"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...