dear everyone. my life is totally awesome. love, wendy.

Thursday, January 24
We arrived in Barcelona at 11:30pm, and checked into HelloBCN, our wonderful accommodations for the next couple of days. Carolyn and I stayed in a 6 bed mixed dorm that had 4 people the first night, and six from then on out. Only one guy was in the room, and he was with his girlfriend, so it was all Kosher.

Friday, January 25
Carolyn and I awoke bright and early and went downstairs for the complimentary breakfast, which was very, very good. Yummy croissant and bread things and peach nectar juice. Mmm. So, we started our journey with a relatively full stomach, and wonderfully fresh feet. We walked from where we were staying (in west-ish Barcelona) and walked towards the coast. We meandered along the docks and boardwalk and went out on the Rambla del Mer, which is this neat dock that kind of closes off the "parking lot" of boats, and it swivels to let in boats. Neat stuff...

And eventually found the beaches! Carolyn and I both put our feet into the Mediterranean! It was pretty cold. Although not that cold that Saturday afternoon there were people swimming and surfing in it. Those nuts.

We saw the Parlament de Catalunya. A brief word on Catalunya; this might have been our saving grace from not seeming like complete and utter tourists, because -everyone is a tourist- when you don't know Catalan. The part of Spain that Barcelona is in is known as Catalunya, and slowly but surely the Catalan culture and language are both coming back. It's interesting, for sure. From there we entered the Parc de la Ciutadella. This is a beautiful park that is all palm trees and a large lake in the center. There were small green birds in the trees, and large white birds in the lake. And a couple of mallards for fun. We wandered north and saw Barcelona's Arc del Triomf

A word on Arches of Triumph: most major cultures have them. I think the most well known is the Parisian Arc de Triomphe. However any time a civilization, culture, city has some sort of victory, there is an Arch of Triumph. Rome has had many in the past, a few of which are still standing. Whenever a great leader in Rome had a victory, they received their own arch. But they are all real, not copies.
After a rest for some photo opportunities we consulted our map, and decided to walk down Las Ramblas. Apparently this is the most pickpocketed area in Barcelona, short of the beach. But! Being such savvy travelers, Carolyn and I had our wits about us, and nothing has been lost to date. Also of note, my backpack is fantastic (thank you, Grandma!) It has the zipper on the inside that goes against my back. I'd like to see someone just try to swipe stuff from me. Anyway, pictures from Las Ramblas will be later on down the page here... After a bit of walking, we happened to realize it was lunchtime, and, just our luck, a street market was to our right. So we wandered around. It all looked so good. Fresh fruits and vegetables, bright colors, cheeses, meats (eh, this isn't as visually pleasing, but keep in mind, we were a bit hungry). We found a little stand that had sandwiches. But not like in America. These sandwiches are built on a long thing roll. I had salami and cheese. As a condiment, there is this tomato paste, but it's not like sauce, it's just a very small amount. It was delicious. Or maybe we were just really hungry....

After lunch we went back to the hostel, and reserved tickets for a Flamenco show and paella meal in the evening. It was around 2:00, so we needed something to do before then. We decided to walk up the the Universitat Central de Barcelona, which was gorgeous, and then in the Jardin de la Universitat for some reading and hanging around. There were cats in this garden, but not especially friendly. The sun began going down, and it got cooler, so we decided to leave and go find some sun. And we did. On the sidewalk. So we sat, and read on the sidewalk. Interesting Americans, we are. We consulted the map once again, because our chilliness insisted we keep moving. We decided to see Sagrada Familia, which is a pretty infamous monument. We walked past the Placa de Tetuan to see it, and the Plaza Monumental. And took a left and saw

The front and the back of Sagrada Familia. This is an 1800s Roman Catholic church that is still incomplete. Antonio Gaudi got the bid to build it in 1884, spent 40 years of his life working on it, and the last 12 dedicated solely to it's completion. It's a strange piece of work, with detailed and intricate designs carved into it on the front depicting all sorts of biblical and religious events. On the back is a depiction of Jesus' carrying the cross. I can't remember what it's called...

After Sagrada, we decided we should head over to Palacio del Flamenco for our evening plans. We made good time until we got to the area and then promptly got lost. Turns out, we wandered of the map. Oops. But we found it anyway, with plenty of time.
We got a special deal, Sangria, Paella, and Creme Catalan and the show, all for E38.00. The sangria was delicious, and so was the paella. It was the seafood variety, so it was a great combination of rice, peppers, prawns, mussels, cuttlefish and scallop. Mmmm. And the dessert was Creme Catalan, which was also very tastey, although I'm not entirely positive what exactly it was. And then the show began. It was a lot of fun, but not what I anticipated. Although there was a red dress at one point

The show had different costume changes, and -no- castanets, which disappointed me a bit. But it was still fabulous. And how quickly they move their feet! It is a beautiful dance, and most surely a dance of passion. And will go perfectly in my book :)

We left the show to go home. We ended up walking past the Universitat Central de Barcelona again and stumbled upon

It was a social rally. They were espousing the promise of a better world. It was all sort of social rights. One sign was a proponent of gay rights, another about peace in the Middle East - all sorts of things. It was called a social forum. There was one very brief speech (a couple of lines said by an older woman and a young boy) and then lots of fireworks. An unnecessary amount. My mother would not approve. And there was a marching band. Children and adults were dressed as witches and devils, and ran around with fireworks. It was sort of organized, but hardly at all really. It was a lot of fun. And then we went home, read a bit, and went to sleep.

***

Saturday, January 26
We woke early once again and decided to go to the Gothic Quarter and wander, and then spend some time on Montjuic. We walked around the Gothic Quarter, which was very beautiful and found the Catedral, which is considered the center of the Gothic Quarter. Of course, since it is the off season, it was under construction. But we could go inside. There was a "garden" which still had the whole manger deal set up from Christmas, and there was palm trees inside, and a lot of white geese, which was pretty nifty.

The first image is some wonderful stained glass behind... my lack of religious knowledge betrays me... The second image is the spires of the Catedral taken -from the inside of the Catedral-! That's right, plants inside. It was very gorgeous. We then heard music, and, as we learned Friday night, interesting things happen if you follow the music. And we did. We followed it to this rather interesting street dancing group dancing outside of an art museum. Which ended very shortly after we got there.

From here we decided to go down to the beach and get something to eat. I had a tuna sandwich with olives on it, and it had that tomato paste, too. Very delish. We then laid on the beach and read for a while, soaking up the warm sun, even though the day itself was pretty warm.

We then took a cable car over the bay to Montjuic, a fairly high hill in the west of Barcelona. Some views from the cable car:

The first is the beach. Mmm beach. And the second is the Ramble del Mar, that cool dock I was talking about before. Like a drawbridge, but not. At Montjuic there was lots of pretty gardens that are probably extremely more pretty in the spring when things are in bloom. But we walked around for a while and found the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Stadium

Reflecting pool and all. We could sort of make out the stadium inside, but it was tricky... But a pretty neat thing to be near something like that. And the view was, of course, beautiful.

We hung around there until about 6:00 and then decided it was paella time! So we went to Las Ramblas. A whole bunch of street merchants were set up that night, and I would have liked to have bought so many things, but then decided I wanted to save money for future trips. So we got paella, and there was the cutest busker/street act.

Sure, he was just a puppeteer, but it was way more imaginative than the human statues that lined the street. With sore feet, we decided to get back to the hostel, because we had an early morning ahead of us. So we went back to the hostel and read. I started and finished Hemingway's 'Islands in the Stream," which was the last book he wrote before he died. I'm excited to read more Hemingway (because I like to start an author and stick with it for a bit). I like this semester, because we don't have tv really, so I've been reading a lot. Three books so far, and three weeks into the semester. Good past time :)

Sunday, January 27
Awoke at 6:00am to check out of the hostel, and caught a cab back to the airport. This morning yielded a rather exhausted pair of travelers who had a simply wonderful weekend. Image, weekending in a foreign country while studying in a foreign country. As it turns out, I lead a pretty charmed life. The weather was gorgeous (mid-60s) cloud free, no rain, no wind. Gorgeous. Consider Barcelona if you ever want to go to Europe. We loved it so much, the air seemed clean, and coming from Rome it felt so much more relaxed and laid back. It felt like a beach town on the beach, but it also felt like a major city in the center. I would love to go back there some time and take it slower. It was quite the whirlwind tour. And it makes me nervous that I won't have enough time when I go to other countries. We had two full days, and it still felt like not enough (clearly, not enough). But absolutely fabulous.

There are so many more pictures. Pretty much everything I mentioned has some pictures that go along with it. If anyone is interested, I included as much as I could, just e-mail me (borst.wendy@gmail.com) and I can put up some more pictures in a new post.

Now I have to spend this coming week getting ahead (again) so I can go to Tunisia guilt free. My third continent! I can hardly wait for that one. It should be quite an experience.

<3

Wall Walk

To clear something up, I'm going to Barcelona -this- weekend. Sorry for the confusion! So stuff from Barcelona won't be for another week. I hope you can appreciate the suspense ;)

This past Sunday we went on something of a tradition here at Temple Rome; the Wall Walk with Jan (Yan) Gedeyne. Boy, what a day. For those that don't know, Rome is a walled city. Back in the day when the empire was really important, and therefore warranted protection for various things, they built 28 foot walls around the entire city, the length of which runs about 12.5 miles. Because we couldn't follow the wall exactly, we walked roughly 14 miles yesterday, and were gone from 8:30 in the morning, until 4:15 in the afternoon. Ouch, is really what I have to say about it. But, about the wall walk, since I promised an illustrated entry:

We started out at San Giovanni, one of the "gates" in the wall. Very quickly I realized that 10 feet of wall, 12 miles of wall, it all kind of looks like, well, wall. I don't know what I was expecting. I think the friezes that tend to be on columns and the general care the Romans took to emblazon stories on just about everything had me assuming that the walls might be just as ornamented as the rest of the city. I was mistaken. But, here's a picture of the wall anyway.

There it is. A wall. Just pretend there are about 48 of those, and you've seen the entire wall.

But I digress. It is quite a phenomenal thing, really, they tenacity it must have taken to build these walls, walls all the way around an entire city. It is impressive. But it is less so when your knees are swollen and your feet hurt. But now I can say I have walked the Aurelian walls, and everyone can stare at me and go "huh?" but I've done it.

The cultural experience along the walk was really interesting though. I guess that's sort of what it's meant for....


Statues like this are everywhere. So frequent in fact, that I can't remember who it is or what it's for, or where I found it. But I like this one especially. Here's the thing; one of these in New York City or Philadelphia would be exceptionally memorable, because it would be one of a few. In Rome, statues, friezes, basilicas and obelisks are easy to forget the names of, because they are everywhere. Beautiful, but everywhere.

This man was playing trumpet to Micheal Buble's "Save the Last Dance for Me." American music is literally everywhere here. MTV is largely American music videos. I liked this guy though. He looked right at me while I photographed him. I liked this image... I think I like the implication that he's just hanging out playing. He was very good, though.

It is Carnevale season in Rome. Carnevale isn't for another couple of weeks, but it's a big deal here. The children all dress up, and they throw confetti. Which I hope is biodegradable, because it was everywhere. I'm not kidding. People without children had it in their hair, and it was all over the ground. Everywhere. And then there was the puppet show, which I found a little bit amusing, because we don't do puppet shows so much in the states anymore. Because we were on a schedule to keep, though, I couldn't hang around and watch more. But it was funny.

For lunch we got to hang out on the Gianicolo Hill (also known as the Janiculum hill in American culture, I guess) which is the second highest point in the city, after Monte Mario. It was pretty cool, seeing most of the city.

I like this photograph for the Italian flag in the background.


I liked this guy a lot. These actors are everywhere. Some of them are Statue of Liberties. Some are Egyptian Pharaoh tombs. Some are just statues. A lot of them aren't good. But this guy, he was alright. The Pharaohs are cheaters, because they hid behind masks. They just stand there perfectly still with their arms crossed. Amateurs.


Fun juxtaposition. A castle and an Egyptian pyramid. Just something else for funsies here in Rome. Apparently one of the rulers of Rome had an affinity for pyramids, and insisted he be buried in one. So here it is. This was one of the challenges of having the wrong lens. Lets just say the pyramid is a little bit implied. And there's a castle! With turrets? I don't think they're really turrets, more like towers. But there's a fun word for you: turrets.

I hope that's sufficient for my analysis of the Wall Walk. I think it sounded really interesting, and I got my hopes up and had expectations that were not met. But it was still a good day. And then Carolyn and I went to the Irish Pub Abbey's Theater to enjoy a cheeseburger, some fries, and the Patriots Chargers game. More Patriots fans than I expected, and they won! Hooray!

Well, I need to read up on Barcelona, so I know what we can do when we get there, and I need to get ahead on my homework so I don't feel guilty when I go away this coming weekend and next (Tunisia is the first weekend in February! I'm going to become very well traveled in a very short period of time!)

<3

Adventures in food

For everyone that kind of scoffed at the idea of me cooking when I went away to college, I would like to just say that, since I've been in Rome, my cooking has taken off. Or rather, my cooking as taken baby steps.

Today, we went to the supermercato, and instead of buying prepackaged deli meats like we had been doing, I proudly went up to the deli and proclaimed:

Un mezzo kilo di prosciutto, per favore

(spelling may be incorrect... these things happen). Yes, I spoke in Italian to a real Italian, who spoke Italian back to me. Now, this is a fairly astounding revelation. The deli counter man is either encouraged by my efforts, or he speaks no English, but this made me incredibly happy. Most of the workers in the supermercato will speak English at you if they have even the slightest inkling that you, yourself, are not Italian. I'm here to learn, people, and I can understand a lot. But the cashiers will always speak English, in a sort of mocking way, it seems. One time, the cashier looks at me, and in such a flat voice goes "Bags?" And I go "Si, due busti (I don't know if this is the word, exactly, but that's how it sounds)" And then they will tell you the cost in English. If they say it in Italian, and I don't get it, they should rest assured that I can read the cashier sign behind them that displays the final total.

But anyway, he spoke in Italian with me. Although at first he thought I said tacchino (turkey), but I said "non, prosciutto," and we had the normal deli counter dialogue. But it was a real dialogue, in Italian! Hooray!

So, anyway, adventures in cooking. I'm okay at it, turns out. I mean, I haven't made anything earth shattering, nothing to get me on Iron Chef or Top Chef or anything like that, but dinner meals that are pleasing to eat. And so, I present you with two of the meals I have prepared, the two that Carolyn really enjoyed.
They are both pasta dishes because, surprise! pasta is fairly inexpensive. So, they have a pasta base. In a skillet, I heat some oil, and some fresh minced garlic (mmmmmm. garlic) in a pan. When the oil is hot, I added broccoli (for one of the meals), and let that saute a bit. Once the pasta was cooked, I drained it (in it's original pan, because I'm lazy and that equals less dishes) added some olive oil and parmigiana cheese, then added the broccoli and garlic mixture. Carolyn loooooved this, I was a bit impartial, but it was edible for sure. The second dish was one I made tonight, and we both really loved this one.

Two whole tomatoes, cut into 1 inchish sections, two cloves of garlic (because I love garlic) some basil, some salt, sauteed. The garlic and olive oil sauteed first. When the oil got hot, added the tomatoes, and let that kinda simmer, added the spices. When the pasta was done, it was drained, and I added a pasta sauce to the still hot pot (metal, so it stayed warm all over). Italian tomato sauce is incredibly basic, and actually tastes a bit like tomato soup. Really watery tomato soup. So we haven't been really using it. But I used a bit here, mixed the pasta, put it on plates, and added the sauteed yummy-ness, which had solid tomato chunks, garlic, basil, and salt. It also created a very little bit of it's own sauce.

What I'm saying is, I can cook. A little bit. Maybe not the -most- interesting dishes, but my culinary skills are improving, for all concerned. I'm still afraid of trying to incorporate meat, for fear of under or over cooking it. Some day. Cooking meat is my Everest. It's a very small Everest. More the smaller mountain next to Everest. I'll get there, some day.

Anyway, tomorrow (or Monday night, because I think I'll be tired tomorrow night) there will be an illustrated entry!
We're walking the Aurelian walls that surround Rome. 12.5 miles. Plenty of photo opps. And then tomorrow night we're going to go the Scholars Lounge to watch the Chargers Patriots game. I still have to root for my boys, even across the pond ;)

It'll be a busy week, I have to try to get ahead so I can go on my Barcelona trip feeling guilt free. We get back pretty early on Sunday, but it will be nice to be ahead of the game. I should also start researching Barcelona for my book, so I know what I absolutely -need- to do for photography's sake.

<3

Destination: Barcelona

It's raining again in Rome. And my umbrella is breaking for sure. I think just one... maybe two more days of rain, and then we should be through it.

But no matter! Because last night Carolyn and I booked our first trip out of Italy! I'm going to use a lot of exclamation points here, because it's really exciting! !! Okay, that's enough of that. We booked a flight for 8:00 Thursday night for only E30.00 and Sunday morning for E20.00. E50.00 round trip! Straight from Rome Fiumicino to Barcelona International Airport. It's a pretty good deal, for all that are unaware. So we also booked a hostel for three nights even though we don't get to Barcelona until pretty late. (Not too late though, I swear). Carolyn and I are pretty excited, though.

I'm hoping there will be some Flamenco style dance breaking out in the streets. For my photo project, dontchaknow. Or something remotely cultural.

We have to do some research to figure out what goes on there, and what there is to do. We're kind of thinking that we might just wander around. The hostel is about a block off of a metro stop, so we're going to go into the center of Barcelona and walk around all day, wander, get back to the hostel, hang around. Arc de Triomf, Palau de la Musica Catalana (for project) whatever we happen to see while we're walking.

But that's the plan. 8:00 Thursday night, getting into Barcelona at 9:40 (for E30.00), getting to the hostel early evening (E19.00 a night) and leaving early Sunday morning at 9:15 (E20.00). Figuring in trains and taxis, we came up with around E130.00 and assuming we don't spend too much on food, and I'll by a postcard or some such there, and call it a weekend.

I'm excited. Expect photographs! We're so excited to go. First trip of many, I hope. And then, the following weekend is Tunisia, so expect molto molto fotografia! I think more things are going to be planned tonight, too. I know I have a whole bunch of ideas.

So that's trip numero uno!
<3

Syllabi

Classes started today(!)

A rather anticlimactic event... In a way, I suppose. The day started out with Topics In History: Mediterranean History or whatever it's long, ridiculous title actually is. We went over the syllabus, went around the class and talked about where we're from, our majors, what we're doing in the class, etc etc. Most everyone said they were in the class for the trip to Tunis, Tunisia. Ditto for me. It was a pretty short class. From 9a to 10:30a. Then a huuuuuuuuuuuuge break until...

1p At which point I had Italian II. With Gitti, which is apparently her nickname. She's incredibly nice, super informal. We had a placement exam, though, which I don't think went incredibly well. We had a written thing, read this passage, answer this question. All in Italian. Which may or may not have gone well. I don't think she ever actually looked at it. But we then had an oral exam, which, for all intents and purposes, I bombed. I said to her, (in Italian) I've had 7 years of French, I don't remember my one semester of Italian. She asked, (in French) if we should have our meeting in French, and I responded yes. But we struggled through me trying to speak Italian for a little, plaintively searching for words in Italian that were only coming up French for me. She realized, though, that I could understand her. And that was all she seemed to care about at the moment. I said "Si, capisco" and she drew a red plus on my exam that she never looked at. She said I could go one way or the other, but with my background in French, and my ability to understand her was enough to prove I knew what I was doing. So I was placed into the advanced Italian II section. I hope it goes well. I know once I get a textbook I'll be able to pick right up again. But for now, I'm a bit nervous. She said some flipping might take place, and if I need to, I can go to the easy class, but she seems to think I won't need to. Exciting.

I had a break for a bit, and then went to Classics: Greek and Roman Mythology at 3p. It seemed interesting. The professor reminded me of one of the teachers from high school, but I can't remember her name. It seems interesting enough, and I like stories, and there are plenty of stories here, so it seems like it should be good times. A couple of papers, not too bad.

Then, at 6p I had my anthropology class; Popular Culture in Modern Italy with Gregory Smith. For all intents and purposes, this class has a great syllabus. However, I felt claustrophobic the whole time in the classroom, and I think the professor was making me feel that way. He had a very thin voice and a speech tick that I couldn't handle, not for an hour and a half. So I'm considering dropping this class. I already accidentally ordered/paid for the text book, so I think I might read it on my own. I still have 14 credit hours, for anyone that thinks I don't have a full course load. Since it's my night class, I can try to use this time to go out and photograph night-ish events that happen during the week. Because, yes, I still have my 4 credit independent study for Dr. Trayes back on main campus. 2 books. And I think I'm going to make a third (not printed, just PDF'd) as a surprise, about food.

Anyway, I have a bit of a headache (read: Migraine) So I'm going to go to bed and try to sleep it off. Someone asked for my address though. If anyone wants to send mail, postcards, what have you, the address is:


Wendy Borst
Temple University Rome
Lungotevere Arnaldo da Brescia, 15
00196 Rome, Italy

The mail all goes to the school, where we have little mailboxes (literally cubby holes, and it's just by letter of last name. Everyone doesn't get their own individual one...) I discourage sending packages, because we have to pay customs on them when they get here. However, mail is always nice to get :)

Anyway, migraine asks me to go to sleep. But, as an aside, if anyone reads this and has something to say, please, e-mail me. Let me know you're out there. I love getting e-mail, I really do... Anything about anything I'm doing, it'd be nice to see who reads this, and what they think of my trip and such.

Goodnight!

Todi and Titignano

Today was our day long excursion to Todi (in Umbria) and Titignano (also in Umbria). It rained, making it less than ideal for picture taking that could adequately depict the beauty of the day, but still beautiful. It's something else to go from Roma to Umbria, and drive through the rolling hills. We just don't have places like this in the United States anymore, I don't think. Todi is a little hill town, and all around, for miles, you can see hills just sweeping off into the distance. It was beautiful, despite the rain.



It was kind of an adorable little town, set up the way I kind of expected Rome to be, with narrow alley-ways and the roofing that is made of those semi-circle clay pieces (I'm sure they have a name). As we were leaving to get back on the bus, we passed by a major cathedral in Todi, and there was a marching band waiting for mass to get out. Once they got out, the band started playing, but it was traditional marching band music, like Souza stuff, not anything terribly church-y. I still don't know why they were there, but it was pretty nifty.



After Todi we got back on the bus to go to Titignano, which is sort of it's own entity. It isn't a town, like Todi, but it's a "castle," which doesn't really look like a castle. But we had a full Italian lunch (because that's what their big meal is, it's lunch, not dinner). I swear, it had about 10 courses. And so, I took some pictures...

The first course consisted of little things, I don't even know what they were exactly. There was something really delicious made out of phyllo dough and melted cheese. There were also meats, and some things on a hard Italian bread that looked like spreads. The bright yellow one, we decided, had egg in it. That was all we could figure out. Then, little pizza squares were also served later in this course, and a piece of bread with sausage on it.



Then, we were served risotto with asparagus, which was, admittedly yummy, despite my initial aversion to asparagus. I guess smaller bits are good with me. Maybe I'm just not an asparagus tips person...



The next course was a wide egg noodle with (get this!) wild boar! It was very delicious. Had a bit of a kick to it. Something to note, everything we ate here today was said to have been either grown on the site or (in the case of wild boar) hunted specifically for this purpose. I guess I'll have to take their word.



As if this wasn't enough food, we then got some spinach. Fresh! Yumm. Kind of uninteresting to photograph, sure, but the color was such a rich green! Unlike that dark green spinach we have back home.




We then had either chicken or lamb (our choice) but she was offering in Italian, and I kind of just said "Si," when she pointed to something, which was recognizable as chicken. And potatoes came with this course. And the potatoes were excellent! Then we got dessert! There was tiramisu, which was delicious, with fresh made lady fingers and espresso dustings. We also got almond biscotti to dip in dessert wine, but I think I would have preferred coffee. The dessert wine was waaaay too sweet. But, do as the Romans. And then! We got espresso. Which I adore, because I enjoy my caffeine. Carolyn tried it and was rather unimpressed, so I had two espresso! Which was probably a bad idea. Delicious. Carolyn had poured her entire sugar pack into her espresso, so it was a bit sweet, but still. Yumm.



***

Last night Carolyn and I went out near Piazza Navona (which is a bit touristy, I hear) and went to an Irish Pub to watch a football game. Got to use the bus system, which took a while, and it was pouring, and the game was Seattle v. Green Bay, which I wasn't totally invested in anyway, and it turned out to be kinda a win from the half onward. But it was still fun. I got a Magners 560, which is an Irish Cider, and incredibly huge. It lasted me the entire game, though. Well, until the end of the 3rd, which is when we left, and then proceeded to find the 99 night bus. We definitely learned the art of busing in Roma, though. If you see the number bus you know you want, just flag it down. It'll stop. Hopefully. It was a fun adventure, and I'm glad we went out and did it.

***

Classes start tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll be updating at some point. I also get my syllabi tomorrow, so I can finally start planning all my weekend trips. Some things to watch out for: Madrid or Barcelona the end of this month, Tunisia the first weekend in February, Paris-Belgium (not sure which city yet)-Amsterdam for Spring break the last week of February, Budapest in March, Dublin in April (for my birthday!!) And some other stuff in between... I'd love to go to: Warsaw, Prague, Vienna, Germany (anywhere), Copenhagen, London.

A girl can dream <3

Student Tours

I can't help but wonder if they're trying to overwhelm us with walking, so the 40 minute walk to campus (which is, in fact, a 40 minute walk at a brisk pace, dodging traffic) doesn't seem quite so tedious day in and day out. Thankfully, today we were introduced to the Roman bus system. Which I almost wish I wasn't introduced to. Alas, we all have to do things we don't like.

We started at the school today
(photographer rather unceremoniously here)

It is a three story building just across the Tevere. It's the Villa Caproni, and apparently some women live in the upstairs. Long story, I guess. The person that originally owned the building was in aviation, and I suppose his daughters (granddaughters) inherited. Again, some of my own research could help here... which is located, as far as the compass goes, just north of the Piazza del Popolo. Which we returned to again today! We took the steps up to the balcony that overlooks the piazza. A rather laborious walk up steep steps that slope backwards a bit. And! Since I have a bit of a head cold, it was all the more fun with the dizziness. But the view at the top was pretty spectacular. I imagine it looks better when the haze isn't encompassing the city, but still pretty special.

The center is the the obelisk, the the left are the three roads that converge on the piazza. The dome in the back left of center is the Vatican (which I still haven't visited. Expect that at some point. Carolyn went already, I haven't gone yet. She said it's pretty. She also found an ice skating rink. But apparently they don't believe in Zambonis here, because it was awfully ungroomed).

From the Piazza we wandered back to find a Tabacci (Tobacco shop) to get tickets, or biglietti for the crazy bus. Which was crazy. We went the most backwards way around Rome to finally get let off near the Torre Argentina stop. Which had, get this, a cat sanctuary!!

Torre Argentina has a lot of history. From what I've read, Caesar was stabbed at Torre Argentina, and it was the host to four Roman Temples. And now it's the home to the Roman cat sanctuary (http://www.romancats.com/index_eng.php) Check it out. I think I could have spent hours.

You can't actually go in and hang with the cats, for obvious reasons, but a few of us had a great time playing "find the cat that looks like your cat at home!" Which made Carolyn more homesick.

I like to think I'm playing this at an advantage. About half of the students, a bit more, are from Temple. Students at Temple tend to be overwhelming from Philadelphia, ie half an hour from home. I've been away from home since I started school. Not terribly far away, but still a fair distance. I think it's allowed me to adjust more easily. I say this now, on the third day. Please, don't remind me when I'm half way through and just want to go home to see my parents and cats. That would be embarrassing.

So far so good, though. I figure it'll go fast when I have points and benchmarks. Like the end of this month I think we're going to Spain. So you live until Spain. And then you have a new benchmark, and you live until that. And it's over and gone and you're flying back across the Atlantic before you know it.

I totally forgot to mention lunch! Excerpt from an e-mail to my mom:

We went to the grocery store last night, which was interesting. Kind of fun. I've been trying to work out some Italian. At the very least, I try to say grazie, and prego, par favore, ciao, stuff like that. I ordered pizza at lunch today, and you can kinda point and say what you want. They have big rectangle pies, and they start cutting it, and you say piu or meno if you want more or less. I had crustino pomodoro, which was like regular pizza with tomatoes on it. I was going to get picante pomodoro, which as those hot pepper chips on it. But I didn't. My friend Andrea got one that had zucchini and broccoli on it, and it tasted like delicious and made me envious.

That's life so far. Tomorrow is Permission to Stay procedure. So I'm gonna have a hunch and say no post tomorrow. I think these'll get less frequent, with big posts whenever I go on a trip.

<3

Orientation week

Orientation and such. Good times. Long days. Course rosters were distributed, gate keys were given, and I just about lost my feet and quite possibly my life walking around. The Italians drive like crazies. Absolute crazies. If there is something solid to drive on, they are driving on it. I don't even think they pay attention to painted lines on the street. But! Here are some things from the trip:



We flew over the Alps on the way from Zurich to Rome. Pretty cool thing. The one thing that really stood out to me as I was viewing this mountain range and being thoroughly awed was that I was currently seeing something my parents had never seen. Weird.

So we were strolling through Rome and I happened to see:




Turns out, I just can't get away from Randstad. Not even in a foreign country forever and a half away from the United States.

Yes, Virginia, Rome has palm trees:



Some statue in the Piazza del Quirinale. Or something like that. Everything in Rome sounds incredibly important, because everything is called Piazza or Piazella. Turns out, we have a Piazella about two blocks away. Yeah, it's a traffic circle.

We did a lot today. I didn't take a ton of pictures, because I figure I'll be hanging around Europe plenty, many opportunities for photographs. I just wanted to take it all in today. But!



This is the reason they say all roads lead to Rome. The Piazza de Popolo has four roads leading into it, three of them facing the fourth and, at one time I'm sure there were more. I should read up more on the city I'm staying in, so I know what I'm talking about...

I'm sure there will be more to come.

<3