Thursday, September 28, 2006
Gelato Update
I can't remember if I said this already but the other day I had really bad gelato. I had wildberry and peach and they tasted as if they were made from syrup. I am definitely going to never go to this place again...and I think I will give these two flavors a second chance. That's all. I just remembered and I wanted to make sure that you all knew. Love you all!!
Thursday September 28, 2006
Today was a very busy day for me in the morning I had to do a lot of work. I had to run around doing stuff in the photography lab in between my own classes and the times that it is open. So it was a pretty crazy morning. Right now it is about 6pm. I have a class that I really don't want to sit through so I might not go. I am feeling homesick and I kind of just want to leave the school...We'll see.
But I finally made plans for this fri-sat. Rachel, Elisa, and I are going to Cinque Terre which is a really relaxing beachy type area. It is 5 fishing villages north of Rome. The rain actually takes 4 hours to get there. So I am leaving really early tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will be a lot of fun. I am just excited to get out of Rome.
Later I am having dinner with a bunch of people that I won't see this weekend and then I am going to bed. I won't be around this weekend for emailing and talking except for maybe on Sunday so I'll talk to you all then...
I miss you so much...all of you. Ciao!
But I finally made plans for this fri-sat. Rachel, Elisa, and I are going to Cinque Terre which is a really relaxing beachy type area. It is 5 fishing villages north of Rome. The rain actually takes 4 hours to get there. So I am leaving really early tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will be a lot of fun. I am just excited to get out of Rome.
Later I am having dinner with a bunch of people that I won't see this weekend and then I am going to bed. I won't be around this weekend for emailing and talking except for maybe on Sunday so I'll talk to you all then...
I miss you so much...all of you. Ciao!
Wednesday September 28, 2006
Today was a weird day. I woke up at 8:30 and went to the grocery store. I was kind of in a bad mood because I always feel very lonely in the mornings. I ate breakfast and all that good stuff and then walked to school. On the way, I stopped to buy photography paper, and that set me back 35 Euros! Oh well, I am excited to print some actual pictures. So I got to the school about an hour and a half before my class started and I tried to do some reading for a class but it was literally the most awful thing that I have ever read. I don't like assigned readings that go into a detailed discussion about a movie I haven't seen or a painting I don't know. It is just so difficult to follow when you have absolutely no clue what the article is talking about. Anyway, that is what I tried to read. Then I had Italian and that was a fine class. The professor is always able to cheer me up because he has a good sense of humor. After that I had a four hour break before my next class. I was trying to make plans with this girl to do an overnight trip on Friday-Saturday of this weekend. It was just really stressful becuase she just wanted to go somewhere inexpensive and I wanted to go somewhere that I was interested in. Anyway, she ended up bailing on me. I was so angry and anxious because I really don't want to have to stay in Rome this weekend. I just feel like I need to get out of the city and do something fun. And my friend Amanda is going to be gone on a class trip this weekend and Rachel was planning on going to Milan. I talked to Amanda about it though and she was able to calm me down a little bit. I don't know why but I just had this overwhelming sense of dread about this weekend and I hate that. So, I decided just to tag along with Rachel to Milan even though I am going there next weekend on a class trip. But...(I know, its long and complicated) when I asked Rachel if I could come she said that she wasn't going anymore so we are now trying to plan a trip to somewhere else. Anyway, the point is that plans are so hard to make especialy when people are only thinking about money. I mean I understand a budget and everything like that. I mean, I may be one of the cheapest people you will ever meet, but when I am in Italy I am not going to just stay in one place so that I can save money. It doesn't make any sense. So...I really hope that I get to go somewhere this weekend otherwise I am just going to feel trapped here. I also don't really want to go off on my own because that is no fun and I hate being alone. So...that was the major stress of yesterday and it kind of ruined my day. I went to class and walked home and ate a frozen pizza. I actually had homework to do last night and so I did that and then I talked to my Dad and Patrice on the phone. I am in a weird place because I feel like I want to have fun and do all of these things but I also want it to pass quickly so that I can go home and see everyone. Its stressful days like this one that I really miss home a lot. And to top it all off I didn't get to talk to Andrew because he had a radio show until 2 AM my time. That made me sad.
But I am still hoping that I will be able to get out and go somewhere this weekend. I don't care where at this point. I am off to work on my photography stuff (because it is Thursday morning here). I'll let you know how today is later...love you all!!!
But I am still hoping that I will be able to get out and go somewhere this weekend. I don't care where at this point. I am off to work on my photography stuff (because it is Thursday morning here). I'll let you know how today is later...love you all!!!
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Tuesday September 26, 2006
The past two days have been very busy for me. On Monday, my alarm clock decided to conk out on me and so I woke up late and had to basically run to the school in order to make it to my Photography class. It was actually a lot of fun though, even if I did forget my umbrella. We walked around to various parts of this great big park and took lots of great pictures. I also got brave enough to take some pictures of people so I hope that those come out well.
In other news...I got an A on my Italian test. It really wasn't that difficult but it is worth 5% of my grade so that is great. Italian tha past two days has been very interesting because we have been getting into verbs and such. I am hopefully going to be able to speak it well enough to communicate with people. Today for breakfast I actually did use and Italian sentence: vorrei questo. I would like that one. I was choosing a pastry (that was delicious by the way). I mean the barrista laughed at me but I think that she definitely appreciated my attempt.
Also, I got a lot of reading done yesterday...I needed to catch up for one of my classes and so I was working pretty solidly through 8pm. Then I basically took the bus back home and went to bed. I also finished my book...By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho. I really liked it and I think that I am going to read more of his books. They are very spiritual and personal, and they are very inspirational. Has anybody out there read any of his books?
This morning I also had to get up really early so that I could go to the local police station and get my permit to stay. My roommate and I got there at 8:15 and left at noon. It took for-ev-er. It was so funny because the station was nothing like a modern station in the United States. It was really dirty and old. Also, they had hardly any technology. They did input some of my information but they also had a great big notebook that contained the names of all of the people in Rome who are not Italians. It was kind of strange. I also had to give fingerprints and palm prints which was an interesting experience. I am glad that I got it out of the way though because that means that I am going to be able to travel somewhere outside of Rome on Fri-Sat! I am excited to get out of the city. I am not exactly sure where I am going to go; I am going to explore options tonight. I'll keep you all informed. I'm not sure if I already said this, but on Sunday I am going to the Marino Wine Festival. It is a combination of observation for my Anthropology class and just for fun. I think that they are going to have wine flowing in the central fountain instead of water which will be cool to see. First I have to get through 2 more days of classes...
Okay thats it for now. I hope that everyone is well. I have been getting some email responses to what I have been writing and I love it. Keep them coming! Also, if possible, send me some pictures. I love getting pictures.
Love you all...and I promise to try some more gelato tonight. Inside information has told me that grapfruit is a worthy flavor so I may try to find that. Ciao!
In other news...I got an A on my Italian test. It really wasn't that difficult but it is worth 5% of my grade so that is great. Italian tha past two days has been very interesting because we have been getting into verbs and such. I am hopefully going to be able to speak it well enough to communicate with people. Today for breakfast I actually did use and Italian sentence: vorrei questo. I would like that one. I was choosing a pastry (that was delicious by the way). I mean the barrista laughed at me but I think that she definitely appreciated my attempt.
Also, I got a lot of reading done yesterday...I needed to catch up for one of my classes and so I was working pretty solidly through 8pm. Then I basically took the bus back home and went to bed. I also finished my book...By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho. I really liked it and I think that I am going to read more of his books. They are very spiritual and personal, and they are very inspirational. Has anybody out there read any of his books?
This morning I also had to get up really early so that I could go to the local police station and get my permit to stay. My roommate and I got there at 8:15 and left at noon. It took for-ev-er. It was so funny because the station was nothing like a modern station in the United States. It was really dirty and old. Also, they had hardly any technology. They did input some of my information but they also had a great big notebook that contained the names of all of the people in Rome who are not Italians. It was kind of strange. I also had to give fingerprints and palm prints which was an interesting experience. I am glad that I got it out of the way though because that means that I am going to be able to travel somewhere outside of Rome on Fri-Sat! I am excited to get out of the city. I am not exactly sure where I am going to go; I am going to explore options tonight. I'll keep you all informed. I'm not sure if I already said this, but on Sunday I am going to the Marino Wine Festival. It is a combination of observation for my Anthropology class and just for fun. I think that they are going to have wine flowing in the central fountain instead of water which will be cool to see. First I have to get through 2 more days of classes...
Okay thats it for now. I hope that everyone is well. I have been getting some email responses to what I have been writing and I love it. Keep them coming! Also, if possible, send me some pictures. I love getting pictures.
Love you all...and I promise to try some more gelato tonight. Inside information has told me that grapfruit is a worthy flavor so I may try to find that. Ciao!
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Sunday September 24th
Well let me backtrack and fill you in on Saturday. Saturday was a roller coaster of a day. I went from feeling really sad to really happy and then back again a couple of times. I guess the homesickness is still there. I mean, it will never really go away and I just need to find ways of dealing with it better than just trying to stifle it. Later in the night I talked with both Andrew and my Aunt Theresa and that was really helpful. I think that being sad is fine and normal, but my problem is that I try to keep it all inside and that is no good. That just makes it worse...plus it makes my back hurt. I really need a massage right now...
But anyway, on Saturday morning I went with my friend Amanda to Santa Maria Maggiore, a beautiful church, one of the four most well known basilicas in Roma. I took some cool pictures, but I don't think that they will do it justice. The ceiling was this incredibly ornate gold leafed monstrosity and there were numerous chapels and such that were just as fancy. But the greatest and most impressive thing, which unfortunately I was unable to get a good picture of, was the huge mosaic on the ceiling of the central dome. It was so beautiful, I think that I stared at it for at least 10 minutes. All of the little pieces were glittering in the light that was filtering through the stained glass and it looked like there were metallic pieces as well. Oh also, there was a crypt that supposedly held pieces of baby Jesus' crib which was pretty cool to think about. Then we went to a second church, Mary of the Angels and Martyrs that was a different kind of beautiful. This one was not a ornate but it still was very grand simply due to its size. The Baths of Ciocletian were also incoporated into this church and so we were able to check out the remains of that. They were so out of place though that it was difficult to imagine what the bath was actually like. Okay, then we went to one of my favorite gelato places for lunch...its called Blue Ice on Via Sistina (in case anyway is planning on visiting Roma ever).
walnut: This was an interesting choice and I didn't know what to expect. It was very creamy and distinct, but I wasn't wowed. 2.5/5
Pinenut and Almond: This was actually very good. It was a vanilla base with nuts and caramel in it. I really enjoyed it. 4/5
After that I just went to the school and did some stuff on the internet. When I got home I cooked dinner, which was an adventure worth mentioning. Here is the situation- all we have in our room is silverware, a strainer, a cutting board and 2 pots. I tried to cook chicken in the pot and it was a big mistake. What happened was that the chicken and the oil that I was cooking it in actually burst into flames. I put the cutting board over the pot to quench the flames but I soon realized that since it is wood it might also catch on fire. So I removed it and pulled the pot off of the burner. thank god the stupid chicken was cooked by then.
Oh, and then before I went to bed I watched Love Actually with some friends and let me tell you that that movie is great. It was a real pick-me-up, just what I needed.
And that leads me to today...which all in all was a much better day emotionally for me. I went to the Porta Portese market with Ivona, Rachel, Amanda, and Kristin. It was kind of hellish actually. Imagine a street with tents on both sides plus people trying to sell things in the middle of the street and then add about 80,000 people trying to shop. It was very difficult to try to stay together and I was stressed most of the time. But, I think that it could have been fun if I were by myself or with only one other person. I will probably go back and actually do some shopping another time. We didn't even get to see the whole thing, only the clothing and shoes section.
The other major thing that I did today is go for a run. Now, you are probably all thinking that I am lying right now, because as you know, I hate to run. But...I wanted to relieve some stress and I thought that that might be a good way. Now don't go telling people that I ran a couple miles or anything like that. I just jogged for a bit around the gardens at Villa Borghese. :P
So thats all for now, I have an intense class schedule tomorrow 8:30-3 and 6-9. I hope that you are all doing well wherever you are and know that I am thinking about you and anticipating when I can see you again. Oh...and good luck to my Uncle Tom. He is defending his amazing dissertation on the 26th. I wish that I could go and support him but I'll be there in spirit. Love! Ciao
But anyway, on Saturday morning I went with my friend Amanda to Santa Maria Maggiore, a beautiful church, one of the four most well known basilicas in Roma. I took some cool pictures, but I don't think that they will do it justice. The ceiling was this incredibly ornate gold leafed monstrosity and there were numerous chapels and such that were just as fancy. But the greatest and most impressive thing, which unfortunately I was unable to get a good picture of, was the huge mosaic on the ceiling of the central dome. It was so beautiful, I think that I stared at it for at least 10 minutes. All of the little pieces were glittering in the light that was filtering through the stained glass and it looked like there were metallic pieces as well. Oh also, there was a crypt that supposedly held pieces of baby Jesus' crib which was pretty cool to think about. Then we went to a second church, Mary of the Angels and Martyrs that was a different kind of beautiful. This one was not a ornate but it still was very grand simply due to its size. The Baths of Ciocletian were also incoporated into this church and so we were able to check out the remains of that. They were so out of place though that it was difficult to imagine what the bath was actually like. Okay, then we went to one of my favorite gelato places for lunch...its called Blue Ice on Via Sistina (in case anyway is planning on visiting Roma ever).
walnut: This was an interesting choice and I didn't know what to expect. It was very creamy and distinct, but I wasn't wowed. 2.5/5
Pinenut and Almond: This was actually very good. It was a vanilla base with nuts and caramel in it. I really enjoyed it. 4/5
After that I just went to the school and did some stuff on the internet. When I got home I cooked dinner, which was an adventure worth mentioning. Here is the situation- all we have in our room is silverware, a strainer, a cutting board and 2 pots. I tried to cook chicken in the pot and it was a big mistake. What happened was that the chicken and the oil that I was cooking it in actually burst into flames. I put the cutting board over the pot to quench the flames but I soon realized that since it is wood it might also catch on fire. So I removed it and pulled the pot off of the burner. thank god the stupid chicken was cooked by then.
Oh, and then before I went to bed I watched Love Actually with some friends and let me tell you that that movie is great. It was a real pick-me-up, just what I needed.
And that leads me to today...which all in all was a much better day emotionally for me. I went to the Porta Portese market with Ivona, Rachel, Amanda, and Kristin. It was kind of hellish actually. Imagine a street with tents on both sides plus people trying to sell things in the middle of the street and then add about 80,000 people trying to shop. It was very difficult to try to stay together and I was stressed most of the time. But, I think that it could have been fun if I were by myself or with only one other person. I will probably go back and actually do some shopping another time. We didn't even get to see the whole thing, only the clothing and shoes section.
The other major thing that I did today is go for a run. Now, you are probably all thinking that I am lying right now, because as you know, I hate to run. But...I wanted to relieve some stress and I thought that that might be a good way. Now don't go telling people that I ran a couple miles or anything like that. I just jogged for a bit around the gardens at Villa Borghese. :P
So thats all for now, I have an intense class schedule tomorrow 8:30-3 and 6-9. I hope that you are all doing well wherever you are and know that I am thinking about you and anticipating when I can see you again. Oh...and good luck to my Uncle Tom. He is defending his amazing dissertation on the 26th. I wish that I could go and support him but I'll be there in spirit. Love! Ciao
Friday, September 22, 2006
Friday September 22, 2006
As promised, I tried two new flavors last night:
Egg nog- This was not very impressive. The flavor was lackluster and quite frankly it just tasted like cream- .5/5
Tiramisu- While the taste was good, it could never live up to the real thing...disappointing. 1/5
Okay...and now for my day. I woke up and made it to the bus at 8AM. There were only twenty of us that went on the trip, and it was led by one of the professors. We went to a little place called Sutri, which has an ampitheater carved out of tufa (volcanic) rock as well as a Mithraeum and ancient tombs. It was very interesting and I took some cool pictures. The Mithraeum is a place carved into the tufa rock and it was kind of scary, esp. since I am claustrophobic. Also eventually the Christians took over the sacred space and painted some interesting frescoes on the walls. The ampitheater was very eroded, but it was cool to see the places where the animals and gladiators were brought in to fight. Basically we were only there long enough to snap some pictures and then we had to get back on the bus. We made our way to Caprarola, which is another little place that has nothing special except for the Villa Farnese, which is a huge elaborate Renaissance (I think ?) villa that was built for the Farnese family because they were the administrators of the region. We couldn't take pictures inside, but it bascially contained a bunch of rooms that were very elaborately painted in the grotesque style. I didn't really like it because it seemed really gaudy, except for a really cool room called the map room that contained one of the first maps of the entire world. We actually walked around the gardens a bit and they were nice. I took some pictures of a manmade cave type thingy with water in it. Then it was back on the bus heading for Viterbo, which is the largest city in Lazio (Lazio is a region like Tuscany) after Roma. It is much smaller though, with only 100,000 people. We meandered into the medieval section of town which was very quaint and then sat down and had lunch. My friends and I actually sat with the professors who were leading the trip and so they were quite chatty...but it was interesting. When I told them that I hadn't seen the Pantheon yet you should have seen there faces...Don't worry I'll get there. We were at a great little Trattoria and I tried the house pasta which was called Tortellini San Lorenzo. It had pancetta and ??? in it...but it was good. That was it for the day and I took a nap on the bus ride back to Rome.
Later that night...my roommate, a new friend named Bob, and I went to Trastevere to a gallery opening. It was really interesting because all of the people at the gallery were artsy (obviously) and knew each other. Needless to say we felt a bit out of place but it was still fun. I really enjoy looking at professionally done photos. I think that I said before, it really makes me excited to be taking a photography class. I don't know if I will ever be able to do what they do but I can hope. We also stopped to see a street performer do magic things. It was a very fun night in a quaint little area of Roma. Oh, I also tried a new gelato:
Banana- now the fruit flavors are supposed to be refreshing and this was. The flavor was great and actually tasted like banana...but it just didn't live up to the lemon- 3.5/5
Egg nog- This was not very impressive. The flavor was lackluster and quite frankly it just tasted like cream- .5/5
Tiramisu- While the taste was good, it could never live up to the real thing...disappointing. 1/5
Okay...and now for my day. I woke up and made it to the bus at 8AM. There were only twenty of us that went on the trip, and it was led by one of the professors. We went to a little place called Sutri, which has an ampitheater carved out of tufa (volcanic) rock as well as a Mithraeum and ancient tombs. It was very interesting and I took some cool pictures. The Mithraeum is a place carved into the tufa rock and it was kind of scary, esp. since I am claustrophobic. Also eventually the Christians took over the sacred space and painted some interesting frescoes on the walls. The ampitheater was very eroded, but it was cool to see the places where the animals and gladiators were brought in to fight. Basically we were only there long enough to snap some pictures and then we had to get back on the bus. We made our way to Caprarola, which is another little place that has nothing special except for the Villa Farnese, which is a huge elaborate Renaissance (I think ?) villa that was built for the Farnese family because they were the administrators of the region. We couldn't take pictures inside, but it bascially contained a bunch of rooms that were very elaborately painted in the grotesque style. I didn't really like it because it seemed really gaudy, except for a really cool room called the map room that contained one of the first maps of the entire world. We actually walked around the gardens a bit and they were nice. I took some pictures of a manmade cave type thingy with water in it. Then it was back on the bus heading for Viterbo, which is the largest city in Lazio (Lazio is a region like Tuscany) after Roma. It is much smaller though, with only 100,000 people. We meandered into the medieval section of town which was very quaint and then sat down and had lunch. My friends and I actually sat with the professors who were leading the trip and so they were quite chatty...but it was interesting. When I told them that I hadn't seen the Pantheon yet you should have seen there faces...Don't worry I'll get there. We were at a great little Trattoria and I tried the house pasta which was called Tortellini San Lorenzo. It had pancetta and ??? in it...but it was good. That was it for the day and I took a nap on the bus ride back to Rome.
Later that night...my roommate, a new friend named Bob, and I went to Trastevere to a gallery opening. It was really interesting because all of the people at the gallery were artsy (obviously) and knew each other. Needless to say we felt a bit out of place but it was still fun. I really enjoy looking at professionally done photos. I think that I said before, it really makes me excited to be taking a photography class. I don't know if I will ever be able to do what they do but I can hope. We also stopped to see a street performer do magic things. It was a very fun night in a quaint little area of Roma. Oh, I also tried a new gelato:
Banana- now the fruit flavors are supposed to be refreshing and this was. The flavor was great and actually tasted like banana...but it just didn't live up to the lemon- 3.5/5
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Gelato Update
As you may or may not already know, my mission in Roma is to try as many flavors of gelato as humanly possible. Now, there are over 100 easily and so I have had to get two flavors in each cup, which reduces the amount of each flavor that I get...but I'm okay with that. So far I have tried:
chocolate and hazelnut- I give it a 3/5 just because it is an amazing combination
pistachio- I give it a 3/5 because I really like pistachio flavored things, but for those of you don't really like the flavor I would say 1.5/5
choc. cream- Well, this was just okay even though it sounds like it would be amazing- 1.75/5
caffe- This was AMAZING. I mean, they had espresso beans on top and it actually tasted like coffee- 5/5
lemon- Light and Refreshing, kind of like sorbet, really really good...5/5
caramel- I'm not really a fan of caramel but I decided to try it anyway...2.5/5
chocolate- straight up chocolate is great but I think I just chose the wrong place to get it...I am definitely going to have to try this favorite again but...2.5/5
cinnamon- this was an interesting choice for me...i would definitely reccommend this in smaller sizes but a large would be too much- 3/5\
nutella cake- I had this just yesterday and it was one of the best choices I have ever made in my entire life. It had nutella and chunks of pound cake. DELICIOUS!!! 5/5
chocolate orange- Interesting, strong flavor but I mean, come on, chocolate raspberry would have been much much better...3.5/5
More updates to come...I plan on trying some new flavors tonight!!
chocolate and hazelnut- I give it a 3/5 just because it is an amazing combination
pistachio- I give it a 3/5 because I really like pistachio flavored things, but for those of you don't really like the flavor I would say 1.5/5
choc. cream- Well, this was just okay even though it sounds like it would be amazing- 1.75/5
caffe- This was AMAZING. I mean, they had espresso beans on top and it actually tasted like coffee- 5/5
lemon- Light and Refreshing, kind of like sorbet, really really good...5/5
caramel- I'm not really a fan of caramel but I decided to try it anyway...2.5/5
chocolate- straight up chocolate is great but I think I just chose the wrong place to get it...I am definitely going to have to try this favorite again but...2.5/5
cinnamon- this was an interesting choice for me...i would definitely reccommend this in smaller sizes but a large would be too much- 3/5\
nutella cake- I had this just yesterday and it was one of the best choices I have ever made in my entire life. It had nutella and chunks of pound cake. DELICIOUS!!! 5/5
chocolate orange- Interesting, strong flavor but I mean, come on, chocolate raspberry would have been much much better...3.5/5
More updates to come...I plan on trying some new flavors tonight!!
Thursday September 21st
Right now I am waiting for classes to start. I just had my first Italian test and it was incredibly fascile (thats easy). I think that I only messed up the gender of one word. Anyway, this morning I went for a walk all by myself. I was very independent. I started at the Spanish Steps and then went up into the Villa Borghese. Once I got to the nicer areas in the Villa Borghese I sat down and did some studying for Italian. It was actually really nice. I took some interesting pictures of myself because people keep telling me to take more pictures of myself and not just sites. So...I will probably post those tomorrow or the next day. Speaking of which...tomorrow I am going on a trip into Tuscany. We are stopping at some sites along the way but I can't remember what they are called. I'll fill you and and post lots of pictures after I get back. Ciao!!
Tuesday September 19th
Today my roommate Ivona and I went to Trastevere in the morning to see a photgraphy exhibition. Trastevere is a really nice area of Roma that has all of the steretypical aspects of an Italian residential neighborhood. We saw old women hanging out their laundry and men sweeping out restaurants and singing. I think that I am going to go back soon and take some pictures. Anyway...there were two photo exhibitions. The first was really interesting, Women of Trastevere 1971-72. They were really emotion filled pictures of Italian women living there everyday lives. The other was called Born Somewhere by a famous photojournalist named Zizola. The pictures were of children from all around the world who were suffering some horrible injustice. Some where injured by bombs, others had aids. The photographs were blown up 2' by 3' and the whole thing was incredibly depressing. Adterward, I had to stop and buy some chocolate in order to cheer myself up. Then I had classes from 1-7:30. My roommates went out to a dance performance, but I stayed home and talked to my father and Andrew and did homework. blah...
Monday September 18th
Today was really fun even though I had to leave my apartment at 7:45 and it is raining. In photography I got to develop my first roll of film! It was hard because you have to do the first part in complete darkness and you have to roll the negatives onto a reel. You are also supposed to try not to touch it. I had to do it three times in the dark because something kept getting caught, but other than that it went pretty smoothly. The pictures aren't even that good but it makes me excited to see what my good pictures will look like. Then I had Italian, which I really like because my teacher is really funny and crazy and he makes it fun. But...we do have our first test on Thursday and so I guess my opinion might change by the end of the week...haha. I watched the film Scipio Africanus for one of my classes and it was insanely awful. It was all about the 2nd Punic War and the dubbing did not match up at all. It was painful to watch. Then I went home and ate dinner.
Weekend of September 16th
On Friday both of my roommates were gone on an excursion for class all day. I was proud of myself because I went on this trip to the Roman University with people I didn't know (from Temple) and so I made some new friends! Then on Saturday it started raining and so we couldn't go to the beach as planned. I spent some time at the school doing work and then went with a bunch of people to this wax museum which was totally lame. I mean, we actually ended up having fun because it was so stupid. The place was really small and the wax people were bad. But we took some funny pictures...I put them online yesterday. Saturday was my friend Amanda's 21st birthday and so we went to Hard Rock Cafe (but I didn't get anything because it was soooo expensive. The burgers were $15. I just ate when I got home. Then we decided to go out to a club to celebrate. It was cold and rainy but it was actually fun because we were just dancing. But the club was kind of bad because there were some old men there and so we avoided them. We couldn't get a taxi and so we had to walk a little bit in the freezing rain until a taxi would come and get us, so that was a little bit stressful. Then on Sunday I was sad in the morning just because I didn't have a lot to do. So, I went to the school with some friends to get work done and email people. I also went out with my roommate Ivona to take pictures because I had to have a roll ready to develop today. Of course, it started pouring while we were walking around and so we had to seek shelter under a small canopy with about a million other people. Then Sunday night my roommates and I and some other girls just watched a movie (The Sweetest Thing- its pretty funny) because we wanted to relax.
