Roma

Greetings from Rome! I have been here for three days now and i feel like I have been here forever because I've been so busy with finding my way around, learning italian, and starting classes. I am finally sitting down to write this before we all go out to Campo de Fiore which is an area with food markets and American bars! We are going to Scholars which is the bar that all the American students in Rome go to.

I live in an apartment in Trastevere, which is a very authentic part of Rome because I live among other Romans in old school apartments...with out a clothes dryer (we have to hang dry ALL of our laundry outside), without AC (and its like 80 degrees here everyday/night so we all sweat to death and are perpetually sweaty), and we have to light a match to light the stove which is terrifying. My room is sooo small I have a single and it is barely big enough for me to move around. The outlets are really weird here too and you have to do all these fancy techniques to get any plug working. And the windows don't have screens which is really strange but the fresh air is really nice when there is a breeze. I really like it here and the culture is so amazing. The language is beautiful (bella!) and all the shops close at random times during the day for siesta and everyone takes long lunch breaks. Yesterday I tried my first cappucino and it was sooo good, but i still have to taste the wine! I went grocery shopping and got so confused with buying milk because they don't do percentages so I just picked a random bottle that ended up being really good. The fruit is all native of Italy and the bread is freshly made so everything goes bad so quickly but it is all so delicious and good for you! Tomorrow I might attempt chicken parm but our stove gets so hott very quickly so I have to be careful. I have eaten two pieces of pizza (I wasn't that hungry this week because of jet lag/I was still getting used to the food) and they were soooo goooood. And cheap. Like 2.50 in american dollars. You can get any kind- margherita, potato, panchetta, cheese, spicy sauce, etc. I have only tried the cheese and margherita but they were delish! 

To get to school, I have to take a tram and then a bus because I live a 30 minute walking distance from the school. The public transportation is basically free unless one of the officers is standing in the tram in which case you have to swipe your card and if you don't have one it's a $50 fine! I haven't seen any officers at all, though. After my 10 minute commute I walk to the top of Monteverde and my school sits on the huge hill. It is gorgeous and is really small--only 500 students and 4 buildings. But there is a beautiful garden where people hang out after classes and there is a coffee shop and pizza shop around the corner. My classes are harder than I thought they would be which is annoying but hopefully I will do well because they count towards my GPA :(. 

I already planned trips to Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii (and Sorrento where I hear they have CHICKEN PARM), and to Assissi and I am thinking about going to Croatia, Ireland, Spain, the South of France, and London. I am not sure what I am doing for fall break but I could visit Berlin, Prague, and Amsterdam or go to Egypt! No idea yet, though.

Well, that's all for now because I have to do some reading and then go grocery shopping. Hopefully I will update again soon! Also, this blog website is all in italian and its really hard to know what I'm doing haha.