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.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
"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.
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 :)
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. |
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 :)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
"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...
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...
Thursday, September 23, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
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.
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.
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