La Finale Tre Settimane

There are only three weeks, less actually, 18 days, left which is completely and utterly absurd. Looking back it feels like I just got here, that it can’t three and a half months later. Other times though, it seems like the first few weeks and trips were so long ago, so much has happened since then.

Having only three weeks left isn’t exactly a bad thing, it has its positives and negatives. The negatives… well I have three papers all due next week, not one of which has been started yet, I’m getting around to that. Then the following week we have finals in all of our classes. Basically there is a lot that has to get done in the next few weeks. If my day goes according to plan I’m going to finally send postcards out today. I’m hoping that they will actually make it home before I do, we’ll see what happens. A positive though, we didn’t have one class this week because of the Volcano, our professor couldn’t get back to Italy from the states… Loyola gets snow days, we get volcano days.

There are definitely a few positive things to look forward to in the next few weeks. We have a school trip this weekend to Napoli, Pompeii and Sorrento, which includes a trip to Capri Island off the Bay of Naples. Then once we get back we have a final full weekend in Rome to enjoy. Some of my friends are traveling, but I wanted to stay in Rome for one last weekend.

There is a lot going on in these last few weeks. The month of April has been a crazy and busy one so far. It’ll be nice to have all of this work done and just enjoy the last few days abroad. With that said I think my procrastination has come to an end and that I’m going to start some work.

What April Has Been Like

Since I haven’t posted at all during the month of April I thought that now would be a could time. I cant believe how difficult updating a blog could be, I just never seem to be able to find the time. This is funny however, because all I really have is free time here.

A lot has happened since my last post. I’ve abandoned writing about all of my trips in chronological order and am skipping ahead to what’s going on now.

Dad visited over a month ago, for about two weeks. It was great because we did a lot of traveling from the Amafli Coast to Venice, Florence and Assisi. Mom came to visit during Easter week. We got to do a lot of great things. Two of the biggest highlights were going to St. Peters for Easter Mass and Castello Banfi, one of the largest wineries in Italy. Overall, it was really nice having my parents here, but it was definitely an exhausting three weeks.

Me and Dad in Amafli

Me and Mom in front of St. Peters

Since that I have done a bunch of traveling. Two weeks ago I went with a bunch of friends to Trapani, which is on the northwestern most tip of Sicily. We stayed in a really nice apartment and cooked a lot of our meals there. It was great because I could finally cook American breakfast, something that I have been really missing. The weather was perfect for all three days that we were there. Even though it was in the 60’s and 70’s the Italians were still in jeans, heavy jackets and scarves, we definitely got our share of weird looks since we were all in shorts and t-shirts.

Trapani, Sicily

This past weekend a group of us headed north up the Italian coast to Cinque Terre. This was the one trip that I knew I really wanted to do before even leaving the US. Cinque Terre is a collection of five towns all along the coast and connected to each other by trails through the hills. We got another apartment, which was one of the highest points in our town of Monterosso. This had to be one of the most beautiful places I have been while abroad. We spent all of our second day there hiking from town to town, up and down the mountains, through the woods and along the coast; it was a unique experience. It took about five hours to make it from our town to the last one. When we arrive in a new town we stopped for a different thing to eat and take in the surroundings. One time it was fruit, another time frozen yogurt, and finally focaccia pizza (a specialty of the area). After the hike we took a ferry back to our town, so we got to see everything from the water.

The view from our balcony in Monterosso

Vernazza, my favorite town in Cinque Terre

There was nothing better than waking up every morning and looking out from our balcony with a view of the ocean, the beach and a few of the other towns. We got to eat breakfast down in the town, right along the beach. It really felt like summer and there was no way it could better.

Dave Matthews Band Visits Rome

I have planned many events whether it was with the Evergreens, the Resident Affairs Council or even the tour guides. I have to say the best thing I have ever coordinated was for Rome Loyola to see the Dave Matthews Band in Rome. I started getting things together for this before we even got to Rome and a month and a half after arriving the day of the concert arrived.

None of us really knew what to expect, we were excited and almost all 18 of us had been to one of his concerts before, but that was always in the summer outside. This concert was inside in a basketball arena just outside of Rome.

We got inside, the venue was much smaller than we expected and these were the closest seats I had ever gotten to the stage. By the middle of the show we had all made it down to floor level and were probably about 25 feet from the stage, what was already a great show got even better. There really wasn’t any way that we could have gotten close, it was great. The set list was also really good. He played new stuff, classics, some of my favorites and some rare songs. Overall, this was one of, if not the best Dave Matthews concert I had been to and it was in Rome on the European Tour, when am I going to get a chance to see that again.

Why Rome is Awesome and Everyone Should Study/ Visit

My last few posts have been about my travels through Italy. I had been traveling for the past three weekends and at the end of each trip I could not wait to get back to Rome. This place really has become my home. Following my travels I had two weekends to spend in Rome before Spring Break. These two weekends helped me to realize why Rome is the best study abroad program and I now have my top ten reasons why Rome is Awesome:

10- I have visited almost every place/ piece of art that I have learned about/ covered in my class. Beats reading about it in a book in Baltimore.

9- The language. For one of the first times it has actually been imperative that I use what I have learned.

8- The weather. While its not 80 and sunny everyday, its also not 20 and snowing. I’ll take rain over that.

7- Walking. Rome was a city made for walking. I can walk almost anywhere, anytime and its always safe.

6- The Parks. Many of the old villa estates have been converted into parks that remove you from the fast paced city. Nothing but green fields, trees and tranquil surroundings.

5- No other city has quite the same character or charm as Rome. Small cafes, tiny narrow side streets, cobblestone streets and statues everywhere.

4- Romans love being Roman, they’re all very distinct and very nice. Its rare that you will find a restaurant that is not Italian. Unlike in other countries where you find varieties of restaurants, here its Italian all the time with the occasional kebab or Chinese restaurant.

3- The Nightlife. So many other places in Italy and Europe are dead during the week, not Rome. You can find somewhere to go and have a good time every night of the week.

2- The food. If its not fresh they wont cook it. Whether you’re eating at home or at a restaurant everything is fresh… Things just taste better here.

1- The history, what did you think it would be… Rome is a modern city rooted in its antiquity, like I said, Romans love being Romans and aren’t anywhere near forgetting where they came from. Walking past ancient buildings and ruins on a daily basis, the Coliseum and the Forum on the way home after a night out… nothing comes close to that.

Carnevale

Being in Italy during the Carnevale season and not visiting Venice might as well be a sin. We left on a Friday after our last class for Venice. We took the Euro-Star, the high-speed train, which instead of getting on the high-speed line was on a regular track. Needless to say we were an hour and a half late, the trip was off to a little bit of a rocky start.

We checked into our hotel on Venice mainland, which overcharged because it was literally just a place to sleep, but hey its Carnevale season everyone is doing it. At around 11:30pm we headed to Venice Island to check out what it was like. We were surprised to find that things were pretty dead. There were a few people who were dressed up, but there weren't too many people around. After exploring for about an hour we headed back to the hotel.

We got started around 11 the next morning and it was a totally different experience. I have never seen such large crowds in my life. There were people everywhere, many were dressed up but many people just had masks. It was a beautiful day out, warm and no clouds so we sat outside and had lunch. This was one of the best experiences because we could just sit there and watch all of the people go by. There wasn't just one type of person there. There were young people, older people, families and all different nationalities. It's crazy how something like this can draw so many people from different walks of life.

View down one of the canals

After lunch we just wandered the island. We had no real plan other than finding masks and making it to Piazza San Marco. The island was incredibly unique, the canals, the bridges, the mystique of Carnevale only added to the experience. The costumes that some of these people we wearing were very impressive. They were all extremely colorful, elegant and classical. By 5:00 we had finally made it to Piazza San Marco, thats how many people were there and how hard it was to make it through the streets. The Piazza was set up with a large stage and completely full of people. It was incredible how many people could fit on this small island.

One of the costumes for Carnevale

After, we wandered toward the water and took a water taxi back to where we started our day. There was no better place to be than on the water in Venice as the sun was setting. Once we got back on land we headed to a pub for happy hour until it was time for dinner. It's amazing how where ever you are in Italy you can always find a handful of Irish pubs. After this we got dinner at one of the biggest tourist traps I have seen, the worst part was that we didn't even see it coming.

Sunset on one of the canals

Carnevale has an amazing personality, during the day it is very interesting and relaxed, at night it turns into one big party. The island was still packed, but many of the piazza's now had DJ's in them just blasting music. Not only was this a lot of fun but it was again something I could have imagined. Overall, Carnevale was one of the best experiences I've had on this trip so far. The uniqueness of Venice and this celebration was amazing and something that everyone should do at least once in their lives.

Siena, Arezzo and Assisi

Ok so I apologize its been nearly a month without a new update. Over spring break I took time to collect my thoughts and here they are laid out in the next couple posts.

So, Loyola pays for 2 "educational" trips, (actually we pay Loyola to take us on these trips), one at the beginning of the semester and one at the end of the semester. We went on the first trip at the end of January, visiting Siena, Arezzo and Assis.

Siena was our first stop, three hours north of Rome in the Tuscan region. It was quite possibly one o the most miserable days to visit. It felt like it was in the upper 30's and raining the entire day. We toured the city, visited a few churches and the house of Catherine of Siena. By the end of the day the rain stopped and it became a little more bearable. It was a very interesting city, much different than Rome, much smaller, things moved a little more slowly and it seemed very peaceful. I definitely think it would be a totally different experience if the weather had been better.

After Siena we got back on the bus and headed to Arezzo for the night. The hotel Loyola put us up in was no two bit place, it was actually really nice. The next day we headed into Arezzo for a walking tour of the city. Again it was very different than Rome for many of the same reasons as Siena. We went to mass in one of the little churches, which was in Italian and very interesting and yes I could understand... some of it.

Later in the day we headed an hour and a half outside the city to a 900 year old castle in the heart of Tuscany. Castel del Trebbio was exactly what you think of when you think Italian wintery. It had a one lane road leading up to it with nothing else really around, just rolling hills. To top it off there was an 80 year old gamekeeper who had been in charge of the castle for over 55 years.

The Barrels in the cellar of the Winery

Then we obviously got to taste their wine, a pinot grigio and two types of chianti, which they are known for. Then after the tasting we made a quick stop to the store for gifts. Four bottles of wine and two bottles of extra virgin olive oil later we were on our way.

The guys with the gamekeeper at the castle.

The next day we headed to Assisi which is one of my favorite towns in Italy. The city literally sits on top of a hill and has the best views of the Umbrian countryside. We toured the Basilica of St. Francis, which was amazing. The paintings inside the basilica are one of a kind and indescribable. After we did a walking tour of the ancient city, got lunch and then headed back to Rome. Assisi was definitely the smallest, quietest and most relaxing of all the cities we visited, but it was extremely charming.

A view from Assisi

Overall it was a great trip. It's amazing how diverse Italy is and how each city and region really have their own personality.

Firenze

Florence was our first trip outside of Rome. There were probably about 20 of us, so it was almost the entire program that took the trip. Since I had a Friday afternoon class I left with a group of Loyola people after our class in the early evening. We took the Eurostar, Italy’s bullet train and were in Florence in about an hour and a half. When we checked into our hostel we were really surprised. Usually you hear that hostels are dirty, smell and just an overall unpleasant experience, this was not the case at all. The hostel was huge, the rooms were nice, clean, and the bathrooms were even nice.

After we checked in we met up with the other group of Loyola people who had gotten there earlier in the afternoon. It was a pretty relaxed night; we explored the city a little and met up with some of the Loyola Florence students. It was actually really funny because the Florence students planned a trip to Rome that weekend and we had planned a trip there. Saturday most of the Florence people were back so we got to see more of our friends and they showed us around.

We got up and out of the hostel around noon on Saturday. The group of guys I was with met up with the Rome girls and got lunch. We walked into a random restaurant and of course there were already a group of about eight Loyola Rome students, we were everywhere. After lunch we did some shopping, exploring and more eating. In Florence waffle/ gelato sandwiches seems to be their thing, so naturally I had to get one. It was one of the most unique experiences, two waffles and strawberry gelato in the middle. Definitely difficult to eat, the thing was huge. What I equate this to is a funnel cake. You see it at the carnival, want it, you’re going to eat all of it and then 3 bites in you’re full. That happened with this but it was worth it.

(Our Waffle Gelato Sandwiches)

All around the Duomo there are blocks and blocks of vendors selling everything from leather to ties and t-shirts. The sales were great and I couldn’t pass up the four ties for ten-euro deal. After the shopping we did the real tourist thing and did a lot of sight seeing. We went to the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio and Piazza Michelangelo.

(Me on the Ponte Vecchio)

Getting to Piazza Michelangelo was a hike. It was really far from the city center but we had heard good things about it so we made the trip. Not only did it turn out that it was really far, but it was over 200 steps from the bottom to the top. Once we got there we all stopped our complaining because this was the most spectacular view of Florence, you could see everything and it was gorgeous. Of course we found more Loyola people up there. We had no idea that they were going to be there, but we caught them in the middle of a wine and cheese break before heading back down. After staying at the piazza for almost an hour we decided it would be a much better idea to take a taxi back to the hostel instead of walk.

(Evan and I at Piazza Michelangelo)

We were exhausted from walking all so what do five male college students do, take a nap naturally, for two hours. It was perfect because we woke up right in time for dinner. Jeff and I went with a few of the girls to this restaurant that they had heard about. Up until this point I never had that one standout, blow you away amazing Italian meal, but this meal was the one I had been looking for. It wasn’t anything complicated, just extremely fresh and well cooked. So what did I have you ask? I started with the beef carpaccio and for my entre I had grilled calamari on a bed of fresh grilled vegetables. There was a lot of zucchini in it and as I said before I was never a fan of it before and cant promise that I will be a fan of it when I get home, but it was awesome.

After dinner we headed to a famous discoteque, Space. This was the first time I’ve ever had to wait behind a velvet rope with a bouncer who had a clipboard. It didn’t open till about 12:30, but we made it in and it was quite the experience. At the end of the night we walked back to the hostel and what was right down the block? A McDonalds, so we had to go in. This was the first time in three weeks that any of us had any American food and it was great, Italian can do McDonalds pretty well. We kept the American food rolling the next morning with a trip to an American diner, such a novelty over here. I’m not a huge breakfast person but it was so nice to have apple juice (which isn’t too popular here) and French toast.

Later that afternoon we caught our train back to Rome. It was so nice to get back and it was so weird because I was homesick for Rome. I couldn’t wait to get back to my house, be in my room, use my shower and of course Paolo’s cooking. Overall Florence was good but I like Rome so much better. It feels more like home, things move at a fast pace (which says a lot for Italy because nothing is done with a sense of urgency) and it seems more Italian. In Florence it seemed like everyone spoke English. I don’t know if its because its smaller so the city is more condensed so you notice it more, if there are more English students or if most people actually speak English there. It really was a great trip, but at the same time it showed me Rome was the perfect choice.

La Prima Fine Settimana

Our first weekend in Rome was an interesting one; I would definitely say it was the real matriculation of us to Rome. No one really knew where to go or how to get places, but it was nice to be free without having anywhere to really go. We were about to walk around, explore and relax… but not too much because I was up at nine on Saturday.

Dr. Dawson, our site director and my theology professor, who we have all come to regard as one of the most intelligent men we have ever met, gave us a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica. Dr. Dawson or DDV as he is affectionately known (David Dawson Vasquez), knows almost everything about Rome and can answer almost any question you throw at him, its great.

(DDV outside of St. Peter's)

St. Peter’s was one of the most spectacular pieces of architecture and history I have ever seen. The inside is enormous. I have ever before seen anything like this. The statues, the architecture, the history and the overall beauty, it was overwhelming. We learned a lot about the history of the different artifact, meanings and engineering techniques. It’s amazing to think that they were so precise in the sixteenth century. There really is so much that I could go on about, but it would get boring real quick. One of the most interesting things is that they actually have the bodies of saints displayed throughout the basilica.

After the tour of the basilica we were taken down into its crypt and saw the tombs of various Popes and St. Peter. One of the tombs we got to see was that of John Paul II. They were all really simple but very poignant.

Finally, since there were only about 20 of us on the tour, Dr. Dawson bought us passes up to the top of the dome. The climb was crazy, there were 557 steps to the top. After the first set of steps you arrive on the roof of St. Peter’s and there is a great view of the city, you cant believe that it gets any better, but it does and oh there is a souvenir shop of course. Then you can head inside the dome. The mosaics inside of it are gorgeous, and there is a great view of the altar below.

Once you’re inside the dome you have to walk up the narrowest set of staircases and since the walls are slanted you’re on angle most of the time. After what seems like another 500 steps we finally arrived at the cupola.

Once you’re inside the dome you have to walk up the narrowest set of staircases and since the walls are slanted you’re on angle most of the time. After what seems like another 500 steps we finally arrived at the cupola. The view was spectacular, it was sensory overload. You could see everything, a 360-degree view of Rome, the papal gardens, the river and where Rome ends mountains being, it was incredible. This is something that everyone needs to see, it just shows how expansive Rome is, how far it reaches and the spectacular site. I think its so amazing that I’m going to make the climb up two more time to make sure both of my parents see this and the amazing view of Rome.

La Prima Settimana e Mie Classi

It’s been a while since my last post, which means that the past few weeks have been incredibly busy. A lot has happened so I'm going to try and update you all as much as possible. As I write this post I am on my way to Carnevale in Venice for the weekend.

My first week in Rome seems so far away but it was really only five weeks ago. It's funny how quickly Rome has come to feel like home and how quickly I have come to feel like a Roman. The first thing in becoming a Roman 101 was learning the public transportation system. I knew that I could walk to school but remembering what happened two days earlier I decided to take the metro. The stop was only one block from my house and then about three blocks from my Italian school, so this was the safe bet on the first day.

(The B Line, my ride home... They're all very unique metro cars)

It worked pretty well to get, but after the class I felt adventurous and wanted to figure out how to walk home. It turned out that it was only really one street to get home. I took it straight it from Italiaidea back to my house and it only a ten minute walk. It was amazing that it was so simple, but we got so lost a few days before.

The next day I tried a different way to get to school, the 117 bus. This was by far the easiest way to get there. I picked it up from the end of my block and it dropped me off right at the front door of Italiaidea, travel time- three minutes. This was the best find thus far. Effectively this means that I can roll out of bed at 9:00, take a shower, get ready, eat breakfast, show up at the bus at 9:45, get on the bus around 9:50 and arrive at school at 9:54, still having 5 minutes to spare.

Needless to say I have the most envious commute. Most people have to leave their house by 9:00, I'm usually not getting up till then. It’s been five weeks and I still haven't been able to figure out if the 117 subscribes to any type of schedule. Some days it shows up at 9:43, other days 9:57, or sometimes not at all. It's a very interesting thing; the bus is half the size of the regular buses, that should have been the first indicator that it couldn't be taken seriously. Overall it’s not that bad because if it’s late or doesn't show up (which has happened), it's only a ten-minute walk.

Italian class has been interesting; we finished our first course in the first week of February. It’s amazing that we already took 60 hours, over a semester worth of class in just four weeks, three hours a day. It started out pretty easy but definitely got a lot more difficult as it went on. The class was only 10 people, all Loyola students and focused on conversational skills. The first class was an introduction and now we are in the second level. Instead of focusing on grammar and things of that nature, it focuses on conversational proficiency. They do this so we can actually use the language and get by while we’re here. Overall the first course was helpful and not too bad, a quarter of the way in and one class down. Our second Italian class started last week and we already have a midterm coming up in a few days.

It’s amazing how confident I've become in speaking. Even if I don’t know how to say what I want to or properly structure it, I can find ways around it and still get my point across. Our new teacher doesn’t care if we talk while doing work but it has to be in Italian. So, the other day Evan and I had a whole conversation about our travel plans for Sicily in April and fully understood each other. We were thoroughly impressed with ourselves since only a month ago we were nervous saying hello to someone in Italian.

My three other classes are History of the Papacy and Catholicism, Art and Architecture of Ancient Rome and US/ British Literature about Italy. For the most part they are interesting classes but three to three and a half hours is a lot to take. I love taking three-hour business classes at Loyola, but they usually involve activities and are more interesting to me. So three hours of lecture is tough. The one upside is site visits. Its like we’ve gone back to elementary school, site visits are the grown up version of a field trip. Overall, classes aren’t that bad and its nice having two afternoons off a week.

Mia Madre a Roma, Paola

Well it seems like Paola has changed. Adam and I were surprised that she has been at every meal, except on Thursdays. On Thursdays she goes out with friends, we think, we're not really sure. Shes an extremely popular person and gets phone calls all hours of the day. Even on Thursdays she still has a great dinner waiting for us which is nice to come back to. Thursdays Adam and I have turned into our night to relax, watch TV on my laptop at the dinner table and eat, a nice little break from the marathon that is speaking Italian all day.

I digress again, Paola is amazing, and her food is out of this world. We have not had a bad meal here yet, we haven't even had a meal that was just ok. Every night its something different, somethings I have never had before and its always fresh. The best is that there are always three courses, the prima which is usually a pasta or a soup, followed by a meat or a fish and then finally dessert which is usually a fruit, a fruit salad or some kind of dolce. The fruit here is amazing, most of it is unlike anything I've tried before. I've tried all different things that I never had before, two that come to mind are zucchini and pesto. I never really liked these at home nore have I ever really had any desire to like them, but they are great here. Paola makes her our fresh pesto sauce that is great too. She is a stereotypical Italian mother, she keeps feeding us more and more until there isn't anything left. I feel bad saying no, so I just keep eating but on the other hand its great, so its not really a problem.

She also sets out breakfast every morning. This usually consists of espresso (which I am now a fan of, it really gets me up and through the early Italian class), fruit, toast squares with the best strawberry marmalade, an individually wrapped pound cake and a juice box. I'm not really a big breakfast person in the US, I've always been busy or on the go, but this has been the best set up. I can grab something quick, I actually eat and its just enough to get me through the morning till lunch.

Over the past two weeks I've really gotten to know Paola and I honestly don't think that I could have had a better host mother. At dinner its really easy to tell that she was a school teacher; neither Adam nor I speak Italian very well and she is extremely patient with us. She speaks slowly, if we don't understand something she will try and figure out another way to phrase it and we'll usually get it. My favorite part of dinner is the lesson, she usually teaches us something in Italian at dinner, first it was the numbers then the days of the week and then the basics of how to say things in the past. Its great because going into class I will already know some of the things we're learning. It may sound kind of geeky but I'm here for the next four months, so the more I can learn and the faster, the better.

In the past few days we've moved onto games like hot and cold to learn vocabulary. We also have great conversation, its amazing that even with the language barrier we are able to have interesting conversations. Most of them are based around our families, history of Rome, what we did during the day and much more. Its easy to understand what she is saying, but I feel like a three year old again. I know what I want to say it but have no idea how to express it to her. Usually we'll figure ways to get through that and she'll be able to understand what I'm trying to say. I've really come to understand why Paola opens her home to students every semester and its explains why she is such a great host mother.

Her son is grown, he is training to be a pilot in the Italian Navy and she is lonely. She is semi-retired, we're not really sure what she does with her day, but she enjoys having us there, cooking for us, talking with us and doing whatever she can for us. It's hard to explain, but she gets really excited when we come home, she loves to hear what we did with our day and she loves to give us hugs goodbye when we leave. She's interested in what we like to eat and how we like things. Last weekend I came back from lunch and told her where I ate and what I had. It was mussels in a marinara sauce at a restaurant. She asked if I liked fish and I told her, I like all types of fish (mi piacciono tutti pesci), and the next night at dinner she had made linguini with mussels, calamari and shrimp, followed by cod with vegetables in a really good sauce. She just loves to see us happy and enjoying ourselves.

The other day Adam and I told her about how we went to the train station to buy our train tickets for Venice because the website didn't take our credit cards. She offered to buy the train tickets for us next time and then we could just pay her back, so that we didnt have to take the trip all the way down there. It just amazing how giving she is of herself and she's always willing to do anything she can. Living with a host family was one of the biggest hindrances I had when I was first thinking about applying to the Rome program, but now I can see that this is something that will make my experience here.

(I'll get a picture in the post as soon as I can of Paola and I)

Mia Casa

Its been a while since my last post, which means only one thing... I've been incredibly, incredibly busy. Its amazing where the time goes, but I'll get to that in one of my next posts. Each post so far has detailed a different part of how my trip started here, this will be the final post dedicated to the beginning.

The sunday of our first weekend we really didnt do much. We had an information session about living with a host family, what to expect, how life will be different and things that we should be sure to do and not to do. After this we had a break and then learned a little bit about traveling around rome and europe. This was definitely helpful, and somewhat gave us an idea of how to go about planning trips and where to start. By this time in the weekend we were all ready to get out of the classroom, settled in our homes and really start our experience in Rome.

After our last meeting was over we brought our luggage from the classroom down to the first floor and then just waited around. The lounge in the St. Johns building has one wall that is all glass and looks out into the hallway. We all piled into this room and waited as our families trickled in to pick us up one by one. The best way to explain it is that we felt like dogs at the pound waiting for someone to come and choose us. Families showed up here and there, every ten minutes or so someone new would arrive. We would all get excited and pensive, unsure if the person who had just shown up was coming to choose us or someone else. None of us had ever seen our families before, so we just didnt know who was coming for us. The first to show up were two Nonnas (grandmothers), adorable little italian women. Families ranged from nonnas who enjoy hosting students for company, to full families with children ranging from very young up into their 20's.

After about an hour of sitting around watching italian television, basketball actually, since it was the only thing we could understand, Paola our host mother arrived. We were by no means one of the last to leave, so like dogs in the pound, Adam and I had no idea if she was there for us or for someone else. We finally figured out that she was there for us, so we moved out into the hallway to meet her. She is a short woman, in her early 60's with blond hair, spoke no english and had what seemed like a loving personality, I'll touch on that a little more later. I was the first to introduce myself and that was greeted with a big hug and the traditional kiss on both cheeks.

We left with Paola in a taxi and headed to our new home. I would be lying if I said that Adam and I weren't petrified. It was something that I personally have never had to do, meet a stranger, someone who I can't easily communicate with and go off to live with them for four months. She spoke to us in the car in Italian, we tried to understand what we could, neither of us taking any Italian before. The fifteen minute ride was filled with a great deal of awkward laughter and si, hoping yes was the right answer to her questions and comments. We finally arrived on our street, a familiar place that we had been to the day before. Adam and I paid for the cab, luckily we looked at the meter before we got out or we would have had no idea what the driver and Paola were saying.

My home for the next four months.

The street signs in Roma are on the buildings.

We made it inside the building, up the stairs and into her house with the bags. She showed us where our room was, the kitchen and the bathroom, all within about ten feet of each other. In Rome what they consider houses we consider apartments and Paola's is on the smaller side, but it's in a great location. She said that the closer you get to the city the smaller the apartments get. I really don't mind, I'm used to living in dorms, even though Loyola has spoiled me. It's interesting to be fully immersed in another culture.

Our room, my beds the one on the left if you couldn't already guess.

Like I mentioned before the house is in an amazing location. If we walk to the end of the block to the main street you can see down to the Coliseum and we are one block from the metro station which connects us to the rest of the city. One block in the opposite direction is our bus to the Italian school or a ten minute walk, and we're above a pizza place, it honestly couldn't get any better. It is a very quiet and peaceful part of the city, a really nice neighborhood to just walk around and explore. When we go out at night or on weekends we are only about a ten minute walk home, so unlike almost everyone else, we do not need to take a night bus or a taxi. Our walk is amazing, we go past the monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II, the Roman Forum and the Coliseum and I always feel safe. It's definitely a little different than the surrounding and streets of Baltimore at night.

But I digress, back to Paola. So I've covered her house and how wonderful that is, Paola is even better. Before arriving in Rome I had heard from past students that she cooks dinner but then doesn't eat with you. I was a little worried and hesitant about this, because this would be one of the only times that I would get to sit down and talk with her...

Getting Lost in Rome Isn't That Bad

It's been a few days since my last post, I have some time before dinner and so much has been going on that I need to write it down before I forget.

We're now at our first real day being in Rome. The day we flew in, although arriving in the morning, really doesn't count, I mean it blended together with the day before and we were all too tired to do anything substantial.

We walked from our hotel to the St. Johns building.

We had the general orientation, "this is where you will be living", "remember you're representing your school", "this is how to be safe", talk. I'm not knocking it, as an orientation leader I can appreciate its importance, it was just a lot to take in at 9:00 in the morning.

During the lunch break a bunch of the guys and I wandered around looking for a place to eat. We wandered a few blocks away and found this restaurant called San Marco. This was the first time that any of us were by ourselves, really knowing little to no italian. We were able to order, which wasn't that difficult and again the food was amazing. Being typical americans we forgot that there was no need to tip the waiter... thats the last time we'll be making that mistake.

Next came the fun part of the day. We all knew the address of our host family already but didn't exactly know how to get there. We were provided with a map of the city, a map of the public transportation and a little guidance on how to get around. We all split up into groups based on who would be living in the same neighborhood and then about 30 loyola students dispersed into the city. My roommate Adam and I had it pretty easy. Our house is one block away from a metro station and the St. John's and Italiaidea buildings are also only one block from a metro station. We took the metro from St. Johns, after five stops changed at the Termini station and then proceeded to get onto the blue line for one stop. We quickly were able to find our house, down a really short and narrow street in the oldest part of the city. The best part is that is only about 20 minutes door-to-door.

This is where the adventure gets interesting. We had heard from past students that our house was close, really close, within walking distance to Italiaidea. Since we already knew how to get to St. Johns we figured that we would learn how to get to Italiaidea. We walked to the end of our block and back towards the main street. When we got to the main street, we were amazed, all we could see was the Coliseum at the end of the street. It spread past the width of the street and rose above all the building tops. I really wish there was another word other than amazing because I feel like I'm over using that, but it is the best descriptor. We headed towards the Coliseum, thinking that we could take the main street toward Italiaidea or at least get us headed in the right direction. This couldn't have been more wrong. We spent the next hour and a half lost in the city.

We were told by Dr. Dawson (the site director), the only way to really go out and get to know the city was to get lost in it and thats exactly what we were doing day one. I could always find exactly where we were on the map, but could never really get a handle on how to get from there to where we were trying to go. Thats the great this about the old side of the city, roads just popped up over time, the whole road system wasn't planned, so there are small alley ways and side streets everywhere. While this is all really interesting it makes getting from point-a to point-b a little more difficult. Overall, our travels took us on what could only be explained as a zig-zag throughout the city. We started to head east, then we would take another road because maybe thats how we were going to get to our language school... it wasn't so we kept bouncing back and forth while continually making our way north.

It was totally worth it though, we saw the roman forum again, the monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II (my favorite site here, don't know if I mentioned that earlier), the entrance to the Vatican and tons of really interesting sites. This is when it started to hit me, I'm living and going to be surrounded by some of the most historic sites in the world for four months.

By the end of hour one of being semi-lost, but always knowing where we were I started to get the hang of this map business. We made it to the river. Along the river we past an ice rink which looks like it was just set up for the winter season along, and it was blasting Usher. It seems that they are really into music from the early 2000's over here. Once we got past there we made it to familiar surroundings and back to the hotel. We were one of the earlier groups to get back and one of a select group to actually find our house easily. Our reward an hour and a half nap before dinner.

La Cita Eterna

We had finally arrived in Rome and the only initial reaction that I can explain is a mix of sheer amazement and awe. This was unlike anything most of us had ever seen, especially me since this was my first time to Europe. We dropped our bags off at the St. Johns University building, where Catholic University rents space. After this we went to the hotel, checked-in to our room and were free till 4 pm. The guys who I was rooming with for the night and I decided to get something to eat. I got a salami and cheese panino with a water for only 3 euro, not too bad. After we headed back to the hotel to take a nap till 4. Waking up at 4 pm was incredibly, incredibly hard but we made our way to the lobby.

As soon as we walked outside it started to downpour, of course. After a little while it turned into drizzle, but by that time our walking tour turned into our first public transportation adventure on one of the rome buses. Packing 50 students onto a bus in just a few seconds was interesting experience. We saw a good amount of the city and then began to walk again. We saw the Trevi Fountain, made our way to our Italian language school (Italiaidea) and the Spanish Sqaure. About a block from our italian school are the spanish steps, we got a little history on that and then headed for our second public transportation experiment, getting the entire group onto the metro (Rome's subway system). We took the metro from the spanish steps, learned where and how to cross over from the A line to the B line and then continued on. When we exited the metro station the first thing we saw was this.

The Coliseum.

It was amazing, we got out of the metro station and it was all that you could see. It took all of us by surprise. From there we headed up to the Roman forum and the monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Unified Italy. It has been one of the most amazing sites that I have seen so far, just the sheer size and construction is mind blowing.

Finally, we reached the restaurant where the group was going to have dinner. It was a little early by Italian standards but, it was our first authentic Italian meal. I don't remember the name of it, or where it was really, but the food was amazing. We had 3 courses, the antipasto, which consisted of italian meats and different fried italian vegetables. Then the primo, which was pasta with two different sauces and finally the dolce, which was tiramisu and of course wine. It was one of the best and freshest meals I have ever had. We walked back to the hotel and basically passed out. By that time it had felt like I had been up for two days.

With that, my first day in Rome was over...

Flying to Rome, an experience in itself

My trip to Rome began last thursday, Jan. 7th. We got to the airport around 1:45pm. Luckily I check in and checked my bags downstairs, which no else in the airport apparently knew about because it took less than five minutes. After that I headed up to security. I said goodbye to mom and dad and then got on line to go through security. After about a half hour I was through and at the gate. I was one of the only students to be there that early, but at least I was there. Slowly everyone started to show up and before we knew it we were boarding.

I boarded and found my seat. Being that I was the beginning of the alphabet I was one of the only people who wasn't surrounded by Loyola people. I had a very nice, but also large gentleman who slept very loudly throughout the flight. My seat was the center of the center section, easily the most uncomfortable seat possible. Earlier in the week I read a post by a friend who left for Ireland had tried the beef on the plane and it wasn't exactly the best. When dinner rolled around I figured that I would be daring and try the beef for myself to see what all the hype was about... He was right, it was awful, mushy, grey, but at least there was rice. Other than that the flight was pretty uneventful, I fell in and out of consciousness a few times, definitely no substantial sleep.

After eight and a half hours we arrived at Rome's Fiumicino/ Leonardo da Vinci airport. After being caged for almost nine hours we were all ready to go although none of us knew how to get where we were going. Luckily there was a tram, that took us from the terminal to passport control. Once we got there we were forced into four lines for not only our plane but probably about two other ones, easily a few hundred people. After about 20 minutes and a little line jumping we made it through. We picked up our bags met with Dr. Dawson (our program director who was flying in from Atlanta) and headed out to customs. I'm not completely sure what customs is, but here it was just a sliding door that separated baggage claim from the outside. We then met Aurora, our program's cultural assistant. She took us to the bus and before we knew it we were in Italy on our way to Rome.