Its been a crazy few weeks

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been so busy with class (yes actual real classes) and exploring more of Rome. Since we traveled to Florence, a lot has happened. That next weekend, we chose to stay around Rome and explore a bit. Thursday, I went to my first professional European soccer game!! It was AS Roma vs Parma. From what I understood, Parma is one of the worst in the league so Roma should have won.. but it ended in a 0-0 tie. The Roma fans afterward were SO mad they were yelling and screaming at the players! It was crazy!The Roma Roma Roma Anthem!  Start the video at the 1:00 mark and that is the anthem of AS Roma. The entire stadium sang it together, it was definitely an awesome experience (of course I got one of the scarves).

The next day we went exploring and walked up the Aventine hill to the gate of the Knights of Malta. The keyhole in the gate that opens into the headquarters of the Knights of Malta has a perfect view of St. Peters Basilica. (Yes, I took this picture, it's not fake!)

 Next we explored Villa Borghese. I was beyond excited to walk the ground of the Borghese Pope and his family. After learning so much about him, his family, the scandals and drama involved during his time as Pope in the 1400s in a documentary I watched before coming here, I was pretty psyched I was able to walk where he did. We weren't able to go inside the Villa, but the grounds were gorgeous and so extensive! It was a beautiful Valentine's Day and we saw a proposal and a few minutes later we saw wedding photos being taken!
That weekend we also went to one of the most popular open markets in Rome, called Porta Portese. It seemed like it went on forever! There was a mix of clothes, jewelry, furniture and everything in between. All of the vendors would yell at you as you walked by, which got a little annoying but it was a cool experience.

The next weekend, one of my classes, called Communications and Social Transformations had a field study in Milan! We left Friday morning very early and took a 3 hour train ride north to Milan. We went straight to a Public Service Studio called Rai, and we watched a taping of an episode of a show called TV Talk. We got to go behind the scenes of the studio and they explained a lot of how everything works. From there, we went straight to a Rai radio studio in the same building. There, we were able to sit in the radio studio while they were live on air! It was a very cool experience, and I found I actually understood about 75% of what they were saying! That night our professors took us out to eat, which was delicious, then we all went out to a bar and got to relax. The next day, we woke up early and we found a bagel shop!! It was heaven! I didn't realize how much I missed bagels and cream cheese haha. We then went up to the top of the Duomo, which was beautiful, even in the rain. After, we stopped by another radio studio, a local one called Radio Populare, which was more of a smaller community radio station. We got on the train home later that afternoon!  That night back in Rome, my roommates and I somehow managed to get into a fancy private club without being on any guest lists and had a blast!

It's been a crazy awesome few weeks!
Below: Duomo in Milan in the Rain

Firenze!

Everyone I've talked to in my program so far has had a "Wow, I'm in Italy, this is incredible" moment, either in San Paulo Basilica, overlooking the old city from the Aventine hill at night, or visiting the Vatican. I finally had my moment this past weekend in Florence. But I'll recount our adventures chronologically first and get to that part later.

Our group consisted of 3 of my roommates and 2 other girls from our program. Our train had been delayed by 2 hours leaving Rome, so we sat and enjoyed some drinks at the train station. We finally left Rome at 10:30 pm and arrived in Florence around midnight. We knew our hostel was only ten minutes walking distance, so we weren't too worried. However, walking into the hostel was a different story. It was pretty dingy, VERY smelly, and tiny. That night was pretty rough, and  I actually slept with my coat over my head because the smell was horrible! Thankfully, my roommate Katie told her mom about it that night and by the morning her mom had booked us a new hotel for the following night. The next morning we packed up our stuff and left around 9 am to check into the new hotel. After putting our stuff in our new room, we headed out to explore the city. 

First, we visited the Duomo. We went all the way to the top, 432 steps! And obviously the views were amazing! After taking a multitude of pictures with everyone, we made our way back down, and decided to go to see the Ponte Vecchio, the picturesque bridge full of little shops. They were mostly very expensive jewelry shops :( but it reminded me of something out of beauty and the beast, or a little quaint town in France.. just a very cool and unique place! We decided to walk to Piazza di Michaelangelo, a square that overlooks Florence in its entirety. We climbed up a series of steps that had the stations of the cross along side with the Tuscany countryside in the background. 

These steps led us to the square up on the hill, and this was when I had my "Oh my gosh, I'm living in Italy. I'm living in this beautiful and historic place" moment. I was absolutely in awe of the view.

 I can't even appropriately describe how breathtaking it was, to see the elegant and timeless countryside existing right next to the city of Florence, with its orange rooftops cramped together and gathered around the Duomo and the surrounding cathedrals. It was something I had only seen in pictures, and I knew I was very blessed to have the opportunity to visit the historic and magnificent city and take it all in for myself. It was a truly humbling experience, one that I will absolutely never forget. 

After being blown away by the view, we made our way back down the hill, and decided to climb the tower right next to the Duomo. This tower had 416 steps and we felt every single one. It was a pretty rough climb (we're all extremely out of shape given all the pasta consumed so far) but we made it! It was so windy up there, we didn't stay too long. Just enough for a few more pictures. After that, we were pretty burnt out so we headed back to the hotel and picked a place for dinner. We went to a place right on the river which had a great view of the Ponte Vecchio, needless to say it was full of carbs and chianti which were both GREAT.  That night, we explored a few local clubs where the students go and had a lot of fun all together!

The next day, we visited the local leather markets and vendors and explored some backstreets before visiting the David. The detail and the size of the statue was incredible, I still can't believe how he created that! It was so impressive! We got lunch at Gusta Pizza near the river and it was the best pizza I've had so far, HANDS DOWN.  Holy moly it was delicious, I highly recommend it!

All in all, my step counter said we walked over 20 miles on Saturday. My calves are still burning from all the stairs (~1700 steps in total). It was an exhausting, but very fun and amazing weekend. We ended up getting back to our apartment in Garbatella around 10 pm.  

Today after Italian class, I had my At Home in Rome class, which is a culture & history class about the city of Rome. It is basically a 3 hour block every week touring the city with our own tour guide     ( aka professor K. ). She is an amazing story teller and I've already learned so much history about the city. We went to so many places! We went to the Vittoriano, also known as the wedding cake because of its appearance, to Piazza Navona which was featured in Angels and Demons, which has the fountain where a cardinal was almost drowned. However, the fountain isn't that deep and it couldn't have happened.. haha. We saw Piazza Fornese and Piazza Argentina. That is where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death! Finally we saw the Pantheon. Did you know that the Pantheon currently standing is the 2nd version built in 118 a.d because the first was destroyed? Me either! 

I swear, I learn more in a 3 hour span on a tour of the city, than I would in a month in a classroom back in Michigan. 

I love this place more and more every day. 

Although, it would be nice to understand the language and be able to efficiently communicate with locals. I can't wait to go to Spain and finally be in my element with the language and my love of Spanish music. Hopefully I'll make it there soon!

Buonanotte!

2/1/15

Yesterday we went to the Roman countryside to a farm/restaurant on Lake Martignano. It is a volcanic lake that used to be one of the major lakes supplying water to the aqueducts of Rome. There we had a traditional Italian multi-course meal with meats and cheeses, lasagna, potatoes, chicken and a tart for dessert. The food was so good! Then we took a tour of the farm and got to see how to make cheese! We tasted freshly made ricotta which was great. FYI ricotta means twice cooked, which is how they make it! It was partly rainy and sunny all day, the weather actually reminded me of Michigan weather, it can never make up what it wants to do! Haha all together, it was a great day. We got home around 6pm and took a quick nap around 9 pm to prepare for a night out. During the day, you would never expect this bar and the places next to it to be anything more than just run down shacks, but at night the whole street came alive with people, lights and music. It was nothing like back home! We went to a bar called Cayote and danced all night. It was a blast and we got home at 5 am!
Today I think my roommates and I are going to lay low and explore the winding roads and the park behind our apartment. There is also a huge farmers market at Circo Massimo which is said to have great produce and food.