Italian lesson of the day: Come va? (How are you) Va bene (Good)
I just stalked some of Jenna's pictures and I am so glad that all the roomie stuff worked out, and that all you guys are off to a great semester. Me and Rachel spent like 20 minutes the other day explaining THON to our one friend Mark, and it seriously just kills me that I won't be at school for it. You guys will have to teach me the line dance and such :) !!
The first week of classes went well. My Econ professor is a self proclaimed "ass hole", and says he grades really hard, but the class seems a lot like the International Business class I took last semester. Italian seems pretty easy, I know how to say some pretty key phrases which has helped a ton throughout Rome. I'm also taking Rome Sketchbook and Digitial Photography which seem awesome. They each meet once a week, usually on site so that we can draw/take pics. This week both of those classes meet at the Colosseum. My homework in those consist of drawing and taking pictures, so no complaining here.
This past Friday, we had an excursion to Tuscania for the drawing class; its a little town about 2 hours outside of Rome. It was a nice little day trip, and I got to do some sketching (I'm no artist lets just put it that way).
Thursday night a few of us went out to dinner at this authentic Italian restuarant; aka 8 course meal prepared by this little old woman that does all of the cooking (of course Jay somehow found the place). It was such good food, and we had like 3 pitchers of wine which came with it. Its rediculous how cheap wine is here. I always heard about it at home, but you can pay from about 2-8 euro for a bottle of wine at the store, a fifth of vodka is like 8-11 euro.. crazy stuff lol.
Friday night Rachel and I met up with a few people at this bar/discoteca called "Art Cafe". We didn't end up leaving until like 12:30 so it was practically impossible to get in (they tell most Americans to try to get to places like that early, because the Italians normally dont go out until 12:30-1:30 so it gets crowded). Anyways, so me and Rachel, 2 blondes, me wearing a white shirt and Rachel wearing a red backless shirt are on line for this club amongst 45-50 dark haired Italians that are all in black, needless to stay we stuck out. So we are crammed inbetween all these Italians, because Italians have no boundaries or need for personal space, for a solid 40 minutes until we finally make it to the front. At this point we are doing our best to talk to the bouncer in the hopes he will let us in. My one friend had warned that they often look for an older crowd and to say I was 26 if asked (yea ..oooook) haha but either way the bouncer asks "Cuanti ani ei?- How old are you, I respond "Venti sei" - 26, and he laughs, and in his italian accent says "Noooooo", so i settled on 23. After about 10 minutes of standing with this bouncer and the now 50-60 dark hair, black wearing Italians behind us, the bouncer asks his boss in Italian if "he can let in the 2 American girls that are 20". -I guess it was that obvious lol Luckily the club was worth it, and we stayed out late to make up for time lost on the line. Thought you all might enjoy that little story.
Yesterday we had this optional thing called the Wall Walk, it takes 8 hours and its about 13-14 miles and we are litterally guided along the Ancient outter wall of Rome. I completed it :) and was so happy to be able to really get a feel for the entire city. Jay, as one could have guessed, did not partake in the walking.
Parting note: Rome is like New York City, there is no better way to explain it. It is huge and busy, and at points covered in graffiti. But unlike New York City, you can simply be walking down the street and stumble upon an artifact that has been there for decades and centuries. For example, if you take the metro stop to the Colleseum you walk out of the metro and there it is, the HUGE Colosseum, that was completed in 80 AD. Its breath-taking, and unbelievable, and almost comical how something so old can be right next to a metro stop.
Well I love you all, and hope you've enjoyed the post :)
Roma love,
Randi
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Ciao Roma
Hey ladies - I finally have a moment to sit and write about Roma (classes start today, and I have a little time before my next class starts). I promise to do my best to recap the important moments.
Arriving in Rome:
First major moment in Rome = my baggage never made it on my transfer flight from London to Rome. I suprisingly did not freak out, probably because a lot of people had similar issues (I guess the flight was so close to the one before it that not all the bags made it on). So, we finally talk to somethat that explains that the bags were put on the next flight arriving in Rome at 2:05pm (its currently 11:30am), so we decide to wait, and therefore make sure we actually get our bags. Long story short, they DID come :) although it was a few hours later. Unfortunately Rachel's didn't make it until the next day, but luckily by day 2 in Rome everyone had their baggage.
Night 1:
Orientation pizza party + SLEEP -- you guys back at home don't realize how extreme this time difference is. Yes 6 hours sounds like a lot, but in reality its huge. When I wake up at 10am, you guys are passed out because its only 4am. So as expressed, Rachel and I passed out and slept for a solid 12 hours.
The first week during the day conisited on orientation (half of which I skipped due to partying - which I will move onto in a second). Luckily we made it up to attend the more important things explaining how to retreive our permit to stay in Italy and all that stuff.
Now what I am sure you have all been waiting for- Night Life:
WOW - thats the best way to describe it. In Italy it is common to go out around 12ish and not get in until 5am .. and as they say "When in Rome...". So yea, the first night that we actually went out we went to "Campo dei Fiori", it is this little square with a ton of bars (called pubs here). This square is a bit more American; deff a tourist spot. Anywaysss, we start off at a bar called Sloppy Sam's, sipped our drinks outside, and then moved on to a diff bar called "I Giganti". This place was hysterical, the bartenders (Andre and Maximo) were awesome and served us a few free shots (aka the night got sloppy). The closed down the bar around 2:30am and had us wait for them and they took us to this after hours "disco" (aka club). If you have seen my pics, this is where I was a drunk idiot and got on Andre's vespa -- not gunna lie, it was a ton of fun :)
We didn't get in until like 6am.
Night 2 we went with a larger group of people from the program to the bars "On the Rox" and "Coyote", both of which were a ton of fun; got sloppy; came home at 5:00am (and unfortunately had to be up and at the school by 9:30am). But it was worth it, and even on like 3 hours of sleep we managed to hit up some of the main spots in Rome (Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon - look at facebook for pics). Side Note: The culture and art here is so much different from home. At home, all culture seems to be bottled up in museums, but in Rome the culture and the art are at your finger tips. You will litterally be walking down a street and then suddenly there is this amazing structure that has been there for years, just there for you to see. I think its amazing; but enough of that.
Night 3 was probably the most hysterical of all. Me, Rachel, Jay and this other kid Bob went to a club that we had heard was supposed to be amazing. When we get there, there is a hugeee line, which we decide to wait on. As we approach the front the bouncer kicks this huge group of girls out of line, and won't let them in. As would anyone, Rachel and I get nervous wondering if we'll have the same outcome. We get to the door, with the boys in front of us, and the bouncer goes "You know this is gay night, correct?" we laugh, nod and proceed into the huge club. It turns out that this club is one of the most popular clubs in Italy, and is always packed (even on gay nights) with people of ALL kinds. Anyways, we decide to stay on the first floor (the gay floor) after going to the top (3rd) floor and getting harrassed by italian men lol. The characters on the first floor were beyond hysterical. A flambiont man actually spotted by blonde hair, his eyes lit up, and he actually ran his hands through it. I seriously almost peed. We danced the night away with the most unique group of people I've ever been around. It was seriously priceless.
I'm going to end this post, although I am sure I could keep rambling. I hope all is well at home and miss and love you all.
Parting story: When Jay gets drunk he likes to speak broken Italian aka he says things such as "How you say..." in english with a fake Italian accent; can't wait to do impersinations back in the states.
Roma Love,
Randi
Arriving in Rome:
First major moment in Rome = my baggage never made it on my transfer flight from London to Rome. I suprisingly did not freak out, probably because a lot of people had similar issues (I guess the flight was so close to the one before it that not all the bags made it on). So, we finally talk to somethat that explains that the bags were put on the next flight arriving in Rome at 2:05pm (its currently 11:30am), so we decide to wait, and therefore make sure we actually get our bags. Long story short, they DID come :) although it was a few hours later. Unfortunately Rachel's didn't make it until the next day, but luckily by day 2 in Rome everyone had their baggage.
Night 1:
Orientation pizza party + SLEEP -- you guys back at home don't realize how extreme this time difference is. Yes 6 hours sounds like a lot, but in reality its huge. When I wake up at 10am, you guys are passed out because its only 4am. So as expressed, Rachel and I passed out and slept for a solid 12 hours.
The first week during the day conisited on orientation (half of which I skipped due to partying - which I will move onto in a second). Luckily we made it up to attend the more important things explaining how to retreive our permit to stay in Italy and all that stuff.
Now what I am sure you have all been waiting for- Night Life:
WOW - thats the best way to describe it. In Italy it is common to go out around 12ish and not get in until 5am .. and as they say "When in Rome...". So yea, the first night that we actually went out we went to "Campo dei Fiori", it is this little square with a ton of bars (called pubs here). This square is a bit more American; deff a tourist spot. Anywaysss, we start off at a bar called Sloppy Sam's, sipped our drinks outside, and then moved on to a diff bar called "I Giganti". This place was hysterical, the bartenders (Andre and Maximo) were awesome and served us a few free shots (aka the night got sloppy). The closed down the bar around 2:30am and had us wait for them and they took us to this after hours "disco" (aka club). If you have seen my pics, this is where I was a drunk idiot and got on Andre's vespa -- not gunna lie, it was a ton of fun :)
We didn't get in until like 6am.
Night 2 we went with a larger group of people from the program to the bars "On the Rox" and "Coyote", both of which were a ton of fun; got sloppy; came home at 5:00am (and unfortunately had to be up and at the school by 9:30am). But it was worth it, and even on like 3 hours of sleep we managed to hit up some of the main spots in Rome (Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon - look at facebook for pics). Side Note: The culture and art here is so much different from home. At home, all culture seems to be bottled up in museums, but in Rome the culture and the art are at your finger tips. You will litterally be walking down a street and then suddenly there is this amazing structure that has been there for years, just there for you to see. I think its amazing; but enough of that.
Night 3 was probably the most hysterical of all. Me, Rachel, Jay and this other kid Bob went to a club that we had heard was supposed to be amazing. When we get there, there is a hugeee line, which we decide to wait on. As we approach the front the bouncer kicks this huge group of girls out of line, and won't let them in. As would anyone, Rachel and I get nervous wondering if we'll have the same outcome. We get to the door, with the boys in front of us, and the bouncer goes "You know this is gay night, correct?" we laugh, nod and proceed into the huge club. It turns out that this club is one of the most popular clubs in Italy, and is always packed (even on gay nights) with people of ALL kinds. Anyways, we decide to stay on the first floor (the gay floor) after going to the top (3rd) floor and getting harrassed by italian men lol. The characters on the first floor were beyond hysterical. A flambiont man actually spotted by blonde hair, his eyes lit up, and he actually ran his hands through it. I seriously almost peed. We danced the night away with the most unique group of people I've ever been around. It was seriously priceless.
I'm going to end this post, although I am sure I could keep rambling. I hope all is well at home and miss and love you all.
Parting story: When Jay gets drunk he likes to speak broken Italian aka he says things such as "How you say..." in english with a fake Italian accent; can't wait to do impersinations back in the states.
Roma Love,
Randi
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