Oh, the places I go!

Tonight marks the end of week one here in Roma. I can’t believe I’ve been here for a week and it feels like I’ve been here forever. Although classes haven’t started yet (we start a week of intensive Italian language classes tomorrow), I have started to fall into a routine here, and I’m starting to get a hang of the city. We’ve made friends with two of the guys who work at our market. They chat us up in Italian when we’re checking out our groceries and I ask them complicated Italian grammar questions that they don’t know how to answer. I’m getting settled in many other noticeable ways, but I’m going to tell you about my past few days and these things will perhaps become more clear as I do.

Since I last wrote, I’ve had two nights out in Rome and two days in Umbria visiting two historically rivaling towns, Perugia and Assisi. Thursday was my roommate Tara’s birthday, and after taking Italian placement exams, our “lunch crew” as it has come to be called went out to a little restaurant near the center for lunch. It was one of the worse meals we’ve had in Rome, but we surprised Tara with a birthday dessert and a rousing rendition of “Tanti Auguri A Te” (Italian happy birthday song). After lunch, Tara, Mike and I decided to venture over to San Pietro, which is about a ten minute walk from the center. I KNOW, so close! We gaped at it while schmoozing in the piazza talking about art and life, and then we ventured through the metal detectors into the church. Every site we visit here, I am lost for words at how large and spectacular each is. San Pietro was no exception. I marvel at how the building was constructed over 500 years ago. There was so much to see inside. It's especially wonderful to go around with Tara because, as an art history major, she is an encyclopedia of useful information about the places we're going and all we're seeing. This is also one of the many places to which I must return to spend more time. I spent some time in the silent prayer room, which had an ornate alter and a beautiful painting on each wall. It was fascinating watching the nuns on their knees praying because I’ve only ever seen people pray in a synagogue. In the past, I've always been intimidated by Catholic churches, but being in the silent prayer room made me feel much more comfortable. I hope this means I'm warming up to them because I will certainly be spending a lot of time in them throughout the coming months. I walked around the nave looking at all the statues, spending a lot of time on Michelangelo’s Pieta’. It’s the first Michelangelo I think I’ve seen, and it was incredible. I was haunted by the emotion on Mary’s face as she gazes down onto the lifeless body of Jesus. I can’t wait to see more of his work when I visit the Uffizi gallery in Florence. We were so entranced that we lost track of time and missed one of our afternoon meetings! Totally worth it though.

Later that night, despite the rain, we walked to Mike, Ben, Eric and Matt’s apartment in Monteverde to meet up with a handful of IES people for a celebration for Tara and Matt’s 21st birthdays. It was such a college style party that we decided we needed to get out and we headed to Piazza Trilussa for some bar hopping and schmoozing, but not before Allison, Tara, Mike and I got completely lost in Monteverde. This was my first time being lost without a map, and the sense of direction I usually pride myself on failed me completely. By some miracle of god, after finding ourselves on the tiniest of backstreets, a taxi came barreling down, and was able to take us to our destination. At one of the bars, we met up with some Italian guys I met through someone at Columbia. This gave me the perfect opportunity to practice my Italian!! It was very exciting. We had a nice group of Americans and Italians going and talked the night away until we ventured home.

Unfortunately, we had to wake up at 7 the next morning to catch the bus from IES to Assisi. Getting to the center was pretty miserable, and what has come to be known as the “hangover bus ride” ensued. However, when we woke up in the beautiful Umbrian countryside as we approached Assisi after a three hour bus ride, it became clear that nothing could stand in the way of enjoying this beautiful little town full of the most amazing history. We learned all about St. Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan order through a tour through the steep and winding streets of Assisi. The Basilica of San Francesco was gorgeous and stands above a wide open, picturesque piazza of white and pink stone. There are two levels inside the building, the lower one a darker, Romanesque style basilica with low ceilings decorated with frescoes detailing the life of Christ. One of these frescoes includes one of the only paintings of St. Francis that is considered to be accurate. The upper level is a more open, Gothic style basilica with St. Francis’s life chronicled on the walls of the nave by Giotto. I really like St. Francis. He gave up all his money and devoted himself to a life of poverty. Because he was not ordained, he couldn’t preach to people, so he just spent his life doing good things for impoverished people and preaching his beliefs to animals. Two of the most famous depictions of St Francis that appear in the upper basilica are him giving his coat to a poor person and another of him preaching to a flock of doves.

The other amazing part about Assisi is the fortress that sits atop the hill into which the town is built. We hiked to the top and could see across the entire valley, to the hill on which Perugia sits. It was stunningly beautiful. Later, we went to a restaurant called La Stalla, which used to be an old farm, and had the most delicious and authentic Italian meal. Four courses, lots of wine, great company, hilarious conversation. It was wonderful.

The next day we took a tour of Perugia, which was less memorable because it was pouring rain. During our free time however, I went to lunch with a new group of people. It’s nice to feel comfortable with a group of friends but still be able to go out and meet new people. So, Sean, Jerah, Matt, Jeff, Andrew, Tara and I went to a little restaurant called Victoria for lunch and had a delicious meal of ravioli, risotto, and pasta with wild boar between all of us. After lunch we went to see the courthouse where Amanda Knox and Raffaelle Sollecito are being tried for the “Perugia Homicide”. Really scary.

After returning to Rome (sweet home, as Allison has come to call it), we napped and then headed out with the guys and our new Italian friends Giaime, Niccolo, Feredico e Francesco. We went back to Piazza Trilussa and then had our first Testaccio experience. Testaccio is the area right behind our street that is lined with clubs and discotechs. The one we went to had lots of Americans inside, not ideal, but we made friends with the bartender and had a grand old time.

Today, I woke up late and Marsia and I went to scope out a sports club, since we’re looking into getting a membership. The guy at the desk didn’t know what he was talking about, but allowed us to practice our Italian again. Marsia is great because she’s so outgoing with her Italian and will go up to anyone to ask directions. It’s really encouraging for me because I tend to be a little shy about using mine. Then we explored a potential running route to the boys’ apartment. On the way we found the most charming view of Rome from atop a hill in Monteverde. After meeting Eric, Matt, Ben and Mike at the apartment, we went to lunch in Trastevere. It was our best meal yet. We got a caprese salad, seafood salad, grilled calamari, fried calamari, seafood risotto, and pasta a’matriciana and had a true family style Italian meal, reaching our forks across the table and switching plates so we could try everything. Delicious.

After lunch we met up with Allison at the IES building and ventured up the river to Piazza del Popolo and Via del Corso where everybody (except me, who has sworn off shopping with the exception of a leather jacket) did some damage to their wallets. We found our way to the Spanish steps for a breathtaking view of Rome and a surprise church visit, where Ben, Marsia and I heard the most angelic singing. After finding the Vittorio Emmanuelle (remember? The wedding cake?) we were able to make our way to the Colosseo and home! From all of the wandering I’ve been doing, I’ve started to piece the city together and it’s really exciting!!

That brings us to tonight. We had a cooking class during which we made carbonara (pasta with egg and bacon) and tiramisu. It was very tasty and we were all very proud of ourselves, and we have leftover tiramisu for tomorrow :)

First day of anything academic tomorrow. While this has been an amazing week of vacation and exploration, I’m excited to get started working on my Italian and then start real classes next Monday. Hope you all are well, wherever you are in the world.

Ciao tutti!!

J


ps pictures of apartment, Assisi and Perugia, and sightseeing to come!