Weekend Pictures!

Margaret and I in front of the Leaning Tower!

Leaning Tower!

Typical picture - got to do it!

A pretty dome in Pisa!

Statues in Florence!

More Florence!

Street Art in Florence

Ceiling of the huge duomo/cathedral we went into!

Margaret and I over looking Florence - those 463 steps were worth it!

Our Florence group!

Sean, Margaret, Joe, Steve, Jonathan, and me

Solo shot with Florence in the background!

Absolutely gorgeous!

One of the many huge, beautiful cathedrals in Florence!

Pisa and Florence!!!

Ciao everyone! I'm just back from my weekend away! We had SUCH a great time! On Friday, we went to Pisa with a group from my university in Rome just for the day. Turns out Pisa is fun for about... 30 minutes. We got to see the Leaning Tower and the surrounding buildings, and then we saw a few other things, but to be quite honest, I have no idea what they were. We were in one of those typical tour groups where you follow your guide while they hold up a neon umbrella or something so you can see where to go... needless to say, it wasn't my favorite place in the world. However, the Leaning Tower was really pretty cool, and we got to take the typical "pushing the tower over" or "kicking the tower down" pictures so that was entertaining. We had booked a train to leave from Pisa to Florence, so after we took all those pictures, we made our way to the train station. Which was tiny... and not super nice. So we waited for our train in a cafe outside, and when we finally got on our train, we found out quickly that we were on a regional train... not as nice as the train we rode from Florence to Rome. So we sat with our bags in our laps and chatted with each other until the hour ride was over. We fell in love with Florence the second we got outside the train station! It is unbelievable how different it is from Rome. Rome is very fast paced and noisy, while Florence is much more quiet and relaxed. We soon recognized the difference in paces - when walking in Florence, we walked slowly, in no rush. In Rome, things are hectic and people are everywhere... so much different. We call it our "Florence pace" and our "Rome pace." It was definitely a nice break from the big city. So I thought before that I was bad with directions... now I know, after attempting to help navigate to our hostel in Florence... that I am absolutely AWFUL with directions. After a few minutes, I decided to not participate in the decision-making process of where to go, and just follow the group. I think everyone appreciated that. We finally got our room, and were pleasantly surprised. For a hostel, I'd say it was pretty nice. We ate a yummy dinner and enjoyed our first night in Florence! On Saturday, we got up fairly early, and without my help, found our way to several cathedrals and beautiful sights. Like I said, Florence is absolutely beautiful - definitely somewhere I'd love to go again. Saturday night, I was lucky enough to go with my roommate, Margaret, to see a friend of hers who is native to and lives in Florence. This man, Margaret's old horseback riding coach named Claudio, was so hilarious. He took us to a delicious restaurant that was beyond the touristy places we tend to choose, and we got a true Italian experience. Complete with 4 courses and tons of conversation, it was without a doubt the best meal I've had since I've been in Italy. Mom and Dad, you would be proud. I tried everything that was put in front of me... including bruschetta with LIVER on it. Yes. I ate liver. And I didn't hate it. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. After dinner, we met back up with our group and watched a soccer game at a little Pub near our hostel. We successfully made our way through the Florence train station, and got to look at the countryside during our ride home. Definitely a great way to end our weekend! Florence was definitely a great experience, and I'm glad we made it our first city to venture to! A few pictures to come soon! Love ya'll very much!

Corinne

End of Week 1

Wednesday, May 25 10:45 pm

Ciao everyone! What a busy week it's been! I had my first Art History class yesterday, which was so overwhelming but very exciting and interesting! My teacher is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met - he seems to have a never-ending amount of knowledge on everything Rome! Because so much of Rome's history is based around Christianity and the birth of the church, I am also learning so much about the history of Christianity as well as the city itself. With my class, we will have half of the classes in lecture, which means 4 grueling hours of reviewing slides of artwork and sculpture - yikes -, but the other half of my classes are "on site." I am so excited to have an expert show me around the city and explain the significance of the historical places I am seeing. It is absolutely amazing to be in a city where almost all of the places you pass by everyday have a significant historical background and have lasted throughout centuries! It is insane to me that I have only been here for a week, I feel like I've been here months! Last night, my friends and I went to an Irish Pub for karaoke night! For whatever reason, many Italians listen to American music. In stores, restaurants, and even on ipods, we hear familiar music all over the place. At this Pub, there were tons of Italians singing American music. From Journey to the Grease movie soundtrack, they sang just about every genre of music we have in America. It was so hysterical to watch them trying to sing along to the American music. Hilarious. After my classes tomorrow, it will finally be the weekend! A group of us are taking a day trip to Pisa through my university in Rome and then are leaving straight from Pisa to go to Florence! We will be in Florence Friday and Saturday night - I absolutely can't wait to get there! I will take tons of pictures and can't wait to post them for everyone to see!

Have a great weekend! Love ya'll!
Corinne

Open Air Market

Beautiful flowers that are on every street corner - wish I could bring some home with me when I leave!

The market!

The delicious fresh fruit at the market!

Margaret and I in the Piazza Navona!

I Came Here to Study?

Monday, May 23 10:40 pm
Buonasera! Good evening! So it turns out that my time in Rome isn't only for exploring the city and spending relaxing afternoons in a piazza. Today was my first day of classes. Luckily on Mondays and Wednesdays I don't have class until later, so I still have the whole day to fill as I please. This morning, Margaret and I went to an open air market and ate some of the best, freshest fruit I've ever had! We walked around the market for a while, and then found our way back to the place where we ate dinner on our first night, the Piazza Navona. As is popular in any big city, there were the human statues along with many tourists, as well as tons of street vendors. I bought a gorgeous little painting of the Tiber River, which is right in the area where my apartment and campus are located. Just as we have many times before, Margaret and I struggled slightly with our sense of direction and found ourselves walking single file in order to avoid being hit by mopeds and cars passing in the tiny alley ways, but we eventually made it back to our area, Trastevere. When I got home, I realized that I should probably locate my classroom numbers and teacher's names, so I was on the computer a good bit in the afternoon getting everything ready for class. Luckily, I have a friend from my program, Sean, who is also in my Italian 101 class, so I think we will be able to help each other out a lot! My Italian 101 professor is a native Roman and will only speak Italian in the classroom (with a few small exceptions). At some points during class, Sean and I would look at each other in utter confusion after our professor gave us directions in only Italian. However, our teacher is very patient and is willing to help when we seem lost... which is often. I think I will learn a lot from this class - I've been wanting to learn more about the Italian language, so I think this class will be the best way to do so! My Art History class meets for the first time tomorrow morning at 9:00 am, so I'm very excited to see what we will be doing in there!

Love ya'll!
Corinne

Tourist Pictures

In front of the Pantheon - love the solo shot

The ceiling of the Basilica di Ignazio! Absolutely beautiful!

With the gladiators at the Trevi Fountain - he let me borrow his hat and sword!

Trevi Fountain!!!

Tossing my coin into the fountain - tossing one coin means I will return to Rome someday!

 The Roman Forum - a massive, gorgeous building!

Margaret and I at the Roman Forum!

The square in front of the Roman Forum!

Today I was a Tourist

Ciao! My roommate, Margaret, and I have just returned from a very interesting day of visiting most of the Roman tourism hot spots. Complete with our cameras, lack of Italian language or any sense of direction, and fair skin, we looked like tourists to the max. We started off the morning at the Pantheon which was absolutely beautiful! It houses tombs of the very first Italian kings and beautifully painted walls - it was a great place to start off our day. We then made our way to the Fontana di Trevi, or the Trevi Fountain, where we took pictures with men dressed as gladiators and threw our coins in the fountain backwards... just for good luck. The whole nine yards. As we were walking to the Spanish Steps, we noticed a sign for a Basilica and decided to have a look. Turns out it was absolutely beautiful and one of my favorite places I've seen. The Basilica di Ignazio had gorgeous painted ceilings and ornate decorations in every direction. We finally reached the Spanish Steps (we got slightly lost on the way... oops!), a tourist favorite, and it was nice to see but definitely the least exciting place we visited today. We then had a yummy lunch outside at a restaurant called "Misellenea." One of my favorite tidbits about Italian culture is that restaurants always have outside seating which is so nice right now, as the weather is perfect for that. We even had a man come play the accordion next to our table - so cliche, but we thought it was so great. True to the Italian way, our waitor was completely sarcastic and constantly joking with us. Feeling a little bold, Margaret and I both began to joke back with him, and he absolutely loved it. So much so that he served us a free dessert wine called "Fragolino." While it wasn't exactly what I wanted on a warm day after walking all morning, he was so thoughtful to do that for us. He also gave us directions to the Roman Forum which is a marvelous building on a huge square in Rome. Surrounded by beautiful old buildings and two gorgeous chapels, the Roman Forum and the surrounding area was definitely one of the coolest spots I've seen thus far. While my feet are slightly blistered and I'm sure I have a terrible sunburn, Margaret and I had a really great day acting as tourists. We like to joke around and say that we are "locals" and try to blend in as much as possible. Our waitor today asked us where we were from and I responded "the US," and he looked at me with a dumb look and said "Oooh no kidding. I couldn't tell." Guess we don't fit in as much as we thought? Oh well... maybe by the end of this trip we will become Italian, no? Ciao for now!

Corinne

Pictures from the Tiber River!

This is the area right in front of our campus and across from the Tiber River - so gorgeous!

The beautiful Tiber River!

A few of us in front of the Tiber - such a beautiful bridge!

Am I Italian yet?

10:45 am, Friday May 20

Buon giorno! Good morning! That was my word of the day yesterday... I also learned how to say "How much does this cost?" One of my roommates and I ventured out to find a place to get some breakfast yesterday morning and found the most hilarious little store. At first, we walked right by it because we saw wine bottles in the window smelled pizza. After we walked by again, we smelled coffee... so we went inside. This store not only sold wine and pizza, but also coffee, pastries, jewelry, and candy. Quite the assortment. While I did not spring for wine at 8:30 in the morning, the pastry I got was delicious - I feel like I will frequent that store a lot. After having what felt like 20 orientations yesterday, we also got to do a little sightseeing. We walked along the Tiber River and around "Tiber Island" which is a little mini-island in the middle of the river that has the hospital on it. We also got to go to a delicious free dinner at a little restaurant called "Le fate" which  means "the fairies." And geez did they feed us. Starting out with antipasta, as is the Italian way, we had a mixture of cooked fresh veggies such as eggplant, potatos, and what I called giant green beans, then they brought out all different kinds of cheeses and tomatos, followed by bowls of little baby beans. Served "Italian style," they brought out large helpings of each dish for everyone to share. Mind you, when we finished one helping, the waitress simply replaced it with another. After all that, they brought us two huge plates of homemade noodles with a red sauce and cheese and another with homemade Italian pesto. Then we had dessert. Yikes... good thing we walked like 6 miles yesterday, I guess? My lesson about Italians yesterday is that they are very frank with you and love to use sarcasm. Our waitor last night was very friendly, but if you asked a question, would reply with a little "attitude," but as I have gotten this "attitude" from several Italians, I have learned that they are just that way. They are so hilarious... kind of following their own rules all the time. There's a No Smoking sign? Oh well, I want to smoke here so I will and no one cares. There's a red light? Oh well, I'll just sneak by anyway... no one's coming - that I can see...? Bus schedules - don't exist here. They come and go when they please. A hilarious people in a beautiful city... what could be better? I'm going to attempt again to upload some pictures... no promises though! We shall see!

Love to everyone!
Corinne

Day 1 Pictures!

This is the front of our apartment - it has a cute little gate and a call box for when we have visitors!

This is the view from outside my window in my room!

More pictures to come soon - hopefully they will upload more quickly tomorrow! Ciao for now!

Day 1

11:10 pm Rome time, May 18th

Ciao from Roma! I have successfully arrived in Rome and moved into my apartment! I have 4 other roommates in a 3 bedroom, one bathroom typical Italian apartment with Italian neighbors! We have a beautiful view outside our window and are right in the middle of the city business! Rome is so gorgeous... full of old buildings and trees and plants everywhere! I have, so far, learned two important things since I have been here: 1. Italians are TERRIBLE drivers. Earlier today I was exploring the city and watched a Smart Car pull fully onto the sidewalk and maneuver itself around several street poles and back onto the street in order to go around another car. A slight case of road rage, I do believe. The second important thing I've learned is how to say the word "chocolate." Cioccolato. Upon entering the most heavenly of all places in Italy, obviously a Gelato shop, I learned how to order my favorite flavor, cioccolato, very quickly. Tonight, my roommates and I joined together with another apartment of girls with my program and taught ourselves how to ride the tram and found one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen called the P.Zza Navona. Complete with sculptures, fountains, historic buildings, yummy restaurants, and performers, this area was a great place to spend our first night in Rome! Of course, I left my camera in our apartment during our dinner excursion, so I didn't get any pictures of the P.Zza Navona, but I am very confident that we will go back there... probably tomorrow night. My photo uploader is being annoyingly slow to upload my pictures, so I will post them soon when I get it working! For now, this will have to do! Now that we have figured out how to access our wireless internet, I'm hoping to update my blog often! It's safe to say that I am LOVING this city, and may never come home... just kidding, Mom and Pops! :)
For now, arrivederci!
Love, Corinne