Off to the First Republic- Roma!

First off- Happy Birthday Grandpa Tasso! Since I can't call you up I'll just have to reach you via blog. I hope you have a great day and you and Mema do something fun for yourselves. Miss you!

Note: I'm posting all of my blogs for Rome in one post just to make it a little easier. Sorry it's practically a

book. Just think of it as a marathon for your eyes...

Rome 2/21/11

We began our day as usual; wake up at the last moment, throw some clothes on, and rush down to the train station to catch our 7:55 train to Rome. Since this was a little bit longer trip than we were used to (a whopping 4 days) we had to legitimately pack for once. Once we arrived at the train station in Rome (which is actually pretty sketchy) we hopped on a bus bound for our hotel. The bus couldn't go straight to our hotel though, so after it let us off we still had to trek for a bit to Albergo Sole. Our hotel was close to the river and right by a piazza that has a local daily market and a decent night life. Kelsey, Cara and I got our room keys, quickly freshened up, and hurried outside and down the street to find some grub before our walking tour that day. Basically, fast food in Italy consists of Paninis and pizza, which is basically all I've eaten for sometime and it's getting a little old. I appreciate that fast food isn't greasy here, but I could really go for some Arbys right about now. Anyway, we found a panini place that had good size sandwiches for 3.50 euro- pretty cheap! As usual, I had prosciutto (my new favorite because it's the closest thing to bacon) and mozzarella.

After we ate we met up with our tour guide who was a cute older woman named Eva. Her voice was kind of soothing and good for story-telling. I bet she tells a mean ghost story. Our walking tour was super quick and dirty. We went to a little loggia and then a church whose ceiling was painted to look like an arc even though it was flat. I'm not going to lie, I didn't catch the name of any of these things. I don't think anyone else did either, because I've asked around and most of my friends don't even know if we were told the name. This happens a lot on quick tours where you see five million things that you had no prior knowledge of. Any who, next we saw the Parliament building and the guards outside with their automatic weapons. Use them much? Close to Parliament was the galleria- a huge enclosed shopping and fine arts area...apparently also a good place for protests. We've seen a million protests against prime minister berlisconi since we've been here, and this one was no different than the others- loud people and signs.

Next was the Pantheon, probably my favorite thing in Rome. We didn't have much time there before we hurried off to a few more things including Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps. By this time it was night and we were all starving. Luckily, we had passed some place by the Pantheon that had a sign saying "3 Moretti (beers) and a pizza for 10 euro". Perfect. After wandering around to find the place, we were finally successful. It was pretty cool inside, a big wooden bar, chandeliers, shops inside, and of course, the Italian version of MTV on (which plays mostly American music). The owner was a young guy named Pasquali who was super friendly and accommodating. He accidentally made an extra pizza, which he gave us for free, and some extra beers since a few of us girls were splitting them. (6 beers for 4 people is a little awkward to split up). He then offered us Lemoncello shots (a really popular liquor here) for free, which of course we took. Since Pasquali had been so nice, we tipped him about 15 euro. He told us it was too much and when we insisted that he keep it, he gave us key chains and beer for the road! Plus, he sent us to a bar practically next to our hotel that we could get discounts at since he was friends with the owner. Nice guy! We went to that bar (Sloppy Sams) and found that the waitresses we all American students too, which made thing easy.
Drinks however, we outrageous even after the discount so the girls and I decided we were done for the evening. (Long Island Pitchers were 20 euro so about $26-- Houlihans has them for $4. Ouch). We concluded the night with the boys getting Kabobs (for about the 5th time this trip) and then back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep!

Rome 2/22/11
This morning we had free time. Perfect for revisiting places we spent 2 seconds in the day before! I got together with some IA girls, Brittany, Heather, Diana, and Amanda for a quick breakfast of pastries and cappuccino and a stop at the market. We made our way to the Pantheon first. The light was more direct than it had been the day before so I got a few more pictures of the occulus. I could sit inside the Pantheon forever, it's absolutely beautiful. Next was Trevi Fountain! Our tour guide the night before told us what throwing coins into the fountain means- 1 means you'll come back to Rome someday, 2 means you'll find a nice husband/wife, and 3 means you'll get a divorce! Since I threw 1 in last time I was in Rome with my family, obviously it worked so it better this time too. The wife of one of the professors that came with our schools made a funny comment about it- She asked where her husband went off to and we told her he was throwing coins in the fountain. She replied, Uh oh, he probably threw three! Insert awkward laugh here.

Next we were off to the Spanish steps, which took awhile because we got a little lost. The direction we approached everything was totally different from the last time I was in Rome, so I had a hard time with directions. We finally found it and got our pictures while trying to fend off all the annoying peddlers that throw things in your hands and try to force you to buy them. On our way back to the hotel, we found ourselves in Piazza Navona which has a large fountain and obelisk in the middle of it. Music was playing, bubbles were everywhere, it was a beautiful day; it was practically out of a movie. The girls and I basked in it for a few moments before getting paninis again by the hotel for lunch.

After lunch, the whole group made its was to the Vatican for our tour. We got our headsets and met our tour guide, an American who had been living in Rome for some time. It wasn't long before Cara, Kelsey and I decided he was the worst tour guide ever! He first made it overly clear that he was Protestant and kind of down-played Catholicism's stance on a lot of things- fine if your a tour guide at somewhere OTHER than the Vatican. Funny thing we noticed later was that a lot of the guys in our group really liked this tour guide and most of the girls disliked him. I'm sure that says something, but I'm not really sure what. We went into the museum to get tickets and then directly to a courtyard where he spent forever explaining the paintings in the Sistine Chapel which we hadn't even seen yet; so obviously we had no clue what he was talking about. Eventually we started to wander and played for awhile with a huge, spinning bronze globe in the middle of the courtyard. It had sections that looked like they had been eroded away so you could see machinery inside. There wasn't anything around that explained what it was about, but we enjoyed taking pictures of it.

Finally we got to go through the museum, although too quickly in some parts and not enough in others. We also saw the Vatican's modern art collection, which I don't remember seeing before. They had a Salvador Dali painting that was pretty cool, but that was about it. The Sistine Chapel came after the modern art. We spent a bit of time looking at the paintings, Michelangelo's overly masculine women and such. Just like last time I went to the Vatican, the guards were constantly shushing everyone (resulting in more noise than they were preventing) and kept yelling "NO PHOTO!!!" at people. Ah, peace. Next was St. Peter's Basilica! Unfortunately, mass was already in session when we were there so we couldn't see the entire front half of the cathedral. Since this was our last stop, we left St. Peters and got ready for our trek home.

Italy's wind is basically the same as Kansas, gale force winds a lot of the time. We had been braving them all trip, but this evening was particularly brutal! The girls and a few of the guys wanted to find some place to eat that had burgers and American stuff. We followed the boys for awhile till basically they admitted they didn't know where they were going. By this time we had passed our hotel by 8 or 9 blocks, so the girls and I split off to find some pasta closer to the hotel. We went to a little place in the piazza next to the hotel that wasn't too expensive. Another thing about Italy, even with the cold and gale force winds, they still eat outside because many places don't have more than a few spots inside. Outside we were, and heat lamps only do so much. We had our dinner, which was alright, and went back to the hotel. Our room was on the 5th floor with a nice sized terrace, so we spent some time there. It was definitely too cold though, requiring us to move inside with card games for the evening.

Things I've learned/noticed so far:
We all desperately miss Santa Chiara's food when we leave. To get something similar, we would have to spend a fortune! I don't know how they do it at the study center, I'm just glad they do.

My stomach has become a bottomless pit. For lunch today (it's the Saturday after Rome as I'm writing this) I ate two sandwiches and an entire pizza...and I could definitely go for something else. I also keep getting extremely dehydrated due to the lack of available water and mostly- bathrooms. Both of these things remind me of how I was in grade school- able to eat a ton and always dehydrated. Nostalgic I suppose?Surprisingly, I haven't gained any weight so I guess I'm using everything I eat!

There are definitely less smart cars now than when I was in Italy 5 years ago. I had this suspicion for awhile but going to Rome confirmed it. Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of them, but now a lot of people seem to be buying hatch-backs that are a bit larger. I've even seen Jeep Cherokees, Fords, and a Range Rover! Glad that SUV's aren't dead yet in Italy, even though gas is around $8 a gallon.

Rome 2/23/11
The agenda this morning was for all of us to meet outside our hotel bright and early and go to the Campidoglio. We observed it's little piazza while waiting for our tour guide and headsets for the day. Our tour guide arrived and had us follow her to the nearby forum. I have to say I was pretty excited to go into the forum. I don't remember if it wasn't available last time my family was in Rome or we just didn't have time with our schedule, but I know we didn't go in it. The ruins were pretty cool, our tour guide was knowledgeable of the area so she gave us a play by play about what happened where. Apparently the only people that were allowed to live down in the forum were the priestesses who took care of relics. The priestesses usually signed something when they were only 6 or 7 years that gave them to this life for 30 years (the average life expectancy at the time was only 25-30). We also learned that the reason the life expectancy was so low (and this goes for Pompeii too) was because the pipes and vessels that held their water was made of lead...oops.

After the Forum, we went to see the Coliseum...well just the outside. We were quickly whisked away to a church, I think it was St. Gregorio. Under the church are preserved ruins of an old Roman Village. The coolest part was seeing how wide the streets in between houses where then. Our tour guide was about 5'4" and relatively petite- she said that she was about the size of an average Roman man at the time the city was built. The alleys were literally sized for the average man's shoulder width and no more. I swear I barely fit through the space. They also had some ancient frescoes and water systems down there. After finishing at the church, it was about 2 something. We hadn't eaten yet and we were supposed to going directly to the MAXXI, which is a modern art museum. After the majority of us threw little hissy fits because we hadn't gone into the Coliseum and they were about to drag us to, of all things located amongst historical venues, a modern art museum. Gag me. We quickly won (I think our professors actually felt the same), so we got lunch and went into the lovely Coliseum! Since we didn't have an actual tour guide, Cara whipped out her Rick Steves book (which has basically been our go to tour guide for the entire trip. The book is great!) and
told us fun facts about the ancient uses for the venue. Since I had been there before and remembered a few things, I was able to supplement her facts. (Take that Rick Steves!) Just as it had been before, the Coliseum was absolutely awe inspiring and we all agreed that it wasn't a trip to Rome without seeing it.

Since our teachers gave us free time to go where we wished, we decided to go back to the Vatican to climb to the top of the dome. Cara's mom had said that her only regret after visiting Rome was that she didn't go up in the dome. Therefore, it was Cara's mission the whole time to make it up there. We hopped on a bus and made our way over there. After we stood in a security line for some time, we easily got through. (The screener was texting instead of looking at the screen, which should make the Pope feel safe). We had two choices in going up to the dome- elevator and then steps or just hundreds of steps. Obviously, we chose steps. Getting to the portion where the elevator takes you wasn't bad, it was going up the actual dome that was awful. The first stairwell had an extremely small radius and no railing- boy did I get dizzy fast. The next stairwell was a long hall that was tilted because of the dome, so you had to kind of lean against the curved wall to walk. It was like a fun house. After this was another fun-house like set of stairs and then- the narrowest circular stair I've ever been in with a rope hanging down the middle to help steady yourself. By the way, there aren't landings anywhere since Italy doesn't seem to have any codes. Honestly, I don't think an elderly person would even be able to climb up the dome since there aren't resting points. Finally we

made it to the top and gazed down at the beautiful city. It was totally worth the climb to see all the Vatican

gardens and all of Rome beyond. Mission accomplished! After our climb down, we were exhausted so we caught a bus back to our hotel, found food, played card games and called it a night.

Pompeii 2/24/11
In order to get to Pompeii, we had to catch a bus early in morning. The meeting time was 7 outside our hotel and then we were going to go to the bus together. Communication hadn't exactly been great this trip, so we didn't know where the bus was picking us up. I had packed my stuff and still had 10 minutes to spare so two other students and I ran down the street to get a pastry. A few people including the professors were outside ready to go when we got back so I ran up to my room to get my stuff and the roommies. We got down there at about 7:03, maybe :04 and everyone was gone already. Luckily, Cara was able to call one of the guys who told us where the bus was picking us up. Apparently instead of counting us to make sure everyone was there, they just said "Is everyone here?" which of course everyone there can say yes to. After running to the stop with luggage, we found that the bus was late. Of course, it's on Italian time. Once it got there, we hopped on with everyone else and started our 3 hour bus ride to Pompeii.

Once we got there, our history teacher Giovanni Pasquali gathered us and we started our tour. The day was absolutely beautiful, not too windy, and warmer than we've had. Giovanni first took us to the temple of Jupiter and a middle class house, which was actually pretty large and even had its own courtyard garden. The best part of the trip to Pompeii was when Giovanni took us to the lab complex where relics that aren't on display to the public are kept. The building was too small for all of us to fit in, so he brought relics out one at a time, show and tell style. They had burned bread that was shaped like a bundt, grain, beans, rope, skulls, and even a coin for passage to the afterlife that they found with a man's bones. Save yourself a penny for the ferry-man! It's pretty amazing the things that have been recovered from the city. Giovanni then took us around Pompeii some more. He showed us a bar that was like the fast food joint of the day, the amphitheater, and the largest private dwelling in the city. Sadly, we didn't get to stay that long because we still had a 3 hour bus ride back to the train station that would take us on an over 2 hour ride back to Castig F.no. Most of my classmates including my roomies opted to go to Sorrento and Capri this weekend, so they stayed behind. I, however, managed to get super dehydrated in Milan and haven't had time to recover due to travel yet, so I went back to the study center. Personally, I can't wait to eat Santa Chiara food again and enjoy a restful weekend with a few friends in our home away from home.

Things I learned:
I kind of learned how to use the bus system in Rome. Well, for all intensive purposes.

Pirate bar in Castig F.no has great pizza...I mean it's great after over 6 hours of travel and it being 11 at night.
Actually it's pretty good, and you can get a Postmeister beer with it. Delicioso!

Next for travels: Perugia!
If you read all of this, you get a Nutella covered cookie. I'll get right on mailing that... :)