My Last Post: Ciao Roma...

I believe this will be my last post.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I leave for the airport at 4 am Monday morning. My experience here has been great and I can't believe I am going home. I am so excited to go home and see the fam and celebrate Christmas but I am actually really sad to leave. I have met so many great people and made new friends especially close ones. I have lived in a different country for 3 months which is something that not a lot of people can say. I have traveled to many different places. I have experienced life. I wasn't in Chicago, studying at DePaul, sitting around and hanging out, or working at Potbelly. I was here in Rome where I was able to experience a different life and culture. The main things I have taken away from this trip our the people i have met, the culture i have experienced, the two lovelies that i was able to develop great friendships with, and most importantly I think I know who i am again. I might have not immersed as much in the city/culture or developed my language skills as much as I wanted to, but that's ok. Even though my experience wasn't what i thought it would be, it was still just as worthwhile and rewarding and i wouldnt change it. So here is to everyone and thing that made this experience so important and life changing:

Merm and Dad

Aunt Shelley and Uncle Stephen

DePaul University

Italiaiedia

Laura and Christina

and most importantly...

Rome :]

Athens

I went to athens the past for 4 days. it was great and i loved it! it was a mix of a beach town, urban city, and the mountainside. it's amazing how one place can feel like all that. i stayed with my friend tony who i know through my other friend luke. tony is greek and goes to depaul for school but this quarter he stayed in greece. so me and laura and christina stayed and hung out with him. luke was also there too. it was nice to see two of my friends again. we stayed at tony's house and got free good greek food from his mom. it was awesome!! we went and visited the new acropolis museum, national archaeological museum, the acropolis, and we walked and drove around areas of athens. we also went to two clubs and two bars. it was soooo much fun! it was laura's bday the other night so we went out and celebrated :] nothing else really. it was big and white like i imagined it. after all my travels i think i like paris, athens, and prague in that order. if i include rome i think it goes at the end. rome was cool and fun but i enjoyed these other cities better.

i go home soon and i cant wait. literally.

Pompeii and Napoli

Tuesday my class and i took a day trip to pompeii and napoli. we left super early in the morning and had a tour of pompeii. i have been there before and wasnt that impressed because i had seen it before and i didnt like it that much in the first place. but i did learn some new facts and it was still interesting. we then had a tour of napoli. i liked it. it was mix between a beach town and a setting in oliver twist. i think that is why i liked it, it had two totally different feels. that was our trip. it was fun overall i suppose.

tomorrow is thanksgiving and the school has organized a dinner for us which is wonderful. it is awesome that they are letting us celebrate thanksgiving even though it isnt important to them.

this weekend i go to greece and im so excited!!!

Firenze!

so i know this is a week over due but blame the internet at my house! haha! Florence was great!the weather could have been better though. it rained a little and was overcast and chilly. (i dont know what happened to this text! haha sorry)

Saturday:

we got in and our art history teacher was with us for the majority of saturday. we basically had class. he showed us around florence while lecturing about architecture and sculptures. we then went to the uffizzi which was awesome for a second time. boticelli is so amazing!!!! we then had time to chill and walk around before dinner.

Sunday:

we saw david which was just as amazing as before. i am so amazed michaelangelo did that, it baffles me. we then had a few hours to do whatever and i went to the leather market and shopped with some friends. next we went to agriturismo terre di bacio. OMG! it was so beautiful and relaxing. i want to go there again! the best pic and story of this trip was that our bus could night get up the massive hill to the place because of the mud so we had to carry our luggage and walk up the hill, haha. we had a fabulous dinner and wine and oil tasting. we even stayed in apartments which reminded me of america or just didnt remind me of italy or europe haha. after dinner since we were in apartments we all got together and drank wine in one of the apartments. it was so great.

Monday:

we left for san gimignano which is a small medieval town. it was really pretty and we saw a church that had famous frescoes, i forgot the name. we explored then went to bagno vignoni where we got to swim in an italian hot spring water bath! it was such a cool experience! we all looked funny with our swim caps, haha! that was the trip. it was a lot of fun and i realized that rural italy is so gorgeous and if i came here again i would just go to places like that.

oh and just fyi...i think i might be going to berlin this weekend- which made this past weekend my last in rome.....well i guess the weekend i leave is my last but i will be packing and what not. i guess last for sure where everyone would be here :[

FALL BREAK '09 cont.!!! (start at the one before this one)

prague was so gorgeous! it wasnt what i expected at first but our second day changed my mind. it reminded me of medieval times and fairytales. i felt like i was in shrek or something, haha. the same people came with me except rachel went back to rome, laura's sister cate joined us, and some of laura's friends met up with us for a night. the hostel was better than i thought, which was good. i didnt do too bad with researching places to stay on this trip, proud of myself. also i was the planner and navigator. i was called rick steves because i planned everything from his book. that is one of my nicknames now, ricky steve, ha.

we explored old town and its square. we saw the astronomical clock which was one my favorite things. at every hour the grim reaper would ring a bell and the twelve apostles would look out the window, its really cool. we also went to the havelska market which was a craft fair. we went to the jewish quarter and saw the pinkas synagogue, the old jewish cemetery, and another synagogue that was about the jewish religion and traditions. the pinkas synagogue had the names of the prague jews who were in the holocaust and who died on the walls. it was so profound, i couldnt handle it. there were so many names...also there was an art exhibit of holocaust children's drawings and it was just so sad. we went on charles bridge where we saw great views of prague (another one of my favorite things), saw a little of little quarter and its square. i liked the feel of little quarter the best. it gave me the sense of what i expected of prague. we went to the castle quarter and saw the buildings and churches there, also great views of prague. on our last day we sat and chatted at a coffee shop, went to the mucha museum, went to a teahouse, and shopped on wenceslas square. the mucha museum was about mucha the czech artist who did art noveau paintings and prints, i really liked his work. the teahouse was really fun with the atmosphere feeling rustic, warm, and relaxing. we had hearty and meaty czech food which was basically meat and dumplings the whole time. we had czech beer as well as guiness at an irish pub which was suggested in my book. one of my all time favorite things was getting sausage in this little square. it was yummy and just fun to go up and order and just eat it right there. probably the funniest thing i did was the prague pub crawl. we did it for halloween, it was my first pub crawl, and it was so much fun! wouldnt mind doing another haha.

well that was fall break. i leave for florence for 3 days with my class. let you know about that soon! also, i have wednesdays and fridays off now so i can explore more of rome and relax. i know im going to miss rome and everything here but i am ready to go home....but like i said, i know its going to be bittersweet :]

FALL BREAK '09!!!

omg...i had a blast for my fall break. paris was just as fun and beautiful as i wanted it to be and prague was gorgeous. i spent 5 days in paris and the last 4 days in prague.

paris was awesome. the buildings reminded me of playmobil dollhouses, haha. also i felt like i fit in more because i looked like a lot of the french girls. the food was great or just really the crepes were the bomb! the hotel we stayed in was in the latin quarter, served breakfast, was clean, and helpful. my impression of paris was basically 10/10. i didnt want to leave and i now want to learn the language, haha, and go visit again. i went with my friends laura, addison, rachel, and madeline.

we went to monmartre and saw the moulin rouge which wasnt impressive and the sacre-coeur basilica and saw a view of paris. we went to a french mass and heard a 25-minute organ recital at st. suplice and we went to the orsay (impressionism) and the pompidou center (modern). the orsay was probably one of my favorite things i did in paris. we also went to the notre dame, sainte-chapelle, palais royal courtyards, the louvre, champs-elysees, and the arc di trioumph. i actually wasnt that impressed with the louvre but maybe that was because it was still very crowded for off-season and i was exhausted. i did love the mona lisa though from seeing it in person than i did before. the notre dame was very relaxing as well as the palais royal courtyards. rachel, laura, and i went there and sat for a few hours and then went to a cafe. that was one of my favs on the trip too. we went to the pantheon, luxemborg gardens, and the eiffel tower. the luxemborg gardens were gorgeous and i could have stayed there for hours. the eiffel tower was amazing. i found the notre dame from the top and i was so excited and then it all hit that i was in paris in europe and in italy studying abroad and how great of an experience this is. also we all drank wine and ate baguettes in front of the eiffel tower for dinner, it was so much fun. on our last day we went to ile st. louis, the jewish quarter, other parisian streets for shopping, the gardens of plantee, and the notre dame again. ile st. louis is an island next to the notre dame island. it isnt touristy and has great shopping it was a lot of fun. for our last parisian hoo-ray we got crepes and sat in front of the notre dame at night. it was a great way to end the trip. i had great and and a number of crepes from vendors and places that were recommended in my book. we also got an ice cream crepe from haagan-das which was amazing! i had french onion soup twice and i loved it! i tried my friend's steak tar-tar and it actually was pretty good. i also had a croque and parisian ice cream. i loved paris....everything about it was amazing :]

Eurochocolate!!

i did two really fun things this weekend: fonclea & eurochocolate!

fonclea is a live band club/restaurant. i went with a group of people and it was a lot of fun. a few of us got there early to get a table and we got a table right in fron

t of the band. we had appetizers and drinks. i had a margharita which was really weird, haha. the band we heard was a cover band for the Bee Gees. they were re

ally really good and it was a lot of fun! at the very end we started a dance party which was crazy. it was just a really fun night :]

sunday i went to eurochocolate in perugia! i went with my friend laura and we left rome at 8 on a packed train (we sat/stood in between cars). we got there around 10:30/11. it was easy to get to the festival because there were people telling us what we should do and everyone there was going to eurochocolate. we spent around 3 hrs. there. it was so huge! there was soooooo much chocolate!! i tried this cake thing with fruit and churros with chocolate, they were really good! my favorite was italian hot chocolate...omg...i got dark chocolate and it was so warm and it was also thicker than our hot chocolate. it was the best! also i tried this white chocolate piece of chocolate with grains or rice cakes and it was my next favorite thing. i bought 2 gifts and dark chocolate filled with banana for myself. the coolest thing i saw there was chocolate sculptors. perugia has a chocolate school.

so these students were scuplting things from huge blocks of chocolate. they used sculpting tools, axes, and a drill-yes a power drill. we even had to shield ourselves from the chocolate that was being sculpted off!

we didnt actually stay there long enough to see what they sculpted but it was really cool. you had to push and shove to get near the sculptor's assistants because they were giving away the chunks of chocolate that were sculpted off from the blocks of chocolate, yummy! it was an exhausting day because i basically traveled all day because we got back around 8 something but it was a lot of fun!

THIS WEEKEND I'M GOING TO PARIS AND PRAGUE, AHHH!!!

Awesome Week filled with ADVENTURE!

well really only 1 adventurous thing-but still this past past week was awesome! the week im talking about is the 5th through 11th. my week was great but it really became awesome on thursday.

for art history we visited galleria borghese which is an art gallery. we always go see what we are studying in person which makes this class good, fun, and helpful for me since i am a visual learner. i am really enjoying this class. we saw a lot of renaissance art obviously since that is what the class is focused on. we saw sculptures too. it was great! i love renaissance art and we saw a bernini sculpt

ure that-omg...i wanted to die of how detailed and beautiful it was. just being in this gallery made me want to visit florence even sooner to go to the uffizi. we are going as a depaul group. i have been there before and i loved it. also my favorite painting of all time is there: the birth of venus. i cant wait to

have my breath taken away again....

friday we went to cinecitta which is the main film production company in italy. its basically like warner bros and all that jazz. so i got to walk around! it was pretty cool. we walked on a lot of sets that were in gangs of new york which makes me really want to see the movie now. we also saw props from gladiator, la dolce vita, and others. it was cool. friday night was just awesome in general too. just hang out with a few girls and enjoyed roman nightlife, haha.

saturday was the HIGHLIGHT! my friend leslie calls me and says, "so h

ow do you feel like getting out of rome?" spontaneous and awesome! i took my first train ride ev

er for 1 euro and 90 centessimi (cents) for 30 min. we went to castel gandolfo which is the summer home of the pope. it was really pretty and quaint. it was like one of the towns in cinque terre except maybe a little smaller and more spread out and there was a lake instead of the sea. it was wonderful and beautiful! we just walked around, took pictures, went into little shops...just enjoyed ourselves and the fact that we were there and able to do this-just travel to a smaller town outside of rome! one characteristic i liked about the town was that there was a mosaic studio and they do the majority of shop signs. so you see all these little shop signs above doors that are done in mosaics, so cute! the best part was dinner. we went to this place called arte e vino (art and wine). the theme was rustic cabin in the fall. it reminded me of thanksgiving in oregon

. it was great! i think i liked even more because it didnt remind me of italy-so some place new and it did remind me of home. the food was wonderful and so was the wine. it obviously was warm but it gave that warm feeling like comfort i guess? i dont know how to explain....man, it was great!

sunday was fun as well. got up early to go to porta portese which is this huge open air market-and i mean huge! bought a scarf and a moka for myself. and a gift for someone ;] a moka is the coffee machine here. you use it on the stove and the coffee tastes different and

BETTER. im so excited to use it when i get back. i spend a few hours there and then went home to chill. then of course sunday is giant burger night and i went with the usually girls.

so that was my awesome week/weekend. other news, the weather is finally fall weather and even maybe a little colder. its weird being here in fall, i guess i still cant believe im here and studying i guess, haha. i finally have a down comforter for the weather, no longer just a sheet! its the best! tomorrow im going to this club/bar where there is going to be a cover band of Bee Gee's. im excited, it should be a good night. also saturday i am, haha, 90% sure i am going to eurochocolate 2009 in perugia! yay! also...paris and prague are going to be here so soon!! basically a week!! im sooooo excited but nervous about how expensive everything is going to be especially in paris-and we are staying there the most. havent book hostels yet-i know bad but internet is crappy. hopefully today or early next week. im super excited though. i have stuff planned and...yeah...i love it!

so i obviously am behind in blogging. its hard because of the internet but i will post when i can. pics are of castel gandolfo. my friend is leslie and that is the little nook we sat in. we were inside the restaurant but also outside, how cool is that! also the pic i took is what i could see from the town.

1st Excursion Weekend!

So this past weekend was our first trip as the DePaul group and my first trip while in Rome. We went to Cinque Terre, Torino, and Bra from early Saturday to super late Monday.

Saturday and half of Sunday was spend in Cinque Terre which is 5 small villages surrounding the sea. Each of the villages are around an hour hike from each other. I hiked for around 3 hours on this trip and they were hard hikes too. There are paths but it's not like someone made this paths on purpose. It's like they were made over time if you know what I'm saying. We only visited three of the 5 villages and each were so beautiful and quaint as well as their surroundings. This place is gorgeous! I have to convince my dad to let us come here instead of the beach one year. Cinque Terre is also known for their pesto and I was fortunate enough to have pasta and pesto and it was amazing...The last thing I did here was swim. Yes swim at the end of September. The water was so blue and clear. GORGEOUS! The weather was perfect as well but the water was a tad chilly for my taste.

The rest of Sunday and the morning of Monday was spent in Torino. We visited the National Museum of Cinema. We unfortunately got stuck in traffic so we weren't able to spend as much time as we were supposed to but it was still really cool. The place was huge with so many different props, scripts, sketches, storyboards, posters, costumes, etc. from so many famous American and Italian movies. It was also very interesting to learn the beginnings of film. I have already learned about this at school but I did learn some new and different things. In the morning we went to a church that has the cloth/linen Jesus was wrapped in in his tomb. It is a huge controversy and when historians and universities studied this they came to the conclusion that it really wasn't from Jesus but so many pilgrims and others believe it is. We saw a replica above the tomb that holds the real thing. The linen is supposed to have the face of Jesus on it. After this I got Torino chocolate which is supposed to be the best chocolate in Italy and where they first made nutella. The chocolate was great!

We then proceeded to Bra for the rest of the day where we went to the University of Gastronomica where they study food technology and slow cooked food. We just got a tour of the school and it was really cool. I was thinking I might get my masters there haha, probably not though. The last and probably the best thing was going to a small restaurant where the cook does slow cooked food. Slow cooked or processed food is when it is just natural and organic, very healthy. We had an awesome 4 course meal. It is probably and will only be the best meal I have had/will have. Also we learned how to wine taste which was fun. We also had exquisite wine. It was phenomenal!

I was/still am tired from the trip but it was so much fun. We got back around 1 in the morning on Tuesday and we were supposed to get in at 10 pm on Monday but oh well. I am sorry I don't update my blog too often or maybe as much as some (Merm) would like me to. I try but my school schedule is really weird and I don't know what to tell you guys half the time because some stuff isn't really new. I have just gotten into a routine. But everything I have and will post are the most exciting things that are happening! Peace out! Oh! I know I only put 2 pics. up but these are just the quintessential of Cinque Terre. The ones that just are all you need to see. Also I put the pic. of the Jesus cloth up. Other than that there was nothing worthwhile in Torino or Bra.

Sono Malata :[

I am sick...I got sick Monday night/Tuesday morning. It was first a sore throat and I couldn't really talk and now it is full on congestion of the head. Some cold or really bad sinus stuff. The weather here is worse than the states. It has rained almost everyday and is hot and muggy in the afternoon but really cold at night. I hate the weather right now! I am not the only one sick though. Actually a lot of people out of the group are getting sick. The funny thing is some of us have different symptoms, so I guess a lot of different things are going around. But no Italian class for me today.

This past weekend was really fun: explored areas, watched a soccer game at a pub/restaurant, went shopping, and went to a discoteca! I had a busy weekend. The highlights were the discoteca and the soccer game. The discoteca was fun but nothing spectacular. Danced the majority of the time with friends. Also basically all of the DePaul group was there and we all danced and talked with each other (little groups had formed at the beginning of the trip). Now we all sort of hang out and talk, its cool. Didn't meet any Italians but I will! On Sunday I went to this German pub/restaurant near where I live with 4 other girls. We had the giantburger, fries, split onion rings, dessert and watched the Roma soccer game. The giantburger was probably the best piece of meat I have ever eaten. Yes it was just a huge piece of meat. It was so fun watching the game too because this was a local place and whenever something happened with Rome or if they scored there would be clapping and screaming. It was really cool.

This weekend is our first DePaul trip. We are going to Cinque Terre, which is an area with 5 small towns right next to each other by the sea. It is supposed to be so beautiful! Then we are going to Torino. I'm really excited but I hope I will get better by the time we leave early Saturday morning.

I have also been planning my trips. Got everything basically planned out except for hostels in Paris and Prague. Also, me and some people are going to a Rome soccer game most likely the 1st week of November! I am sooooo excited!!! Also, I think I am going to EuroChocolate 2009 in Perugia, Italy with a few girls. It's a huge chocolate festival, yummy!

Ciao! Ci parliamo presto!

Ciao Tutti!

Hello all!

Sorry i haven't written in awhile. Just been busy planning trips, school, exploring Rome, etc. I have been having a lot of fun. I am starting to know my way around Rome and be more familiar with the streets and getting places. I am also really comfortable and happy here; it has become a routine which is good and kind of awesome because once i explore a new place i remember i'm in rome studying abroad. i guess i get little surprises every now and then, haha!

This past Saturday I spent the majority of the afternoon in the Vatican area. I just explored the area and Piazza San/St. Pietro with my friend Laura and we had a pastry and a caffe and then read in a little piazza. it was fun and relaxing. side note: i am addicted to espresso and italian coffee now. i am not going to want to go back to america's. i think i might buy an espresso machine in the US or here. there is something that a few girls were telling me about that you use and then boil water...i have to ask them again. Anyways, back to my weekend...after that Laura and I met up with our friend Christina and we went to a bar for a glass of wine, had chinese food, picked up more wine and pastries, then went back to christina's place and had a sleep over with our wine, pastries, and watched an italian teen movie that christina's host mom was in. her host mom is a really well-known italian actress. it was a really really fun night!

I am excited about today because as a school field trip/event we are going to a discoteca! im super excited! its going to be so much fun! i hope i meet some italians especially guys, tehe! i havent met any italians yet and i really want to. i just want some italian friends and speak more italian. cross our fingers!

MOLTO FELICE!

just booked my fall break (10/24-11/1)

PARIS AND PRAGUE!!!

just had to tell everyone-paris, prague, athens, and italy...what a life, haha!

will update blog this weekend perhaps if not sooner!

Felice

i booked my trip to athens!!! i am going november 28 to december 2 with one of my friends here. i have a friend who is from greece and he is actually living there this quarter. i got a super cheap roundtrip (like $80) and i get to stay somewhere for free, its awesome! plus i will get to do local stuff and not really touristy things but i do want to go to the parthenon and mecropolis.

i had chinese for dinner today, haha!

rome is so gorgeous! all the buildings and the weather...its so awesome!

i feel like i am starting to pick up the italian better...hopefully...

Traveling

so i have a question to ask everyone...

because of my budget and stuff i can only really go to 2-3 places outside italy. here are the places i want to go: paris, prague, amsterdam, salzburg, and i guess any others of course. also i am going to athens the first week of december to visit a friend. the flight is only around $90 (yes dollars) and i am staying with him. what should i do? i am definitely going to paris and im pretty sure prague so that basically cancels out any other places because that is three. i just wanted to know everyone's opinion and if you have heard anything about any of the other places. pretty much all my friends want to go to amsterdam and salzburg sounds awesome and has all the sound of music stuff (i am a huge huge huge huge fan). what should i do?!?!?!

Le picture

sorry, my posts will get shorter.

here are some pics that i have taken:

1. my bites at the beginning: that is my calf and side of my right leg. the front was pretty bad too and my left leg was not as bad at all

2. my house/room

La prima settimana a Roma

so my first full week of being in rome is over. i have to say it has been an awesome week, so much fun :]

i started all my classes this week. i have my film class monday and tuesday for a total of 5-6 hrs., my art history class thursday for 3 hrs., and my italian class is everyday for 3 hrs. my week is very full. but its nice because i have all morning and early afternoon on wednesday and friday to sleep in, run, explore rome, etc. my film class focuses on italian cinema which i am excited to learn about. we are watching movies on mondays and exploring film sites and having lecture at the sites on tuesdays. its going to be really fun. my art history class is going to be so interesting and awesome. our teacher is nice and hilarious and every class we go somewhere to learn about art and architecture of high renaissance art in italy; its going to be fantastic! my italian class is going well. i am learning a lot and reviewing a lot. my vocab. and conversational skills are getting better. i like it. i am starting to pick up words quickly and understand what people are talking about and saying.

the food has been amazing so far! my host mom has made some pretty good food, however i dont think the majority of it is homemade but it is still really good. also, the gelato is of course as good as i remember. i had nutella and tiramisu gelato mixed and it was wonderful! tiramisu is my new favorite thing ;] also, i had baci which means kisses and its dark chocolate with i think little bits of hazelnut inside. OMG! tiramisu and baci are my new favorite things....

also, with food, my core group of friends and i went to a section of rome called trastevere. it was beautiful! the buildings and trees and just everything-it was great! i really felt like that was my area-like if i lived somewhere it would be there. we had so much fun just walking around early evening and at night, just exploring and seeing what was going on. it was so much fun. we were going to go to this blues club but apparently it closed down which sucked but we went to two italian bars instead. also for dinner we went to this pizza place called dar poeta. it was amazing! the pizza i got had cheese, zuchini, sausage, and a little bit of chilli powder. it was phenomonal! i ate the whole pizza and you know in italy they give you a whole pizza, but i wasnt the only one. i dont know why we didnt decide to split 2 or 3. i think we were all so excited. we tried some bruschetta too which was good and had 3 litres of wine haha. it was fantastic red wine; i usually dont like wine and red at that. now for desert....a calzone filled with ricotta cheese and nutella with powder sugar sprinkled on top....OMG AMAZING!!! the best food and restaurant i have been to so far. my friends and i have already decided we are going there again.

speaking of friends, i have made some really good ones. we all get along and connect in different and great ways. im really happy with everything and enjoying every minute of it :] on friday during my break in italian, we had the window opened and i just leaned out the window and people watched and looked at the city. i looked up and down the streets and everything else, i just took it all in. thats when it hit me, i am studying in rome for 3 months! i think i kind of still dont feel like im staying here for awhile but it has stuck with me more since i looked out the window.

despite this week being awesome, i did have one bad thing happen to me...i fell down the spanish steps and broke my water bottle. they are marble steps and the sandals i was wearing had no traction. i fell like 3-4 steps, not bad but still. therefore, to catch myself, i hit my water bottle against the steps. i broke the top but it is still usable. man that was a rough day, i was super tired too...

an update with the bites, they have gotten so much better. i am so happy! the mosquitos that bit me are called tiger mosquitos. they are at all day and night, you can barely see them, and you cant feel when they bite. i still have the bites but they are darker and healing. even though i havent been scratching them, i think i might have scares from the big ones.

also a side note: i hung my clothes out to dry this week. how weird!

well that is really it...i will fill everyone in as soon as something exciting or terrible happens i suppose or something that is worth telling. Ci parliamo piu tardi! (We talk later!)

Don't know how to comment on comments...

merm,

i am speaking italish: english and italian. barbara and i are trying to improve our english and italian, obviously, so we talk in both. i help her and she helps me. i am actually learning a good amount and am enjoying it a lot. i think my italian vocabulary in general and especially for a conversation is getting better. depaul doesn't really focus on that so it is nice. however, haha, i find myself speaking or typing in broken up english sometimes like how barbara is speaking to me in english, haha. but its good

lisa,

i think i might be going out to dinner and then to a blues bar/club. why? something fun must be going on here if you are asking me...haha!

by the way, i have a serious case of mosquito bites. i went to the pharmacy (its basically the doctor in rome) and they said it was a type of mosquito bite. apparently they have multiple kinds. i live near the woods/a lot of trees and eat outside and have pale skin so yeah. i got some cream and hopefully everything will get better in the next few days. they have started to itch more, maybe that means they are healing? on the other hand...they kind of hurt too. when i post pics, you can see how bad they were/are. will post pics soon and update this weekend!

Update for today!

Alrighty, back to yesterday and finishing today:

it was super awkward yesterday with my host family and i was so stressed out and tired that it just was not a good evening really. We weren't really talking and it was just hard to start a conversation but i think that is what was and should have been excepted. i talked to other people and they said that it was the same for them so that is good i'm not alone. also, i mentioned that Barbara wants to teach Lara some English. Yesterday i taught her the word toe! She was by my feet and playing with my shoes and then my toe. I didn't notice her until she touched my toe. I looked down at her and she smiled. I then said toe and pointed to my toe and repeated it then pointed to hers and repeated it. i did that a couple of times. she then looks up at me, smiles, and says, "Toe!" It was so cute! i said, "Si, toe!" and she looked down and touched her toe and said toe. she then crawled away and looked at me and said toe. it was kind of cool. also eduardo and i talked sports mainly before dinner. he showed me the soccer channels which i am excited about. but i mean i really wont be here at all except for dinner so yeah but it is still nice to know i guess. i mentioned dinner was alright: we had a salad but not with our typical lettuce, i dont even think it was lettuce, with mozzerella cheese, cherry tomatoes, a little bit of sliced parmesan cheese with oil and vinegar. We also had salami and little chunks of parmesan cheese (fav of night) and fish. it was light and decent. When i woke up this morning after sleeping in a warm room, i found bites all over me. the mosquitoes are really bad here especially where i live with all the trees. omg, i think this is the worst i have ever had. luckily, i told Barbara and she gave me this mosquito repellent that i plug in the wall. hopefully it will help tonight.

today:

so i said i have my own fridge and stuff for breakfast. i had strawberry jam with small packaged croissant. it was super yummy! i had a few sips of mixed fruit juice too. all the food here is so fresh and natural, it is great. my jam and croissant are natural (says so on the package). i mentioned getting here was easier than i thought and also getting back was easy too, so proud of myself. i gave myself an hour and a half to get to school and it only too around 45 but better safe than sorry. i was the first one at the school so i got a cappucino, again amazing, and wrote the previous blog before my placement test. the test did not go too well. the oral part was easy but they really didnt ask too much of us, i didnt understand a few words but i think i did decent enough. however the written part was like...lets just say i might have passed but probably just passed, but who knows. just hung out with people and ran errands the rest of the day before a meeting and did the same after. got gelato and we all just sat and talked.

today with my host family was soooo much better. i helped a little with dinner but just by setting and clearing the table. it was just me and Barbara for dinner but then Eduardo came home later because of work and we sat with him. We had another salad that had different greens plus carrots but the rest the same and then we also have pasta with just a simple red sauce and parmesan cheese mixed in, i think this family loves parmesan cheese :] the conversation was great! we talked for almost 3 hours i think. we talked about politics, school, discrimination, and other random things. i learned new words and was reminded of old ones and i taught and helped them with some english. thats about it. my day just started out kind of to a rough start and i was tired but then it got better, much better. and now for some good news, also tonight...i got their wireless to work!!! i can now use the internet here!!! im so relieved because it is just so much easier not to carry my laptop around-dont worry i will lock it in one of my suitcases. oh happy days...

tomorrow i have my first film and italian classes!!! my film class starts at 10 and my italian either starts at 3:30 or 4. i find out at 3/3:315 what class i am in. i am excited for both especially italian. i think they are doing 3 classes: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. i better get intermediate which i think i will. i heard it is pretty easy to go up and down a level so we will see how everything goes. i just dont want to learn the same stuff and not be challenged. so class at 10-12 for film then a meeting at 2-3 and lastly italian at 3:30/4-6:30/7. get some lunch with peeps later chill before italian then i suppose head on home to relax, hang out with my family, do hmwk, and eat. oh school....

next post will probably be friday and/or sunday! ciao!

Met host family

Ciao Ciao!

Internet has been scarce so sorry this is so late. Also, I have wireless in my host family's house but I could not get it to work; so I have to ask/ask again. Hopefully I can get it to work so I can update and communicate more frequently.

Anywho!

Orientation was fine. Kind of boring but informative. All the Italiaidea (my school) teachers/employees are very nice and helpful. We have an assistant and her name is Emily. She has been here studying since she has been 16; she is from Wisconsin and is our age.

I have met a lot of cool people. I have a group of friends that I hang out with a lot and two of them live near me and one of those lives like 5 or less minutes away so I am excited. It has been really fun!

However, with yesterday, i was a little stressed because i won't see my friends all the time. I am so used to staying with and seeing them everyday. My host family is nice. I live with a couple and their 1 year old daughter. Lara, the 1 year old, is so cute and chubby. Barbara and Eduardo want to teach her english and she knows italian and spanish, well so far. The couple is really nice and helpful and speak a little english. i spoke or at least tried in italian and the same for english with them. Dinner was good; it acutally wasnt the best i have had here but it was good. I have my own little wing/dorm thing with bathroom. however i have a bunk bed which kind of sucks and no air conditioning in my part, I am pretty sure they have air conditioning. But last night was fine. I luckily have a fan that i put by my head and keep cool and i only sweat once. I make my own breakfast and have my own fridge because of their jobs, so dinner is the only time really i will probably see the family and i guess in the evening and maybe some afternoons. also the bus stop is easy to find which is nice. i took it today all by myself and it was a piece of cake. i was so proud and i felt awesome!

Rome is gorgeous but so hot and humid! But of course it is fun and wonderful!

Update more later when i have internet and my battery is not low!

I'm Leaving!!!

I am freaking out! I am so excited! I have only slept for like 6 hours and can't fall back to sleep. Hopefully this means that I will sleep the whole flight from Canada to Italy with the help of Sleepy Time of course too ;] I have been constantly reviewing Italian in my head on what some possible phrases I need to know or would need to come up with to communicate with locals, airport people, cab drivers, metro people, etc. The key today is to get from the airport to my hostel with as little problems as possible while at the same time carrying luggage especially heavy luggage. BUT I KNOW I CAN DO IT! I won't be alone either, so I think that will help. I am flying with Rachel whom I had a class with but didn't know (all I knew was her name). She facebooked me, and we talked and decided to fly together. OMG, I can't believe I will be in Italy for 3 months! Traveling, learning the language, meeting new people, seeing new things...I can't wait! I really hope everything goes smoothly especially today and tomorrow. I just want to be sitting in a cafe drinking a cappucino, eating a pastry, and enjoying Rome...Wish me luck and safe traveling-in the air and in Italy!