Venezia for Carnivale!

So, I realize that I have fallen ridiculously behind in my blog - school and traveling have kept me so busy! But I want to share my stories and pictures with friends and family still, so I am going back and blogging about all the exciting adventures I have had in the past two months (...to the best of my memory.)

The weekend of February 5-7, Alison, Tom, and I went to Venice for the famous Carnivale. For a brief history, Carnivale begins two weeks before Ash Wednesday and runs the entire time as a festival that ends on Mardi Gras. The tradition may trace back as far as the 1100's. It first celebrated the Doge's (mayor figure of Venice) victory over the patriarch Ulrico in 1162 and continued for years after as a series of spectacles prepared for the Doge's Receptions of foriegn authorities, etc. People dressed in costume and wore elaborate masks (very much like the ones I was fortunate enough to see while at Carnivale!) It is said that Carinvale meant a time in which the commoner and the aristocrat were the same in the streets.

Carnivale came to a halt when Venice merged with Austria in 1797. It is said that some people still celebrated the holiday, but it had been outlawed. In 1979, Venetians decided to revive the lost tradition - and it has now become a huge tourist attraction (definitely more tourists than actual participants in Carnivale.)

Well, we took an early morning flight on Friday to the budget airport of Venice - Treviso. It was about a 40 minute bus ride from Mestre (the mainland town that we were staying in...the actual island of Venice was well out of our price range!!!). The location of the hotel itself was not too bad - just a stone's throw away from a bus stop that took us the ten minute bus ride to Piazzale Roma (the only place on the island cars and buses are allowed - everything else is on foot!).

Our...quaint one-star Hotel Giovannina, on the other hand, was not necessarily the most positive part of our trip. We arrived straightaway to drop our bags off for storage and were surprised/pleased to hear that we could check in early. How I wish we had not been granted that privelage...maybe I would have enjoyed the rest of my day more had I thought I had a warm, cozy room to come back to. We took our huge key up one flight of stairs, through a narrow, damp, and poorly-lit hallway, and into...the hotel room that I would not even wish upon my worst enemies.

Well, I don't want to cry too much about the hotel - obviously I survived and have lived to tell the tale. But, all I can say is that a room like this would not be allowed in the US. I am positive that we have some sort of health code violations against all of the Hotel Giovanninas of the world. (Just for a brief description - you had to walk THROUGH the shower (sans shower curtain) to access the toilet, you simply had to shut the door and let the water spray everywhere in the moldy bathroom to shower, and the drainage system of the shower was one that conveniently directed a great deal of water onto the hotel room floor...which left it damp and squishy with mold. I won't even talk about our beds.)

We decided that we would not waste our time in Venice by sitting in our hotel room, so we meandered through Mestre for a bit to find a (really nice!) grocery store for snacks. Then, we caught the bus into Venice after getting a great deal of help from our receptionist at the hotel (one pro for Hotel Giovannina).

Once we got to Venice, I couldn't wait to explore. However, it was pouring rain. The entire weekened, actually. We started making our way towards the major sites of Venice (i.e. the Rialto Bridge and St. Mark's Square). I was snapping pictures left and right - even in the rain, Venice and its canals were stunning. I believe that I am one of those people who has an very natural - and very strong - attraction to water. I loved being surrounded on all sides by the canals.

Walking the streets was really enjoyable - albeit cold and wet. The streets were lined with shops (especially touristy ones selling masks!) and a lot of streets had festively hung Christmas lights all along them.

The Rialto was magnificent. I loved the view of the Grand Canal, and the shops conveniently placed on the bridge provided plenty of entertainment. I had already started eying masks to wear for the next day's festivities (Carnivale's kick-off was that Saturday), and I had decided that I wanted a blue one. Now, to Tom's horror, I just had to look everywhere to find that perfect mask.

We meandered our way through the narrow streets of Venice to the sprawling and impressive St. Mark's Square. Carnivale setup had begun (very exciting), and we decided to sightsee. We went into St. Mark's Basilica - a church known since the 11th centure as the Chiesa d'Oro (Church of Gold) for its luxuriant design, gilded Byzantine mosaics, and symbol of Venice's wealth and power. Seeing such an old (the basic structure of the current Basilica was erected in 1063) and important (St. Mark is buried within the church) was very exciting for me. Then entire basilica was beautiful, but very dark and damp inside - something I had at this point decided was a prevailing theme in Venice.

After our visit to the Basilica, we realized that walking around Venice was not an option in the downpour - so we stayed very close to St. Mark's. In fact, we went right next door to the Palazzo Ducale for a museum visit - a stunning building of limestone and pink marble, loggias and porticos. The Palace served not only as the residence of the elected official of Venice (the Doge), but it also housed the law courts, civic administration, and the city jail. In our visit, we toured the Doge's apartments, the armory, and the city prison. The rooms of the apartment were stunning - decorated with pieces of art declaring Venetian greatness and power. I was talking to my dad about Venice's history tonight, and we were both happy to have learned so much about it from our visit to th Doge's Palace (my parents were just in Venice this week). Neither of us would have known the extent of Venice's wealth, power, and influence had we not visited this museum.

The armory was interesting in that it showcased all different sorts of weapons from different time periods. However, I moreso enjoyed our crossing of the famous Ponte Sospiri (the Bridge of Sighs) into the city jails. So interesting!

After our visit to the museums, we decided to walk back towards Piazzale Roma and find dinner (aka affordable pizza!) One thing is for sure - Venice prices were much higher than Rome prices (at this point, I started to realize that I really picked the right city..), but dinner was still good - even though we were literally the only people in the restaurant because of the early dinenr hour (although, in our defense, 6:00 is a perfectly acceptable time to eat dinner in Minnesota.)

After dinner, we headed back to Hotel Giovannina (although we were dreading it) so we could catch up on some sleep and have plenty of energy for the next day!

The next morning, we all braved the shower (big mistake) and got ready for the day. Of course, it was still pouring rain, but we did not want to miss out on the huge event we had come for! Unfortunately, I think the rain kept a few of the revelers inside - but we still saw some very cool costumes. Alison and I found some masks at a little shop and joined in the fun. Because of the rain, we spent some more time in musuems - this time another Piazza San Marco Museum - Museum Correr. This musuem was dedicated to the art and history of Venice. In the museum, you can find art, documents, artifacts and maps that tell the history of Venetian civilization. I feel like I learned a lot from the Correr...however, I did spend a great deal of time looking out the window at the children's event happening in the square - a bizzare signing and dancing bunny that spoke only Italian.

We wandered through the streets of Venice once more, returned to our hotel for a quick nap, and went back into Venice for the nighttime activities.

We were lucky enough to run into some friends from John Cabot, and we spent a great deal of the rest of our night with them. We went back to St. Mark's to watch a play in Italian performed by some Carnivale characters. We didn't really understand anything that was going on, but it was still fun to watch!

We were all quickly burning out from exhaustion, cold, and a lot of time on our feet. We returned to Mestre for a reasonable bedtime, packed up our stuff, set an alarm for the morning, and went to bed. We caught an early flight out of Venice the next morning and were all happy to be back in Rome.

Lucky for me, I had a second chance to experience the beautiful Venice that has inspired poets and wooed lovers - I got to meet my parents there for a short weekend trip, and I promise...that blog post will be much much MUCH more positive. However, I cannot walk away from the Venice weekend with a negative attitude - I wanted very badly to experience Carnivale, and I got to do just that. I could have had an ordinary weekend sitting in the library at BC, grabbing an dunkinccino, and getting Thai delivery (...although, that sounds AMAZING right now..) Instead, I was lucky enough to travel and experience a new city. If I have a final say about the weekend, I would have to say it was pretty darn great.

Visit to the best city in the world? Czech.

Last weekend, I traveled to Prague with 7 of my friends at John Cabot. What a fun group of people to travel with, and what an AMAZING city to visit! It has been a lifelong (well, since sixth grade!) dream of mine to visit Prague. I did a report on the Czech Republic in sixth grade, and ever since, I have been dying to go to Prague. How lucky was I for that to be my first weekend trip this semester?!
The crazy/amazing thing about my life right now is that a group of us will be sitting around the dinner table, finishing up our pasta with red sauce and freshly grated Parmesan, and suddenly, someone will say something like, "Let's go to Prague this weekend." Then, we will take out our laptops, use momondo.com to compare flight costs, and search hostels.com to find lodging, and just like that, we're traveling the globe.
We booked through a budget airline called "Wizzair." The airline services mostly the eastern region of Europe but has a limited number of flights to Western Europe. From Rome, I could go to Prague, Wroclaw, Budapest, and Warsaw. A bit about Wizzair - when we first went to the website, my web browser went CRAZY with notifications saying startling things such as "Are you sure you want to continue? The contents of this website may not be safe for your computer." After I google searched "Wizzair scam" (just as a precautionary step - I wanted to know that I wasn't funneling money to a terrorist group in Saudi Arabia or something), I realized that the planes were hot pink and purple. Czech yes. Sign me up, I'm ready to fly!
We booked a hostel I had looked into over the summer called "Old Prague Hostel." It is actually ranked one of the top ten hostels in all of Europe. Let me tell you, we were spoiled rotten there. It was clean, comfortable, ran endless amounts of hot water into the showers, and came to us at the affordable rate of 11 euro per night. Not too shabby.

But I better not get ahead of myself. Getting to the hostel was half of the fun.

To get to Rome's budget airport (Ciampino), we took the tram to the Trastevere train station. From there, we trained to Termini, missed the train to Ciampino, frantically ran throughout the 2nd largest train station in Europe, asked 5+ different people for help, and ended up on a train going somewhere. Lucky for us, that train was the right one!








From the train station, we had to get on a shuttle bus to take us to the airport. It was a lot of transferring and difficulties, but absolutely worth saving cab money and improving our public transportation skills.

Boarding the plane was ridiculous. For budget airlines, nobody gets an assigned seat. So, everyone runs to the ticket counter once boarding begins. But that does not get a person to the plane. Instead, the mad rush at the beginning is to get a good spot on the bus that drives you to the plane. Once the buses stop, the doors open and there is a mad dash. People are cutting in front of others, grandmas are sprinting, and every person charges the staircase to the plane as if it is the last drop of water in the Sahara Desert.

Lucky for us, we partook in this little race. We actually did extremely well for ourselves. See, sometimes being the ignorant American who speaks no Italian pays off. Alison asked the stewardess (in English) to clarify seat selection. Instead of telling us to pick whatever seats we could find, she exclaimed, "Oh good! You speak English! Go see my friend over there." Wanting to behave well and not upset anyone, we pushed and shoved our way to row 12 where the stewardess's "friend" was standing. This stewardess gave us the VIP reserved seating - the emergency exit row. For free. (For those of you who are not aware of this, emergency exit rows are the best things in the world. The leg room is literally double that of any other row on the plane.) After Tom, Alison and I were seated, the stewardess asked if we had any more English speaking friends. We quickly summonded Cara, Phil, Connor, Robbie and Miles, and all 8 of us had prime seating. Wizzair is a Hungarian airline, and in an emergency situation, the stewardesses need to be able to communicate with the people in the emergency row. Since not that many people outside of Hungary speak Hungarian, the language of emergency communication is English. Lucky us!

Wizzair was everything I had hoped for and more in an airline. Yes, the plane was pink and purple. But even better - the seats were a plush leather and the emergency row guaranteed no leg cramps. The stewards wore purple sweaters, the stewardesses sported pink sweaters and purple and pink scrunchies. The Italians fly in a completely different way than we do in America - as soon as the "fasten seatbelts" sign went off, the party started. A huge group got out of their seats, poured wine into glasses, and had a full-fledged party. They were talking, laughing, and creating a huge disturbance. But no big deal. As Alison cleverly pointed out, that would not "fly" in the US - but it definitely does in Rome! The best part, however, was when we landed. The second the wheels hit the ground, every person on the plane exploded with applause. I had never experienced that before, but I absolutely loved it!

Once we deplaned (and saw snow!), we made our way to the cab line and found... no cabs. When one finally pulled up, Tom, Connor, Cara and I rushed for it. We realized all 8 of us could never get into a cab together, so we would have to split up. We packed our stuff into the cab, got in, and when he asked for the address....we realized that we had absolutely no idea where our hostel was. Well, I knew it was a 5 minute walk from Old Prague Square...but we did not know which way. Considering that this was the only cab in sight, it was freezing cold, and we never knew how we'd get an address, I said "take us to the astronomical clock, " and we were off.

The cab driver dropped us off at Old Prague Square (and ripped us off a little - but not by too much), and the four of us started to walk. A lot. Luckily I had grabbed a free map for each of us at the airport, but that really did us no good. The street names were composed of sounds my tongue does not even know how to make, and we still were not sure what direction the hostel was in.

Prague is very eerie at night - but incredibly beautiful. Even though we were lost, I still appreciated the falling snow, the lit up buildings, the crisp fresh air, and the lack of honking horns and sirens. We stopped numerous people and asked for directions (luckily EVERYONE we ran into spoke English). We stopped in bars, pubs, restaurants - no one knew. After about a half hour or so, we stumbled upon a hostel that was not ours. However, we saw that the light was still on and the desk was still open (it was well past 1 am by now), and we thought we might as well ask. Lucky for us, the guy at reception was not too offended, he googled our hostel and marked it on our map. It was only TWO BLOCKS away! We were thrilled.

Of course, once we got to check-in, the receptionist at Old Prague Hostel greeted us with, "Your friends are upstairs laughing at you - one guy had used his iPhone and had the address as your cab was pulling away from the curb." Oh well. You live and you learn - I still would not trade that initial moment of stepping out of the cab, feeling the snow falling on my shoulders, looking up at the bell tower, and realizing that I was in the city I have dreamed about visiting for years and years.

The four of us went upstairs and found our friends. Our hostel was so nice! All 8 of us were placed in the same room. It was four bunk beds, a closet for each person, and really nice pillows (our pillows in our apartments are rough, so these felt great!) The bathrooms were shared with other hostel members and split up by gender, but they were extremely clean!

After we got settled, we went out for a nightcap at a bar nearby that the receptionist had recommended. It was full of character, full of real Czech people., and full of cheap beer. After a drink, we all decided it was time to turn in - we had a lot to do the next day!Friday, January 29, 2010

Tom, Connor, Alison and I all woke up early for the free hostel breakfast - something not necessarily worth waking up at 8 for! Then, Alison and I studied the brochures of the free walking tours and picked on that started at 11. We woke everybody else up around 9:30, grabbed some 10% off coupons for Bohemia Bagel (our favorite place to eat for the entire trip!), and headed out. Bohemia Bagel was nothing short of amazing. Bagels for 11 crowns (there are 18 crowns to the US dollar - so you do the math!), bottomless cups of coffee, and Philadelphia cream cheese!! They also served superb lunches - I later got a grilled chicken sandwich with guacamole, jalapenos, cheese and tomatoes!!

Then, we went to Old Prague Square to meet up with our tour guide...after we stopped for Starbucks (there aren't any in Rome, so it was exciting!)

Our free walking tour was three hours long, throughout a huge portion of the city, and nothing short of amazing. Our tour guide was witty, engaging, and full of as much information as he had energy. We started with a brief historical synopsis of the Czech Republic and Prague, and I learned so much from him! Then, we discussed Old Prague Square, the astronomical clock, and the Hussite Church.

From Old Prague Square, we wandered to Wenceslas Square, Estates Theatre (where Mozart debuted several of his pieces), the Powder Tower, the House of the Black Madonna, a big shopping street, the place where the Museum of Communism sits happily between a McDonald's and a casino, the Old Jewish Quarter, the Charles Bridge, and so much more.

For every site, our tour guide gave us the background of the place, told a story, and explained its relevance today. He was phenomenal. We all gave him as generous of tips as we could afford and promised ourselves that we would take full advantage of the Free Tours in whatever other cities we went to - the company offers them in 12 other cities! We also were convinced by him to pay for the Castle Tour the next day for 250 crown.

After the walking tour, we grabbed lunch, went shopping, took a nap, and ate dinner at Bohemia Bagel. That night, we also decided to partake in the famous Prague Pub Crawl. We had a great time visiting 4 different bars and ending up at a 5-story dance club with about 80 other people from around the world - England, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, and of course, Prague itself.
Saturday, January 30, 2010

Saturday, we decided to sleep in, rest up, take our time getting ready, and meander over to Bohemia Bagel for breakfast. We later met up with our tour guide (the same one from the free tour!) at 2 to travel over to the Prague Castle area and tour it. The area was beautiful and, because of its location on hilltop, allowed for spectacular views and panoramics.

We saw a beautiful church, a monastery famous for its brewed beer, a medieval road, a statue that was built to fight off the plague (it didn't work), charming street cafes, and the actual castle area itself (there apparently is no real castle - its just a district). We walked throughout the grounds of the castle, nearly froze to death, and saw St. Vitus' Cathedral. It was all stunning. However, we found that our tour guide was not as good that day. Oh well - I still enjoyed everything that we saw.
He was useful, however, for restaurant recommendations - we all wanted an authentic (and relatively cheap!) Czech meal. He pointed us to an extremely authentic restaurant "where the real Czech people go," and oh my gosh. Was it ever perfect.

I have never ordered food in this way before. We sat down, took one look at the menu, and quickly realized the entire thing was in Czech. No English explanations here. Our waiter spoke a tiny bit of English and told us to tell him what we would like. Basically, I said I would like chicken, cheese, potato, and no other meat. Tom wanted sausage, dumplings, and kielbasa. Cara wanted steak and dumplings. We all wanted fried cheese.

Miraculously, everything we were served was out of this world amazing. Every one of us was liking our plates clean.

After dinner, we went back to the hostel to hang out. We were so exhausted from our two big touristy days, so we decided to run to a local convenience store, grab snacks, and just enjoy our time together in our hostel room. I cannot remember the last time that I laughed so hard. We had a lot of fun just lying in bed, joking around, and falling asleep early.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

We slept in on Sunday, got Bohemia Bagel (of course), and set out for our last day in Prague. Essentially, we wanted to cover the Charles Bridge, the Lennon Wall, and the shopping mall near our hostel.We meandered through the quaint streets of Prague up to the Charles Bridge. We passed shops, restaurants, art galleries, museums, and bars. I loved everything I saw, and I could not help but think that I would love nothing more than to return to Prague one day - and hopefully very soon.

The Charles Bridge was unfortunately under construction, but it was still absolutely spectacular. It is lined with statues and offers stunning views of the Prague Castle, the Vltava River, and the city. I loved strolling up and down it while looking at the different vendors stands scattered throughout. Some sold jewelry, but most sold pictures of some sort. Alison, Tom, and I all purchased photographs for about 3.25 euro each. I cannot wait to collect pictures from each city I go to and eventually hang them up on my wall.

After the Charles Bridge, we walked to the Lennon Wall - a huge wall covered in graffiti in tribute to John Lennon. It was very cool - lots of Beatles' quotes, portraits of John Lennon, inspirational quotes, etc.

We then walked to the mall - I wish we had one in Rome! It was so nice! Everything you needed in one place! Alison had to get a new camera (the man at coat check for the 5-story club stole hers, we think), and she decided Prague would be the cheapest place to get one. So we helped her pick out a new Canon - I think she is very happy with it now!

Unfortunately, the time had come to leave Prague. It was a horrible feeling - I had such a wonderful time, and I did not want to leave. However, I quickly realized I was going to Rome - one of the most beautiful cities in the world and my home for the next four months. Who was I to complain about leaving Prague? I only have many more good things to come.

Our Wizzair flight was once again great - complete with our emergency row seating and clapping at the landing. We found a bus service that took us to Termini Station (the central train station in Rome) for 4 euro each. By the time I was back in my apartment, I was thrilled. It felt great to kick back in my bed, change into clean clothes, and not worry about bedbugs (no matter how clean the hostel was, I still worried!).

I had four days to spend in Rome, then I was off to Venice for Carnivale!

Villa d'Este, Tivoli, Italia

Buongiorno!

Last weekend, Cara, Tom, Alison and I visited a charming town about an hour outside of Rome for our first day trip. It felt wonderful to get outside of the city for a little while - the Italian countryside is gorgeous! (We actually were inspired to plan a return trip to the same area for some hiking.... we better get on planning that!)

We woke up a little later than expected and realized the most convienient train was leaving about 20 minutes from when we all met up. We rushed to the train station, bought our tickets, and luckily made the train. We had to transfer at a station called Tiberini (very confusing - we kept going the wrong way until a nice Italian man directed us to the main area of the station. It was a lot larger than I had expected! But nothing near as huge as Termini Station...something I will get to later.)

Then, we got on our train to Tivoli. The ride took a little longer than trenitalia.com had said, but oh well! We got there. Once we got off the train, we realized one very important thing...we had no idea how to get to Villa d'Este or any of the other sites we wanted to see. In fact, we were somewhat lost! We followed the signs directing cars to the sites (on very busy streets that were not at all scenic and did not have on them the pizzeria we were looking for!), and we all got a little flustered and grumpy. Well, I got the most flustered and grumpy...I was hungry.

Finally, we found what looked to be a central plaza in town. There were street vendors set up with food and trinkets. We (finally!) found our pizzeria. Then we found another pizzeria after we realized our first slices were not quite big enough!

Lucky for us, a worker at the second pizzeria directed us towards Villa d'Este. We reached the Villa with no complications and went in to pay. We argued with the man for quite some time - we wanted the student rate, but he would not give it to us because we were not European Citizens. Anyways, we coughed up our 6,50 euro and went into the sprawling and spacious Villa d'Este. The inside of the house was very impressive with the frescoes and stone. However, none of it compared to the gardens outside. Words cannot begin to describe them, so hopefully pictures will.

After we spent a great deal of time at the Villa, we decided it might be worth it to try to find Villa Adriana. We (finally) found the Tourist Office. She notified us that the Villa Adriana was closing as we spoke, so we asked her what the best way to get back to Rome was. She notified us that a bus leaves for the city every ten minutes and only costs a euro or two. Our thought process: we know the bus's schedule, but we don't know the train's; the bus is two blocks away from here and the train station is at least a mile; the bus goes to Rome, and we live in Rome; conclusion: let's take the bus.

Well, the bus took us no where near Via Cesare Pascarella, 37.

We ended up on the outskirts of the city somewhere that was not on our map of Rome. So, we did what any resourceful group of college students would do: we started asking every person we saw "Parle inglese?" to figure out how to get to Trastevere.

Scariest. Thing. Ever.

It was dirty, covered in graffiti, smelled awful, and was full of homeless people and potential pickpocketers. I was pretty certain that we were not in the safest part of town.

Then, we got off the Metro at Termini Station - the biggest and most central station in Rome.

Utter chaos. We knew we were looking for a bus (bus H or 8 - like I said, we couldn't quite understand the woman), and we struggled for quite a bit finding it.

Finally, we got on the bus and rode it for about 15 minutes before we recognized where we were. Then, we got off and got on the tram to take us back to our apartment.

In summation:

1. Bus from Tivoli to outskirts of Rome.
2. Scary Metro from outskirts to Termini Station.
3. Bus H to Tiber River
4. Tram to Via Cesare Pascarella.

Even though the transportation was utter chaos, the entire trip was more than worth the hassle.

I loved Tivoli and cannot wait to go back with my family when they come to visit in April! (We will find a better way to get home, though.)

My First Week in Roma!

Orientation Week in Rome

On January 12, I left Eagan, Minnesota to start the greatest adventure of my life thus far! I was lucky enough to spend the morning with my mom before take off. We went out for breakfast and ran a few last minute errands. Everything went very smoothly getting to the airport. I met Tom at the ticketing counter, and we went through security together. Once we got to the main terminal area, we met up with Michelle and Alison - two girls from Gustavus traveling on the same flight we were on. The four of us walked a bit and ate appetizers at Bonfire.

The flight was long, and I hardly slept! We got to Amsterdam and ate breakfast at a small cafe there that Mrs. Greiner had told us to seek out. It was very cute! On our flight to Rome, I slept. I was exhausted. We arrived at the airport and met up with other John Cabot students. After seeking out the John Cabot greeters, we were instructed to wait for a van to get us. I was tired and a little impatient with how long we had to wait, but I couldn't complain too much because one of the program directors let me call home to let my parents know that I had arrived safely. Even though it was 5 in the morning at home, I'm pretty sure my parents were still glad to hear my voice.

After the shuttle to John Cabot, true chaos broke out. The school was packed with suitcases and people. Everyone looked equally tired and grumpy. (I later found out some of these people had landed at 8 am and had yet to be escorted to their apartments!) I had to wait in line to get a packet for orientation, go upstairs and wait in another line to get my housing address, wait in line to get my keys and map, and then the worst part came - I waited more than two hours to be taken to my apartment! I was miserable and quite grumpy! Luckily, I met some very nice people as I was waiting. That made everything a little bit more bearable.

While at John Cabot, I accessed the internet and emailed Tom. After studying my map, I realized that I had been placed in an apartment literally 3 blocks from his! How lucky did I get?! He agreed to come over once I was settled. Having no phone yet made things very difficult to coordinated! In fact, Tom, Alison, and Del (Tom's roommate) waited outside my apartment building for 15 minutes to be let in because they could not get ahold of me!

The four of us went out on the town to meet up with a good friend from high school, Steve Reese. Stevie took us to the Trevi fountain (we ate pizza while talking and looking and the fountain - it was amazing!) and then to a popular Irish Pub that caters to students - Scholar's Lounge. We had so much fun! But we called it a pretty early night - we were all exhausted!

Thursday, January 14

Thursday I was lucky enough to sleep in. I was exhausted! In the morning, Tom and I got up and ate breakfast together. We strolled through the charming streets of Trastevere (the neighboorhood of Rome that we live in). The cobblestone streets are adorable, but I have no idea how these elegant Italian women navigate them in stilleto boots! My flats have trouble with uneven roads, so I cannot imagine how painful walking must be for these women!

Our school is divided into two campuses - one is tucked away in the darling streets of Trastevere. One must meander through different twists and turns to get to it. On the way, I walk past pizza shop after pizza shop and tons of gelatarias (I am in HEAVEN - it is sooo good here!) We also walk past a really beautiful Church - Santa Maria.

Everything here feels like it is from a different world! I cannot belive how far from Eagan, Minnesota I am!

The other John Cabot campus is on a bigger and busier road by the Tiber River. I had to go the this campus (the Tiber Campus) today to do my Permit to Stay. However, once I got there, the line was over three hours long! And John Cabot had stressed to me upon my arrival that the application must be completed TODAY. Luckily, aftern ten minutes, a nice man came out and told everyone that we had through Sunday to complete this process. He begged us to go out and enjoy Rome and come back another time. I jumped on that opportunity immediately, and I was out the door!
Tom and Alison had to get their student ID's at the SAI office, but that line was long as well. While waiting, Alison and I walked to an electronics store - most confusing place ever! And no one spoke English! You had to ask for the electronics that were kept in a case on display. We had a lot of trouble asking for a hair straightener! To make matters worse, they did not have an adapter for Alison. Well...they claim they didn't sell them, but Alison's roommates had just bought adapters their a half hour before!

We took the tram back to our apartments and napped. Then, Tom went down the street to our new favorite eatery - something we call "The Chinese Pizza Place." We have no clue what it is actually called, but the owners are from China. But honestly - they have the best pizza in Rome! And the cheapest! A margarhita pizzia is $3.60! Tom brought two pizzas back and a bottle of wine, and we had a great snack!

Later that evening, Del took us to a restaurant near John Cabot that he believes has the best lasagna in Rome. I think we all agree! It was amazing! The food here I could go on about for hours. In fact, I could dedicate my whole blog to what we eat here! I cannot say enough good things about it!

Post-dinner, we went for the first time to Campo dei Fiori - a big square that is the hub of nightlife. The bars are very American, but they are fun too! We managed to get a table outside at one of the bars, which was lucky. Campo is always packed full with people! We met some very kind and friendly Italians from Sicily who were visitng Rome for a soccer game. Eventually we called it a night and rested up for our next day - sightseeing!!

Friday, January 15

Today was a glorious glorious day of sightseeing. Rome has so many wonderful places to go and see - I could spend my whole life here and not ever feel like I had quite done everything yet!

Del led Tom, Alison and I around this beautiful city. The first place we went was the Pantheon. I was so blown away by it! I don't remember visiting this site with my family on our trip to Rome, so this was very exciting!

As we were leaving the Pantheon, Alison was stopped by two men dressed in Ancient Roman attire. They wanted to take a picture with us - for a price. They were so charming and funny and convincing that Tom Alison and I coughed up a few coins for my favorite picture thus far in Rome.

After the Pantheon, we walked to Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II on the Pizza Venezia. It is enormous and completely gorgeous! The entire building is made of marble, and its style contrasts the ruins of the Roman and Imperial Forums nearby. Apparently its construction was highly controversial. However, I think the monument's placement is what makes Rome so majestic - the ancient and modern coexist beautifully. Neither takes away from the other, in my opinion. The most amazing part was turning the corner and seeing the Colosseum. It was the most overpowering feeling in the world - realizing you are living in one of the most historically impressive and relevant cities in the world.

Then we walked past the Imperial and Roman Forums on the Via dei Fori Imperiali while keeping the Colosseum in front of us the whole time. Then entire experience was incredible. I loved looking at the ruins and basking in the sunlight - it has been in the 50s and sunny the ENTIRE time we've been here. I'm in heaven! We walked around the Colosseum and met a woman with baby kittens in a box. We cooed over them for awhile, but we did not realize until afterwords it was a nice way for a tour guide to pitch her tour to us! Oh well...i thought the cats were darling!

From the Colosseum, we walked to the Spanish Steps. If I walk like this everyday, I'll be just as fit as the Europeans! Along the way, Alison and I continued to be absolute tourists and take picture after picture. We were loving seeing Rome. The other thing we were really ready to start loving was the gelatto... we could not get to it fast enough! But first, Del took us into the coolest McDonald's in Rome. It is like a five star hotel! Two levels and there is nothing American about it! We took tons of pictures too. Then we finally got our gelatto which we were lucky enough to enjoy on the scenic Spanish Steps in the glorious sunlight.

After the Spanish Steps, we all decided it had been enough excitement for one day. We retired briefly to our apartments and then met up with a large group for dinner at a restaurant near our school called Carlo Menta. Oh my goodness. Italian food is superb. Alison and I split a Margarita pizza (it was 3 euros) and then each got a pasta dish. I had gnocchi with pesto and Alison had a Gorgonzola pasta. Both were divine. The group (about 15 people) ordered a few liters of the house wine to share, and it was wonderful. The total price ended up being about 7 euros for me! I could not get over it!

Saturday, January 16

On Saturday, Tom, Alison, and I woke up early to get to campus to do our Permit to Stay. We were lucky and arrived as the booth was opening at school - 9 am. We were all a little tired because we are still pretty jet-legged. We did our permits with only a little trouble (everything here is a little....different in the US. Things aren't quite that efficient.) The photocopier was not working and we needed a copy of our stamped visas from customs and that was a minor setback. Eventually they got it to work.
We went back home to nap and then attempt grocery shopping at a store called "simply." Nothing was in English and all of the ingredients seemed very basic. I started to miss trader joe's frozen food section so much - TJ's makes everything so easy for dinner! But we managed to buy some basic tomato sauce (apparently it's your job to make it special) and pasta (it was only 22 euro cents for a bag). We also got fruit, mozzarella, bread, and cheese puffs. I got all of my shampoos etc. there too.
Once we got back, we took out our laptops, planners, and travel books and started bouncing off travel ideas. We have some great trips planned already!
Later, we went to Tom's apartment where his roommates had been slaving over an AMAZING homemade lasagna. It was delicious. After dinner, we went to a nearby bar just down the street for some relaxed socializing. Then early to bed because we had big plans for the next day!

Sunday, January 17
In the morning, Tom, Alison, and I went to the market that runs on their street. It is considered one of the biggest markets in western Europe! It was so exciting. We had a great time bartering with the vendors and exploring all of the different things they have to offer. Next week Alison and I plan on getting a good deal on the 15 euro boots that many of the vendors were selling.
Next, I had to attend a housing meeting with my three roommates (Callie, Caitlyn, and Lesley). Such a bummer because Tom's roommates and Alison went to the papal address at the Vatican during my meeting! Oh well, I have every other Sunday this semester to see Pope Benedict!

Then, Tom and Alison met me at JCU with two of Tom's roommates - Phil and Nick. We had planned on going on the walking tour John Cabot was offering for free, but once we saw the 200+ people that had the same idea we had, we decided to create our own walking tour. We climbed up the Janiculum Hill. What a gorgeous sight that was!

On the hill, we saw statues, monuments, and fountains. I loved every second. However, the whole process was exhausting! By the time we were finished, I was ready to take a year's long nap. Instead, Alison, Tom and I cooked dinner. It turned out really well. Then, we went to a Irish pub to watch the Viking's game. Del had reserved a room for all of us to go. There probably were 25 of us who showed up. It was really fun because the Viking's won! Then we turned in because classes started the next day. I will write all about classes and my day trip to Tivoli when I write next. I love Rome so much, but I miss my family and my BC friends so much! I really wish I could have brought my dog to Rome. Until I write again...ciao!