Another Week

RECAP:

Monday, September 23rd:
This day was an ordinary Monday filled with classes and homework. I kind of had a lot of homework to do this day because my Art History teacher switched my oral presentation to the following day the day before! Literally, I found out I had to present on a topic I knew nothing about less than 24 hours before I had to present! Later in the night, we went out to dinner with Venesha's friends and got pizza, which was, of course, great.

Tuesday, September 24th:
With my Art History class I went back to the San Clemente Church and then to another church called Santi Quattro Coronati, where I had to give my presentation about Constantine and Christianity. It went okay, I guess. It was this little chapel where a nun had to let you in after you rang a doorbell, that had well-perserved frescoes inside. S'COOL. Then, my Food and Wine class was cancelled, because we were going to the vineyard on Friday!

Donation of Constantine- a.k.a My Presntation

ALMOST FORGOT THAT TODAY WAS THE DAY THAT ME AND MY ROOMMATES SAW PENN BADGLEY AND ZOE KRAVITZ, DAUGHTER OF LENNY KRAVITZ IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. Venesha saw them first in the 'hood and came back all casual. I jumped off the couch (I was taking a nap) with the drool still on my face and said we were going to find them. Lesson learned. Being positive really changes your life! Everyone was like "ohh, we aren't going to find them, they are gone, etc, etc" but I  said we were going to find them. AND WE DID. AND THEY WALKED INTO THE SAME SHOP AS US. AND PENN SAID EXCUSE ME AND TOUCHED US.

BOOM.

Wednesday, September 25th:
Cannot really remember much of this school day, expect after school a bunch of us took a trip to find Mexican food. It took at least 30 minutes to find, but we ate at this amazing Mexican restaurant that is very hard to find in Rome. I had a burrito with chicken and guacamole and a beef taco, which were both very good and a good change from the pasta, pizza, and panini that we always eat here.

Thursday, September 26th:
I did some homework this day, and then cooked myself chicken with spinach and tomatoes, which was surprisingly good! Also, Emmy and I went on a run by the river!

Friday, September 27th:
WINE HARVESTING! See the below post for more about that. Once we came back from the trip, a bunch of us went to this really great restaurant called Tony's that gave us free tiramisu! I had ravioli with truffles, which was so.freaking.amazing.

Saturday, September 28th:
Haven't done much today! Trying to do some h.w, but of course I am blogging instead!

I'll write again soon!

Exploding from Laughter

One of my friends told me this week that I am always laughing. I could not agree more with that sentiment. So, before I recap my week, let me tell a quick story of how I almost died laughing yesterday.

Friday, September 27th:
We went wine harvesting with my program and it was so much fun! We picked the grapes from the vines and then learned all about how the wines were made and fermented. After working in the fields, we had a HUGE lunch with 3 courses at a secluded Bed and Breakfast in the middle of the Italian countryside. Anyway, back to the laughing story. Before we arrived at the vineyard, we made a pitstop at a gas station to go to the bathroom and eat "breakfast" (a little pastry). While we were there, Ali went to the bathroom and this Asian boy walked in on her. If this had happened to anyone else, I don't know how funny it would have been, but Ali killed me with her reaction. I am actually laughing now. However, this funny experience did not stop at the walk in. After the WHOLE day was over, the boy sat right in front of us on the bus home and kept turning around and looking at Ali. Suddenly, he began to speak. He told Ali he was really sorry for walking in on her and blamed it on some old guy. I cannot describe how funny this was. 1. WHY WOULD YOU BRING IT UP? 2. Ali's face was priceless 3. The boy would not stop talking and kept rambling
So, of course I started laughing. I had my head smashed up against the window trying to hold it together, but I couldn't stop. Then, I was laughing so hard I was crying. It was a scene. I am so happy I am writing this down, because I will always remember how hard I laughed that one day at the vineyard.

Almost a Month

In just 4 days, it will be exactly a month that I have been in Italy. WHERE IS THIS TIME GOING. PLEASE SLOW DOWN. THX. Anyway, per usual, I will update you with some things I did this past week, since it seems that I never have time to blog daily, or even 2 times a week!

Tuesday, September 17th:

Since my Art History and Food and Wine class meets on Tuesdays, it seems like these days are quickly becoming my fave. This time, we went to an awesome Museum called Museo Nazionale Romano, that had a bunch of famous statues in it. It was really fun looking at different artifacts from Rome that I had never seen before! Then, half of my class and I booked it back to school for our Food and Wine class. This was the ABSOLUTE BEST class I have ever been in. This little Italian lady, named Claudia, came in and cooked us two different pasta meals, one was little ears with broccoli, and one was with bacon, and we tasted 2 white wines. Why can't all my college credit courses be like that?

Discobolus

Niobid

                                                                       

Bow in a fresco, S'CUTE

Wednesday, September 18th:

MATT'S BDAY! My Theology class was cancelled this day, so I didn't get to travel to any cool places. Instead, my whole program had to sit through this a long lecture about social norms, which was very boring and not fun. :(

Thursday, September 19th:

This was a great day! Emmy, Michelle, and I went exploring everywhere. First, we went to the Santa Maria Church in Trastevere, which was beautiful with golden mosaics and marble columns. Then, we went into the Museo of Trastevere, which was a more modern museum in Rome, so it was a nice switch up from all the Ancient times. Then, we found this cool lookout spot in Trastevere where you can see all of Rome, and it was breathtaking. At this same lookout spot there was a lighthouse that was built there the same day in 1911, so that a cool find! Anddd finally drum roll pleaseee.... Ali, Emmy, and I went to DAR POETA FOR DINNER. THIS WAS THE BEST FOOD EVER IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE. We got pizza and then the famous Nutella calzone for dessert. I couldn't stand it. That Nutella is too good. And after the Nutella calzone, I got gelato. So sick afterwards, but so worth it.

Santa Maria in Trastevere 

Santa Maria

Lookout Spot called Gianicolo Hill

description says "September 19"- exact day we were there

DAR POETA NUTELLA CALZONE

Friday, September 20th:

Saturday, September 21st:
Wine tasting in Tuscany & Montepulciano! This day was super fun because me and all of my roommates went wine tasting with Bus2Alps, a tour company around Europe. First, we went to this old prison, which is now used for making wine, and ate cheese and bread, and drank some red wine. It was literally the best wine ever. Then, Ali, Emmy and I went and ate at an amazing place in town for lunch, which had views overlooking Tuscany. Very pretty. After lunch, we drove a little further to a VINEYARD, which was dope. They gave us more red wine, which was even better than the previous wines, and let us roam the actual vineyard. And of course, being the rebel that I am, I stole a grape and ate it. It was delicious, but it did have a seed in it, so I wasn't that impressed. Soon after, I fled the scene and we drove back to Rome.
p.s- on the way home, I had to go to the bathroom so badly, that I had to stop the whole bus; it was lol worthy

Wine Tasting

Piazza Grande- Montepulciano

View @ lunch

Vineyard

More wine!

Sunset!

Ya girl

Sunday, September 22nd:
Again, I woke up early this day and Ali, Emmy, and Venesha went on a tour to the President's house with our school. However, this was a HOAX. The President's house was freaking closed, and the whole tour had to be relocated to the Trajan Markets, which was the first shopping mall ever. It was cool, but I just wanted to see the President so...

Too busy to post!

As you can see from the time stamp on my blog, I haven't written a post for 10 days. And boy did those 10 days fly by. I honestly do not know where the time goes these days. My one roommate told me today that we have been in Italy for 23 days. WHAT?!? Anyway, I will tell you everything that I have done these past days!

Monday, September 9:

I cannot really remember what I did this day, and no one else in the apartment can. Lucky I am writing a blog then, right? I think it went like this: went to class, came home, slept.

Tuesday, September 10:

This day was Ali's 20th birthday! Michelle, Emmy, and I decorated her room with balloons & streamers, and then Caroline and I hung toilet paper all around her room! I think we made it really special for her! For my art history class, we visited the Colosseum, which was AMAZING! I have already been there before, but it was super cool looking at how old it was. Then, for my food and wine class, I went to 2 different markets to study food. Pretty sweet life. One was "Eataly" the famous one in New York, and I had the MOST DELICIOUS TIRAMISU CAKE POP THING. I LITERALLY CRIED AT HOW GOOD THIS WAS. I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT MOMENT IN MY LIFE.  Later, we went to out to dinner at La Carbonara, supposedly the place where they first made the dish and had pasta carbonara, which was pretty good, especially since I hate bacon! Then, we ate cookies we got at an amazing cookie factory in town for Ali's bday!

Roomies @ Colosseum 

Trajan's Column (@rtsy)

1st Food Market

Eataly Sweets... bye..

Wednesday, September 11:

This day for class I went to the Roman Forum! I loved it! Again, it is so cool to imagine yourself in the Ancient Roman times chilling in the Forum. Then, I ran back to my other 2 classes at school, which were Marketing and Italian, which were okay!

Thursday, September 12:

I have no classes on Thurdays, so this day was relaxing! Couldn't tell you much else!

Friday, September 13:

BEST WEEKEND SO, SO FAR. So, my school includes some free trips, and this weekend they took us to Sorrento, Pompeii Naples, and Capri. We left on 8:00 AM on Friday- I don't know how I woke up- and drove to Pompeii! Pompeii was so cool too. It was so much fun to see how the ancient world worked and to look inside the homes of the people. However, we did see 3 dead bodies, and that was too creepy for me. After Pompeii we drove to Sorrento, which is on the coast, and stayed there overnight. We ate dinner with the school in the hotel, which kinda sucked, and then found our way to gelato, which was great!

@ Pompeii

ALI and ME!

Pompeii

Sorrento View

Saturday, September 14:

CAPRI, CAPRI, CAPRI

We woke up early this day & ate breakfast with the school, which once again was not the best, but hey, it was free. Then, we took a ferry to the island of Capri, and it looked like a picture out of a magazine. There were boats, people, and shops everywhere along the bright blue water and the rocky beach. We went on a boat ride and toured the whole island, which was gorgeous. We even jumped in the salty water! Later, Ali, Emmy, and I ate the best seafood pasta ( I had risotto) ever right next to the water. We had some time left to chill, so we went back to the beach and I collected sea glass! Then, sadly, we had to say our goodbyes, and we took a ferry to Naples. It was on this ferry that I got a black eye! I was sleeping next to the window and as the boat went over a wave, I slammed my head into the window/concrete/plastic wall. Only this would happen to me, LOLZ.

CAPRI

Sunday, September 15:

After we got back from our trip, we were all tired, so this day was another chill day. It was rainy, but Ali, Emmy and I went out to and American breakfast. Note: Italian's "American" breakfast is a salad, bread, and eggs. It was weird, but good.

So much to say, so little time!

Hello again!
It has def. been a while since I last wrote, as I really don't even have time for anything any more! I feel like I am always on the run! Here are some highlights:

Wednesday, September 4:

My theology class took a "site visit" to the Colosseum and a church next to it called San Clemente. We ended up just seeing the whole of the church, and never even venturing near to the Colosseum. But, the church was really cool, because it was built on top of another old church, so it had all different layers of history. Later, my whole group went on this famous pizza and gelato crawl, where we went to 2 different pizza places and has 6 slices of GREAT pizza, and then had 3 different flavors of gelato. SO.good. And to be honest, I wasn't even full afterwards.

San Clemente Church

The underground church at San Clemente

Thursday, September 5:

I don't have any classes on Thursdays, so this day was so fun! Michelle, my one roommate, has a cousin who lived in Rome and she was visiting, so I went out with them to eat lunch. I had a spinach panini and then we walked around near the Spanish steps. At night, we hung out with a bunch of our friends and went into our neighborhood! 

                                             Me on a Vespa, that I would love to own

Friday, September 6:

Since there are no classes for everyone on Fridays, me and all my roommates tried to find the international bookstore to get our books. We ended up doing a FULL tour of Rome, but we could not find the specific store anywhere. But, screw the books cause we saw everything! We walked up the Spanish steps, toured Villa Borghese, saw the Trevi Fountain, and ended it with pizza on our way home. Later in the night, we ate a huge dinner in our neighborhood, and I ate amazing salmon. (Although, it did have a lot of bones in it and I was pissed)

Piazza Spagna

Saturday, September 7:

Yesterday was another great, chill day. We decided to have a picnic at the Trevi Fountain, and we bought cheese, grapes, bread, crackers, salumi, and prosciutto to eat. It was crowded, but still a really, really cool experience. Then, we went to the Colosseum at night and took a bunch of cool pictures with it because it was not crowded at all!

Trevi Fountain @ night!

Me and Ali at the Colosseum 

Which already leads me to today- I went running along the river this morning with Michelle, and have done some homework! Pretty boring!

Ill write again soon!

Prima Settimana di Scuola!

Hello again people of earth!

This week my fairytale bubble of living it up in Roma popped, as I started to "study" abroad. Ugh, homework, tests, and papers are not particularly high on my wish list of things to do. HOWEVER, studying abroad is way different than regular school because my classes are basically B.S. Not really, but I am taking THE CULTURE OF FOOD & WINE IN ITALY (!!!), Art history, Italian, International Marketing, and Theology. Since I have now had all of my classes, I can def. say that the culture of food and wine class is super DOPE. We just go around to different markets, buy food, and then a chef just makes food for us. every.week.omg.omg.i. cannot. deal. The other classes are cool too, especially since the art history and theology classes are on site (KANYE WEST ON SIGHT). 

 Anyway, today, Tuesday September 3 was filled with great food:

I ate an amazing mini cannoli that was a Euro. Great investment.

Also, this happened..

Nutella Pizza. Nuff' Said. Now, I have just finished my homework, and I am finally getting a chance to relax. Tomorrow, my Theology class is going to the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, and a church named San Clemente, so I must rest up!

 Buona sera!

UPDATES!

Hello again my family & friends/ me for my own personal record!

So here are some updates (I literally cannot even remember what I did on these days, so I am asking my roommates) ((this is also the reason I am writing the blog))

Friday, August 30th:

Me and Ali went to our school, CEA, in Prati, the neighborhood next to where we are living, and  met with our whole Providence crew. Then, we went to an awesome gelato place, and ate pizza, which was super great! At night, we explored the city and went to this AMAZING Great Gatsby Party. It was put on by a group of people called Rome's Ultimate Party, and they snapped tons of pics of my roommates and I. It legit felt like we were celebs & we danced the night away. They even posted them on their "
official" facebook page, so take a look:

Saturday, August 31:

All my roommates and I slept in very late this day. Then, a bunch of us went on a sight-seeing tour of the city with a group called WSA and ate a 15 Euro 5 course dinner with free wine and everything!After I stuffed myself with bread, we went to an Irish bar, which was filled with Americans. Everyone there was super nice and we ended up meeting some guys from Ireland, who were interesting to talk to!

Sunday, September 1:

Sunday Funday! Just kidding- this day was pretty much devoted to cleaning my room & doing homework for my theology class. Later in the day, Ali and I went out to an American place to eat because we just needed something other than the monotonous pasta, pizza, and panini. I ended up getting a veggie burger, which definitely hit the spot! I went to bed rather early in hopes of being well rested for il primo giorno di scuola on Monday!