passera_roma

I've been back home for a month now, and now I'm here to close out this journal.

My proof of papal almost-contact:



I also have a Study Abroad Rome 2009 playlist:

Just Dance, Lady Gaga (aka my housemates' theme song)
Womanizer, Britney Spears
I Kissed a Girl, Katy Perry
Circus, Britney Spears

Back again!

The semester is over, and I'm here in our Via Aurelia apartment the night before a trip to Tuscany. It's been pretty eventful, so here's the lowdown.

I missed the Good Friday service, but that's all fine. I attended the Easter Sunday mass at the Vatican, and I'll post the picture of our dear Pope Benedict XVI later. It was cool, but I couldn't really see much thanks to the really, really tall German girls who refused to move from right in front of me. But I took pictures of the big screen with the big man himself on it.

My exams went very well, considering. I did pretty well on my Italian grammar, as well as my Ars Technica/Art History verbal test, and practically aced my drawing final. But the actual semester abroad finished as frustratingly and annoyingly as it had begun.

Back story: when my parents finalized their trip, I went to our secretary and asked her if it would be ok if my parents and my sister joined us for our farewell dinner that night. She assured me multiple times that everything would be fine, they'd just have to show up, pay 10 euro each, and they'd be taken care of. Flashforward to last Thursday. They arrived just fine, and we spent the next few hours lugging my stuff to Via Aurelia (and taking the long way round the Vatican walls in the process, thank you Mapquest) and for whatever reason I believed the dinner started at 8. So we get ready, and we show up. The school director is there and when I introduce my parents he gets this really befuddled look. Then two of the girls from the program come up the stairs and say, 'Jen, there you are, we've been waiting for you to eat! The dinner started at 7:30! Vaughn and Bennett have been worried about you!' I went downstairs, and the place is completely filled up, not a seat to be had, and none of my friends seemed to notice my absence or bothered to call. Then one of the GustoLab workers tells me that there's no room for my parents and not enough food, since the secretary never told her about my parents and sister coming. So now I'm really irritated. For my farewell dinner with my group, my family and I would have to be cramped in a little corner, away from my other friends, and possibly not be fed very well. The teachers, despite all their 'worrying' never thought to call my phone to ask where I was or anything. Just all around bad planning and bad communication skills. So I did not attend my farewell dinner, and took my parents out to eat. That being done, we began our tour of Italy the next day.

We spent the first three days in Rome itself, then hopped a bullet train to Venice early Monday morning. I hadn't been to Venice in four years, but I was still able to navigate pretty well. We had a really good hotel 10 minutes away from St. Mark's basilica, which was really cool. Emily and I had our own room, and we were part of the 'family suite'. We also got breakfast delivered to our room. Wednesday was Ostia Antica and a whirlwind trip to the beach (only to look). Today we went to Naples and Pompeii, and got scammed going up Vesuvius in the process. Trying to visit the crater wasted huge amounts of time, as the driver made us stop near the top to listen to some lady try to sell us things from her dirty, smelly 'bar.' They were kind of sketchy about schedules going back down the volcano, and we had to make sure we were back at Naples' Garibaldi train station around 5 to catch our train back to Rome. So we pretty much went up and back pretty quickly. Our driver was insane. I feared for my life. Near the top he started honking his horn and just driving, almost running people and other cars over. He was doubly insane on the way back, driving at breakneck speeds down the tiny, winding trails, passing huge other buses at 40-50 mph. ON TOP OF A VOLCANO. I was so afraid.

Tomorrow we head off to Florence, then Saturday is Siena. I think we're going to try a resturaunt in the Jewish ghetto area for dinner when we get back from Siena, then Sunday we're going to putz around Rome. Monday's our planes home.

I have so much stuff to bring home. Hope everyone likes their gifts . . .

After getting home around 1 last night, I rolled (literally) out of bed around 10 or so this morning. We had another tremor last night, for about a minute and a half. I was over at one of the other apartments hanging out and suddenly the bed started shaking. Anyhows, today is Good Friday obviously, so there's supposed to be a lot of pageantry over at the Vatican. I went to see what I could find, but around 10:30 there were only long lines into the Vatican itself. The chairs were still set up for what I can only assume to be the service later, but I have an unusual knack for not finding it on time. I went out shopping, and got gifts for almost everyone. I still need to find Kerry's and a few others; to anyone I miss, please understand that I am now, honestly, broke, and can't be taking much money out anymore. The $700 dollars needs to keep me going throughout the summer, too. I also got myself a cute little espresso cup, which I'd been looking for.

I'll probably try and catch a service for Good Friday soon, but mostly I'll look towards the Easter service. I haven't really been witness to any pageantry in the last week, but we'll see.

The term is winding down now. I just had my very last Sketchbook Rome class, and in half an hour I'll have my last Italian class. My Ars Technica/Art History oral final interview is on Saturday at 3:30, and my Sketchbook grading session is next Wednesday. Next week is basically for packing and Italian finals, as well as Easter.

Speaking of Easter and that, last Sunday I was awoken to hymns and bells, a wonderful welcome to Holy Week in the capital of Catholicism.

On a note of school things, I not only got all my classes but also the housing of choice for senior year: one of the new Odell's units, where I'll live with some of my friends.

My parents will be here in exactly a week, and I still need to buy some gifts! Argh!

Oops, I forgot to post again!

I had a fantastic trip to Siena and Florence, and just finished an awesome visit with Kim and Catie before they go gallivanting off through Europe on a whirlwind adventure. Siena was really cool, especially in the fact that I started to remember bits and pieces of it from my trip three years ago with Mr. Buonanno. Still didn't go into the Torture museum, but this time we actually went into the city hall to look at the frescoes and cool stuff in there. We were in Florence later that night. Florence itself is much more touristy than Rome, and more people speak English. We ran into a woman from Brooklyn working at the leather shop right next door to our hotel, which was funny. Saturday night and Sunday morning it poured horribly, but fun times were still had by all. I'm posting pictures on my facebook as I write.

Kim and Catie arrived Thursday morning, and I was in a panic when they didn't call or meet me at St. Peter's. So I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to figure out if they were lost, kidnapped, or stuck somewhere. I was finally able to get in touch with them when I went back to my apartment and checked my US phone, which they had been calling. So I rushed off to pick them up at Termini. That night was pretty relaxing, and the next morning Kim and I went out got to go visit the cat sanctuary, and even went in to the main office where they keep some of the cats. We got to play with them for a while, then we went back to pick Catie up and went with Jose to Le Montecarlo for a delicious lunch. That night we went for a late dinner to Coming Out, and hung out there until 2. Fun was had by all, for details ask our visitors ;D Afterwards we were going to go to the Ice Bar, but our free ticket in had left, so we went to hang out at his apartment. My brain stopped functioning around 4:30, so we took a cab back to my apartment and attempted to sleep. A futile effort for me, since my internal body clock wakes me up around 7:30-8 AM nowadays. Catie and Kim slept until 1:30, then around 2 we tried to go for a picnic at the Borghese gardens with one of the other girls in the program, Merrill. Unfortunately it got dark and foreboding with thunder and such (though it never really rained). We stayed in with our picnic lunches and hung out before heading over to the Abbey. We had another late night last night, and almost attempted to stay up the whole night since they had to leave to catch their plane around 5:30. I was rather dead, and when we returned from Termini around 6:30 I went back to bed, completely knocked out. I woke up around 1:30 this afternoon.

On a note that has more to do with being back home and not abroad, I finally received word back from the park ranger I've been talking to at Lowell National Historical Park. She has offered me the internship position, which would pay $75 a week at 40 hours a week plus weekends, but it would give me a greater chance of getting an actual job as a park ranger next year if I want it. She says I can accept now and be sure of the job. I think I will try to work at the movie theater as supplementary. I will probably remain poor this summer. And I'll have to see about any time off on a weekend or two. Hopefully that won't be a problem.

A week and a half before my parents are here and we go on our own tour of Italy! Wow . . .

One month.

What happened?


Well, I've taken to visiting the sights that for some odd reason I hadn't before. Last Friday I went into the Vatican and was almost trampled by a stampede of priests in purple. Not everyone can say that, right? haha. By the by, I love GianLorenzo Bernini.







This Friday I took a trip to the Roman museum of Oriental art, which was really cool. Not the typical destination for an American tourist, as made obvious by the lack of English translations on the plaques. Either way I really enjoyed it. I managed to talk my way into a free ticket with my Awesome Italian Skills, since the ticket was supposed to be 11 euro. It isn't something any of the other kids in the program have really thought about seeing. It was really cold afterwards, so I didn't really go anywhere once I was back in the center.

Saturday I was up bright and early to go visit the Castel Sant'Angelo (a whole 8.50 euro) which was pretty fun. I'm not keen to keep paying that much for every museum, but some of the museums just don't care if you're a foreign student in an Italian university. Especially if you're American. I tried to go visit some other places, including the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, which houses three Caravaggio masterpieces and has been closed due to refurbishments for the last month. Unfortunately, while the church itself was open, the chapel containing the three paintings was completely blocked by steel pipes holding the paintings away from the walls. Simply horrible, in my opinion. I hope they're visible by next month. I studied the paintings (based on the life of St. Matthew) for almost a full month in one of my classes Sophomore year, and wanted to see them in real life. Later in the afternoon I went into the Forum and finally got to explore inside. I don't have my pictures uploaded yet, sorry.

Today involved a lot of walking all morning. I still had my 24 hour ticket from the Forum, which will also get you into the Colisseum within that time period. I thought it would be fine if I wore my flat-footed Converse, since I thought I wouldn't do that much walking. Well, as it turns out today was the day of the Roman Marathon. Hence, the buses were completely shut down. So, I walked across the city to the Colisseum. Then I walked to the Jewish ghetto to the synagogue for a tour and look around the museum. I am now waiting for Mackenzie and Kim to go online so I can chat with them, and for Jose to show so we can go run around like crazy kids.

Thursday's the trip to Siena and Florence! Then the weekend after is Catie and Kim's visit, so we're winding down to a close sadly.

Ideas for gifts! Now!

The time is certainly flying now that we're over the hill of this trip . . . if that makes any sense. I'm just over halfway done, and the next few weeks are getting planned out and filled. There's nothing this weekend, but I'd like to try for Berlin next weekend if I can. I got in touch with an old high school friend studying in Florence, and I'm just waiting for her response to see if she'd be up for a trip. The last weekend of March we're off to Siena and Florence; the first weekend in April I am being visited by the two friends Jose and I visited in Norwich; one free weekend, and then there's a slim possibility that I may take a trip to Vienna for Easter to visit/meet a relatively distant relative. Then my parents arrive and I travel with them, and then I'm home.

I have this weird relationship with the concept of going home now. I am excited for the prospect, as it means being able to see my friends at home and in New York when I crash Mackenzie's house for a few days (and summarily take Oscar the Chick/Man Magnet for walks around campus/sneak into the Odell's unit and play video games/generally bother people). Then there's the job I have to worry about. I want the summer park ranger position at the Lowell National Park ($12/hour, 40 hour weeks possibly) as that would crush all other jobs on my mental scanner. I'll probably work at AMC for a bit off and on, since May and June are filled with things that are awesome: Anime Boston, mine and Kim's 21st birthdays, trips to NYC, Harry Potter movies, that sort of awesome.

On the other hand I feel incredibly silly for even thinking about how excited I am to go home. I mean, I'm in Rome. How many people would give their left arm to study here? Then again I guess my desire to go home could be the result of all the issues this trip has produced. I want to go home and get ready for everything awesome in the summer.

( Cut here for School things )

Anyway, back to things people really want to hear about. We visited two famous villas on Friday, an I have a ton of pictures from them; something like 120, or along those lines. I'll suggest using my Facebook account to see these pictures since it would probably take 20 hours for some of them to load on here.

I wish I had more of a story to tell here, but there hasn't been much to tell. I went on a little adventure to a flea market on Saturday morning and had to deal with vendors trying to sell me a string they tie around your finger. Weird, right? Apparently they just tie the string and then want you to pay them for it. Some people actually do.

Latest lesson/command: Do Not Buy Stupid Things From Vendors. They Are Annoying Made Flesh.

Hey there, all. Ok, so we got some new information on my professor. He's awake, and has ok motor skills for the time being. He just doesn't really remember anyone or what happened. So. We're hoping he starts remembering people soon.

The truth is revealed. Thank you, Catie.

Jose and I left Monday morning for England, and we had a blast. It was such a different environment from this program; they're at an actual Uni with classes that make sense, and they're living with other students at the Uni. Meanwhile we are continuously forced together and to be cliquey. I was jealous.

Our plane was at 1:30 from Fumicino, so we took the train from Termini to the airport. We ended up being within touching distance of the Italian rugby team, but no pictures were taken for the sake of not being a rugby fan and that would have felt awkward. Our plane touched down around 4, and then we waited for our coach bus to UEA. The bus itself was almost 5 hours long, but we were so excited to be there and see Kim and Catie. We more or less turned around and went out to a club called Mercy in downtown Norwich, which was a lot of fun as well. Friday we went out and explored the city a little, including the castle and the market stalls. Then that night we went to a club called Optic, which required shoes on the fancy side.

I pulled out these babies.




They redefine the saying "beauty is pain."

Anyways, foot pain, exhaustion, and alcohol caused us to call it a relatively early night, but the cab ride home was worth the pain. Catie was a bit drunk, and was having a very animated conversation with the cab driver, who was very amused. There was a debate over the spelling of his name and multiple assertions that he was the best cab driver, ever, in eternity. It was rather entertaining.

Saturday was mostly hanging out and having a skype conversation with one of our other friends in New York. Then Jose and I had to catch the coach back into London, and neither of us slept at all. I'm considering just going back to the apartment and passing out for a while.

"It's all part of my plan . .. Come on, the stairs won't kill you!"
- B.S. (HAHAHAHA) and Professor Bennett

I've been here six weeks!

How time flies, right?

We had a group trip today to the Appian Way, and it was by far one of my favorite trips (since we actually had a chartered bus and I found my future home when I'm rich). We started out at the Baths of Caracalla, which are fantastic ruins of a huge bath complex behind the Circus Maximus, complete with still-intact mosaics. Then we headed over to the catacombs of St. Sebastian. I really wish I could've taken pictures inside, but they didn't allow it. Not that that's really ever stopped me before . .. anyway. I did take some pictures in the chapel upstairs.




St. Sebastian's tomb with a sculpture done by one of Bernini's apprentices.

We also saw the Circus of Maxentius, which is a much more well-preserved Circus as opposed to the rather artificial Circus Maximus (which, as we learned, was the home of Italy's power plant before they tore that down and left the empty field where the Circus was in antiquity. The Circus of Maxentius actually has ruins and leftovers of the spina, and the starting gates. Pretty cool.

And I guess this is where I warn people about relying on travel agents to set up reservations. My professors were forced to use a travel agent, and she said she'd set us up in a nice place to eat near Castel Gandolfo. We ended up in a weird little hotel restaurant in a parking lot . .. nowhere near Castel Gandolfo. It was annoying.

Anyways. After a meal with cheap wine, pasta and kabobs, we were shuttled up a mountain to Castel Gondolfo, where the Pope spends his summers. It's a town perched on top of a mountain, around the lake at the center. Cool, right? Want to know what's even cooler? IT'S ACTUALLY AN EXTINCT VOLCANO FILLED WITH WATER. It's gorgeous. I want to live there. Look, there was even a 'for sale' sign for an apartment!




But this is what I'm talking about:




Gorgeous, right? Totally living here. The 139,000 - 2,400,000 euro price range might be a problem.

*sigh* I guess I'll just marry rich and take off here.

Then we went back to the Appia nuova to look at some aqueducts. There was filming for a movie/tv show/something going on . . . we think it was about gypsies based on the costumes and the old wagon they had. It was cool. We tried to check out one of the other carriages that was hidden away near the horses, but some guys came and shooed us away.

Overall, it was pretty cool. I also went and saw "the Curious Case of Benjamin Button" last night, in Italian. But I got the gist.

I'm planning to spend the day tomorrow in the Capitoline museums catching up on my Sketching homework. And taking pictures. I take an obscene amount of pictures.

Well, I'm back! Unfortunately I don't have any news on my professor, only that he's still in the doctor-induced coma. We're surprisingly already reaching the middle point of the semester, judging by the presence of an Italian midterm this Thursday (eek).

I just booked tickets for Jose and I to visit friends in Norwich, England for around 200 euro roundtrip for both of us, so I'd consider that a pretty good deal. We're leaving Thursday the 26th at 1:30 in the afternoon, and we'll be back in Rome around 9:30 AM on Sunday March 1. I'm really excited about the trip, and am thinking about putting more together. I'd really like to go visit Assisi and some other countries with I'm over here, and I'm working on figuring out what weekends would be best to go where. Then I'd need to find people to go with me, since I don't know if Jose will have the money to go everywhere. Maybe in early April I'll convince some people to go to the Cinqueterra with me. I regrettably haven't done much traveling, but I don't really see how that could be expected, what with the customs debacle and such. But now I want to see how many places I can get to without overextending my bank account XD.

My friend from high school recently arrived on a school trip here, and we got together on Valentine's Day to take one of the touristy tours of Rome.




Something of a more cultural note here, when you see people walking their dogs around, don't immediately assume it's ok to go up and pet them. My Australian neighbor was the first to verbally express her discomfort with it when strangers just come up to pet her husky, Frankie. She said that dogs here are as aloof as their owners, and most of them don't want to be touched by strangers . . . Unlike my dog, Monty, who immediately assumes that every new person he sees is his newest friend.

Please look to my Facebook account for all my pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2035259&id=32003284

Hey everyone, just thought I'd give you a little update. Monday, one of my professors (here and at HWS) was in a head-on moped accident with a minivan, and is in a medication-induced coma currently. His jaw was pretty much shattered, but the doctors are sure there will be no spinal or brain complications. This was a kind of startling thing, since he's always a safe driver and all. My class of three got a new professor who's picking up where he left off, but we're waiting for more news on Professor Lucci. Here's to hoping for the best.

I am proud to say that I finally received the box from Customs after a bit more drama about them suddenly deciding to charge me for the laptop that they didn't know was in the box . . . which is absolute bull. So I'm currently writing on my new laptop, which I'm very excited about. I've named him Virgil.

The 'Hail Xenu' in the title comes from the fact that last week was the opening of Valkyrie in Rome, and Tom Cruise was there. I was walking with one of the other girls and there was this huge crowd down the main street from the Vatican. We realized it was the movie opening, and wondered if anyone famous was there. Lo and behold, we caught glimpses of Tom bloody Cruise communing with the red carpet in all his short glory. The other girl has pictures, since she was the only one with the camera. Silly me, the thought to shout 'HAIL XENU' didn't come to me until one of my friends from home commented that I should have.

And so. Pictures. I shall give you a little tour of the Borgo, but not my apartment since it is perpetually messy.



This is my front door. Not very exciting . . . the guys' apartment has a really cool door. But anyway, when you walk out this door and turn right, walking all the way to a really big wall then walk to the left you see this:



Behold, il Vaticano!

If you walk the other way for a bit and follow the traffic, you run into this thing:



Behold, Castle Sant'Angelo! Granted, this is from the other end of the bridge, but I walk across it every day so whatever.

I spent this morning running around the Vatican Museums, but I don't have the space in this post nor the patience for each photo to upload to show y'all my awesome pictures, but know this: I communed with Caravaggios, Renis, famous chapels, and famous sculptures like Laoccoon and the many-breasted Athena. And I got yelled at when I took a picture of the Last Judgement right next to the 'No Photography' sign. Hehehe.

So says Oliver, the Welsh bartender at the Irish pub we frequent for drinks and soccer games.

The last week has progressed with much annoyance at the continuing comedy of errors that is Italian customs. I have yet to receive anything that was sent other than a card, but I am anticipating my new laptop and everything this week. Hopefully that's not the bad luck I've been experiencing.

I don't really have that much to report or anything, it's been a very quiet week other than the bit of partying that I participated in. That was Friday. Yesterday was spent sleeping (off the gin in those drinks) and wandering around with Jose until we went back to my apartment and I cooked dinner. I was tired, and proceeded to steal his laptop and several of his DVDs to entertain myself. Including one of my new obsessions, a really campy and fun show called Supernatural. I watched the first half of the first season in one sitting.

Jose and I have been making plans to travel to England for Valentine's Day to visit Kim and Catie! We're really excited, we just have to figure out the little details and logistics. We want to leave the Thursday before, I think that would be the 12th, and stay until Monday morning or so. Maybe later this week I'll have more to say . . . I'm really trying not to launch into a rant about my flatmates and their inability to wash their own dishes. It's disgusting.

Well, I've been here for almost two weeks and so far it's been a fairly balanced experience. I learned my first lesson in Roman travel within hours of arriving, but more on that later. I know most of you have heard a second-hand version from my sister on Facebook, so I'll give you the whole gag.

We got onto our scheduled flight at JFK just fine, and arrived at Charles de Gaulles airport outside Paris around 7 AM, their time. We moved to our scheduled departure area, set to leave for 9:30 AM. The flight was delayed twice before they announced it was cancelled due to a baggage handlers' strike in Rome. A rebooking of our flight was cancelled later that night, so we remained at the airport for two days, napping on the floor under chairs and waiting in endless lines to reschedule our flight. Air France lost baggage that never left the airport. Personalities - and problems - were clearly established. Poor planning was unveiled. Gay boys waiting for planes to Milan got help with their English homework from all-too-obliging Americans also stuck. We bonded. I still had no idea who my flatmates were. And so on, and so forth. To be honest, I'm glossing over two hellish days, but I think you get the picture.

We finally arrived in Rome late at night on Friday the 7th, where we promtly discovered that several of us had lost important pieces of luggage, including my friend Josè, whose luggage had an estimated worth of $3500. We were all livid, jet-lagged, and lit fuses. The two teachers decided that the best way to get us home was to have us take the train, then taxis since they'd spent all the money on buses earlier, sending them to pick us up when we were still in Paris.

Now we get to the fun part.

My address is 97 Borgo Vittorio, which is NOT 97 Corso Vittorio. Our cab dropped us off at the latter, and while we got out of the cab, confused and unsure it was the right place, he started taking suitcases out of the trunk and demanding 20 Euro. He then drove off.

With my backpack, which was in the back seat with me.

Which contained my laptop and precious writing, digital camera, PSP and games to go along, medicines, journals, iPod, study abroad info, and most of my books. Luckily I kept my IDs, phone, money, and bank cards on me or he'd have those too. But I've honestly never felt so angry, helpless or betrayed in my life, which for those who know my history is saying something. I legitimately had a panic attack in the street.

So here's the first lesson, which should go without saying but. . . well, apparently I didn't listen the first 20,000 times. Do not ever rely on your mode of transportation, especially where you must entrust the care of yourself or your prized belongings directly to another person. While most of my writing is backed up, I don't know how much of it is. I cried for days after it happened.

The second lesson involves living in Rome. This is where the saying, 'when in Rome' comes in, and they mean it. Cut your showers short, unless you like them ice-cold. Enjoy your surroundings. Watch were the locals eat and shop, and join them. Try not to speak English, that sort of thing. Go out with people and explore. You never know what you'll find.

I would like to stress that while my first week here has added approximately ten years to my face, I'm not entirely unhappy or miserable now. I'm getting to know my flatmates a bit more (they're on the clubbing and pub crawl circuit, I just want to read and explore) and I'm making friends with the other kids in the group. I've been over the guys' apartment several times and have gone to the local pubs to watch soccer games with them, and try to hang out with the other girls when I can. My new drug of choice is a cappuchino with lots of sugar; thankfully the cups are only about the size of my thumb. I do a lot of window shopping and some actual shopping. I still get homesick and have the urge to call home when I'm bored or have nothing to do.

Oh, one last lesson before I do: don't send medication to Italy by Fed-Ex, or any other carrier. Customs will throw a hissy fit.

Departure time is 6:00 on Wednesday, January 7 from JFK Airport in NYC.

The adventure begins the next morning.