Friday, August 24
The first orientation day! I woke up early & walked over to the hotel. But I ended up getting there a minute or 2 late because I couldn't find the main entrance to the hotel, so I snuck in the back way. I met up with my friends & met the faculty that are helping us out for the semester. I went with Dr. V (one of the head faculty in Rome). He led a huge group of us through alleyways and small areas around the city. We got bus tickets and started using the bus system. We walked around the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum. We had dinner at a restaurant around the corner from the Colosseum. I had mozzarella, tomato & herbs as an appetizer. The main course was rice with a delicious red sauce. And then I had a plate of mixed fruit for dessert. I also had wine, which was their own personal brand that they make themselves. It was delicious! Everyone else had pasta and tiramisu, but I obviously couldn't eat that. Then we all took the bus back & walked back to the hotels.
Saturday, August 25
I woke up extra early to move into the same hotel the students were staying at since I was staying at a B&B I reserved for myself because I arrived earlier. I moved into the hotel & then we were off to do more exploring! We walked to the Italian language school, ItaliaIdea, right near the Spanish Steps. There, we all had presentations/lectures on the housekeeping stuff - safety policies, money, etc. We also were given a crash course on how to take the metro/buses. We went out for lunch to a simple little place down the street. They make healthy stuff there so I bought a little plastic container of rice & vegetables. It was very good. Then we went back to our classroom for more information on living in Rome. After that, we walked back to the hotel & quickly changed for mass. We took a bus to the Basilica of San Paolo fuori le mura (Saint Paul outside the walls). I took a ton of pictures which are on FB. The basilica was absolutely gorgeous! Everyone was floral or gold-encrested. It was especially gorgeous around the time we got there, which was about sunset & the sun was shining right on everything. The whole courtyard was amazing! After mass, we went to a pizzeria/restaurant for dinner. I had a huge ball of mozzarella cheese for an appetizer. After that was a huge bowl of salad with tuna & a ton of others things (tomatoes, olives, etc.) for the main course. I didn't have dessert because I was so full, but I had some glasses of wine! After dinner, we went back to the hotel. Some people went out to the local bar after we got back, but I was so tired & full that I just went to sleep - lol.
Sunday, August 26
I woke up, showered, and had breakfast at the hotel. I packed & checked out of the hotel. After that, I left with a bunch of friends to walk (with all of our things) to the campus. We left our things in another room and went to our classroom, where we filled out our permesso di soggiorno applications (which are the size & length of a TerraNova test BTW)! I went out with friends for lunch down the street to the bar (of food, not drinks - confusing in Rome with all these damn "bars"), which is probably my favorite because a woman named Pina works there. She and her husband run the place & they are big fans of ItaliaIdea students because we can practice our Italian with them. They are very sweet people.
I went back to the classroom after lunch for a quick lecture for homestay students. I was meeting my homestay mother & I was really nervous. But I was the 3rd or 4th student to leave, of the many that are doing a homestay semester. I was waiting and waiting and waiting...and then Rosa came! She is very sweet and extremely animated. She speaks Italian & knows very little English, but I understand everything she says. Somehow. We took my luggage and walked to her apartment in Prati, which is about 10 blocks (a 15 minute walk) from campus. Her apartment is 14 years old, one of the oldest buildings in the city. My room is huge. HUGE. I have tall double doors that lead to my room. I have 2 dorm-sized closets on one side of my room. I have my own balcony that looks over the city from the 5th floor, and since I have to get up between 7.00 and 7.30 every day, it's absolutely gorgeous watching the sun come up.
However, there are a ton of strange things about Italians. They are very sensitive about random things. One of them is shoes inside the house. When I come home, I have to change my shoes at the doorway. Rome isn't exactly dirty, but it is very VERY dusty. The whole city is covered with dark dust. So if you were to walk around the city in sandals or flip flops, your feet will definitely be black by the end of the day. You have to wash your feet or shower entirely if this happens because you are not allowed to stain your bedsheets with dirt. Nothing happens if you do, but that just means you have to do laundry, which is difficult in Italy. Very very few Italians have dryers. They usually wash their clothes in a washer (which only takes a certain amount of clothes per load, much smaller than in the US). Then they dry their clothes by hanging them outside their windows. Hot water is also a big deal in Italy because it's really expensive, along with electricity. You must take a short hot shower, no longer than 10 minutes. I just wet myself, stop the water, soap myself, and wash off. It saves the hot water & is much easier. You cannot leave a light on when you leave a room. Ever. I can't even leave my little desk light on in my room when I take a shower. When you go to the bathroom in the toilet, you have to use a brush to push down your waste. You also cannot use a lot of toilet paper. In Italy, the toilets have much less water. The amount would not even fill a regular sized water bottle. Therefore, if you use a huge amount of toilet paper, it will get stuck & it causes a whole ton of water problems and other damage.
Italians also have a fetish with windows. They open their windows (ALL of their windows) at least once every day. They think it's more natural and fresh. They believe that this will "air out" the house, which completely makes sense. But if you leave the windows open when you leave the house, you will get yelled at. I can't even leave the ceiling fan on in my room when I leave. And there's no air conditioning. That's rare too. They only have fans, but they are left off during the day. So my room is usually hot at night when I'm sleeping. I sleep with only a sheet, though, so it isn't too bad.
I have zero internet at Rosa's apartment. Zero. She has no computer. Her doctor told her it causes bad eyesight and she has some healthy problems, so she doesn't want decreased eyesight due to a computer screen. But she'll sit 2 feet from her tv - go figure! So I do all my emailing, blogging, Facebooking, etc. at the main campus in the computer lab - which is where I'm ranting about all this from.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Italian lifestyle. I think it's a lot more cautious & healthy & natural, but it was just a lot to take in on Sunday night when she ranted to me in fluent Italian for an hour and a half. It's a lot of new information.
Monday, August 27
I had my first class at 9.30 - Liturgical Art & Architecture with Dr. V. However, we met "on site", meaning that we met at the famous place in Italy for class. Not in a classroom. We had to meet at Piazza Venezia at the Column of Trajan. I thought it would be easier to take a bus, but after realizing that the 5 buses I just waited for won't take me to Piazza Venezia, I decided to try the metro. (This was all after getting lost trying to find a bus stop near campus since I've never walked from Rosa's to school.) I had to ask around for help, but it was fine. A nice man who worked for the metro system helped me get to where I needed to go. I was 10 minutes late, but it's better than never.
Later I had lunch at the food bar outside ItaliaIdea. And then I took my placement test, which I was super nervous for! But I placed into where I'm supposed to be - advanced level. I placed into 211 here in Rome, which will fulfill my 201/202 credits for my Italian minor! Yay! Then I had ItaliaIdea course orientation for a couple hours. They told us what to expect - that classes would be entirely in Italian, with absolutely no English. Which is perfectly fine with me, considering Rosa speaks only Italian and I know everything she's saying. But since I wasn't able to finish the placement test, I had to finish it after orientation and missed the walk around the neighborhood of ItaliaIdea. So I just took the metro back to campus, went online to check my stuff, and walked home for dinner with Rosa.
Tuesday, August 28
Yesterday, I had my Philosophy class, my Roman History class & my first legit Italian class. Philosophy was just housekeeping stuff - what to look forward to, etc. My Roman History class met in the classroom. We went to a site later, to Musei Capitolini in Campodoglio above Piazza Venezia. The pictures I took are gorgeous. We entered the museum and saw these ancient artifacts that were dug up. There was so much information I had to absorb in that class, so I don't know where to start...
We talked about Romulus and Remus, the birth of Rome, the Bronze Age, the Iron age, Marcus Aurelius, and so SO much more! I apologize if the pictures are a bit blurry. The lighting was not good in certain places & some of the museums and famous places in Italy will NOT let you use a flash on your camrea - especially in churches & museums.
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