OH MY GOD I FORGOT I HAVE A BLOG.

Oh hey, guys... Sorry, I kind of didn't see you there.  For two and a half weeks.  But I really like what you've done with your hair!  And are those new shoes???

Alright.  So there are a few reasons I haven't posted anything in so long.
1.  I am really lazy.
2.  We recently switched professors and I've had to adjust accordingly (i.e. do laundry)
3.  I forgot my password...

But now I'm back so it's all good!  Also, it's almost Halloween!  There's this really fancy gelato place close to my apartment and they have a bunch of little chocolate sculptures of bats, hats, pumpkins, and frankensteins right now, which is weird because I didn't think Halloween was a thing in Italy... I wonder if they do stuff for it because they know all the American tourists will fork over the dough for decorations and jazz.  I don't know, but I'm totally getting one of those chocolate pumpkins.

Yesterday, we went on a bunch of site visits to some basilicas in Rome, as well as the arch of Constantine.  I would really like to tell you more about them but the paper with the names on it is more than 10 feet away from me right now, and I'm still digesting dinner (which was burritos!).  Additionally, last weekend I took a trip with some friends to check out the catacombs and they are AWESOME.  It seriously is a labyrinth down there, and I kind of half-expected to see David Bowie.  There are miles of passageways and chambers, and if it wasn't for our guide, I probably would have gotten lost.  I mean, at least until I came across one of those green exit signs showing a person running towards stairs.  But like, there would have definitely been a full 12 minutes where I thought I was going to die. 

Last weekend, I also spilled water on my roommate's computer.  We don't talk about that day.

And Naples was beautiful, btdubs (dayum, it HAS been a long time...).  The villa we stayed at was gorgeous and had a bunch of green and red ivy on the entire side of the entrance, and every room had it's own balcony.  The balcony of the room I ended up staying in overlooked the Mediterranean, and it had a gorgeous view of the sunsets!  There was also a ping pong table outside, but that's probably of less significance. Anyway, while I was in Naples, I saw Pompei, and Mount Vesuvius, as well as some old Greek temples and ruins.  I also got to see the first colosseum ever made!  That's right, the Colosseum is not actually the first constructed, it is just the most badass.  Um, I am sure there are other things but it's late and I'm having trouble remembering specific details.  But hey, you're lucky I'm here at all considering my recent track record.

Next up on my list of adventures is a day trip to, I believe, Orvieto, tomorrow.  I have been lead to believe that it is beautiful.  We'll see.  Also, I will be going to Prague in a couple of weeks and then to Barcelona for Thanksgiving.  Ideally, I'd also like to make a trip to Florence, Venice, and Denmark at some point, since they are all so close to one another.  My map might be slightly outdated though.  Nevertheless, I am alive and well- thanks for checking up on me.

Some of those pictures I promised...

So, I just discovered how to upload photos.  And it is a painful, agonizing experience.  So here are a few of the place I'm staying at and I'll probably just upload the rest to some photo website.  Nothing personal.  Although, would it really kill you to take a shower once in a while?

My room!

My desk!

My nook!

My nook's window!

My garden!

My garden being descended upon by angels!

My first gelato!

My stairs in the park across the street!

My apartment building!

My entrance to the apartment building!

Standing in the entrance of my apartment building!

My Pantheon!

My apartment building! Again...?

My view from the top of my stairs leading up to my apartment!

My Tiber River!

I own everything in Rome.

Why, yes, I always go to wine festivals for the cheese.

So I was sitting in class today eating a sandwich and throwing spitballs at the kid in front of me, when I suddenly realized that HOLY CRAP, I haven't updated my blog in 7 days!!  Naturally, I excused myself from the lesson and came back to give you my undivided attention.  And by 'undivided', I mean that I made another sandwich and watched Bad Girls Club Miami.

This past Saturday, me and a bunch of classmates took a train to Marino for the Sagra dell' Uva, also known as the Festival of Grape.  As you might guess, it was a wine festival, and it was awesome.  The ride was about 45 minutes from the station in Rome, but that seemed a lot longer since we didn't have seats (note: crowded-ness is a theme I will use throughout this story).  Nevertheless, it was beautiful riding through the countryside and passing through a bunch of large fields and small towns.

Once we reached the station in Marino, real life came to a halt for about 4 hours.  At this time, it is imperative you know that most of Rome came with us on that train to the Festival of Grape, hence our seatless situation.  Anyway, everyone on the train just got off and started climbing over this wall at the station to begin the scale up to the festival (that's right, the festival was on hill.  A large hill.)  I decided to walk through the entrance next the wall. 

The stone stairs on the side of the hill were kind of unexpected.  Actually, everything was, but those stairs especially.  They just kept going and going, and then they would turn suddenly and you would think you were there, but it was just more stairs.  And these stairs narrowed off and led straight into the city of Marino, which was GORGEOUS.  It was such a medieval town, with really narrow cobblestone streets and alleys, buildings with old shutters overlooking them, and a view that would kill.  Seriously, we were way up there- one wrong step and you'd end up back at the train station. 

And as cute as this city would have been under normal everyday circumstances, it was beyond adorable with all the decorations and festivities for the Festival of Grape (I really like calling it that, in case you didn't notice).  Families were lined up on the sides of the streets and selling sandwiches from pigs they had roasted and pastries infused with grape juice... and the mozzarella... OH THE MOZZARELLA.  We walked past one family that was selling mozzarella and artichoke panini, and a cute Italian boy gave us some generous samples of the mozzarella they used.  In no uncertain terms, that was the BEST cheese I have ever tasted in my entire life.  I'm not even joking- I've had mozzarella here since that day and it actually tastes bland in comparison.  It's conceivable that I have actually ruined cheese for myself by having tried it.  Sorry... I could legitimately talk about this all day, but I should probably tell you about the rest of the WINE festival...

Needless to say, a lot of wine was also sold.  As was candy, jewelry, olive oil, and a bunch of other odds and ends.  We kind of wandered around all the booths for a bit, while also sampling a ton of food, and then slowly progressed towards were the fountain was.  Oh, have I not yet mentioned that during the Festival of Grape, they put WINE in the FOUNTAIN?  Well they do.  And we were on our way to see it but then a surprise parade of people dressed up in royal costumes came down the street.  It was kind of unexpected, but really cool!  The costumes were really diverse and colorful, and I guess a bunch of people in town volunteer to dress up and participate.  And those that want to participate without dressing up just sign up there kids.

After this slight, but awesome setback, we continued to march through the MOBS of people towards the fountain.  And the closer we got, the more crowded and dense it became.  In the end, I came really close to the fountain, which from what I could see was covered in grapes, but didn't personally get to see the wine in it.  That is because, at this time, I could no longer move.  I was literally surrounded by people.  And Italian music was blaring all around and a bunch of Italians were dancing and merriment in general abounded. 

It was at this exact moment that I decided to leave.  So we slowly made our way back and talked to some random Italians on the way.  But before we went back down the stairs to the train, we all stopped for awhile to catch the view from the huge terrace they had near the entrance.  The sun was setting, and the terrace had a beautiful view of the valley below.  It was absolutely incredible.

And then we descended the stairs to wait for our train.  A train which was, in fact, not scheduled to arrive for another 45 minutes.  You see, as I said before, Marino was completely packed with people, and it's not all that large of a city to begin with.  You might also recall how I mentioned earlier that a lot of Rome came to the festival as well.  So we went down early, not to get seats, but to just get on.  And this is were anarchy ensued.  Hundreds of people were just lined up along side the tracks and crossing back and forth over them while talking to people and waiting for the train.  And when the train finally got there... all hell broke loose.  As crowded as it was by the fountain, people were pushed so close up against each other trying to get on the train that it was like we were all just one thing.  What ended up happening was that two people got on the train, and started pulling their friends and other people out of the crowd to safety.  I was not one of those two people, nor was I there friend.  For a second or two, I actually thought I was literally going to be crushed to death, but somehow I got a hand on the door and pulled myself up.  Needless to say, I didn't get a seat back either.

The most striking part about all of this is that, even though it was a completely chaotic and terrifying experience getting on the train to go back Rome, the festival was so incredibly amazing, beautiful, and unlike anything I have ever seen or known that I have no doubt in my mind that it was totally worth it.  I'm fairly certain that the Festival of Grape, in its entirety was single-handedly the most beautiful and terrifying thing I have ever been a part of.

Beginning the climb.

Ending the climb.  I assure you, it was not that short.

The street in Marino where all the action happened.

An alley in Marino where all the wine action happened.

Grape donuts and roasted pork- my favorite combination.

I actually didn't do anything over here.  I just thought these were cool.

I liked the balloon?

Surprise parade.  Also, this is the stand where the CHEESE was <3

It doesn't seem so bad until you realize that you all have to take the same train.

I'm a sucker for hot air balloons.

The fountain!

The epic view from the terrace.

People waiting for their deaths.  I MEAN train.

And that was Saturday... I was going to follow that up by telling you about my day today, which consisted of stumbling upon an entirely wooden toy and clock shop and establishing friendship with an adorable old Italian man who saved my sweater for me after I forgot it at his sandwich shop (a sandwich shop I happen to be a frequenter of), but this all seems kind of lame in comparison... Fortunately, I am heading to Pompeii tomorrow so I should probably have some more excellent adventure stories for you when I return.  Can you say, VOLCANO DAY???

ALL THE PIZZA

Oh, also!  So I know I just said I've mostly been eating pizza and gelato, but I've slowly been making my way onto the pizza scene as well.  And I have some interesting news for all you folks back home regarding the philosophy of Italian dining.

First, and this is important, Italians do not ask for doggie bags or boxes for the food they can't finish (which is a LOT of food, because this is Italy we're talking about).  It is actually considered rude to ask for such things.  And even if you did, Italians are in no way mentally or physically prepared for it, and would probably just make fun of you instead.  Thus, there is a lot of pressure to eat what's on your plate*.

Second,  PIZZA.  Pizza began in Italy, and is, therefore, delicious in Italy.  The crust is considerably thinner than its counterparts in the states, and I think the deep dish is reserved for the lasagna.  However, the most noticeable difference between pizza in the states and pizza in Italy is the ordering and serving process.  For example, say it's been a long day back in Winchestertonsfieldsville, and you and a group of friends decide you want to get a pizza.  For the sake of this example, we'll say that you are fairly popular, and are in the company of three friends.  Half of you are vegetarians, and half of you eat cheeseburgers for breakfast, so you order half and half of something.  The pizza comes, and you guys finish it in ten minutes.

Well in Italy, people do not share pizza.  You look at a menu, pick one of 18 different styles of pizzas, and they bring it out to you.  They bring the entire pizza out to you.  And then you eat it.  The entire pizza.  And granted, it's really thin crust but, the entire pizza.  One pizza for each person.  And the pizzas here are at least 12 inches in diameter.  Also, I recently discovered that while it is sometimes acceptable for women to split a pizza, men are apparently deemed wimps if they can't eat an entire pizza by themselves.  Needless to say, as Americans, we've got this covered. 

*Note:  This only applies to singular meals.  If you go out and get a traditional two course Italian meal with appetizers and dessert, I believe it is in your best interest to not eat everything on your plate(s).  Or fill up on peanut butter and nutella an hour before dinner. 

"Maps" is just "spam" spelled backwards.

Well, I have officially completed my first week of classes in Rome.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.

This week has been so full of adventures!!!  For starters, I got supremely lost and ended up in an Italian commercial.  I really just want to leave you with that, but I should probably elaborate.  After our first day of class, me and a friend decided to walk back to our apartment rather than take the tram, which is totally reasonable because we only live about a mile and a half away from school (although that's not including the 237 stairs we have to climb on the hill...).  What is not totally reasonable is that instead of following the tram tracks across the river and back to our place, we walked in the opposite direction. 

This slight error probably would have still been manageable if the streets ran horizontal and vertical like they do in the U.S.  However, THIS IS ROMA.

I think that blue thing is a river.

So yeah, South became North and we ultimately found ourselves heading to Germany.  As a result, we stumbled across some really neat sights, including but not limited to: the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, 32 gelato shops, and the Museum of Rome.  It was around this time that I realized we were about 2 miles North of where we lived, as well as on the wrong side of the river.  Oops.  But like I said, it's all good because we got a lot of adventuring in and made our way back.  And it was actually on our way back that we turned down one of these narrow streets and saw a huge group of people with filming equipment and a bunch of actors.  We literally didn't know what it was until we were practically on the set- they didn't have any of the streets blocked off.  We saw some other gawkers and they told us what was up.  So there may or may not be a shot of me in an Italian commercial. 

I've become much more familiar with the area since that first day.  Or probably because of it... At any rate, besides getting lost, I've also gone on some really cool site visits with my group!  Today, we went to the Forum and got to walk around all the old temples and excavation sites.  Rome is kind of surreal in this sense, because it is a city built on top of another city.  Literally, there are pits of ancient ruins and lush trees surrounded by paved streets and relatively modern buildings.  It's a little hard to imagine but extremely cool. 

I also got to check out the Colosseum today!  Needless to say, it was colossal!  I believe it was modeled after Soldier Field and created for a Paul McCartney concert or something like that.  It was crazy looking down into it from the top!  I never realized this before, but there is a maze inside it!  And all this time I thought it was an open arena... Damn you, Hollywood!

I still have many more things to see and discover, but I don't think I've done too bad for my first week.  I mean, with the exception that my diet now consists of pasta and gelato :)

"Rome" is Italian for "stairs"

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post about the place I am staying is that it is located on the top of a hill.  And as a midwesterner myself, I feel obligated to clarify that this is not one of those dinky, 20 ft. hills you go sledding down in the winter.  I'll have you know, this hill contains many a building and park, and if snow were readily available in Rome and you were to go sledding down the wrong side of this hill, you would die.  And just look stupid in general.

That being said, while there is public transit available, it is far too steep for one to climb this "hill".  Thus, there are stone and wooden stairs of different grades randomly built along the sides, and they are as beautiful as they are painful and dangerous.  But at the tops of certain stairs, you have an amazing view of the city.  But enough about Roman stairs- you're here to read about me, not Italy.  And while I'll probably let you down in every other way, I won't let you down in that regard.

So the only thing worth mentioning about yesterday is that I got my very first gelato.  Well, THAT and also that I found Skippy peanut butter at the grocery store (note: it's about a third of the size of a regular jar of peanut butter, meaning that it will make approximately 2 pb&j's for me)!!  Anyway, the way gelato works here is that you get 2 or 3 flavors on one cone, but not in the traditional scoop fashion.  They just kind of place them side by side with what looks to be a spatula.  The first flavors I tried were dark chocolate, chocolate, and caramel, and as you might expect, they were DELICIOUS.  And the only thing I have to add to that is, F*** YOU, I'LL EAT ALL THE GELATO.

Yep.  And on Sundays there's an awesome flea market at the bottom of the "hill".  I woke up super early today so I could go and it blew my mind.  I was expecting something on the smaller side, but this thing was a monster.  Seriously, I dare you to name any item and I can guarantee it is somewhere there.  Pants, pots, scarves, bags, shoes, jewelry, toys, small children... and all at extremely low prices!  I didn't even get to see the whole thing- it sprawled about 5 blocks in both directions.  But fear not!  I plan on going back there every Sunday and spending all of my money on random cheap goods instead of food.  My bank is going to be so confused.

After checking out the flea market, I climbed/scaled the hill again and decided I was sweaty enough to go for a run.  I thought this would be a good way to familiarize myself with the area, and more importantly, not read for class tomorrow.  But it was awesome because I finally got to check out this massive brick wall that's on the corner across the street, a massive brick wall which, incidentally, no one else seems mildly interested in or intrigued about.  As it turns out, there is a PARK inside!  And not one of those crappy American playground things, I mean a real park.  It's full of winding pathways, and giant trees, and old fountains and statues, and "don't walk on the grass signs"... and more stairs.... It was so beautiful, and I'm pretty sure I found my reading spot for the next 10 weeks.  Although the basement is still tempting...

P.S.  I don't know how to add pictures to this because I don't know how to blog, but I'll get some up eventually...

Holy @#%!# cuss, I'm in Rome!

Well, hey there!  I bet y'all thought I forgot about this, but I didn't!  I don't plan on doing that for another week. 

So as you could probably figure out from the title, I've just spent my first day in Rome and it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  The winding and hilly roads, the old stone staircases, the eight different gelato stores on the way to class... oh yes, it is a thing of beauty and wonder.  Additionally, the weather is amazing- hot and sunny.  This is actually an unfortunate discovery for me, as I packed primarily long sleeve shirts, one pair of shorts, three sweaters and a jacket.

And the apartment I'm staying in is fantastic!  It's a somewhat rustic looking building on the outside that is two stories and has a garden in the back containing lime and orange trees.  The garden is beautiful, and I should know because my room has the easiest access to it as it is located underground.  Yes, you heard correctly, my room is a basement.  But it is an adorable basement!!  Seriously, I'm going to post pictures of it soon and all five of you are going to believe me.  The only drawback really is that instead of a view of the street, or a tree, or another building, I just see feet and the occasional curious child... Just wait for the pictures.

Um, what else... I ate pasta twice in the past 10 hours.  That's kind of impressive, right?  Oh, and my luggage lock apparently was cut on my checked bag at the airport, which is strange, because it was only a two digit combination.  I didn't even know what the combo was at first and managed to still guess it (in case you were wondering, the magic number was 17).  And... yeah, besides that, I went for a really long walk today up and down a hill of stairs.  So, all in all, I'm counting the first day as a success.  Let me know if I left out anything.

I have absolutely no idea what I am doing, and I am going to Rome...

Greetings guys and gals! 

So, for those of you who don't already know, but still enjoy taking an interest in my life, I will be venturing to Rome, Italy this Fall for some good, ole' fashioned book learning!  Apparently, I leave in two weeks... I should really get my passport back.

At any rate, it has recently come to my attention that blogs are not lame, and are, in fact, an excellent way to keep people in the loop without actually having to talk to anyone.  I am in favor of this.  Therefore, I intend to attempt to keep up a blog documenting my crazy adventures and misadventures in Rome, which in all honesty, will probably consist of me buying toothpaste and getting lost in a park.  I'll try to update it as often as possible, but you have to understand that I might not always be doing exciting things (read: will forget about this in three weeks).  Just kidding!  I love writing about myself way too much to ever let that happen.

So, yeah.  In two weeks I'll be in Rome taking several civilization classes and Italian.  I've never taken Italian before, but I assume it's French with a different accent.  And I've taken a lot of French so they'll probably move me up to Advanced Italian immédiatement.

For the time being, that's all I really have to tell you that's of importance.  Basically, the take home message is if you ever get really bored and have exhausted both Facebook and YouTube as sources of procrastination, pray that I updated this and check it out.