgium dinner” consisted of. So Meredith and I went down to the front desk and asked the “concierge” for a recommendation. Unfortunately, he didn’t speak much English and didn’t have a restaurant to recommend. So I rephrased the question, I said to him “if you were to go out to dinner right now where would you go?”

He laughed as if it was the silliest question anyone has ever asked him – which I guess it might’ve been. But he did tell us he enjoyed an Asian restaurant that cooks in front of you. We were sold. That also means that our first day in Belgium consisted of consuming American and Asian dishes – how Belgium of us. Regardless, we had our hearts set on going. He translated the name of the restaurant to “Asian Grill,” drew it on our map, and we were off.

His directions however were very vague and the map didn’t suffice. When we got off the bus, and into the city, we came across a fork in the road. Now whenever people describe a fork in the road I imagine a little dirt road with two paths leading to two different sunny destinations. Nope. That’s not what our fork in the road looked like.

For starters it was huge. Like literally the biggest v-shaped intersection I’ve ever seen and it was dark. To the right, there was a dimly lit street surrounded by a forest with trees that looked like volleyball nets. To the left, was the other half of the park/forest but it was lit up a little bit better by a huge important looking building. So, needless to say, we chose the left side. As we walked around the park perimeter the gate was open and the “concierge” informed us that we’d have to cut through the park to get to the Grand Square. I genuinely considered it for a minute, but it looked straight out of a horror movie; it was a massive park, with huge trees and no streetlights. So we stuck to the perimeter and walked all the way around it. Although I kept claiming I knew where I was going, I literally had no idea. But I was determined to find this place!

After wandering the streets of this foreign city, in a 20-degree wintery night, we finally saw another human. He was dressed in business clothes and decided he was a safe person to ask for directions. The only problem, we weren’t sure if he spoke English. Before opening our mouths, I prayed to the language Gods that he would speak English. Thankfully he did. I was about ready to hug him! He safely led us to the Grand Square because he was headed in that direction anyway. As we got closer, the streets lit up, people flooded the streets and there were shops and restaurants open on every corner. We made it!

At this point we were still gung-ho on finding the “Asian Grill” so I stopped in a Hotel, called Aris (it sounded like my name so I figured it might bring us some luck) only to find a young polish boy working the front desk. Thankfully, he knew a little English and had Internet access at his fingertips. He looked up the restaurant and gave us a new map with new directions. More determined than ever, we left feeling confident we could find this place and wishing he would come with us, haha.

After wandering for another half hour… we gave up. We were cold, hungry and intoxicated by the smell of fried food. The smell of hot Belgium waffles on every street corner is dangerous. Plus, Belgiums are known for homemade fries, as well as waffles, and everywhere we walked we smelled fried food. So we all resorted to ditch the “Asian Grill” and find another place to eat. None of us ate Mussels or seafood – due to lack of sufficient funds – and resorted to panini’s and burgers. Oh Belgium, the food you provided was so original. I’m serious though! On almost every street there was a French fry stand, Belgium waffle joint and countless Greek and Italian restaurants. Since we live in Italy, there was no way we were eating at an Italian restaurant and since we’re traveling to Greece in March, we weren’t too fond of eating at a Greek restaurant either. Sooo, we ate greasy comfort food – at least Belgium is good for that, haha.

Anyway, finally semi-satisfied we ventured out to find a famous bar that housed over 1,000 beers. When we thought we arrived, we sat down, warmed up and ordered a beer. We stayed at that bar for awhile before heading to club SoHo – which was nothing like American clubs. People of Belgium, I’ve decided, use clubs and music as a self-expression and stress release outlet. Everyone is just kinda dancing and letting loose on their own. It’s actually really funny to witness from outside perspective, but regardless it was fun and an entertaining night out.

Saturday we woke up early to go sightseeing. After bundling up in multiple layers we plunged into the cold… yet again. Thankfully we signed up for a “hop on hop off” bus tour that lead us through the city so we didn’t have to worry about getting lost. It was a 5-hour tour of Belgium and allowed us to get off at the various stops, take pictures, walk around and shop. It was perfect. We saw so much! Like the Atomium, European Parliament and the Royal Palace, just to name a few of my favorite attractions. Oh and that “big important building” we saw at the fork in the road turned out to be the Royal Palace! I’m so glad my instincts are leading me to a royal future haha. Anyway, I’ll set up an album so you have a better idea of what we saw. Oh, and how could I forget the infamous Mannekin Pis!

The Mannekin Pis is a fountain of a little boy peeing and this statue is found all over Belgium. They are so proud of it! You can find it as magnets, key chains, corkscrews, life size replicas, and chocolate molds! Ok, so Belgium might be a little peculiar for worshiping a peeing boy and eating all things fried… but their chocolate definitely makes up for it. We spent part of the afternoon walking around taste testing hundreds of different chocolate flavors. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but we did eat a lot of chocolate! The dark chocolate coconut truffles were my favorite, mmmmm, so good!

After the bus tour we decided to stay in the city, grab dinner, and chow down on a Belgium waffle for desert before retreating back to our hotel. Since we were back in the Grand Square, we decided to try and find the “Asian Grill” again. We were so determined to find it!

Unfortunately, however, our determination was not enough. After analyzing multiple maps, asking numerous locals (including a few Asians), we gave up. No one had ever heard of the Asian Grill. We began to believe it didn’t exist, except for the fact that our Polish friend found it on the Internet. I don’t know, it’s still a mystery to me. If anyone is ever in Brussels, please find the Asian Grill and tell me how it is! I’m literally dying to know if it’s any good.

Defeated and hungrier than ever, we wandered around for another half of an hour until we found the next best thing: a Chinese restaurant. Yup! I’m telling you, really cultural food I had in Brussels, haha. But what can I say? We couldn’t afford the infamous mussels or seafood that Brussels is known for, so that left our dinner options limited. Anyway, once again no one spoke English and we couldn’t decipher the menu so we pointed to things that looked good and happily ate our Chinese food.

To end the day, we bought our Belgium waffle which was by far the best part of the day. Mine was loaded with genuine Belgium chocolate and whipped cream – so good! After scarfing that down, we took lots of pictures with our waffles next to the life-size Mannekin Pis. And with that we were on our way back to the hotel, what a day haha.

Unfortunately the journey doesn’t end there… although I wish it had. This was by far the worst part of our trip, ready? The next morning we were up early to catch our 6:30 a.m. flight back to Rome. We had asked our “concierge” ahead of time how much a taxi would cost to the airport and she informed us it wouldn’t be more than 20 euro. Well, apparently that was incorrect.

When we got in the cab at 4:15 the next morning, he told us it would take an hour to get to the airport. I tried to do the math in my head but couldn’t. All I was certain of was the fact that this was going to be an expensive cab ride. And since public transportation wasn’t an option (it doesn’t run that early in the morning) we decided the cab was our only means of transportation to the airport. Even though we were still concerned with how much it would cost, the cab driver didn’t understand us so we all sat in misery.

We watched as the price went up 10 cents every second – I kid you not. This guy charged us by the kilometer and apparently we were really far away. We watched as the price went up from 50 euro to 100 euro, from 100 euro to 150 euro…. From 150 euro to 200 euro… from 200 euro to our final price of 250 euro…. We were speechless. No one had enough money to pay for it. And yet again we were screwed over due to our careless booking mistakes.

Honestly, it was a lesson well learned. We were all so mad at ourselves that we promised each other it would never, ever happen again. We couldn’t afford it to happen again, literally. So overtired, a little unhappy, and just wanting to be back, we headed home to Rome.

Overall, I have no regrets. Sure it was an unfortunate incidence and I might not be able to go to Paris anymore lol, but it’s all apart of the learning experience. Brussels was still a phenomenal place to visit and I’m so happy I went. I’ll conclude with this quote, “Life is made of moments. We have to love the journey, not the destination.”

Hopefully our journey to Dublin this weekend will be as enjoyable and more cost effective. I’m excited regardless! I have a “wee lil bit” of Irish in me and I’m excited to visit such a fascinating country! I’ll be back after I’ve downed an Irish beer :). Arrivederci!

"Life is made of moments. We have to love the journey, not the destination."

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:31:41 -0500

““Life is made of moments. We have to love the journey, not the destination.””

- Source Unknown

A plane, train, subway, bus… to Belgium

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 07:34:32 -0500

This weekend we took our very first weekend trip to Belgium. It was definitely a weekend full of fun, frustration, and fried foods. Ready? Let’s start at the beginning…

So our trip began early Friday morning at 5:00 a.m., and the morning started out great. We left our apartment with plenty of time to reach the airport, boarded our plane, and whala! In no time we were in Belgium.

Well, shortly after arriving to Belgium things took a turn, for the worst. Thursday night before heading to bed the 4 of us met up to discuss final travel plans, packing tips and everything up until the point of actually arriving in Belgium. We (poorly) assumed that once we got to Belgium we’d just “figure it out from there” since getting to Belgium would be the hardest part. Or so we thought….. Once we got there, however, our patience, flexibility and problem solving skills were truly put to the test.

Shortly after arriving in Belgium, we realized that our hotel was nowhere near the Belgium airport. Yup, we booked the hotel solely based on the fact that it was near “public transportation” and we falsely assumed that the “public transportation” would take us from the airport to our hotel. Wrong. Turns out we had no idea how far away our hotel was from the airport.

Now, you’re probably thinking what a stupid mistake! How could you not research where your hotel is in relation to the airport? Well we didn’t, and it was a stupid mistake, but I’ll have you know booking these trips is extremely exhausting. We’ve spent way too many nights surfing the web for the cheapest hotels/hostels, reading endless user ratings and reviews and visiting multiple airline companies to see who has the cheapest flights. It’s mentally and physically exhausting. So when we booked our first trip, we were too anxious with anticipation and excited for our first journey that we booked it without much hesitation. Boy did we pay for it, literally.

After we got off the plane we found the information desk and inquired about our hotel. This was the part, from Thursday night, that we assumed we’d “figure it out from there.” Well, the airport information desk had never heard of our hotel but suggested we hop on the bus and head towards the train station. Once we arrived at the train station, we found another information desk but encountered yet another problem: not many Belgiums speak fluent English.

You see, Belgium is home to the European Union so people from all over Europe commonly travel to Belgium. The British, however, must not come to Belgium that often because although most Belgiums speak fluent French, Spanish, German, Italian and Dutch, no one seems to speak fluent English (or at least not the people we talked to). This added yet another problem to finding our hotel. But we tried our best. Me and another girl took control for the remainder of the trip as designated “question-askers” (good thing we are women) and off we went.

After talking to the information desk, he told us we needed to hop on a 2-hour train ride that required us to get off and on a different train halfway through the trip. Although this sounded like a pain in the butt, we really didn’t see any other option so we agreed. The man then kindly printed out the page of the train schedule we should take and informed us it would cost about 8.50 eruo – not bad. So we went to book our train tickets at the ticket counter. Problem was, the ticket man understood us even less than the information desk guy. The ticket man didn’t understand any English or what we were asking for, so we handed him the printed page from the information desk guy only to find out our ticket would cost us 15.50 euro instead of 8.50 euro. After pointlessly arguing with the ticket man, we decided we really didn’t have a choice. Confused and agitated that the train ticket would cost more money than we anticipated, we bought the ticket anyway and ran through the station to catch our train.

Once we got settled, we found a little map in the back of Meredith’s book that had a very vague depiction of Belgium. What we found made us even more disgruntled. Turns out, the airport we had just come from was at the southern end of the country, Brussels (the city we wanted to spend the day sightseeing) was in the center of the country, and the final destination and hotel location (according to our ticket) was near the top of the country. You follow? Basically, we were literally all over the map. We had so many unanswered questions and frustrations at that point that we began to freak out.

Did we really book a hotel that far from the airport? Yup, it appeared so. Were we even headed toward the right town? Sort of, hard to tell. Did the ticket man charge us for the wrong city? Maybe, also hard to tell.

The train ticket didn’t exactly match the piece of paper the information guy gave us and no one could decipher the French train ticket, so we weren’t sure if we were headed to the right city or not. And, needless to say, this was a massive problem. Not only did we already pay for our hotel (in an unknown, currently unidentifiable city) but we also booked spots on a tour bus (in downtown Brussels) for most of the day on Saturday. So we freaked.

No one understood us. No one heard of our hotel. No one knew what to do. And no one had a lot of money to waste. So I tried to stay calm and thought things though while everyone took a minute (or twenty) to calm down and figure out the best plan. We came up with 2 options:

Option 1: Cancel our hotel reservations – 100% nonrefundable – and search the city for an open and semi-cheap hostel in downtown Brussels.
Option 2: Take every form of transportation known to the people of Belgium in order to get to our hotel.

We genuinely considered Option 1 but our phones didn’t work outside of Italy and had no way of contacting the hotel from the train. Option 2 wasn’t much better because we could not locate our hotel on a map, nor did anyone we asked seem familiar with our hotel (including the train conductor). So we formulated Option 3.

Option 3: Take the train to Brussels, ask more people if they knew of our hotel, find out exactly how far away it was and choose the best means of getting there.

By the time we finally got off the train in Brussels, it was already 2:00 p.m. and so many things were still so unknown. So we hopped off, put our best foot forward and headed toward another information desk. After what seemed like forever he found our hotel online and informed us were about 30 minutes away from our hotel. He then proceeded to load us up with metro information, a bus schedule and multiple maps of the city. So neck deep in directions, schedules and various maps, we did what anyone would do in our situation…. we ordered Subway.

Yup that’s right, the first food I ate in Belgium was a foot long veggie sub sandwich – how pathetic. But, at the same time, can you really blame us? We were deprived of food, starving for people to understand us and longing for America where we rely too heavily on our Google Map apps and constant Internet access. So, we succumbed to our subconscious desires and scarfed down the only thing in this foreign place that reminded us of home: Subway (thank God for global branding).

After satisfying our physical and innermost desires, we made a plan and stuck to it. We decided 30 minutes from downtown Brussels wasn’t that far and we were confident in our Milwaukee/Chicago instincts to guide us on the right public transportation. So we headed for the metro station.

Finally after taking the subway out of Brussels and a bus toward our hotel, we arrived at Hotel Evergreen: our final destination. We couldn’t be happier to see those words lit up on the side of the road. Our smiles quickly faded, however, as we got closer and closer to the hotel…

From a distance, we were just happy to see that the hotel actually existed. As we got closer, we realized why no one had ever heard of it… Hotel Evergreen was a house renovated into a “hotel” with a restaurant and bar attached to it.

“Interesting……” and a few nervous laughs was all I managed to say as we silently approached the doors of the hotel. After obtaining our key from the “concierge desk” we made our way up the narrow, spiraling staircase to the “3^rd floor.” At that point, we all bust out laughing.

Turns out, our “3^rd floor hotel room” was located in the attic… scratch that, our hotel room was the attic. We continued to laugh our heads off as we opened the door. The place looked like someone’s lake house. The walls were painted mint green, had a matching mint green fake hardwood floor, and more beds than we could ever ask for. There were legit 7 twin beds, 1 queen size bed, a wardrobe dresser, a full bath…. oh and let’s not forget the mini fridge, sink, china cabinet, couch and table with four chairs. Yup, all of that was in the attic and our “hotel room.”

Are you laughing yet? We were. Rolling on the floor laughing, actually. It didn’t seem real. But, all jokes aside we could not be happier. We had finally arrived at our destination 3 hours later than anticipated and 20 euro shortchanged, but we did it. Safe and sound.

(To be continued)

Wait, I actually have to go to school?

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:12:46 -0500

Now that the vacation feeling has officially worn off, let’s talk about why I’m here. Obviously to learn… ok, that’s debatable. But it is one of the many reasons I am here, so I’m dedicating this blog to my studies and to give you a taste of my classes this semester. It’s definitely different than Marquette, but so far I like it. Ask me at midterm week and I’ll probably disagree, but for now it’s not bad haha.

Introduction to Poetry and Poetics

Ok, this is definitely becoming my favorite class. I’ve never been an avid poetry reader, nor am I a poet by any means, but I do enjoy this class. In honors English, back in high school, we had small units with various poets and poems and I loved analyzing literary works as well as the world around me (i.e. my life, your life, stranger’s lives etc. … so I thought why not poetry?). Therefore, I will be spending quite a bit of time analyzing poems this semester. I couldn’t ask for a better place to analyze poetry either. Rome is so full of history and culture that I think my presence alone will assist in my analyses, right? I think so.

Anyway, my professor is everything you’d imagine a poetry professor to be like. She has thick black glasses that are narrow and tilt significantly upward toward her eyebrows, long grayish hair that extends to the middle of her back, and a voice that is pleasant to listen to but won’t put you to sleep. Naturally, she’s a poet herself and writes poems in her free time. She was born in America and came to Italy, met another Italian poet, fell madly in love, and moved to Italy. Did I not say she is the epitome of a poetry professor? I wasn’t kidding. But overall, I really like her. She’s quirky and unlike anyone I’ve ever met. So a semester with her will be anything but mundane. She made that very clear actually after the first week of school.

After the second class, she offered students the opportunity to attend an American/Italian poetry reading. So I thought, eh, when in Rome do as the Romans do right? Well, I volunteered to go. Turns out, the poetry reading was a famous American Poet, Mark Strand, and Damiano (my professor’s husband) was in charge of the Italian translations. Together they made a video of the poems read in both Italian and English and I had front row seats to the movie premiere. Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, it was. I’m not going to lie though, listening to over an hour of poetry reading is mentally exhausting and I was nodding off at one point; especially when half of it is in a language I don’t fully understand. But the poems definitely sounded prettier in Italian and all of my fellow Italian classmates preferred the poem translations, so that was nice. Overall, it was an interesting experience that I’m thoroughly satisfied I attended.

At the end of the movie/poetry reading I even asked Mark Strand, himself, a question about one of his poems. And, I decided, it is my one and only favorite poem. It’s called, “Mirror” obviously by Mark Strand. Here’s a link to it, if you’re curious: http://tinyurl.com/yaepnmo. I won’t tell you exactly what it’s about. Try reading and analyzing it on your own. I want to know the meaning you take away from the poem. Then you can ask me later and I’ll tell you what it’s about and why Mr. Strand wrote it. Just for fun, I guess haha.

Ok, moving on….

Sociology: The Study of Modern Rome

This class is a close second for my favorite class. It’s only once a week and it’s for over 3 hours but it’s kind of fun because we spend half the semester in the classroom and the other half studying Romans. So yes, I am actually taking a class on people watching. But it’s also so much more than that. We’ll be applying what histories and theories we learn in class and then we’ll physically travel around the city to see real life examples of these lessons. Talk about learning beyond the classroom and textbooks! I’m excited.

I also really like my professor for this class too. She’s a tough, Italian woman with native roots in England. So yes, if you can imagine it, she has a slight Italian accent drowned out by her heavy British accent that I’m so envious of. She also acts like a tough Brit (if there ever were such a thing). She warned us on the first day that we’d be exploring Rome and she didn’t want any whiners, complainers or fussers. The stuff we’ll be seeing is apparently grimy and she really wants to break us out of the tourist bubble we’re living in. So, needless to say, I’m really excited for Thursday mornings.

I can’t really say much else since I’ve only had one class with her, but this Thursday is our first time traveling through the city, so I’ll have to let you know what I find. Yay for on-site classes!

Ok, moving on….

International Marketing

I like this class. Not clearly as much as my other two, but this one’s not bad (you’ll see as the list progresses I’m liking my classes less and less, haha).

Anyway, my professor is very Italian and hard to understand at times. She grew up here her whole life and seems to work at some company that obviously markets themselves internationally. I feel like she has a lot of work-related experience but translating that into the classroom is a difficult task for her. Although I will say with a disclaimer, it’s easy for me to sit in the classroom and judge her teaching style, or lack thereof, when I am only a student and clearly never taught a college course.

But, overall, I just hope to see her open up to us more and talk about her personal work experience. She has a lot to offer and I’d like to learn from her, instead of her constantly calling on us for hypothetical examples. Does that make sense? Basically, I hope to learn more from her than from my textbook. Fingers crossed that happens. If not, I still think it’ll be a relevant class to take while abroad. I mean, after all, I am an American and based on lectures and personal shopping experiences I’ve experienced first hand the way they do business here is different than the states. So, we’ll see!

Ok, moving on…

History of the Catholic Church

I originally was enrolled in a different theology course, but after the school encountered a glitch in the system some of my classes overlapped and I had to rearrange things. So, I dropped my on-site Mystic, Saints and Sinners course and picked up History of the Catholic Church.

Ok, first things first, my professor legitimately sounds like Mufasa (from the Lion King). It took me a full week to discover exactly what his voice resembled, but as of yesterday, I finally realized he sounds just like Mufasa, but a little less hairy. Although, he does have long blond hair and a blossoming beard so that might have something to do with my realization. But Casey agrees, so I’m not completely crazy.

Anyway, aside from his deep, sometimes monotonous voice, he is a very knowledgably guy. And when I say very knowledgeable, I mean it. He has a PHD in something and he has to know at least 4 different languages (Latin, Greek, Italian and English) because he is constantly interrupting his thoughts with the etymology of different words. It’s very confusing. I don’t know how he knows all of this stuff, but overall I like him.

The class itself is really small, like so small I’m surprised the school is paying him. It’s literally a group of 8 of us; and Casey, myself, and another girl joined the class late so before we got there it was a whopping 5 students in the class. Which is just so surreal to me coming from some lectures with 400 students in one room. But it’s kind of refreshing and also intimidating. He has all of our names memorized and calls on us constantly to recap last week’s lecture or test our general knowledge on the Catholic Church. Eek! I only took Intro to Theology so this is definitely going to be a struggle for me, but at least I have Casey to get through it with me!

Oh and, I almost forgot, on the first day of class (for me anyway) he stopped lecture halfway because he wanted to take the class outside. Yes, he wanted to have a walking outdoor lecture that day and he has the freedom to do that since the class is so small. So, in the 40 degree weather, we took lecture to the streets of Rome and he pointed things out along the way that he wanted us to better understand and visualize. It was kind of exhilarating and spontaneous. And, you know me, I’m all about the spontaneity, so that was fun. It’s not technically called an “on-site class” but he said he wanted to take us out at least two more times before the semester ends, so that’ll be nice. I’m lucky enough to have teachers enthusiastic enough to want to share what they know beyond the textbooks and beyond the classroom. Lucky me, haha!

And last but not least…

Italian II

Now although I was looking forward to this class the most, it is much harder than I anticipated. It makes me miss my Italian class from freshman year so much, especially my wonderful professoressa!

The class I’m in now just isn’t the same. They are all far more advanced than myself and I’m nervous I am going to fall behind. However, lucky for me I’m in Rome so I can practice what I learn wherever I go. Hopefully this class will challenge me to truly go back to learning the language that I fell in love with freshman year. We’ll see.

For now though, it is my least favorite class. I’d rather go out and speak with locals and formulate sentences off the top of my head instead of writing paragraphs about “my morning routine” or “physical description of people in pictures.” I’m in Rome, for Pete’s sake! Let’s go take a walk and interact with people! I think that would make for an excellent course. Literally, a sink or swim class that would force us to use what we know to communicate what we want, when we want it, at a reasonable price.

Ugh, but for now I’ll stick to my textbook exercises and workbook homework describing people in pictures and hypothetical situations. Maybe, just maybe, that will come in handy while I’m here. It’s doubtful, but every little bit of Italian helps!

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ok, this post was way longer than I planned, but now you know what I’m spending the majority of my weekdays doing: class and the inevitable homework. Don’t worry though, I am also trying to make time for exploring the city and planning trips.

Speaking of trips, this Friday we are taking our first trip to… Brussels, Belgium!! Kind of random but it was super spontaneous and late at night when we booked it so we thought, why not Belgium? Plus, I’ve been dreaming about American breakfast food since I got here. All they eat in Rome are croissants and espresso, so I’m ready to dive into a Belgium waffle!

I also probably won’t do another post until I come back, so wish me luck! And I’ll try to put up pictures of Rome before I leave. More visual stuff. Get excited.

Soon to be, Belgium bound.

Talk to you when I get back!

Home sweet Rome

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:59:00 -0500

So, I’ve been here for almost 2 weeks and it’s so hard to believe! The “vacation” feeling has definitely worn off, and I am beginning to call Rome my new home. My feet are toughening up, my arms are strengthening, my eyes are adjusting and my mind is accepting.

Tough Feet = Tough Italian Women

After the first few nights in Rome my feet hurt in places I didn’t even know existed. I originally thought it was my shoes, but it’s definitely the narrow streets, cobblestone pathways and uneven landscape. Thankfully, my feet are adjusting and I walk without tripping or complaining… most of the time, haha. Italian women are tough! And I will be too – someday.

Strong Arms = Big Guns by May 2011

By the time I come home, I anticipate my arms to be as big as my daddy’s :). Ok, that’s clearly an exaggeration, no one can top that, but my little muscles are growing! Want to know why? I’ll give you a clue: it’s not from weightlifting. It’s from carrying my groceries! (I bet you didn’t guess that). Oh how I took those annoying grocery carts for granted! Walking across the Ponte Sisto Bridge and into Trastevere with my arms full of heavy groceries is no easy task (especially for a weakling like me).

The first time we went to the grocery store, I thought about leaving some food along the side of the road and come back to it… honestly, I did. It was a struggle for me, but thankfully I didn’t resort to that. Although, I’ll have you know, some other students did! My friend saw someone take out some heavy grocery items and leave it on the side of the road. Whether or not they came back to it or if a gypsy took advantage of the free food, I’ll never know… but that should give you an idea of my grocery shopping struggles haha.

Attentive Eyes = Accepting Mind

My eyes are also less large and speculative as I walk around town. I no longer wander the streets staring at the street signs like a lost puppy. Now when I’m out on the streets I walk with a purpose; making my way across town for class, errands or the occasional shopping (Oooo more on shopping later. Consider it a teaser or, in literary terms, a foreshadow haha). Anyway my eyes have become attentive and alert as I slowly learn my way around Trastevere and downtown Rome. Although, I couldn’t give someone directions to the Trevi Fountain this weekend, I could probably describe how to get there by piazza description and landmarks. Typical me, I guess. I’m awful with street names and I can’t imagine memorizing these street names anytime soon. But I do like the feeling of knowing where I am going instead of constantly getting lost and roaming around town. I’ll just keep taking one step at a time – no pun intended :).

And so, as time passes I am finally getting comfortable and establishing myself in this city. First I had to accept the fact that this would be my new home. Now, I just need to take it all in and enjoy every moment of it. I truly am lucky to be spending four months here, and although I get homesick for my family, friends, and old way of life, change is a good thing (according to Erin, haha). So, here’s to change and whatever comes my way in the upcoming weeks!

P.S.

I promise to blog more and keep them more concise. The past few entries have been long and sparse but I will definitely attempt to update my friends, family and fabulous followers better. I know you are all curious with how I am spending my time, so I have made that promise to myself. Love and miss you all!

Hello? Hola? Ciao!

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 08:21:23 -0500

So obviously I’m in Italy and everyone here speaks Italian. Ok…that’s a given.

Not so given: how much of a language barrier I’ve encountered.

Speaking English is frowned upon, makes things difficult for everyday tasks, and automatically labels you as an American. Bottom line: I need to work on my Italian!

The 3 words that got me through the weekend were as follows:

Parla te inglese?
Non capisco italiano, solo inglese.
Posso usare il toilette?

Translations:

Do you speak English?
I don’t understand Italian, only English
Can I use your bathroom?

The last one is my favorite, and it’s true! When you gotta go, you gotta go. And bathrooms are not clearly labeled or easy to find here. Many are underground and it took me hours to realize the sinks don’t have handles, not because they are automatic, but because they require a foot pedal to make the water flow. Oh yes, the simple things I miss in the United States are toilet flushers and automatic sinks.

Anyway, the language barrier is definitely harder than anticipated. Aside from the awkward encounter with the customs guy at the airport, the first night in Rome didn’t progress much better. By the time I reached my apartment and finished my meeting, I was so hungry Casey and I decided to wander the streets until we stumbled upon a decent looking pizzeria.

Luckily, we found a really good one only a few blocks away. And by “good one” I mean a good, cheap, local pizzeria where everyone (once again) knew everyone. Immediately all eyes were on us. We politely asked for a table (in English) and the waiter motioned to an empty one next to us. Throughout the entire meal we were yapping away in English about our flights, people we’d met along the way and saying goodbyes. The poor man sitting next to us couldn’t even make eye contact with us. In retrospect, it was probably not the best idea to talk so loudly in English like we owned the place – clearly we didn’t belong and it made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

Second major observation: Italians aren’t loud.

Although it is a common stereotype that Italians are loud, they really aren’t all that loud. Americans, on the other hand, are extremely loud. We should be stereotyped as loud. Walking down the street talking you’d think we were yelling. Italians, here, speak in a mere whisper to each other, which in turn make everyone else appear 10x louder.

After that night, I decided I didn’t want to be automatically labeled as an American and worked all weekend on fitting in. The next day, I ditched my sweat pants and gym shoes and slid on my leggings and boots; swapped my winter jacket for a tight fitting leather one; and traded my American customs for this Italian wannabe attitude. Thankfully, it seems to be working (or at least I’d like to believe so).

I used my long walks to orientation meetings as opportunities to observe the way Italians talk, interact and use their body language to tell a story or just catch up with a friend. By the time the weekend rolled around, I was ready to put what I learned to the test… sort of.

The first night out was an epic wannabe fail. We left with a huge group of Americans that made us stand out even more. So eventually myself, and a few close friends, branched out and decided to go our own way. What we found was this local street where Italians just gather against cars, talk to each other, and casually sip drinks. It looked very chill and very European. There were no screaming drunk Americans, no obnoxious laughs or yelling, everyone was almost talking in a whisper and every once in a while you’d hear a chuckle or two. As we walked through more streets we soon realized everyone gathers in the streets and piazza’s just talking, chilling and drinking - completely different than America, yet oddly refreshing. So we tried to blend in.

I had a few Italians come up to me and say something in Italian (probably about the Americans that I was standing near) and I’d politely laugh and say, “si, si” or, judging by their body language (like if they were annoyed or asking for something), I’d say, “no, no.” And it worked…for awhile, haha.

We eventually met some locals while asking for directions and ended up bouncing off Italian and English phrases trying to understand each other. It was thoroughly enjoyable to me! I loved trying to speak what little Italian I knew to them and explain where I was from, what I was doing here etc., all while they tried to do the same in English. Overall, the weekend was definitely a success.

Not so successful, however, was trying to purchase some necessities. For instance, I needed a sim card for my cell phone to work here so I walked into a Wind store (your local AT&T cell phone shop) and asked politely if they spoke English. The one man nodded his head from side to side as if to say “so-so” and I figured he was the best shot I had. When I tried to ask him the prices of texting and calling (international and national) he didn’t understand me. Nor did he understand my concern that my phone might be locked which would make it impossible to function in Italy. So…we began a guessing game. Using the little Italian I knew and the little English he knew to understand me we, tried discussing if buying this sim card was the best option. And after lots of hand gestures, frustrations and even some drawings on paper, I walked out with a sim card and an Italian phone number. Yay!

Another difficult incidence was going to the pharmacy. I developed a little cold while I’ve been here (which I’ve decided is from the excessive amounts of dust this city accumulates) and wanted to grab some vitamins and cough drops just to keep me healthy and prevent me from getting any sicker. Well, naturally, everything in the pharmacy is in Italian. They don’t have shelves upon shelves of generic and brand name over the counter prescriptions. Never have I wanted so badly to see the words, “NyQuil” written on a box. I couldn’t differentiate the differences between a digestive pill and a cold medicine and I almost walked out of there with a healthier digestive track instead of an immune booster, haha. Thankfully, Echinacea is apparently international? And yes mom, don’t worry I picked some up. From a marketing prospective, thank God medicine packaging utilizes images to help convey the function of the product. I truly relied on pictures to pick out my medicine, lol.

Now I could probably sit here and go on and on with different language barrier experiences I’ve encountered, but those stuck out to me the most. Keep in mind though, it’s everyday occurrences and questions I have that cannot be easily asked or answered. And I’ve never wanted someone to speak English so much until now. I consciously pray before asking a question that the individual I’m about to talk to will speak English, haha.

But I need to ditch my ethnocentric attitude and become more culturally accepting. After all, I’m the one in their country and I need to consciously remember that. Good thing is I keep trying. No matter how stupid I sound messing up Italian words, or how embarrassing it is that I can’t read the labels on medicine and food, I keep trying. The language barrier will not get in the way and I will utilize my Italian class to teach me to speak confidently, and convincingly, so that the people eventually believe I too am Roman. Ciao tutti.

"Italians live life, Americans merely exist"

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:22:32 -0500

““Italians live life, Americans merely exist””

- Me, Blog #3

Setting the scene

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:21:46 -0500

Our apartment:

We are located in Trastevere - a nice neighborhood surrounding downtown Rome. The apartment building, itself, is extremely safe. I’m sure my family would be happy to know we have security guards that stand outside the building, we have to swipe each time just to get into the building, and each individual apartment doors lock from both the inside and outside. I think it’s safe to say, I’m safe :).

As for the inside of my new “home,” it’s so quaint! I live with just one other roommate, Casey, and we have a nice apartment to ourselves. Probably the best parts of the apartment are the windows and my walk in closet, lol. The windows are everything I’d imagine European windows to be. They stretch from the floor to ceiling with white wooden shutters. And our view is of the coliseum!

Ha, I’m kidding. That would be too good to be true and then I’d never want to come home! Our view is of other apartments that belong to locals with lots of trees and birds that come right up to our window. We also don’t have screens on our windows, just bars, so I am waiting for the day one flies into our apartment, haha.

Anyway, as soon as we decorate our apartment a little more I’ll post pictures so you all have a better understanding of where I’m living. For now, use your imagination!

Rome:

Walking through Rome is like walking on a movie set. My first night here I felt like I was dreaming - I’ve never seen anything like it! The architecture is absolutely beautiful and the cobblestone roads give the town an ancient, traditional feel.

My first morning in Rome we had an orientation meeting on another part of campus and I got lost (surprise, surprise). I ended up wandering through the town of Trastevere and just taking in everything around me. I watched as people greeted friends on the street, owners opened and cleaned their shops, and people made their way through the streets to work. It was fascinating to just observe them as an outsider.

There was one particular man I passed a few times who was a carpenter of sorts. He worked on projects in the middle of the street sanding away at old pieces of wood and turning ancient wooden dressers into beautiful antiques. I love people watching! And even though I was a half hour late to our mandatory orientation meeting, it was one of my favorite days thus far.

Italian Lifestyle:

Everything about the European lifestyle is completely different than ours. People in Italy live their lives, whereas we merely exist. First major observation in Rome:

“Italians live life, Americans merely exist.”

Nowhere in American can you find a couple holding hands and displaying their affection as much as Italians do. Families casually take evening strolls through the city for leisure and relaxation. Everyone knows everyone in this big/small town. Just from observing them I can tell they truly enjoy their lives.

Americans, on the other hand, are always on the go running from one appointment to the next, one meeting to another. Even the stuff we do for fun, like sports and clubs, we try to squeeze into our schedules and juggle around our personal, professional and social calendars. This hustle and bustle that I am so accustomed to is nonexistent here. And it’s sooo refreshing!

After being here for just a few short days, I already want to blend in and fully immerse myself in the culture. And maybe, just maybe, by the end of my trip I will be one with the Italians and their admirable way of life.