Street Musicians

Recap of the Past Few Weeks

Tuscany

A bunch of people from my program went on a sponsored trip to Tuscany two weekends ago. First, we went to the small town of Pienza where there were some really great views of the country.


Then, we went to the town of Montepulciano, which is known for its Tuscan wine.


At a medieval wine cellar, we got to look around as well as taste different wines and cheeses.


At the end of the day, we went to a really big restaurant that served us a huge meal – an appetizer (artichoke, cheese, and bruschetta), a first pasta dish with a tomato sauce, a second pasta dish with a white sauce, chicken and potatoes, dessert, coffee, and of course wine.


I also went to a wine-tasting class that the school offered where we had 3 red wines, 3 white wines, and 1 dessert wine. After comparing the different qualities of wine (some were very cheap while one cost over $100 for a bottle), it became pretty easy to tell which wines were good and which were bad.


Museums

For my on-site class, I went to the National Etruscan Museum in Villa Giulia last week, which was pretty interesting.


I also went to see the Picasso exhibit inside the Vittoriano (Victor Emmanuel II monument).



Villa Borghese Gardens

Villa Borghese is a huge park in northern Rome that doesn’t even seem like it’s a part of the city. There’s lots of buildings, museums, and other attractions including the zoo. I went there for a day with three friends and we rented a 4-person bicycle-car for an hour, which was a lot of fun.


Churches

I’ve been inside lots of churches, but one of the more recent ones was the Basilica di San Clemente. While the current basilica above ground is already very old and impressive, there’s archaeological ruins from an even older church below ground that dates back to the 300’s. It felt like a cave and was really cool to walk around in.


Classes are going well. For photography class yesterday, we met at the Colosseum and had to take photos of three different themes – “I am a tourist” (basically creepily taking pictures of other people), dark and light contrast, and different perspectives of the Colosseum.



For my on-site class tomorrow, we’re meeting at the Palentine Hill near the Forum. It’s great to be able to see the city while going to class. My Italian classes are hard, but not so bad.

At a bar the other night, I met a group of about 10 Italians and had a conversation with them for about a half hour completely in Italian, which was a lot of fun. It’s really easy to meet Italians if you say you’re from New York because they all think that NYC is amazing.

In terms of the rooming situation, my roommate Hans dropped out of the program and went back to the U.S. so now we have an extra bed. Overall, my roommates are great, but one of them is pretty ridiculous so I may move into Hans’ old bed after this weekend.

My February is going to be really busy – Navid and Liz from UMD are visiting from Spain this weekend, and then the next three weekends I will be going to Berlin, Venice, and Barcelona so I have a lot to look forward to.

CIAO

I’m in Rome and I’ve been here for 2 weeks now - finally starting to learn my way around the city a little better.

My apartment is on the 3^rd floor (really the 4^th) of a building comprised of mainly other John Cabot students, but also some permanent residents. I’m in the Trastevere region west of the Tiber river on the main road Viale di Trastevere. My apartment is really nice and has both a triple and a double bedroom, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and a small hall area. I’m living in the triple, but it’s not bad because it’s a pretty big room and we each have our own corner with wooden dividers that make it more private. The kitchen and each of the bedrooms have balconies, so that’s pretty cool. I haven’t taken many pictures of my apartment yet, but here’s one of the kitchen the morning after making pasta at 4 am:

At first I was surprised to be assigned housing in the area I’m in, but it’s actually a really great area and also convenient for getting to the school as well as the rest of the city. There’s lots of graffiti as well as some homeless people living along my road (it's not that bad though haha). However, I’m right next to a great grocery store called ‘Punto’ and there’s so many pizzeria’s and little restaurants in the area. There’s also a tram that runs along Viale di Trastevere toward the river so it makes it really easy to get a ride to school. I haven’t once paid for public transportation and apparently it’s pretty well-known that you don’t actually have to buy a ticket even though you’re supposed to. This is the view from my balcony:

So far, living with my roommates has worked out pretty well. The two I share a room with are Luke (from Iowa who goes to St. Louis University) and Mike (from New Jersey who goes to American University). My other two roommates in the other room are Foster (from Nashville who also goes to American) and Hans (from Seattle who goes to Liberty). Overall, they’re friendly and easy to get along with. However, Hans chooses not to talk to us and instead either roam the city alone or lock himself in his room. We try to be nice, but he’s just a mystery. Sometimes he leaves at 9 am and doesn’t come back until 10 pm, and dodges all of our questions about where he was all day. I’ve been meeting a lot of people in my program from all over the United States. Being from the east coast, it’s cool to be exposed to people from the Midwest.

The school I’m going to, John Cabot University, is an American university in Trastevere, and it consists of 2 buildings near the river in the area that is considered the heart of Trastevere. One is really close to the river and the tram stops near the river so it’s really easy to get to. The other one is about a 5-minute walk further into the cobblestone streets of Trastevere. The area near the river is really nice and there are lots of small restaurants, pizzerias, gelaterias, and shops as well as churches. The main church in Trastevere is the basilica of Santa Maria and it’s really beautiful inside.

I’m only taking 12 credits here and the school is closed on Fridays so I’m hoping for a fairly easy semester, especially compared to last semester. I’m taking two Italian language classes that seem like they’ll be really challenging – especially since a few people in the classes can speak close-to-fluently, but it’ll be good practice. I’m also taking digital photography and an on-site class about ancient Roman monuments, which will both hopefully be fun.

My Italian is not nearly as good as I thought it would be, but I’ve been managing to hold some conversations with locals here and there. At a travel agency the other day, I was acting as a translator between the lady at the counter and my friends. Another highlight was meeting a group of Italian soccer players from Naples at a bar one night and practicing my Italian with them while they practiced their English.

The gelato here is just as good – if not better – as everyone says it is (if you find the right places). My first week here, the school sponsored a ‘gelato giro,’ a guided tour to three of the most well-known gelaterias in Rome. They were all near the Pantheon, and my favorite one is called ‘Della Palma,’ which has a ridiculous number and variety of flavors. So far, my favorite flavor is mint and since then, I’ve gone back to della Palma a few times and have probably gotten gelato at least 10 times already.

So far, I’ve pretty much done most of the typical touristy sightseeing things there are to do in Rome. I’ve gone on a few tours sponsored by the school, as well as a lot of exploring on my own. Some things that I’ve seen: the Pantheon, Colosseum, the Forum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Navona, Vittorio Emanuele II monument, etc. Today, I went to Vatican City and spent a few hours in the Vatican Museums and saw the Sistine Chapel (which was amazing), as well as seeing St. Peter’s Cathedral. My roommate Luke and I went at a good time because there was no line at all, and it’s usually common to wait for hours.

The weather here has been warm compared to the U.S. (40s and 50s), but it’s been raining practically every day. Overall, it’s nice though because I’ve been able to walk around the city, and everyone does a LOT of walking in Rome. I’m hoping that the amount of walking will counteract the amount of food that I’m eating. All the food here is really good, but it’s very hard to eat different types of food. Every other restaurant is a pizzeria, and if it’s not a pizzeria, chances are it serves mainly pasta. I’ve been buying lots of fresh mozzarella from the supermarket and eating that as a snack. Also, the wine here is ridiculously cheap. I’ve been buying bottles of wine for about €1.50 and have even gotten small boxes of wine for 80 cents.

Having a whole week before classes to do nothing was great, because I was able to explore the city and go out late at night. Everyone here has been staying out until 4 am and each night usually consists of a ton of walking and bar hopping. The well-known hot spot at night (especially for Americans) is Campo dei Fiori, which is a piazza containing a bunch of bars. However, they usually get really crowded and rowdy since they’re full of American students studying abroad. I’ve had more fun going to smaller, less-known Italian places because they have more of a friendly and local atmosphere. Everyone here is very friendly, and I’ve met/spoke to several store/restaurant owners already and hope to discover more cool places to go.

I’m excited for tomorrow because I’m going to Tuscany for a wine-tasting trip which should be a lot of fun. Some other plans: Weekend trips to Venice for Il Carnevale on Feb. 19 and Barcelona on Feb. 26 and a day trip to Capri on April 25. More to come…

I will most likely never write this much again (haha), but check back because I’ll probably post some pictures or info about new trips and such…. CIAO.