rome alone

the end is near. last thursday was the last day of our program, and i had to say goodbye to all the amazing people i've met the past four months. sadly, some of my favorites i barely met until this week. in the middle of the night in between thursday and friday we were all lying on the steps of the pantheon reflecting and reminiscing about all of the life changing experiences and blah blah blah we've been having this whole time. a group of americans about our age leaned over and said "is this your last night in rome? it's our first night in rome." there was a period of pensive silence and slight eyebrow raises on our parts when they said "what is this place?" in unison our entire group responded "the pantheon." the said "do you know anything about it?" we said no and then proceeded to list off random facts about it for ten minutes. turns out we've learned more than any of us thought. it was a very surreal feeling, and i wish that night and that last week could have lasted forever.

well everyone went home early friday morning, so i am now alone in a hotel in mounti tiburtini (i.e. bumblefuck) and lauren left early this morning. hence my name for this chapter in my trip/life—rome alone. everyone seems to be very worried that i will somehow spontaneously combust from living alone for several days. (and by everyone, i mean mom and dad.) in reality, i feel fine and confident. i've been journeying on night busses alone since the second week i got here, and my italian is good enough to not have to rely on any other nearby english speakers. i've basically just been rome-ing (ha) the city eating, shopping, listening to music, etc. for a while now, and i will continue for the last few days. a couple days ago lauren and i rented bikes in piazza del popolo, rode through villa borghese, and accidentally snuck into the zoo. i have at times been mocked for the amount of zoos i have been to, so i thought i'd go full out and add rome to my list. 

i miss everyone at home, but right now i can't shake the feeling of wishing my roman friends were still here and that i could bring them all home with me. some of the best relationships of my life have to be reduced to facebooking and i.m.ing and it's just not as real. but i'm still having a fabulous time, and i'm so glad i stayed.

back in roma

this weekend in lieu of capri i decided to stay in rome and enjoy my home base for a little while before i go back to reality and michael's. on thursday i did something scarier than skydiving—bike-riding! now you may be thinking, "hey hallie, you don't know how to ride a bike. your mom tried to teach you this summer by holding onto the back of your seat but you can't go on hills or near people or cars and you still fall down all the time and need a helmet." well, you were right. but instead of italian class the fabulous gitti promised us a nice, pleasant, slow ride through villa borghese. this sounded like something i might be able to handle, so i reluctantly agreed. we met in piazza del popolo, one of my favorite piazzas, and surprise! instead of riding into the giant park adjacent to it, we followed gitti through traffic for 15 minutes and joined the romans in their crazy, reckless driving. terrifying. i almost hit about ten cars because i have a hard time stopping, and almost got hit by ten cars because i have a hard time going. soon we were on the other side of the bridge and on a nice bike path that followed the river. much more my pace. we visited the ponte malvio where the bridge is covered in locks with initials engraved on them by love-struck teenagers who throw the keys into the tiber and then have an awkward, permanent memento for when they break up. of course our class partook in this tradition, engraving something along the lines of "italian 150 gitti forever" on a lock and throwing the key into the depths (or rather shallows) below. we continued our journey by carrying our bikes up some stairs and onto a path with giant signs that had an X over a picture of a person on a bike...i figured if any trouble arose i could just say i didn't understand the sign because i don't speak italian. we rode for an hour (real time) into the southern suburbs of rome. the landscapes we were passing were country club, trailer park, country club, trailer park, and on and on. we finally took a break at one of the country clubs where the owner leant us some clubs and balls for free and we golfed at the driving range. it was super fun, and really kind of weird. i took pictures to remind myself that it happened, because it seemed like something i could dismiss as a dream in later years. on our sore asses we rode for another hour back into the city and this time hit rush hour, which was actually much easier because by then i was a regular lance armstrong. all and all, this was an amazing day, and thanks to the wonderful support of my classmates, and the ruthless mocking and teasing from ethan who rode the entire journey with no hands, i can now ride a bike, even up and down hills!

on friday i took a day trip to cosa, argentario, and the giardino dei tarocchi. it was an early wake-up call, but very worth it. cosa was very beautiful, but pretty boring. it was basically just some ruins on top of a hill (blah) but then we went to the beach for a little while which was very fun and relaxing, and i took a much needed nap after some much needed ice cream in the sand. afterwards we bused it up to the giardino, which is this amazing olive grove with modern art installations. it was kind of similar to gaudi's park guell in barcelona, both very interactive and happy. you can walk on everything and climb everything and sit and lay on all of the benches and sculptures, which is a refreshing change from all the untouchable berninis. it's really hard to explain this place. i suggest you google image it. here's the name again for you to copy and paste. Giardino dei Tarocchi. after returning to rome i had an unbelievable dinner at tom's cooked by him, ethan, and roomie scott. fried eggplant, asparagus and mushroom risotto, and spaghetti amatriciana. one of my best meals here, so props boys. we then went to a club in trastevere which i'm pretty sure was a gay bar. whatever. good drinks, good dancing, and good night. 

saturday i slept until 2. it was awesome.

whoops

so, i was just lounging around on the balcony enjoying the beautiful weather that has just graced me with its presence when i realized, oh yeah, i have a blog, and i haven't written on it for more than a month. if you happen to be anxiously checking for new posts daily, then i apologize, although i assume this hiatus has gone unnoticed since no one has mentioned anything. thanks guys. anyways, i'm going to recap my recent travels for myself, since my proofreading seems to be the only action this blog gets. 

amsterdam:

the first thing i heard upon my arrival to the airport was a girl say in complete seriousness, "ohmygod, we're in the dam. truesies!!" this was a sour start to a sweet weekend. by the time we got back to rachael and marin's empty apartment that they were loaning us it was a million o'clock, so we decided to go to sleep and start fresh the next morning. (when i say "we" in amsterdam, i mean lauren, handlerpants, and myself.) our first stop in the morning even before breakfast was (overt your eyes if you're old) greenhouse, the best "coffee shop" in all of the dam. truesies. highlights of this lovely breakfast joint (pun intended) include the fish tank floor, the countless pictures of 50 cent and woody harrelson's frequent visits, and roy, the scandinavian skinny bald man sitting across from us who joined me in enjoying two back-to-back chocolate milkshakes before noon. (i had four the first day. i don't even wanna count the whole weekend.) the rest of the day consisted of wandering around and stumbling into more coffee shops, one of which was playing "The Hills" in dutch, so obviously since this place was meant specifically for us we were forced to stay awhile and have some chocolate milkshakes. the whole weekend was pretty much this same pattern of walking, sitting, and chocolate milkshakes, with some prostitutes, pancakes, and anne frank houses thrown in. while we may not have done much, it didn't really matter. amsterdam is just one of those places where you can feel the culture soaking into your skin. the people were so different there. i love rome to death but there are always so many people looking at me and judging me and after a while it gets exhausting. but this was different. everyone is just doing their own thing, but if you cross paths with someone they are so excited to meet you and talk to you or help you with directions. everyone rides bikes with little babies in baskets at the front, and multicolored boats grace the canals that flow through the city. i thought that things would be seedy here, and that it would just be a mess of fucked up people buying prostitutes, but it wasn't. it was the most quaint, beautiful place i've ever been to, and i've been fantasizing lately about someday living there, raising a family, and riding a bicycle with a baby in it, (if i ever master the difficult skill of bike riding without mom holding onto the back of my seat). despite my growing love for so many european cities, amsterdam was the only other place besides rome that i could see myself studying abroad in and being happy. a month later and i still miss that chill and inviting attitude that everyone i met shared. then again, they could have all just been high...

siena:

one of the perks of this semi-crappy program that i'm on is that they take you on two free vacations. the first was the first 3 days of my trip traveling around umbria, and the second was to a destination of our choice. i choice siena, along with my friends from the program. siena is a tiny village in tuscany famous for it's unbelievable hillside views, horse races, and wine. most of my time there was spent wining (not whining), but not in an alcoholic kind of way. i went to an unbelievable wine tasting at a vineyard outside of the city where after two sips i realized that the reason i didn't like red wine was because i've been drinking crappy red wine. i now prefer it times a thousand to white. it is so full of flavor and life. i got a couple of bottles that were made in the basement to send home and drink on special occasions. (i.e. my 21st birthday and graduation.) each bottle was 12.50 euro which seemed a lot for wine in italy, considering we rarely break the 3 euro mark. then i learned that a bottle at a restaurant in the states would be upwards of $250. so, yay! the only good deal in all of italy! there was not a lot to see in the village of siena, (we literally had one hour of touring) but the town square is covered by a constant golden glow, and so it was really lovely to simply wine and dine all day. both nights we went to a fantastic little pub where i got to practice my italian out on the local boys. saturday night of this trip was the first time i realized how much i've learned. with a few glasses of fabulous siena wine that lead to a little boost in confidence, it got significantly easier to speak italian. instead of holding back and getting nervous that i would butcher such a romantic language, i let the conversation flow as easily as the liquor, and wound up speaking italian for a few hours straight without a word of english. anyone in gitti's italian class up for pre-gaming before our final? 

cinque terra:

the following weekend lauren and i hijacked the florence girls (rachel, becca, and becca's friends—oh and adam who is not a girl) and going to cinque terra for the day. it was quite possibly the most beautiful place i have ever been to. the city is actually 5 tiny towns set on 5 hills that stretch along the northern coast of italy. the only thing to do there is hike, so we did. the hike was 5 hours long, but i did it without passing out or complaining for more than a few minutes! rachel did it in flip flops! we were shocked and proudened (that should be a word) by our master endurance. (lauren and adam did it too but we knew that they could from the start so it was less exciting.) becca and co were lazy and laid on the beach. highlight of the hike: a lemonade stand where we drank lemonade from lemons literally picked off of the tree in the stand. we also ate the peels which for some reason you can eat there and they taste like those lemon shaped gel candies you eat at passover. (or all year round for me.) 

corfu:

after only 36 hours of traveling by train, bus, cruise, and bus again, i arrived in corfu with lauren, becca, and all of becca's friends. corfu is a beautiful island off the coast of greece with absolutely nothing to do but lie on the beach all day. now i loved corfu and thought it was spectacularly gorgeous, but this trip was really not my style. it was a schlep and a half to get there and back, and both schleps (and their halves) were filled with drunken, screaming, naked people throwing up and making out. woo, spring break! despite this, we managed to have a great time. becca and i turned the toga party upside down by not wearing togas (we weren't making a statement, we were just lazy and wanted to dance without our sheets falling down). since we felt we needed some special costume, we somehow ended up wearing my underwear as headbands. (i'm not sure how this deal was arranged, but it was embarrassingly done dead sober.) anyways, we looked amazing and danced like people snorting adderall. (pictures of out "moves" can be seen via facebook.) lying on the beach and dancing were pretty much the only things we did in corfu. oh, and we ate a lot of toblerones. 

anywho, it's good to be back after so much time spent away from rome. i missed this city and i never get sick of walking around it having nothing to do. this weekend, maybe capri? ok, i'm out.

spring break

so i spent last week in paris and barcelona. i don't really feel like writing but i will give highlights in the format of a bulleted list:

• french food. i had the best lemon meringue pie of my entire life. also, the best croissant, but like... duh. my first night in paris i had a steak with bernaise sauce and a chocolate milkshake because i guess i wanted to be a stereotype of myself. over the course of the weekend i had 4 (count em) chocolate milkshakes for seemingly no reason. i even had a giant one instead of lunch one day. (i promised to never tell you about that mom, but cat's out of the bag.) now get this—french fries and french onion soup are actually french! this baffled me and i did not believe it until i had what is just called "onion soup" and it blew my mind. throw in some "fries" for dipping in all the extra cheese and i think i can safely say it was almost as good as michaels. downside? soup—15 euro.
• a homeless man tried to kill me. 2 minutes outside the train station immediately after arriving a homeless man grabbed me, held a wine bottle above my head and screamed at me. i pushed him away just before the bottle would have come crashing down resulting in my imminent death, and screamed, "you crazy, crazy frenchman." all the way to our hotel.
• art museums. the louvre is really beautiful and fancy but pretty much everything in it is overrated. the first thing that's overrated is the line. i was expecting a scene out of eurotrip where mimes harassed me for 7 hour while i stood in line to get into a glass pyramid. the actual line took approximately 4 minutes. (the line for the bathroom, however, was about 40.) yes, the art was beautiful, but there's just no room for any sort of creative interpretation. it was like, here is jesus. here is adam. here is lady liberty. here is jesus again. it's also crammed in there in a disorganized manner that resembles my closet. like there are three stories of paintings just layered on top of each other, so there's really no room for any peace or simplicity. the mona lisa was fun to see but she's behind bullet proof glass because apparently she is a bigger target for assassins than the president, so you can't really appreciate her fully. she's also tiny, like miniature, and alone on the biggest wall i have ever seen with barriers 20 feet around her. i had a front row seat and i still had to squint to see her. the centre pompidou was much more my style. it's pretty much exactly like MOMA except with a bunch of really famous matisse and dali thrown in. man ray and magritte are by far my favorite surrealist artists, and there was so much of them just thrown in with walls of blank canvases and sculptures made out of blow-up furniture that is was very exciting. i think i spent 20 minutes staring at magritte's painting that has a woman's face removed from her head in front of the ocean. (sorry i don't know what it's called but it's a classic.) we also went to musee d'orsay which was beautiful mostly because of the building. it's an old train station that's been converted into an art museum so the structure was just beautiful. they had i think 700 monet paintings, and while i'm not a big monet fan it was cool to see some impressionism so close up that it really does just look like a blur. there was also a giant van-gogh room, and that was the highlight. the bedroom is such an amazing painting in person even though it is very small. pretty much all the van gogh i've seen looks completely different in person which is always a pleasant surprise. 
• my first real piece of art. i made an impulse buy at a gallery in montmarte and now i have some real art that deserves a frame and everything!
• the eiffel tower. you know what this is, there's not much to say except that it is not at all black, i'm not sure why it is black in every picture ever taken, but it is beige. it's also very exciting when it has it's little seizure of a light show every hour. also, while standing at the eiffel tower a french man came up to lauren and i and said in english, (this is an unaltered quote even though it may sound beyond belief,) "is this the eiffel tower? where is my kitchen!?" 
• l'arc de triumph. climbed it. great view. ran across traffic in notoriously the worst traffic circle in the entire planet because we couldn't figure out that you have to take an underground passageway to get onto it's little island.
  

and on to barcelona...

while paris was a blast and i'm so glad i saw what i saw and ate what i ate, everything was so crowded and fast that it was not the relazing parisian vacation i was hoping for. barcelona was much more my pace. very slow days, very fast nights pretty much spells out my ideal trip.

• the nightlife. i know it's tacky to love giant, obnoxious nightclubs with thousands of boozed-up twenty year olds grinding on each other, but i do, and i will not deny it. we also went to a shot bar which was more like a dessert/magic trick bar where every shot was either on fire, covered in whipped cream, or both. some of the highlights were: a "boyscout" where they lit the bar on fire, you roasted a marshmallow, and then dipped it in your shot. a "harry potter" where your shot has a cinnamon sugar covered orange on top of it and then they just light everything on fire again. and throw more cinnamon at it to make it spark. a "monica lewinsky" which i will not describe because my parents read this blog. and something that i don't remember where they do a chemical reaction and then you drink alcohol infused air out of a straw. since everything is either on fire or crammed with candy it is hard to get drunk at this place, so we got to try about 10 of these fun shots each without any signs of stumbling. 
• the gaudi. pretty much everything worth seeing in barcelona is built by the architect gaudi, and there's really no way to describe it. it's innovative and surreal, and he uses a method called organic architecture (tom could have made this up) to make things look natural and beautiful and sandcastle-like.
• the american chain restaurants. overt your eyes if you think it is despicable to even look at american food while in europe, but i treated myself to starbucks and pizza hut because they are luxuries that do not exist in rome.
• the spanish boys. i met a beautiful guy named antonio who will make me his wife when i learn enough spanish and he learns enough english to be able to hold a conversation about anything besides soccer. 
• the beach. yes, perhaps it was only about 50 degrees last week in barcelona. but that didn't stop tom, jess, ethan and i from diving into the freezing mediterranean sea and watching the sunset soaking wet and shivering in bathing suits on the beach. we looked like idiots and people were screaming egging us on and probably saying "morons" in spanish, but it was a damned good time. 

in the trademark of how i tend to end my blogs, i will just stop abruptly. 

3/13

Today without asking a guy walked by and kissed me while I was studying on a bench. Welcome to Roma.

3/7-3/9

This weekend Lauren and I decided to go to Florence and chill with Rachel, Becca, and David (, The) Lauren and I both slept through our alarms because we were very tired from the late night before, and after awaking around 9:30 we rushed to Termini to catch the earliest train out. Here's how it worked: Left at 10. Got to Termini at 10:20. Hit the "A Firenze" button on the kiosk. Got on the train at 10:25. Pulled out of the station at 10:30. We both looked at each other and said, "Too easy." We were anticipating that because of the ease with which we arrived in Florence, something would go horribly wrong at another point in our travels, but it didn't! Woo.
It was so nice to see Rachel and Adam's smiling faces right after getting off the hour and a half train ride-I missed that smush! We went back to Rachel's to drop off our bags and she lives in the most amazing apartment ever! It's all painted a seafoam green kinda color with murals on all of the ceilings and it's just very gorgeous and Italian. All 5 of her roommates were out of town so Lauren and I stayed in a giant bedroom that was reminiscent of the bedroom that Mary-Kate and Ashley stay in in Passport to Paris. (Rachel said it, not me).
We did a lot of sight seeing throughout the weekend including seeing The David, climbing the steps of the Duomo, and going to the Ponti Vecchio. Seeing David was by far my favorite. On the way down the corridor where he lives there are all of these other Michaelangelo statues that are unfinished so they look like people trying to escape from blocks of marble. They are really rouch looking but beautiful and very haunting. The juxtaposition (i hate that word) of these statues with the pristine and majestic David was just breathtaking, and I got chills up my spine from the moment I stepped into the hallway. David was enormous, and he has one giant hand. Like, huge. Apparently he was originally intended to live on top of a building so the perspective would make his hand look regular size, but he lives on the ground so it's really weird and giant and cool.
The Duomo was quite a hike, but worth it. It's about 45 flights of stars through a tiny spiral staircase and narrow passageways that I had to duck to get through. (Not Lauren though). The view from the top was just spectacular. Florence was beautiful and glowing from above even though the sky was cloudy.
We did a lot of shopping, and among a few little things I got a great purple leather purse. I walked into a store, went straight to it, saw the price (240 euro) started to walk out, and then the woman said "It's on sale for 35." Soo...It's mine now.
I will now list the things I ate while in Florence. It was the best food I have ever had in my entire life (no exaggeration).
Lunch day 1: Turkey, artichoke, tomato, pesto panini
Dinner: Vodka macheroni, pumpkin orchiette, artichoke risotto, eggplant penne, sweet pepper rigatoni, black peppercorn steak, blueberry steak, Tiramisu, pinapple cake, flouless chocolate cake, cheesecake with strawberry sauce. (It was a sampler, don't worry.)
Lunch day 2: Cinnamon raisin bagel and pizza tornado.
Dinner: Macheroni with creamy bolognaise sauce. (This was a full portion)
Brunch was the only unremarkable meal so I won't bore you. Actually, this menu is probably all pretty boring because you can't taste these things. So, sorry.
I can't think of what else we did besides go to a pub and a few Italian thrift stores which were very cool. Oh, and markets. Ok bye.

3/7-3

3/4/08

Soo...I haven't written in a while, but there's nothing much to report. I'm just settling into a routine here so day to day life is pretty much the same, but all wonderful none the less. Today I went on my first big shopping trip and got some fabulous italian goods, because I guess I thought I needed to spend even more money than I already have been... 

Last Friday I went with a class field trip to the catacombs which was pretty cool. 

This Friday Lauren and I are going to stay with Rachel in Florence!

That's all.

2/24/08

Today was our last day in Switzerland, so we tried to ski for as long as possible. Midway through the day we got to sit and watch Jess run off a mountain to paraglide, and she swooped right over our heads. Lauren and I fell off a ski lift because John fell off and they had to stop it which jerked us off, and we got stuck in a place where there were no easy slopes down! John let the lift drag him up further, while me and Lauren opted to try out the red slope. It was scary but really fun and I finally remembered how to ski! A few runs later, however, I forgot again and got my skis stuck in a mountain and had to lie there for 20 minutes waiting to be rescued. No one came to rescue me, so I had to pick all the snow out of every little crevice of my skis in order to put them back on, and then go straight back down the mountain. At the bottom, I was expecting everyone to be waiting, but we'd all accidentally split up! Alone on Murren in the Alps, I proceeded to take a lift in order to try to see Ethan's orange jacket, Lauren's pink pants, Tom's awkward pole movements, Sam's indistinctive black ski suit, or John upside down somewhere with his snowboard in the air. Jess was in the air still, so that was hopeless. I took a gondola down and after wandering around for a while ran into Ethan. I ran towards him and jumped on him and hugged him and almost cried, and he informed me that he had no idea that we were all split up. We waited at the bottom of the mountain and luckily everyone came down in the next gondola ride! It was getting late and it was time to go back and shower, eat, and get on another train. 

On the second of the three trains we needed to take, we were informed that the guy at Termini who booked our tickets made a mistake and put them for the wrong day. The Swiss man on the train was very nice and we just had to pay 8 franc to change it over, but when we got to our connection, we found out that the train we were planning on taking didn't run on Sundays. This was a big uh oh, but we got on a train to Rome an hour later. The only problem was that the 11pm-7am train ride was not in a sleeper car. It was probably the most uncomfortable night of my life, but kind of cute to see us all snuggled up trying to sleep. As Sam noted, "People always say that they are packed in like sardines, but....that's really what this is." John and Ethan saved us from a robber by giving him angry looks, and I buckled everyone's backpacks to a pole. It was a team effort, but we didn't get mugged! We arrived in Rome and had to go to class. Let's just say it was the worst day yet. Maybe even ever. For the unbelievable weekend we had though, it was so worth it.

2/23/08

Today we woke up bright and early, (but an hour darker and later than we wanted to), got breakfast at the hostel, and schlepped up the mountain for an hour and a half just to schlepp further up the mountain to the slopes. Our first stop was the bunny hill, where our Ethan (who is actually a ski instructor) gave us all the same lesson he gives "4 year old kids and fat men from Texas who have never seen snow." After his entire day of hiking up unmarked trails and skiing straight down black diamonds without so much as a stumble, Ethan fell down the bunny hill. Yikes. 

Now, I was under the impression that I could ski, but apparently I was very, very wrong. I was so nervous that I would fall and break my leg and not be able to get on the busses in Rome that I was all shaky and horrible and could barely stay on my feet. I took a couple of bad falls and got a giant bruise that is really awesome/disgusting. After a full day of skiing, we schlepped back and did the shower race before going downstairs to the club. Now apparently, this was the hottest club in Switzerland, but frankly, we found it lame and sucky. We all stuck together and had a nice time though, and John and I got to enjoy our free beer vouchers that we got for skydiving. The Swiss men were pretty creepy. They kept saying "Yaaaaahhh" and sounded like Fat Bastard. 

2/22/08

This morning we checked into our hostel straight off the night train at 6 in the morning. We stayed at Balmers in the private guest house and it was amazing! They really took care of us and the beds and pillows were ridiculously comfy. We woke up too late to hit the slopes, but Ethan couldn't wait and so he did all of the ridiculous black diamonds and unmarked paths in lieu of sleeping a couple extra hours. As we were sitting at lunch eating insanely expensive Swiss food (hash browns), and paying 30 francs for water, John suddenly announces, "I'm going skydiving in an hour, who wants to come?" I pondered for a few minutes, considered throwing up, and then said "I will." An hour later and a whole bunch of will requests later, John and I were on a bus on the way to go jump out of a plane. We got there and had a "lesson" which was literally three minutes and basically the only instructions were "don't throw up on your tandem partner." Then we got into our blue astronaut suits and harnesses and waited for our plane. When I saw it in the air on its way down and realized that it was so high up that I couldn't make out wings, I started to get a lot of nervous. Three minutes later John and I, our tandem partners, a hot Swiss photographer and two pilots were on our way up into the sky, 13,000 feet up (putting us at about 15,000 feet above sea level.) I thought we were about ready when we could see the tops of all the Alps and France and Italy, and just then my tandem Roland said, "Halfway up!" While this was true, some of the other things he said to me were just to mess with me. For example: "Oh no! Did you forget to grab goggles!", "I'm nervous, are you?", "You know one person a day dies doing this with me and I haven't lost anyone yet today." "All of your carabeeners are broken! I'll have to just tie onto the bottom." I was shaking in my Ugg boots the rest of the way up (yes, I wore them) and then the door of the plane swung open and I was leaning over the ledge with my feet dangling over the ground far below. Suddenly a wave of calm rushed over my entire body and all fear that I had turned into this amazing feeling like I could do anything. I leaned my head all the way forward because I forgot everything I learned in the 3 minute class, and Roland had to pull it back so that I wouldn't break my neck jumping. And then I was in the air. It was almost an entire minute of free-fall, over 8000 feet of breathtaking views of the Alps and every surrounding country. I couldn't get a single breath but it was ok, I wasn't even thinking about it. After the minute that felt like about 10 days, (in a good way,) my parachute released and everything slowed to a halt. I was 5000 feet in the air and swooping around the cascading mountains surrounding the valley where I would soon land. After a few minutes in the air, the ground grew nearer and I yelled to Roland "Do we have to go down now!?" He responded, "...There's really no other direction to go." We made a fast descent to the ground and I landed on my butt in a pile of mud (don't worry, I was supposed to.) A minute later John landed and we spent a few minutes jumping up and down screaming. (I think I said I love you to Roland.) We made it back to Balmers about an hour later and saw the rest of the gang who ran screaming and embraced us shouting "You're alive!" 

We were in and out the door in about a half hour and on the way to night sledding. We took a gondola up through the pitch black mountain which was possibly scarier than skydiving. Then we got our lesson which consisted of a man named Ronnie with a ridiculous Swiss accent handing us a sled and a glow stick and saying "Eef you vant to be turnik right put yourright fut on seh ground. Eef you vant turnink lefft put your lefft fut on zeh grownd. Eef you vant to stop then puttink bof feet on zeh grownd. Eef you see a black tink movink closeh to you, you should break because dat ees eizer a tree of a cleef. Okay, vee go!" ....And....down the mountain we went. It was a narrow path about 12 feet wide with a cliff on one side and a rock formation on the other, and it was about an hour of horror down to the restaurant. After we arrived safely, we were served a very authentic Swiss meal of cheese fondue and hash browns and eggs. (They love hash browns and have them at every meal.) Dinner was fabulous but way not enough food because I am an over-eating American. Before we left we made sure to get one more good look at the unbelievable stars. There were more than I have ever seen in my life, and the view of the Alps with the sky lit up in stars was breathtaking. We contemplated checking out the bar on our way home, but once we saw our beds we were in for good (even though it was only about 10). Then the 7 of us went about all sharing one bathroom the only way you can... to just run for it and see who can get in first. This method worked out just fine. Slipping into our picnic table print beds after the long day was amazing, and I had skydiving dreams all night!

2/21/08

After a long day of lugging a backpack around on the crowded metro and a field trip, the seven of us (Jess, Lauren, Ethan, Tom, John, Sam, and I) left on the night train to Interlaken, Switzerland. As soon as we started ascending the mountains the pressure got crazy and there was an ear-popping fiasco like nothing I've ever felt before. We made it through without any broken ear drums or broken bones (even though John almost fell off his bed and crushed me in the middle of the night.) The seven of us all slept in tiny beds lining the walls of a 6 person sleeper car. It was actually pretty fun, and a testament to our friendships that no one ended up out the window. 

2/18/08

Today was a pretty exciting day because Lauren, Sam, John, Jess, Tom, Ethan, and I booked our trip to Interlaken for this weekend. We're taking an overnight train on thursday that leaves straight from class and gets there at 6 in the morning. Then we have the guest house at Balmers booked so it's a 7 person private apartment with a big kitchen and everything. The overnight train back on Sunday will not be fun, and we have to go straight to class from it, but we'll just have to deal and nap later. Can't wait!

2/16/08

Tonight was girls and boys night, so Jess, Lauren and I went next door to MoMart for dinner, martinis, and boy shopping. (MoMart is where all the ridiculously good looking Italian men hang out.) We had a fun and short night of doing almost nothing at our apartment which culminated in a slumber party. It was an early night, which we were all thankful for. 

2/15/08

After a fantastically long afternoon nap, Lauren, Tom, and I went over to Jon and Sam's, and they cooked us a delicious linguini carbonara and chicken marsala. Jess came over after she was done with her obligatory dinner with the roomies, and we had a mini dance party. Afterwards we made our way over to Campo De'Fiori and hung out outside a bar for a while with some other English speakers. 

2/14/08

Tonight we started out with dinner at Scholars. They had "American Food," which I was craving slightly, so I ordered a burger and cheese fries. Apparently they think that means a piece of chicken on bread with tomatoes and fries sprinkled with mozzarella, and I learned my lesson. Afterwards, we went to a jazz lounge and Tom, who is a drummer, got up and played with the band for a few songs. He was great, of course, and was asked to come back and play a few times a week so hopefully this will be a regular thing. 

2/13/08

Tonight we headed out to Trastevre again to have a hommade dinner at Tom's, but of course we got very very lost again. Trastevre is hard to get to and even harder to navigate once you are there since it is made up of tiny cobblestone alleyways and every single building is the same color of yellow-orange. Eventually we made it and had a delicious pasta primivera and then went to the bar downstairs. After a while we headed out to Scholars since the girls were promised dancing and we were decked out in sequins. It was a long night of Britney Spears and Dr. Dre and we all fell asleep immediately upon our return to Piazza Bologna.

2/12/08

Today was a good day to relax a little and take a night off from going out. In the morning I had Italian class and then went to lunch with Stephie (or as we call her in Italy, Stepho.) Afterwards we had to get our permisso to stay, which was long and boring. Lauren then cooked a fabulous Italian meal for me and I made her her first artichokes and bernaise sauce. Then the four roommates sat on the stairs in front of a neighboring apartment building secretly stealing internet so we could put pictures up. Our evil plan worked!

2/11/08

Today we started our first day of intensive Italian classes. We're all beginners so it's right at my level, and the class is really fun. It's two and a half hours a day for this week, and then two hours three days a week for the rest of the semester. After class and a long lunch John, Sam, Lauren, Tom, Ethan and I went over to Tom's place in Trastevre and he cooked a mean penne florentine for all of us. Jess came over after she finished dinner with her Italian roommate, and we all overdid it a bit on the vino. It was a fantastic time.

2/10/08

This afternoon, Lauren, Tom, Jess, John, Sam, Ethan and I went to the Colesium. It was one of my favorite sights so far, obviously. We didn't go in side because it's expensive and we can go for free later with school. Instead we got a few litres of Moretti and sat on a ledge near the arch of Constantine. It was a beautiful view and a bunch of Japanese tourists took pictures of us sitting there. We stayed there for most of the evening and then went across the street to have wine at a cafe. Afterwards we went home and went to bed early for the very first time.

2/9/08

Today Lauren and I slept in until an embarrassingly late time, and then headed over to a park about a mile away to walk and run around. I realized I forgot my running shoes, so I had to power walk in Uggs… It was quite a site. The weather was perfect today, probably about mid-sixties and bright and sunny. Afterwards we walked over to Sam and Johns, and enjoyed some wine and Caprise salad. Tom trekked all the way from Trastevre to Bologna to meet up with us for dinner, and we ate at a small place across from our apartment. We started to discuss plans to visit Switzerland, and although Tom doesn’t ski, he is going to join us because he has what he calls FOMO. (Fear of missing out.) We all have been inflicted with this, so I think we will be traveling a lot together. Ethan is a ski instructor, so hopefully he will join us and give us all a much-needed refresher course on the Alps.
After dinner we went back to Trastevre (way across the city) and met up with Jess at a couple of bars there. Lauren, John, Sam, and started to head back around 2, and got very, very lost in the ancient city. Somehow we made it on foot from Trastevre, across the Tiber, and all the way to the Coliseum, but we were then stuck in a bunch of ruins with no cabs and no idea where we were. Luckily we found a night bus and hopped on and arrived back home at around 4. It was quite an adventure—getting lost here is very fun actually, and we’d know, it happens a lot.

2/9/08

Today Lauren and I slept in until an embarrassingly late time, and then headed over to a park about a mile away to walk and run around. I realized I forgot my running shoes, so I had to power walk in Uggs… It was quite a site. The weather was perfect today, probably about mid-sixties and bright and sunny. Afterwards we walked over to Sam and Johns, and enjoyed some wine and Caprise salad. Tom trekked all the way from Trastevre to Bologna to meet up with us for dinner, and we ate at a small place across from our apartment. We started to discuss plans to visit Switzerland, and although Tom doesn’t ski, he is going to join us because he has what he calls FOMO. (Fear of missing out.) We all have been inflicted with this, so I think we will be traveling a lot together. Ethan is a ski instructor, so hopefully he will join us and give us all a much-needed refresher course on the Alps.
After dinner we went back to Trastevre (way across the city) and met up with Jess at a couple of bars there. Lauren, John, Sam, and started to head back around 2, and got very, very lost in the ancient city. Somehow we made it on foot from Trastevre, across the Tiber, and all the way to the Coliseum, but we were then stuck in a bunch of ruins with no cabs and no idea where we were. Luckily we found a night bus and hopped on and arrived back home at around 4. It was quite an adventure—getting lost here is very fun actually, and we’d know, it happens a lot.

2/8/08

Today we checked out the IES center where we will be taking classes, and then Lauren, Jess, John, Sam, Tom, and I crossed the river to run around Vatican City. The Holy See was beautiful beyond imagination, and no matter what religion, you can feel a sense of spirituality that emanates from the marble of every building, statue, and fountain.
We reluctantly left after a couple of hours, because we needed to make it back in time to tour the city on foot with our tour groups. We were late, of course, because it’s hard to hurry when you are standing over the Tiber and looking back on the dome of the Sistine Chapel, but we hijacked a tour guide and a few other stragglers and formed our own group.
We began our tour only moments away from our school, at the Pantheon. The building echoed so much that I couldn’t understand a word our guide was saying, so I can’t say much about it except that it was built around 128 AD, and the giant marble columns that make up the entire structure of the building were brought in only one piece. Everything in the Pantheon is solid marble, and at come points, almost 20 feet thick. It is so perfectly preserved that I had to ask if they had just installed the floors. (This turned out to be a dumb question.) Pictures really do not show the building justice, so just try to imagine it about 100 times more amazing than it looks.
From there we went to the Trevi Fountain, which was my favorite site so far. It is absolutely gigantic, and won’t really even fit in pictures. Our tight knit group of friends all took turns throwing coins into the fountain. (One to come back alone, two to return with the people you first came with, and three to come back with the love of your life.) I thought that three seemed like a lot of pressure, but everyone made me do it anyways.
Afterwards we went to the Spanish Steps and raced up to the top. They were much taller than I had anticipated, and needless to say, I didn’t win. The view from the top was gorgeous, and the sun was setting over the city. (Also, Sylvester Stalone was there, but I didn’t see him…or care, really.) I braved the slippery path into the fountain at the Spanish Steps, and drank the water, which was fun, but splashy.
At night our program forced us all into going to a bar in Campo di Fiori, which is like America-land. It was kind of nice to be able to order a drink in English without waving my arms all around and pantomiming taking a shot, but it would have been nice to have visited somewhere with a bit more culture. At about one, Lauren and I got a big surprise. Stephie walked into the bar! She found out where we are and braved the cobblestone in heels to come visit. It was nice to see a friendly face from home, and we had fun introducing her to all our new friends. We all enjoyed each other’s company until the bar closed, and then we had to walk a ways to find the only bar open until 4 in all of Italy. It was horribly crowded and we left promptly. (Side note: the biggest culture shock any of us have experienced is that absolutely nothing is open late! If you are coming home from the bars and want a slice of pizza or a bottle of water, you’re making it at home. For this reason, Sam and John plan to come back someday and open a late-night place called “Pizza and Water.” I think they’ll make a killing.)

2/7/08

Today we checked out of our Umbrian hotel and made our way to Orvieto, a hilltop city with views that stretch for hundreds of miles. Nothing remarkable happened here, but they did have good pizza. After returning to Rome, Lauren and I had our friends Sam and John over for dinner, and we made an Italian meal with plenty of Italian wine.

2/6/08

This morning we had a painfully long orientation seminar, which pretty much consisted of someone reading aloud the orientation booklet we had already read. This lasted a few hours, and then the group anxiously took off for Assisi. We toured the ancient cathedral whose countless artworks are perfectly preserved and breathtaking. (No pictures allowed inside, sorry.) Afterwards, we were given a few hour of free time, and after visiting the wine and pastry shop, we proceeded up the steep hill to check out the fortress at the very top. It was a tough climb, but after about a million steps and a few windy pathways on the edge of a cliff, we made it to the palace. It was less than spectacular, but the hike was fun and we all enjoyed each other’s company amidst the backdrop of the tiny city’s sparkling lights. Afterwards, the whole group went for a big dinner at a local restaurant, and I tried about ten foods I’ve never had before. (Are you proud Mom?!)

2/5/08

It was hard to sleep the first night because we were so excited and because our beds and pillows are horribly uncomfortable. Early the next morning we braved the Roman public transportation system and traveled 45 minutes by bus to the location of our school in order to leave for an orientation trip in Umbria. After a 4-hour bus ride we arrived in Perugia and toured the village. After dinner all 150 of us infiltrated the small town equipped with only a few bars. It was Carnivale that night, so we stuck out not only because we were an enormous group of Americans, but because we were the only people not wearing masks. The whole group bonded drinking Peroni on the steps of the Duomo.

2/4/08

After a couple of long and bumpy plane rides, Lauren and I finally arrived to the airport in Rome. We met a few people from our trip that got in on our same flight, including Nicole, who is one of the Rome-ies. Nicole and I took a very long and expensive cab ride to our new apartment in Piazza Bologna. On the ride we passed by countless legendary sites whose names I’m unsure of and one whose name I am sure of—the Coliseum.
We arrived in our beautiful apartment and were pleasantly surprised by its size and serene views from the balcony and front windows. All four roommates had arrived, (Lauren, Nicole, Dina, and I) and a good nap was in order. After waking up we departed for our first evening in Rome, and realized we hadn’t eaten in about two days. We went next door to MoMart, a trendy martini bar where a drink and unlimited pasta, pizza, and other aperitifs is only 8 euro. I filled up on Parmesan macaroni and pizza Margharita.