Another Exciting Week

            I have been very busy this past week and weekend, so here is an update! Last Monday, our school hosted are really cool wine tasting session, which was like an abbreviated version of my Wine and Culture class, so we were taught simple tips for tasting wine. The woman that held this session was our teacher for the W&C class, so it was really good to see what exactly we will be doing in the future, and she is very knowledgeable about the wines of Italy.  We learned that people that know wine will only hold the wine glasses by the stem, as to not warm up the wine with the heat of your hand (which I had no idea). We also learned that you should first be able to look at the color and tell if it is good. If the color is too brown, for either whites or reds, then it has been in the bottle too long. After assessing the appearance of the wine, you are to smell it and get the preliminary thoughts of the wine, as to its flavor and what you may taste once you do taste the wine. Finally comes the tasting, and that is self-explanatory.  Taste, and see what you taste, and determine through all of that analysis whether you like it for legitimate reasons, based on what we learned.   The first was a really light and fruity white wine,  which had a bit of a sour apple taste. However, we were able to try a delicious type of prosciutto with it, and the saltiness of the meat with the wine complimented each other and was so tasty! We then tried a red wine, which had a very strong taste, and very earthy. We were able to try a type of cheese with this wine, and the two paired together were absolutely delicious! It was overall a fantastic intro to what the class will teach us, in addition to more about the different regions and how the wines from each region of Italy differ. The teacher also gave us recommendations of inexpensive wine bars that we should try, each having a different atmosphere to them. Overall a very informative experience!

            Tuesday was interesting, because my Travel Writing class all went to a performance of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. This was not something I would have liked to spend my money on in Rome, because it was definitely something I could see in Chicago. This play was in English, and despite the great talent in the play, it was 3 hours of my time that could have been put to better use. I love theater, but I didn't think it was necessary to have us attend this production. I think what she wanted us to do is get out and experience something, because one of our assignments every week is to have a certain number of pages of a travel writing journal of all that we do. It was a good idea, just not exactly something we were all interested in doing in Italy. 

            Wednesday was an extremely fun night. There hasn't been a time that me and all of my 5 other roommates had been in the same city on a weekend (yes, Wednesday is a weekend night for me!), so we all bonded and got dinner, then proceeded to talk for hours at the restaurant. One of my roommates, Melissa, is from Mexico, and she had mentioned a few days before this to us that she wanted to find a Salsa bar to go dancing. So, we found one not too far away from our apartment, and all went together. I was really nervous about going, because the only dancing I know is Irish dancing, much much different from any other types of dancing. However, my roommate Melissa knew a little, and taught me some simple steps. The place we went was such an interesting place, there were two big rooms with stages where, during the "real" weekends, live bands perform, and very good couples or even single dancers come to dance and practice their steps. There is not only salsa that was being danced, but may other types of dances. There were a few couples there that had very clearly danced for a long time, and watching them was extremely interesting, with the way they moved and the intricate steps they performed. We danced for a few hours before exhaustion hit us, and went home with some great new bonds formed. We are all extremely different, but we all get along very very well. What a great end to our school "week"! More on the weekend to come...

            

xoxo, Erica

Photos from the Weekend!

Colosseum by day.

Colosseum by night, and NOT a stolen picture! It's so beautiful.

Me and the Colosseum. 

Inside, the tunnels underneath are shown which is where the animals and gladiators and slaves stayed during the games; no arena floor.

Fantastic.

Overlooking the sights from the top level of the Colosseum, Roman Forum in the background. 

My "arts-y" view of the Vittoriano through the gate. 

Vittoriano, looks much more impressive in person.

The Italian President's house, which we walked past on the way back from the Colosseum.

Hope you like them!

xoxo Erica

Amazing Weekend in Roma

      This weekend was so amazing, to say the least. Firstly, it was a while 4 days, which is longer than my entire week of school. Secondly, I had some amazing and new experiences. Thursday was the day of rest after a hectic first week of school, figuring out where to get books, starting to get into the groove of being back in school after being on winter break for more than a month. We ended up sleeping in, then going to a meeting at school with the U.S. Embassy. The meeting was pretty informative, but seemed as if it's sole purpose was to scare us into behaving, which I would have done without the scare. The woman presenting at the meeting told us what to look out for while at extremely tourist-y places, not to accept open beverages from strangers, to be safe if/when we would go out at night, etc. It was mainly a refresher scare from freshman year of college when they warned us of the safety issues and what will result from irresponsibility. Afterwards, I had talked to a girl who knew about my computer situation (refresher: it was not charging because of the cord, but there was no problem with the computer) and told me about a computer store called Euronics, which, to my EXTREME delight, had a cord that worked! That night, 3 of my roommates and I went to a wine bar, where one of our teachers had recommended us to go. So, we sat around for a couple hours, just talking and laughing. It was a great way to celebrate our first successful week in Rome!
      Friday we had wanted to go to visit the Colosseum, but we ended up sleeping in a little too late, so me and Cindy (one roommate) made the trip to the supermarket, finally, to get food for ourselves for the apartment. The supermarket was not what we had imagined, as it was MUCH smaller than your average Jewel or Dominick's, with tiny aisles and an extremely different selection. There was so much more pasta, different cheeses, salami, and bread than there was at home, in comparison to the chips, pop, and junk-food aisles. However, there were still frozen pizzas, to both of our amazement! I got a little of what I would need for a week or two, then scooted off back home.
     Saturday, again, we woke up very late, but ended up making it to the Colosseum! I went with a classmate, Dana, as well as Cindy, one of my roommates. By the time we got there at 4:30pm, the inside was closed, but we were able to wander around the entire Colosseum a few times, up and around the streets surrounding it, and get MANY good pictures, both in daylight and at nighttime. The Colosseum was one of my favorite places to visit, as of now, but that may change! Around the Colosseum there were tourist shops, but further along the winding streets we came upon a mini fountain, a quaint market, beautiful stores with huge selections of cheeses, pizza, paninis, and anything delicious. After a couple hours of walking, it got to sunset, and we made it back to the Colosseum, and got amazing pictures of this wonderful building at night, (I will post some after).
      The next day we got up "early" (compared to the rest of the weekend) and made it to the Colosseum before it closed. The line was a LOT longer than we had anticipated, but we eventually made it in. Let me tell you, it was phenomenal. We opted out of spending the extra money for the guided tour, but we still were able to take in the sight of the place, and appreciate what happened there so many years ago. Looking over into the arena, I thought it wasn't as large as it seemed from the outside, but the entire Colosseum is not only grand for the arena, but also for the areas around it, where people used to flood through the entrance arches, squeeze between so many others to get as close as possible to see all the action. In the arena was no main ground, but it was fallen apart enough to see the entire underneath of the arena. This is where the wild animals, slaves, and gladiators would stay. We saw parts of an unworkable pulley system, which is how they released the gladiators and animals for the fights. In the upper level, you could see that the Colosseum was as grand and masterfully built as you would think. There were parts of marble statues of emperors, animals, heads of commoners, and mosaics that would have been found in the Colosseum in all it's glory. It was simply amazing. Looking out over Rome surrounding the Colosseum, you could see the old Roman Forum that is now in ruins, part of the Vittoriano, Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy, who was the first King of Italy. Beautiful.
      Once we had our fill of the Colosseum, we walked down the main street near it, which was closed off for the afternoon. Walking down the street we saw a Michael Jackson impersonator on a lunch break, a man and a woman dancing the tango in front of a statue of Marcus Aurelius, as well as a team of break dancers. I do not think it was for a festival, but was fun and an exciting place to be none-the-less. By the time we reached the Piazza Venezia, we were able to marvel at the Vittoriano, which was absolutely beautiful. Not only was it grand for size and for its statues and sculptures all around it, but also for its color- bright white marble. This was, at that moment, my favorite place to be. We walked up all the stairs and just stood in the warm sun, leaning on the cool white marble overlooking the Piazza.
      The rest of the day paled in comparison to our exciting morning and afternoon, but we walked around, then took the Metro back to the apartment, took a nap, and worked on homework the rest of the night. Oh the life of a student in Rome! Quite a long post this is, but it was one of the most amazing days I've had so far.  I have also talked with my mom and she has booked our flights to Athens for the first weekend in April! I am very excited for my family to come visit; Dad in a couple weeks, and Mom, Emily, Carol and Kathleen a couple weeks after that! What a great weekend! More to come, including pictures.

xoxo Erica

Photos

Me on top of the Spanish Steps, probably my favorite place so far.

A stand at the market right across the street from our building, so many oranges! yumm

The Steps, again.

Mary just hanging out on the street corner.

Artists on the Spanish Steps.

Very talented, so beautiful.

First Nutella sandwich! yummy

My new boots! They are like two-in-one, you can take the studded straps off for a different look! A little cowgirl-ish looking, but hey, thats what I like! 

xoxo Erica

First week of school update!

It has been a long time since my last post, but I finally got a computer charger that works! The first "week" of school has gone by very quickly, all three days of it! My classes don't seem like they will be too difficult, but I will have to work at them. They are all centered around our experience here in Rome, which makes each one interesting. My Art History class will be fantastic because we are going to take class time to meet at monuments, sculptures, or anything and have class there. It'll be so much cooler to see something right in front of you, instead of on slides. Travel writing will be a lot of writing, but I think it will help me document my experiences and travels through the next few months. And as everyone is probably wondering, the wine class was very interesting. Each class, we will take half of the time to learn about the different parts of Italy, and how the wines are made from each of those parts. Then the second half of class is devoted to tasting the wines from the parts we had learned about. With this class, we also have the opportunity to go to a wine bar, and see which types of food go with different types of wine, as well as the opportunity to go to a vineyard to see the wine-making process. So excited for both of those events! As to what we have been doing outside of class is pretty much a blur, because we have been doing so much. Walking as much as we can in order to burn all the carbs that we have eaten (all we seem to eat is carbs, carbs, carbs!); popping into a little cafe for a delicious espresso; trying to find the cheapest, but best, gelato stand; grocery shopping for the first time; buying our books for school by the Spanish Steps; finding Euronics which saved my computer problems; and so much more. Hopefully this week will be less hectic, and I get into more of a definite schedule. Next week I am going on the trip with school to the Umbria region of Italy, which is just north of Rome, and then a week and a half after that my dad is coming to visit! Hopefully soon ill be able to do some tourist-y things, now that I am more settled in and know how to get around the city. I'll be sure to update you again soon!

xoxo Erica