Posted by M on Aug 2, 2009 in
Savvy Travels So, the last we spoke, we weren’t quite down to single digits on the countdown to my arrival stateside. Well, loyal readers, we have made it. I’m coming on on SATURDAY!
But, of more interesting nature, it’s 11:30 pm here tonight in Rome and I’ve just returned from spending three wonderful, fun days in Barcelona, Spain. I went with the five girls across the hall and a girl I met my first day in Rome from Iowa State.
We left from Trastevere (the part of Rome I live in) on Thursday at 5. It’s a pretty easy metro ride from the station by our apartment to the airport and only costs about 5 euro. It does, however, take about 30 minutes–not including the wait for the train to come. Once we got to the airport, we checked in pretty easily and went through security, all with minimal lines.
I think that as Americans, we all have this idea that flying within Europe to other EU countries will be like hopping a plane to Chicago–simple, quick, and with minimal exhaustion. But, flying to Spain really was an all night affair. We had to be there two hours ahead of time, wait in lines, and then be bused to our plane, and then have a two hour plane ride. After we got off and claimed our baggage, we took yet another metro to our hotel, and then with no map and only an address to help us, we managed to find our way to Hotel 987, a very trendy hotel on Mallorca Street, near the main shopping district. By this time, it was 12:30 and the night was kind of a bust. We were tired and cranky, so we turned in early.
Friday morning, we all woke up around 9 and headed to that very same main shopping street. The street is pretty famous and runs a couple miles, with high end clothing stores on one end and more affordable and college-budget friendly on the other. Although I walked by and swooned over the Chanel bags in the windows, I did manage to find some great deals at Zara, a European chain that I really have grown to love. Unlike Rome, Barcelona is not melt-your-skin hot, nor is it dirty and smelly and, even better, the stores are more organized. As a result, shopping was really fun.
Afterwards, we grabbed lunch, where my body ingested meat for the first time in a long time. I’m pretty sure it went into some kind of red meat shock. Lunch aside, we changed into our swimsuits and headed to Barcelona’s beaches.
The beaches in Barcelona are of the swimsuit top optional variety. While some of my fellow travelers may or may not have taken part in this completely acceptable European ritual, I’m way too much of a scardy cat to join in. It’s probably one too many lifetime movies… you know, the kind where the girl takes her top off, someone takes a pictures, it’s posted on the internet, and then in some random turn of events indirectly but directly related to said topless moment, she dies. I’m keen to avoid that outcome.
The beaches in Barcelona are gorgeous and fun. But, thanks to my fair skin, it was a temporary love affair. I could only handle about two hours before I grabbed a taxi back to the hotel to prepare for dinner.
Dinner was at a place by our hotel, where I ordered calamari and squid with grilled vegetables. The vegetables were amazing, the calamari was good (but weird), and the baby squid were just a whole other experience. They were like mini octupus, with all eight legs still attached. I ate a lot of them, but I couldn’t muster down them all. So, squid in my system, we hung out and took pictures at our hotel until it was late enough to go to the Port of Barcelona and go to their “discotecas.” Mostly what I learned from this night is that I don’t do discotecas. I think I’m more of a sip my diet sprite at a restaurant chatting kind of girl as opposed to shake my butt to techno music kind of girl.
Saturday morning, our group of seven kind of split up. The girl I shared a room with, Katie, and I woke up first and headed to a famous church built by Antonio Gaudi, the famous Spanish architect. While most of our peers and even the other girls on the trip with us mostly traveled by cab, Katie and I did all of our touring by metro. Which was confusing, hot, and drained our energy because it involved just a ton of walking. But, it was cheaper. A lot cheaper. And I think my parents, who know how directionally retarded I am, would be proud to know that we got all around Barcelona via these metros.
Anyways, we took the metro to the Gaudi Park, which was amazing. The buildings he designed in this area are like gingerbread houses, except instead of candy, there’s tiles, and instead of ice cream cone towers, there’s just real towers. I took pictures to show to my architect someday so he can build me a knock off. We walked around there for a while, before hopping the metro back to our hotel in order to go back to the shopping strip.
There, Katie and I had tapas for lunch. This was kind of more for the experience, because it ended with Katie having to go buy a sandwich and me buy an apple because frankly, they were not filling at all. We’d just walked miles and miles–we needed real food, not tiny little portions! We only ordered two tapas each and had we ordered more, we probably would have been fine. But, they were expensive and we were only willing to pay so much for so little food in return.
After lunch, we went back to Zara to check out some more of their sales, and then hopped a metro to Picasso’s museum. This museum is actually pretty cool because it’s the only one that Picasso himself actually designed, help set up, and donated particular paintings too. Although at this point, Katie and I were pretty exhausted, so I’m not so sure how much we appreciated it. But, it still was a cool thing to do, so I’m pumped we figured out how to get there and it was worthwhile.
With all of that rigerous touring behind us, we took the metro back to the Hotel and napped. Then, we woke up, met up with two other girls, and went to the Magic Fountain, a touristy, free fountain shoe in northwestern Barcelona. It didn’t even start until 9, so dinner didn’t happen until 10.
For dinner, we went to the Port of Barcelona and picked a seafood restaurant. It was a little pricey, but the vegetable pialla I got was really good. Except, well, to be honest…my mom’s chicken pialla is better. But, I didn’t tell the other girls I was with that. I just let them rave about how fabulous it was. And it was really good. The overall meal was amazing and we left with very full stomachs to roam the beach at night.
This morning, we woke up and headed to the airport at 11. Like on the way there, it was about a seven hour trip all together, with getting to the airport early, checking baggage, the flight, baggage claim, train ride home. But, it was a really fun weekend trip away and I’m so glad we went!
The differences between Rome and Barcelona?
Barcelona is newer. It’s more modern, so it’s cleaner, there aren’t ancient ruins everywhere, it’s not as hot, it has a more modern public transportation system, and it is more like a town in California–not in the sense that there’s American things everywhere, just that there’s more than just one type of food offered, more variety in what to see, etc.
Barcelona is also more expensive in terms of meals. While the museums, metros, and cabs are cheaper than in Rome, food in Barcelona does not come cheap. It was almost painful to spend so much money on food–you cannot get dinner for less than 15 and 20 euro–and that was just my cheapest meal because I couldn’t eat any of the shellfish, which runs substantially higher.
Overall?
Barcelona is super cute and super fun. If you can ever go, do it!
Now, there’s five days left of school, and six days until I’m back in the U.S.! I’m not homesick, but I am excited to see my parents and my puppy :) And of course, have some food that is not pasta, pizza, or sandwiches. I’m off to sleep (it’s already midnight here), but I hope you have fabulous evening, my American friends!
Posted by M on Jul 26, 2009 in
Savvy Travels Hi hi hi!
Sorry for the long delay in the blog posts (I know, I know, five days without a blog update. I’m seriously lacking some motivation). Can you believe I’ll be home in under two weeks? 14 short days from now, I’ll be laying in my air conditioned bedroom, snacking on fabulous diet coke, peanut m and ms, and mom’s fabulous home cooked meals. Okay, I have to change the subject fast, or else I’ll be having unsatisfied cravings for days!
Since we last bonded, there hasn’t been much action on the ROMA front. Midterms came and went, and were a little tricky, but I have high hopes that they were successful. In fact, I’ve discovered that thanks to my class on the ancient monuments of Rome, I’ve become a little tour guide, much to the annoyance of my peers. Every time we go to a bar, shopping, or just to walk around Rome, we nearly always end up spotting a monument, which means that I start in on a tangent such as, “Agrippa first began the Pantheon in the time of Augustus…” I’m sure you’re glad to see that my cool factor is getting even higher whilst abroad.
So, midterms occupied my time until Friday morning, where I then took the rest of the afternoon to sleep. At night, some friends and I signed up to go on the Colosseum Bar Crawl. Much like my mother, I have both a sensitive stomach and am a notorious lightweight. It’s a lethal combination. Three drinks in (and it’s legal over here, calm down), and I wasn’t worse for the wear, just had a bad stomach ache. I suppose this triggered my memory as to why I typically avoid such situations. So, I grabbed the complimentary tshirt and took my poor tummy home, where I ingested pizza and special K in an attempt to calm down the acid.
Saturday morning was shopping time! My friend Mandy’s 21st birthday is on Thursday and as a gift from her parents, she was allowed to buy a Louis Vuitton purse (the classic Speedy 25, if you want specific details). We trekked through several shops (I spent money on a dress! It was cheap, but I still spent money on something I can take home–a huge accomplishment for a thrifty gal like myself), before we headed over to Louis. I took pictures, capturing her big moment, and it was really fun to be a part of. Fun fact and shopping tip: Italy includes taxes and the like within their prices, so if you buy an item over a certain amount, you’ll be given tax forms to fill out and hand over to customs on your way home. This will allow you to receive a 12-18% tax refund, which can significantly lower the price of a purchase. In fact, this makes a lot of goods cheaper to buy in Europe than back in the U.S.
After shopping, we laid around before heading out to Campo de Fiori, the American bar scene here in Rome. I had a lovely time with my friends and my Sprite Zero. This morning (Sunday), we went to the flea market again, where I picked up a shirt for a high price of 3 euro, and now I’m simply in my apartment, watching movies online, eating way too much cereal, and waiting for the sun to go down a little so at least I can stop sweating for just a few minutes (I haven’t stopped sweating in what feels like days!).
Because I don’t have much exciting travel news to report (this is the first weekend I’ve spent completely in Rome since I got here nearly a month ago), I thought I would give you some of my deep thoughts on Roman Culture:
1. Rome is dirty and smelly. Litter is everywhere, dog poop is everywhere, and trash is everywhere. While the government does have trucks that come and clean the streets and sweep up debris, it kind of seems like they’re just pushing dirt around. I have several goals for my return back to the US, and for the first time in my life, I need a pedicure and a manicure. My nails feel like they’re permanently damaged from all the dust and crud always getting in them, and my feet are so gross from wearing flip flops everywhere, I have to scrub them every night
……that said, the Italians don’t believe in washing their hair more than once a week and don’t bathe regularly. So while this whole dirty thing might bother me, they aren’t losing sleep over it.
2. Rome is so inconvenient. There’s not a simple way to do anything. You can’t buy groceries for more than maybe two days at a time (and everything is smaller, so you have to spend more just to get full), you can’t work out in a gym with a physical from an Italian doctor. You can’t buy your office supplies anywhere near where you’d buy your groceries. You can’t be by yourself outside after dark–which goes for anywhere not suburban, I suppose, but is increasingly frustrating after a month. Finally, Roman restaurants don’t really open until eight at night and most places tend to close whenever they feel like it or if they are consistent, between 2 and 7.
……that said, I still manage to eat dinner when I want, as long as I cook for myself. And it’s nice to go to the store so often because it lets you eat what you want, when you want, as opposed to just eating up all the leftover food you can find.
3. Rome is HOT HOT HOT. Really, this place is hotter than what you’d expect. I mean, Michigan has had some hot summers, and I’ve been to Hawaii in the summer when it’s been hot. But, this takes the cake. It’s probably about ten fold worse because most of Rome hasn’t embraced the technology of air conditioning yet.
……that said, I think my excitement level to come home peaks upward whenever I daydream about being so cold in the air-conditioning that I have to ask for another blanket :)
4. I love the walking. I LOVE to walk places. I’m the weirdo in the winter that walks from her apartment to campus in a blizzard. I just enjoy the serenity of twenty or so minutes to yourself as you gear up for a day. And walking is brought to the extreme (almost unlikable) here.
….that said, my feet are tired of walking. They’ve had it. They want a break. They’re in pain and every time I decide to take the stairs seven stories to my apartment instead of the elevator (it’s small and hot, I hate it!), I’m pretty sure my feet curse my name.
5. I love the healthiness of the food. One of the more consistent and well-liked “lifestyle” plans doctors recommend is eating “clean.” This means essentially limiting the preservatives you put into your body. You might have also heard it as “eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” It’s the same general idea. It’s actually just common sense–something you cook for yourself using fresh food is going to be better for you than the Hungryman’s Frozen Fried Chicken Dinner. But, the food in Italy, unlike America, kind of sticks to this plan without even trying. The frozen food section of a supermarket is pretty much nonexistent and even the snack food they do have available is in smaller portions and made from better ingredients. That said, they do lack in providing many healthy alternatives within their food. For example, they offer pasta, but not whole wheat pasta. Or they have wheat bread, but not Whole Grain Wheat bread. But, their fruits and vegetables are incredibly fresh. And so yummy!
…that said, I never really gave anything besides apples and bananas the time of day back in the States. Hopefully they’re just as good back there!
Now, what’s on the gameplan for this week? Well folks, I’ve got a trip to the Vatican very, very tentatively planned for sometime this week, an Italian test on Thursday, and also on Thursday, I’m going to Barcelona! Cheers for Spain!
Catch up with you sooner rather than later.
Loves!
Posted by M on Jul 21, 2009 in
Savvy Travels Congratulations, folks! We’ve made it to the teens! Woot Woot! As of tomorrow, I have officially been out of the country for three entire weeks. While I doubt you can put into words the amount that you miss me, I’ll rest assured that it is a great deal.
Normally, I blog for the universe on Monday and Wednesday Mornings, when I have class later and nothing to do for the first few hours of the day. However, Study Abroad is named such because we do (very reluctantly, I might add), have to attend class. And this week, tragically, is midterm week. Which means tomorrow morning, when I normally would be resting my little head until 8:30 am or so, I need to get up and go to the library and start memorizing some facts about monuments and resisting the tempting call of the interwebs.
My newest hobby in Rome is jogging. For those of you who know me at home, I’m a pretty active runner. I really, really enjoy a nice long run. Or I don’t so much as enjoy the actual run, but I love how I feel afterwards. I keep myself on a pretty rigorous schedule and my favorite days are Mondays and Thursdays, when I get to weight train too. I’m not very strong, but it’s still fun to do. While I’m usually pretty dedicated, for the past two and a half weeks, running really hasn’t been an option for a few reasons. First off, I didn’t know where I was really. The last thing I wanted to do was go running, get lost in this huge city, and have no idea where I am or how to get home. It took me the first five days just to learn how to pronounce my street name in a way Italians could understand! The other thing holding me back was that Italians do not really work out. Or they do, but it’s not like in America where you see joggers on street corners, or in DeWitt, when walkers are commonplace at night, circling the town loop. So, I saw maybe one jogger in two weeks. In fact, I actually asked my Italian teacher about it, who told me that women and men are not obsessed with their bodies like we are in the US and that jogging on streets is very odd. They’ll go to gyms and they’ll run in parks (but never in shorts, always long pants), but many do not. Plus, with all the walking I do here (really, I’m walking so much I give myself charley horses), running wasn’t really necessary to keep myself from exploding from italian carbs. That said, Sunday morning I woke up and I wanted to run. I put off the urge until four in the afternoon, when I finally just did it.
I did everything wrong. I ran on my street, instead of in a park. I ran in shorts, a huge no-no. There are traffic lights, so I run in place as I wait–guaranteed to get funny looks. The results? People looked at me funny. Men leered. Elderly men actually mocked me. A few kids pointed. No one gets out of your way like in America where runners typically have the right of way. Oh no, there is a lot of darting and people glaring at you for being so inconsiderate as to run around them or even worse, do a kind of little dance to get between crowds. After the first day when I heard something along the lines of “silly american girl” from a couple who were dining, I put on my ipod. Now, I can see them mocking, but at least I don’t have to listen.
The other secret to running here, besides the ipod, is to NOT run on the cobblestone. The cobblestone, even if you only run on it for a few minutes, is going to mess up your knees. My neighbor recently got inspired to do a five mile run (ha! I’m totally not that motivated. It’s 89 degrees here when we run!) and did some of her trek on cobblestone. Her knee is now swollen like a balloon! Luckily, we live on a street with concrete sidewalks, so my knees are looking the same.
On a more serious note, the past few days I’ve really felt like I wanted to be home. Not because I don’t like Rome–I love it!–but because family occasions have made me think that I could do with some family bonding to celebrate life, new opportunities, and of course, a little brother’s birthday. While flying home for the weekend isn’t exactly an option, it has made me rethink what living abroad permanently would be like. I’ve always toyed with the idea of moving to Florence after school’s done. After a few weeks here, I’ve realized the language barrier is not impossible, but would be frustrating to deal with. Moreover, while the historical perception of Italy is glamorous, the reality is that many people here live in poor conditions with poor political leadership and that there is no current art movements or academic successes that would make Italy attractive for a younger crowd. In fact, Italy has the lowest birthrate in the EU–less than 0. It’s an old generation that live in Italy. Furthermore, living here, compared to the the US, is extremely inconvenient. There’s grocery shopping almost every single day and nothing is cheap! Except wine. And frankly, if I had to grocery shop every day just to keep some snack food in the cupboards and to have dinner, I’d need cheap wine to keep my sanity.
Welllllll, hopefully I will be getting back to you all soon. Hopefully, midterms will be successfully over and we can celebrate the two week mark to my homecoming. Mother, if you’re reading this: I would really, really, really love some paella when I come home. And some diet coke. And a chocolate chip cookies.
Loves.
Posted by M on Jul 19, 2009 in
Savvy Travels So, I’ve essentially made it to the halfway mark, give or take a day. This five week program has been flying by! I suppose five weeks isn’t that long in the first place, but 19 days ago, when I landed and didn’t know a soul, speak the language, or know my way to anywhere or from anywhere, it felt like it was going to drag. And now? I speak a very little italian, but enough to ask directions or to be courteous, at least. I can find my school, supermarkets, monuments, and have become shockingly good at maps. Seriously. Anyone that knows me at home knows I’m terrible with directions and finding places. But here, when we go out, I’m usually the person mapping the route and leading the way. Weird, huh?
Anyways, when we last left off it was the Wednesday before my first Italian exam. Which went okay. The class is taught by an Italian at an Italian school, so the testing mechanism used is a little different from what I’m used to, and therefore, pretty confusing. Also, I’m dyslexic, so the way I hear vowels and how they’re actually used or sound is different. In American foreign language classes, this just typically hinders the listening portion of the exam or at times, the oral section because I can’t always understand what’s being said. In this particular Italian class, we have an entire section on the exam where she says a word in Italian, and you have to figure out how it’s spelled based on how it sounds. Essentially, this is difficult for any person ad nearly impossible when you’re dyslexic and the sound is different to you. But, I’m taking it pass/fail and I’ll manage. For the good of the country, I shall soldier on.
After classes on Thursday (including when I was informed that I’d be giving an oral report on Tuesday complete with an outline and handout for my Ancient Monuments class–thanks for the notice), two friends and I headed to Roma Termini, the train station, to get tickets to Florence for Saturday. We mostly stayed in Thursday night because on Friday, we got up and did homework all day. The highlight of Friday was eating at an American Steakhouse for lunch–finally french fries!!
Saturday morning came early and we left for Florence, Italy at 7:30 am. We took a taxi to the station, who tried to charge us 15 euro for a typically 8 euro cab ride. After some negotiation in Italian, we got the fare down to 10 euro, an early victory for young travelers. We caught our train, which was fairly uneventful and nice. The trains in Italy are a little finicky, so we’re lucky they weren’t on strike or running late–unlike last weekend when some of our co-students got caught in other countries when Rail Italia decided they weren’t going to operate.
Once in Florence, we had made zero plans. I’d been there once before, when I was 16, so a lot of the responsibility on what to see was on me. Which was slightly tragic because I’m not exactly a Florence pro (I was there four years ago for only a week). However, I had made reservations at the Academia to see the David for 12:45. If you ever go to Florence, totally do this ahead of time. I actually requested the tickets the day before at 3:30 pm and was granted them at 6 pm. When we got to the museum (our first stop), there was a line all the way around the corner. We simply were let in the “reservations” entrance. Go us :)
The David was very cool and totally worth seeing again. It wasn’t as busy as I remember it, so I literally stared at it for a while. It really is awe-inspiring to see this huge statue, so realistic that Michaelangelo has carved veins into his arms. It also makes you feel a little horrible when you, like me, realize you can’t even sketch a person realistically, yet this artist is CARVING them.
After lunch at a side shop and seeing the David, we went to the Duoma of Florence and climbed all 463 steps to the top. This was worthwhile because we got some exercise, a fabulous view of the town, and also managed to see the interior of the church from climbing the stairs–which saved us the time of actually going into the church and the line that was queued up for that adventure.
Duoma aside, we briefly stopped at the Golden doors, and then headed towards the Uffizi and Florence’s famous bridge. Picture taking and Gelato stopped us briefly, but we then arrived at the Pitti Palace. It was very cool–even cooler than I remembered from high school, to walk around. They try and sell you two tickets–one to the palace and one to the grounds. We bought the one to the palace and then at some point, just found an open door and went outside. Considering I’d been taking pictures of statues and paintings illegally all day, being a fugitive on palace lands did not seem that outrageous.
By this time, it was nearly 6 pm and we’d seen a lot in the 8 hours we’d been in Florence. We headed back to the train station, only to stop for dinner at a very mediocre stop. Any good tourist knows –and Rick Steves confirms–that eating around tourist areas is expensive and will not be tasty. As usual, Rick was right. But, we were hungry and food sounded good, even if it did require a sandwich upon arrival back in Rome.
Here are some pictures, if you’d like to check them out:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016100&id=1251960019&l=813fdb3b74
It’s only 9:38 am here, but I’ve already been to the grocery store, a major feat considering that nothing here is open on Sunday because it’s a catholic country. However, I did manage to find groceries to at least get me through today (I’ll be up and at the store again early in the morning for food for the rest of the week). In about an hour, I’m leaving for the Roman Flea markets. Then, I plan to come home, lay out, take a nap, and work on that oral presentation/study Italian.
Three weeks from now, I’ll be home and eating some of my mom’s fabulous chocolate chip cookies and perhaps some of that Spanish rice/chicken dish? Just a little something to keep in mind :)
Posted by M on Jul 15, 2009 in
Savvy Travels Ciao bellos and bellas,
It’s nearly high noon here in Rome and per usual, it is extremely hot. Many people warned me about the heat in Rome and while I expected a little warmth, there are moments where I think I’m going to sweat my skin off.
Anyways, the return to normal Roman life has been a bit tedious since coming home from Capri. Mostly I eat (A LOT…the heat makes you hungry/thirsty ALL the time) and study and tend not to do much else. The food here is great, but I eat most of my meals from the grocery store about half a block from my apartment. Typically, it’s a cold cut or peanut butter sandwich, apples that are much too expensive, Italian cookies that I have a bit of fetish for, and an inordinate amount of pretzels. I seriously eat more pretzels than any human should consume (I’m not sure how my pants are still fitting at this point), but they’re filling and because Italians don’t snack much, one of the only snacks I can find that are from Italy and therefore, not outrageously expensive.
My Italian class is still going well, although we have our first test tomorrow. I’ve been studying every night since the first night, so I’m hoping to do well, but I know that foreign languages are not my strong suit. Luckily, I’m taking it pass/fail, which means I actually only need about a 70% in the class to get credit for graduation. Because I’m taking it pass/fail, I also don’t pay as much attention to the little grammatical things I probably would care more about if I needed a good grade (as those are what you’re typically tested on), and instead focus on stuff that I need to get around Italy. Phrases like, “il canto, per favorore” (the bill, please) or “dove e la stazione” (where is the train station?) are very helpful for everyday life.
My other class, the one where I tour Ancient Rome, is a smart class to take, but it’s a ton of walking in very high heat. However, it does take me to a lot of museums that I would have to go to anyways, and my tuition covers the entry fees. Therefore, it’s a pretty cost effective class.
Yesterday, in that class, I visited the Roman Forum. We saw the senate building, the palace where the high priest would reside, and various other extremely old buildings. An interesting thing that Italy does is that they allow contemporary and modern artists to have exhibitions in ancient sites. For example, the Roman Forum is currently displaying contemporary statues by a South American sculpture. My professor explains that this is really unfortunate, because it blocks the views of many of the ancient monuments that foreign tourists have traveled to see.
We’ve booked our Barcelona trip and I’m going to Florence this weekend. I also have plans to explore some of the more untraditional neighborhoods in Rome in order to perhaps escape the world of pasta and pizza and find something a little more…ethnic? Yum.
Catch you soon!
Posted by M on Jul 13, 2009 in
Savvy Travels Ciao!
Happy Monday! As you silly Americans sleep in your tidy little beds, I’m awake, alert, and ready to blog.
Let’s start with last Thursday…
I’m in a class called Ancient Monuments of Rome, which means I do a lot of walking around Rome and essentially, my legs get very tired for hours and I take notes in 100 degree heat. Thursday was no exception to this, as our class went to Pope Julius III former summer residence, which has now been transformed into a museum of the Trescans, a group of people from Tuscany who ruled Rome from 700 to 509 BC. The meeting place for class was an hour walk from my apartment and we then walked an additional four hours, plus an hour back to school. It was exhausting. I would say though, that if you go to Rome, to go ahead and skip the Trescan museum. While I’m pretty sure it has the world’s first Keg on display, I don’t think it’s really something to add to your top ten list of things to add.
However, the fun stuff started Thursday night, when a group of seven us girls took a bus to the Amalfi Coast of Italy. It’s about a four hour drive from Italy and even Rick Steves recommends you check it out. We checked into my very first hostel, a newly built place called Seven Hostel in Sorrento, Italy. We didn’t get in until pretty late, so alas, we didn’t do much Thursday but sleep. The rooms in hostels, for those of you like me who usually don’t do hostel traveling, are just like at summer camps: you have a room full of bunk beds (generally sleep anywhere from 2 to 12–ours held 10) and then a community bathroom. You can, if you want, get rooms with private bathrooms and that only hold two people, but they’re more expensive. The hostel also has a bar and restaurant downstairs.
Anyways, Friday morning we woke up and had a complimentary breakfast–I was thrilled to have cereal for the first time since I left home! Although, like all liquids in Italy, the milk was warm. This grossed out everyone but me–I love cereal enough to overlook its faults.
After breakfast, we took a bus to a marina, and then boarded a bus to take us to Capri, Italy, which is an island famous for its blue grotto. We saw the green grotto, the white grotto, and some other grotto, but unfortunately, the blue grotto could be seen but not swam in, as the tide was too high and it was dangerous. We took a walk through some very winding trails and eventually made it to the top of Capri, which had a gorgeous, gorgeous view of the Mediterranean sea. Lemoncello, a type of alcohol, is very famous on Capri, so we went to a tasting of that–but I skipped out. Alcohol and sun are lethal for a fair skinned partially swedish girl like me.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on the beach. Beaches on the Amalfi coast are not made of sand, but of large, smooth pebbles. So, it’s kind of like laying on a sauna. Again, the fair skinned thing kicked in, so I laid in the shade–much to the laughter of my friends. We did the beach thing for a while, then got on a boat and then a bus back to Sorrento and headed out for dinner. I was starving at this point, so luckily, we went to a great Restaurant and then out to the bars and Sorrento nightlife. The nightlife there is fun, but a little overwhelming with aggressive Italian men. If you ever go, I recommend ladies having a gentleman with them.
Saturday was just as fun. We went to Positano, which is a town right on the Coast. Again, we did some beach stuff at first and then ate at a fabulous sandwich place called Vino & Panino. Finally my body had meat in its system! Yay for protein! (David C. Flood, do not even add a “That’s what she said”).
After lunch, we went on a boat and went Cliff diving. It wasn’t too high, maybe 30 feet, but it was super, super fun. I would LOVE to do that again and I don’t even like swimming. We also went and swam through a grotto (a little scary, but still fun). Back on land, we shopped and then took a nap on a bench like homeless bums before getting back to Sorrento and taking it easy for the rest of the night.
Around 11 on Sunday we left for Pompeii, Italy, where Mount Vesuvius erupted some 2,000 years ago. It is very, very hot there, which made the experience less enjoyable, but it was still really cool. The town is almost too big, it’s a little overwhelming. We saw where the people ate, where they had their spa, a theatre, houses, and of course, frozen in time people and animals. If I had been in the States and seen only this in Italy, it would have been eery. But, as I’ve seen so many monuments and stuff at this point, to be quite honest, it’s almost like, “eh, more ruins. I’m hot.”
It was at three hour bus ride back to Rome, but totally worth it. We got ourselves home and then I started homework and uploading pictures, which of course, I would be happy to email to anyone :)
xoxox
Posted by M on Jul 8, 2009 in
Savvy Travels Ciao! Come Stei?
As you can clearly recognize from my above sentence, my fluency in Italian is just mind-boggling after only two classes.
Good Morning, though. Right now, it’s 11:33 am in Rome, which put it at a whopping 5:33 am in Michigan. This morning, I had to wake up early at 6:30 to for an adventure I’ll expand on momentarily, and managed to catch my boyfriend just as he was going to bed–at midnight in the States.
Anyways, I started classes Monday and so far, they’re okay. I’m a student at John Cabot University, an American University just south of the River and near Trastevere, for those with some Roman knowledge. The college is made up of primarily students who are studying abroad. In fact, during the school year, 30% of the 750 students who attend the school are actually students who go there year-round. The other 70% are all study abroad. In the summer, there’s only 100 kids in the school, and I’d guess that 95% of them are study abroad. The regular semester in Rome is 15 weeks, but we’re expected to do the same courseload in 4 and a half. As you can guess, this is impossible. Luckily, my teachers understand that. For my Italian class, we spend about 75% of the time talking in Italian, but the other 25% talking about Italian culture and the differences between America and Italy. Maybe it sounds silly, but a lot of the differences come down to etiquette, so it’s probably a class every traveling American should take. My second class, Rome and its monuments, is essentially a traveling class. We meet every Tuesday or Thursday morning in a different location in Rome, then tour museums and monuments. Yesterday, after being given the syllabus, we actually toured a little bit and I was thrilled to finally see the Colosseum, and some temples. We get to bring our cameras too–so there’s tons of picture opportunities.
School takes up most of the day, even when I only have it for two hours, because it’s primarily in the middle of the day. Unfortunately, that means I haven’t done much else recently. A lot of the time things we try to do, we end up getting lost. Indeed, last night, we tried to take a tram to see the Colosseum at night, but that failed. And, this morning, we tried to go see the pope give his blessing, only to spend an hour getting lost. As a result, we missed the blessing. Tickets are free though, so hopefully we can try again–and take a taxi—next Wednesday.
In about an hour, I’ll leave for school, and then head off to go to the shops, do homework, have dinner, and then pack for Capri, Italy–where I’m heading to tomorrow night. Hopefully, this will mean a great blog entry on Sunday because alas, I will not be taking my computer with me.
Arrivederci!
Posted by M on Jul 6, 2009 in
Savvy Travels (disclaimer: it might be 34 days. I use more of an estimation system than an exact formula, people.)
Top of the morning to you, my fine and loyal followers. It’s Monday, 10:44 am here in the glorious city of Rome. That means it’s a dapper 3:44 am back in my homestate. I’m almost over my jet lag–much to my dismay, I’ve discovered the best way to beat it is to try not to nap until you’re adjusted–but I must admit, I’m already looking to the reverse jet lag when I come home. Because I’m six hours ahead, I gain six hours flying back east. Which means, I essentially get my six hours of sleep back. YES!
Anyways, from where we left off:
After relaxing on Saturday afternoon, we found a restaurant down the street where we had dinner. It was actually pretty good–even if the restaurant was a little americanized–and I was thrilled to finally have some pasta in my belly. Actually, I was just happy to have anything at all in my belly. Because Italians eat so late, we tried to wait as long as possible to eat, which ended up being 7 pm. We were the only people in the restaurant until right before we left, which was was around 8:30. We’d planned on grocery shopping, but everything was closed by then, so while some of the group went out, I stayed in and fell asleep early.
Sleeping was in preparation for Sunday morning’s events, when some friends and I took a bus to Sperlonga, a beach town about two hours (with traffic) south of Rome. Most Romans escape the city in the summer and many have beach houses in Sperlonga, which mean that unfortunately, it was very crowded. But, we did manage to find some empty spots on the beach and alternated laying in the sun with splashing around in the Mediterranean sea. Pretty cool, right?
The beach day was a little too long for my taste. As a fair skinned individual, more than about two hours on the beach is a little too long. So when we left after seven hours, I wasn’t too bummed. The ride home though, was horrible. There was a ton of traffic and the ‘luxury coach’ we took was anything but luxurious. It was horrible.
We ended up back at our apartment by 9 in the evening, and then headed over to Campo dei Fiori, a square of bars past the river and closer to the Vatican. About half of us stayed out to rage, but as for me, I headed home. Why? School starts today. Oh right. I’m in school, remember? I know. Yuck.
I’ll give you some updates and information on the classes I’m taking and hopefully, I’ll be able to insert some fun pictures soon.
Wish me luck in class!
Posted by M on Jul 4, 2009 in
Savvy Travels So, to pick up from where we last left off….
After settling into our apartment (located in southern Rome, south from the main river in Rome and south from the Vatican—look how wordly I am already becoming), we met up with Ricarda, an Italian woman from the school I’m attending assigned to look after MSU kids. She walked our tired little legs all the way to John Cabot University for a meet and greet. The food, a free dinner provided by JCU, was horrible, but I was too jet lagged to care. We stayed for a while, and then walked back to our apartment. This walk, by the way, is about 45 minutes. It’s long. And Rome is hot. Keep these factors in mind, as they will be important later.
Back at our apartment, one of my roommates, a girl who will be starting her first year at Staten Island City College in the fall, insisted we go for dinner. We walked and walked and walked and finally ended up at a pizza place. I skipped pizza, opting for the gelato next door. I’d been craving that ice cream since I was 16 and it was well worth the wait.
By this time, it was about 9:00, so we came home, curled up, and fell asleep.
Friday morning we met with Ricarda again for a fun filled day of orientation information.
We learned a lot about Italian nightlife, including a substantial amount about Italian dating and night life. something interesting: All italian men say “ciao bella” (hello beautiful) to every girl they meet. They consider themselves the ultimate in latin lovers and especially love Americans because we’re only here for a short amount of time. So, many a men will hit on JCU students. The secret is, you should not even acknowledge that they are talking to you when they say ciao bella. If you so much as smile at them, it’s considered an invitation to come over and talk. So, unlike in the nice, homey midwest, in Italy, you don’t say hi when someone says hi to you. You don’t even make eye contact. If you wear a short dress, it’s an invitation to ignore that you didn’t say hi because clearly, your body language says that you want men to flock to you. If you do smile and the Italian guy does come over, you shouldn’t give them your number or god forbid, your street address, because Italians are also infamously aggressive. So, unlike in America where we have a “wait a little while” after getting the number” rule, Italian men will call as soon as you walk away. And continue to call. And if you give them your address, they will just show up at your house. Also, in Italian, there is no word for Girlfriend. There is fiance. You will be introduced as so and so’s fiance, even if you just met on the street corner yesterday because he said, “ciao bella” and you were wearing a skirt, so he came over and now you’re stuck. Awkward much?
Anyways, orientation also included details about that pesky little thing called “class,” traveling information if we want to get out, and other nuances. In between sessions, we had about a 4 hour break, so I hiked, with a couple other girls, over to the Trevi fountain. It is as beautiful as in person, but much more crowded. Also, I would probably refrain from throwing coins in. We watched as panhandlers, using a magnet attached to along stick, literally just put their stick in the fountain to pull coins from tourists out.
After our last session, we headed home and bought cheap wine (1.39 euro for a bottle) and went out for the night. We ended up at an American bar north of the river (closer to the Vatican).
Six hours of sleep later, it was this morning. Beth, Mandy, and I took the Tram to a part of city where the big fashion houses have stores. It was the Sales, which are a biannual event in Rome that gets the locals and tourists alike very, very excited. People “queue” up in long, long lines and wait to be let in to Versace, Guess, Burberry, Prada, Dior, etc. It really is like something out of a movie, as the stores are guarded by men in dark suits with pieces in their ears and your entrance and exit is monitored as well as counted. It’s intense.
I didn’t buy anything, because, and this is again important soon, I am a cheap girl. But, I did buy a lunch and only because things were desperate and it was hot, a water.
So, the fact that it is hot and I’m thrify lead to the sad conclusion of this entry. I refuse to buy water and until today, I’d only eaten what I’d been given–which was pretty much nothing. I’m still getting my bearings and frankly, everything here is so expensive! It literally pains to spend more than five euro on a meal. In fact, i still haven’t even spent that much. Since we’ve been out and about walking though, I also refused to buy water or a water bottle, even if it was too hot for words. I would just suck it up and remind myself that eventually, I’d be at the school or in my apartment where tap water was free and readily available. Well, that didn’t really work out because I ended up nauseous, trembling, and so sick to my stomach after three days of trying to live on the cheap end of things. Hence, the nice 1 pm puke in front of our apartment. Lesson learned? Yes. I bought the water and now I’ll just refill it. We’re also going to the grocery store. We’ve been to one already, but we’re going to try and buy sandwich stuff and snack foods. Although Italians don’t generally snack very much, we’re going to overturn that rule because we’re STARVING.
Tonight, I believe the gameplan is to go have our first legitimate Italian meal at a restaurant. Because I was sick earlier in the afternoon, I’ve spent the last few hours just laying around. I mean, there are worse places to be sick, right?
Catch you soon!
Posted by M on Jul 2, 2009 in
Savvy Travels Hi!
Sorry it’s been so long since my previous postings, but as I’ve spent the majority of the last two months studying calc, I made the grownup decision to spare you the goings on of that debacle. Nonetheless, that part of the summer (I call it Summer: Stateside) has adjourned and somehow, within 6 hours of it ending, I boarded a plane and flew to Rome for Study Abroad. I know not a single soul. Well, except my trusty best friend Rick Steves, who I plan on hanging out with when I’m not sleeping, studying, or consuming large and disgusting amounts of ice cream.
The adventure began yesterday when Cliff and Ann drove me to the airport to say goodbye to their favorite spawn. It was a little intense to go through airport security, get on a plane, and fly halfway around the world solo. I realize that it’s all about self growth and discovery and yada yada, but that doesn’t mean it’s not freaking scary.
Delta and Northwest Airlines, in case you aren’t aware, have merged and still have some kinks to work out. The flight, although successful and did in fact, go to Rome, left a little to be desired. The temperature was out of control freezing and my nose was so cold that I literally had to lift my shirt over my face in order to breathe hot air onto myself. The flight attendants couldn’t decide really what time it was, that is, if the flight was going to run according to Roman time or Michigan time. So, we were served dinner at 10:45 pm Michigan time and served breakfast at 10 am Roman time–which is 4 am Michigan Time. None of those times are actually times when one eats any of those meals. I also should comment that for some of the flight attendants, it was their first time flying to Europe. Ever. So, when questions like, “my flight connects in fifty minutes” came up, they responded that those people would presumably be “totally fine.” Mhmm. Going through customs, rechecking baggage, and finding their gate–all in fifty minutes. Totally going to happen–especially when we were ten minutes late!
After getting off the plane, I made my way through customs–which aren’t anything like US customs. I didn’t have to fill out any paperwork, they didn’t ask anything about what I brought over. Just smiled and stamped my passport. Welcome to Rome.
I met up with some other people who were going to be going to my school (including a gentleman from a small Michigan college who assured me that he was pretty positive he was staying “in the vatican.” What, snuggling up with the pope?) and a girl who turned out to be my roommate, Jenny. This is my first experience sharing a bedroom with someone–let’s hope I learn to pick my clothing up off the floor.
I have to say, as much as I enjoy a journey of self discovery, I’m a little homesick already. I miss my family and my boyfriend, and I miss having someone to go for walks with and my puppy. But, it’s only 39 days (Paris Hilton was in jail longer than that) and I have internet, which means I can pretty much talk to everyone all the time. And of course, I can keep my fabulous readers (all two of you) in suspense day in and day out :)
Anywhos, I’ll have more details as they come. Love love love :)