Food and Sightseeing...But Mostly Food

This week basically started on Thursday when I had possibly the most amazing* meal of my life. *Though the food was certainly all very delicious, the meal was more amazing due to the sheer amount (four courses and endless drinks) that was included for only 15 euro. The restaurant is called Tony's (of course it is, right?), and it's located on the picturesque side streets of the downtown Trastevere neighborhood. I arrived in a group of 14, and after seating us in two tables of 7, the wait staff immediately brought water, wine and bread.

After about 5 minutes had passed, they brought more bread--focaccia--which probably isn't as good in the US, but it's a flat, pizza crust-type bread that the restaurant baked with rosemary and a bit of salt on top. The first course was the appetizers. We scrambled to make room on the table as the staff brought out a plate of two types of bruschetta--one with tomatoes, basil and capers, the other with a sort of olive tapenade--, a plate of fried zucchini sticks, a plate of calamari (both of which came with a red dipping sauce), and a plate of fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes with basil and chunks of fresh parmesan (I think it was parmesan...). To be honest, I could have been done at this point and still been happy. But the wait staff came back out, refreshed our wine with a bottle of house-made red, and brought the first main course--penne al vodka and gnocchi with pesto. I'd never had penne al vodka before, but let me tell you, it was AMAZING! I'm not a huge gnocchi fan either, but the pesto sauce was delicious as well. Next, they brought out three plates of chicken parmesan--cheese melting and sizzling on top. I only had a couple bites of this because I was really getting full, but it was amazingly delicious as well. For dessert, they brought out cups of tiramisu. I'd never had it before, so I had to try it despite my rapidly expanding stomach, and like the rest of the meal, it was spectacular.

My stomach and I were basically this cat after the meal

Tony's is definitely a touristy restaurant--every customer there was speaking english, but I'm very glad we decided to go, and I may even go back at the end of the semester once I feel hungry again.

The next morning I felt the distinct urge to go running, so despite the rain, I ran over to the Tiber River for a beautiful 4.5-miler. Once I had come back and showered, my roommates and I decided to go on the actual tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It was 12 euro for a two-day ticket to both and the plan was to see the Colosseum on Saturday and the Forum on Sunday when the weather was better.

Below are a few pics I got at the Colosseum. It was really hard to imagine what it looked like in its prime. The building was subject to quarry (practice of taking out pieces of the brick/stone to use for building other things) when it stopped being used (before the Romans decided that they should preserve it), so it didn't look like any kind of arena at all. You can see evidence of quarry on the outside of the Colosseum (and pretty much every other ancient building) in the small holes in the stone.

In the lower left hand corner of this one, you can see the only seats left inside the Colosseum

The ground level was covered with wooden boards while the arena was in use, 

as shown a bit in both of these pictures (above and below)

Just as we were leaving, we saw this man whom we all agreed must have been Elvis (or at the very least, an Elvis impersonator). I tried to get a decent picture, but in case you can't see, he's got obviously Elvis-like hair and an American flag scarf.

After the Colosseum, we headed down the main street of Rome (Via del Corso) towards Piazza del Popolo, a large, open, Time's Square-type space. The piazza was beautiful of course, but what really made it cool was a couple selling homemade bubble-blowing apparatuses that they were demonstrating for the crowd, filling the piazza with giant bubbles.

From the Piazza del Popolo, we walked up a few steps to the Villa Borghese Gardens, where we ended the day's adventure. Originally the home and surrounding property of the Borghese family, the gardens became public domain when the family could no longer afford to maintain them and donated the grounds to the city of Rome. The gardens were full of statues and busts of unknown people, including Voldemort, apparently.

Much of the Villa was just green space

Though other parts were filled with statues and monuments

Sneering alongside Lord Voldemort

The next morning, we kept with the plan to head straight to the Roman Forum. I had somehow lost my ticket, so I had to buy another one anyway (yes Mom and Dad, I'm an eeediot), but everyone got the audio tour and we headed in.

For those that don't know, the Roman Forum is crazy old and crazy huge. Originally built during the reign of the Roman Republic (the time in which Rome was ruled by 2 consuls rather than a king or emperor), the forum was used as a meeting place, a city center, the home of the vestal virgins and a place to hold legal court. As time passed, the forum became overgrown and was actually known as the "valley of the cows" for a time before Mussolini began excavation on the place to uncover its original glory (for his own dictatorial agenda, of course).

Anyway, walking through the ruins was truly amazing. Just being among buildings from centuries ago (like 300 B.C. era) really gave you some perspective.

This was a view from atop the Palatine Hill (just another part of the Forum, really)

After the Forum, we headed back to the apartment for some much needed rest, and to work on homework (or to watch Seinfeld, in my case). Also, before I forget to mention it, the fruits and vegetables here taste AMAZING! Those of you who have your  own veggie gardens may know what I mean, but vegetables just have something more here. You can really taste them, and let me tell you, they're terrific. Specifically the tomatoes...I could talk for hours about this, but I'll digress for now.

Thanks for reading!

Kasey Ann

Walking in Circles Apparently Gets You Everywhere

Ah, the first week of the semester. The time when every college student realizes that the classes they signed up for are going to be a lot more work than they thought but are sill living in a fantasy because nothing has been assigned yet.

There is definitely a lot to be done for my four classes, but they all seem quite interesting. The professors are taking full advantage of all of the art, history and culture that Rome has to offer and each class has scheduled outings or walks in the city to explore the culture and to tie it into the curriculum.

The beginning of the week was mostly just going to class and figuring out a routine. Thursday evening after class, we decided to go to an "aperetivo", which is an awesome deal at a restaurant where you pay 5-10 euros for one drink and then help yourself to a delicious buffet of different appetizers. I ordered a glass of red wine and helped myself to the food--favorites included cinnamon baked apples (but not too baked so they were still crunchy), couscous with veggies and a warm cabbage salad. After the aperetivo, we took the tram to the other side of the river and walked through small streets and alleyways and got some gelato right before the shop closed (I got dark chocolate and espresso).

On Friday after going to a gym that I recently joined (with a student discount), we set out with the intention of finding the Spanish Steps. This turned into a wandering exploration of the city where we found a hotel comparable to the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, one of the largest and most beautiful churches I've ever seen and a McDonald's (for restroom purposes only). Eventually, we found the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain as well (which was a total disappointment because it's under major construction until around September).

The Boscolo Exedra Hotel

The Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri

(Google it, it's spectacular)

The Trevi Fountain 

(100% under construction and 100% lame)

Obelisk Atop the Spanish Steps

(The view from the bottom of the steps was not awesome

 thanks to the giant advertisement seen on the building below)

When we came back to the apartment, we invited a few new friends over for a "wine night" in which we supplied the wine, and our culinary expert Dan made homemade meatballs and sauce for a pasta dinner. It was a great end to an exciting day.

We explored still further on Saturday, beginning with a stop in a Jewish neighborhood for some delicious falafel--my first falafel experience. We continued wandering around the area and found ourselves overlooking the Circus Maximus, the remains of the ancient chariot racing stadium of Rome.  It's now a public park, and was still spectacular to behold. We walked still further through the city, finding ourselves in picturesque parks, cobblestone streets (not at all uncommon, and treacherous for those with weak ankles) and back to the Colosseum.

Falafel Wraps

The Circus Maximus

The Crew at the Colosseum

On a less exciting note, we've been getting more used to the apartment as well. I did my first load of laundry here on Wednesday, and it looks like it'll have to be done at least once a week because the washer is TINY! We also have a cleaning lady that comes once a week which was a very pleasant and welcome surprise. Also, we finally have WiFi! And we felt ridiculous when the maintenance man came to fix it,because all we needed to do was plug the ethernet cable into the modem correctly. 

Today, I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to go out to watch the Super Bowl. It doesn't start here until 12:30am, and I have a 9am class tomorrow morning....decisions, decisions. Also I still haven't taken real pictures of the apartment. I'll get on that this week. Maybe.

Upcoming events this week: first day of running club on Tuesday, possible day trip to Sienna on Saturday and booking weekend/spring break trips!

Until next week, thanks for reading!

Arrival in Trastevere

Hello from Rome! 

Well I've been here in Italy for four days and I feel like I've done SO MUCH already! My legs feel the same way, they've been aching from the 5-6 hour daily walks my roommates and I have been taking. 

The apartment I'm in is really huge, I have't gotten around to taking pictures of it yet (we've been out of the house quite a bit), but I'll get around to eventually I'm sure. The only issue we have with the place is that there's no wifi here yet. It was broken when we got here and hasn't been fixed yet (crossing our fingers it will be tomorrow) so we've been stealing the finicky wifi from our neighbors across the hall who are also AUR students. 

The first day was mostly unpacking until about 5 when we decided to walk to the school for a night walking tour of Rome. Before we left, we studied the map we had, confident that it would take about 30 minutes to get there. An hour and a half later, we arrived. Tired, hungry as hell, and not really in the mood for anything that involved walking. We were told to go to a pizza shop nearby for a quick bite before the tour--I got 2 slices of a margherita pizza for 3.50 euros--and we were ready for the tour. 

On Friday (day 2), One of my roommates and I went up to the school (it only took 20 minutes this time, HUH!) for some morning yoga which turned out to be a really good workout in itself. After, we met the rest of the roomies and most of the students of AUR in the school's courtyard for a BBQ lunch.  From there, we decided to venture out to the other side of the river (the side the school and our apartment are on is more residential Rome, where authentic Italians and their families live, work, buy groceries, and go to school) to visit some of Rome's attractions in broad daylight. The following are some of the highlights:

The Pantheon:

Some Beautiful Church That I Don't Know the Name of:

Building in the City Center that Mousselini Spoke Atop of:

Altare della Patria:

We took an elevator to the top of the Altare della Patria so see the beautiful panoramic views of Rome. It was one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. We could see the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Vatican City and a ton of buildings and dome roofs of buildings we don't know the name of. The pictures DO NOT do it justice (sorry). 

The dome in the picture below is the Pantheon roof.

Another Beautiful Church I Don't Know the Name of:

The sky was beautiful around 5pm

The Roman Forum Ruins:

The Colosseum at Dusk:

So clearly it was a very good day. Along the way to all of these sights, we got some delicious gelato (I got tiramisu and espresso), there was well over 50 flavors that the shop we stopped in, it was extremely overwhelming. After all of this walking around, my roommates and I came back to our apartment, made pasta dinner and had our first Italian wine (which cost 2.50 euros). 

Today, we woke up early and walked along the river to Vatican City to visit the museum (it's free to the public the last Saturday of every month). There was a massive line and once we got in we felt like a herd of cattle walking through, but the views in the Sistine Chapel were absolutely breathtaking. Michelangelo was truly an amazing artist (with an odd sense of humor--a cardinal once told him that he didn't like his art and Michelangelo painted the cardinal naked in the Sistine Chapel being dragged by a snake into the inferno). 

After we left the museum, we walked out into the Vatican Square where there were a TON of people singing with flags of their home countries waiting to hear Pope Francis (Papa Francesco) come out and speak. We were completely unaware of any of this and were delighted to get to see the entirety of the Popes speech (which was completely in Italian, but we could understand the Hail Mary). It was an amazing experience. All of the people, actually seeing the Pope...it was bringing tears to my eyes. Here's some of the good pictures. If you look hard, you can see Pope Francis in the window behind the statue.

St. Peter's Basilica:

Pope Francis' Window:

Jumbo-Tron for Far Away Viewers:

Closer picture of the Pope:

SO Many People

Needless to say, it's been a pretty busy 4 days. I start my classes tomorrow (bright and early at 9am) and I'm excited to get a routine going. My roommates and I are planning on exploring more of Rome next weekend and perhaps traveling to Milan for the following weekend. 

I'll keep you all updated (hopefully weekly) of my adventures!

Thanks for reading,

Kasey Ann

The Road to Rome

T minus 19 days until takeoff.

My visa went through successfully (and surprisingly quick), I have new giant suitcases to tote all of my belongings and I have a sweet new wardrobe (complete with scarves).

I AM SO READY!

HOWEVER....I'm getting nervous. I am, after all, going to a different country without knowing anyone, how to get anywhere or how to even speak the language. The first week or two or three will definitely be an adjustment.

I'll be arriving in Rome around 1pm local time (that's 7am ET) on the 22nd of January and heading straight to the university from the airport. Upon my arrival to the school, I will be given my apartment address and key. The apartment is described as being within "traveling distance" from the university...so I'll be traveling somehow to get there, where I'll unpack a bit and try to stay awake as long as possible.

The next two days are all-day orientations for international students at the American University of Rome. That's basically all I know, but I can assume it includes some sort of welcoming party followed by hours of information and people asking too many questions. I'll be able to get through it as long as there's free snacks...

After that, I'm completely free for one whole day, and then classes begin (which hopefully won't keep me too busy).

As far as traveling goes, the first few weeks will probably be pretty low-key. I'm planning on getting to know the city of Rome before I jet off to different countries--partly so I can figure out where the nearest restaurants/train stations/markets are, and partly because I know I'm going to be pretty overwhelmed for a bit after I arrive.

For those of you who would like to keep in contact with me during my trip, you have several options:

• Those with a smartphone can download the app "What's App". It's a messaging app that will allow you to sent texts to me over wireless internet since I won't be able to use my phone network. I recommend trying this form of contact with me beforehand because the process of adding contacts can be finicky.
• Those that use Facebook can use the messenger to "text" me. Similarly, it will send the messages over wifi.
• Those with a Skype or FaceTime account can use either to contact me. Just let me know if you'd like to go that route and we can set up times to call and swap contact information.
• Those with none of the above can simply email me or just continue reading the blog as I'll be posting semi-regularly to share pictures and updates.

Additionally, if anyone would like my Rome address, let me know and I'll share it with you as soon as I find out what it is.

Let it be known that I am uncontrollably excited about this, and here's a few GIFs to demonstrate my excitement:

This is where I leave you, folks! Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Rome!

Thoughts for next time: Culture shock, taking classes abroad, living in Italy. 

Italian Intentions

A month later and so much has happened!

Good news: I've 100 percent officially been accepted to study abroad at the American University of Rome. So that saves me a lot of embarrassment.

In addition to my acceptance, I've signed up for the classes I'll be taking in Rome: Italian Language, Living in Rome (a sociological view of life in the city), Rome: History and Empire and a Management Capstone (necessary to stay on track with my CMU schedule).

Originally, my parents had planned on coming to Italy the week my classes get out in May so we could all travel the country together for a week or so. After a brief meeting about my student visa, however, this is apparently close to impossible to do without getting detained and kicked out of Italy for 10 years.

What the heck, right?

Yeah, apparently when I apply for my visa at the Italian consulate, I have to ask them (with pretty please and sugar on top) if I can stay an extra two weeks past the last day of classes, and they can pretty much respond to that however they want.

That being said, I'd like to get some of my goals for being in a different country on paper (so to speak) so that I have witnesses, and thus slightly more motivation to follow through.

1. Become immersed in the culture. It's easy to stay consistent with what I'm comfortable with, but that's not really the point of studying abroad, is it? I want to make Italian friends, join a running club to see more of the city, try new foods (this one shouldn't be a problem) and truly see the Italian's Rome--la dolce vida. The sheer length of time I'll be there should make this one easier.

2. Travel, Travel, Travel! There are some people who may call me a hermit. That may be a bit excessive, but I am definitely introverted. It's far too easy for me to stay in comfortable places and not branch out, but as I said above (the more I say it, the more I'll believe it), DOING EVERYTHING YOU CAN IS THE POINT OF STUDYING ABROAD. I want to visit Spain, see the remains of the Berlin Wall, eat a croissant on the lawn by the Eiffel Tower (to name an obvious few). I have 4 months to do it AND BY GOD I'LL DO IT.

3. Overdose on Italian history. A lot of people don't realize it until they've traveled to Europe and my parents can attest to this from their recent trip: there is thousands of years of history on the mother continent. Of course it'll be terribly cliche to do most of this, but amongst the art museums, the architect, the colosseum and related structures, I want to see as much as I can.

4. Make an Italian meal with market goods. So this is super "Eat, Pray, Love", but let me defend this one. The University has an alum that is now the head chef at his own restaurant in Rome. Apparently, this chef gives free cooking lessons to students once a week. How awesome would it be to cook an authentic Italian meal with authentic Italian food that I learned to make from an authentic Italian chef? Super freaking awesome.

5. Take time to document the trip. So I'm notorious for taking trips where at the end, I'll only have a handful of pictures. That's not going to happen this time! I'm taking an actual camera, I'll ask strangers to take my picture (maybe I should bring a few cameras?), and I'll post them as often as possible. This is, of course, for memories, to keep friends and family updated, and most importantly, too make everyone envious. Enjoy.

Folks, this is going to be spectacular.

Thoughts for next time: weekend travel ideas--where to go, what to do, when to do it.

Thanks for reading,

Kasey Ann