Saturday night 9/7: My roommates and I went to the Trevi Fountain for a "picnic". We brought prosciutto, salami, bread, cheese, grapes, and wine and sat by the fountain around 9 at night. It was cool to see the fountain at night, but even at this hour it was very busy. Some of us decided to look for gelato after our dinner and this is the first time that I got food in Rome that was really not delectable... We found a place right next to the fountain, so it was pretty tourist-y. I got a piece of ricotta cake that had to be the worst thing I have eaten here so far. I'm used to Grandma's warm, fresh-out-of-the oven ricotta cake, but this was dry and strange-tasting, so let's just say I will not be ordering that ever again here. That night, we also walked to the Colosseum to see what it was like at night. It was not crowded and we got some good pictures before returning home.
Trevi Fountain at night
Colosseum at night
Tuesday: MY 20th BIRTHDAY!
At midnight, my roommates surprised me with signs, balloons, and toilet paper strewn around my room and played birthday songs. Then in the morning, in my art history class, we went back to the Colosseum for my third time; but this time was my first time going inside. We learned about the stadium and the gladiator fights. The view of the inside is pretty incredible. It reminds me of the Skydome in Toronto. Next, in World Religions, I had my first quiz of the semester which I was very nervous about. I ended up getting a 90, so it looks like I will do okay in the class! After Italian, my roommates and I went out to dinner at La Carbonara. Apparently it is where they invented carbonara pasta but I am not too positive about this... Anyway, it was kind of another tourist-y restaurant but the food was really good. Then, back at home, my roommates surprised me again with cookies from a delicious cookie factory down the street from our apartment. They put candles in the cookies and sang Happy Birthday to me. It was very sweet of them!
Birthday Signs!
Inside the Colosseum
Carbonara Birthday Dinner
Delicious Italian Cookies
These pictures just took FOREVER to upload and now it is 2:16 am, so I need to take a break. More to come tomorrow or soon! Goodnight!
Wednesday: The coolest part of this day was that we went to the Roman Forum with my New Testament class. We saw the place where Julius Caesar's ashes are located, along with many temples and other buildings. Unfortunately, sightseeing is not my favorite thing to do, so I don't really remember much else about the Forum. But, I'm glad that we go to all of the sites in my classes because they are very beautiful and historical.
House of the Vestal Virgins
Friday: On Friday morning, we left our apartment at 8 am and boarded a bus to start our Campania trip. Pompeii was the first stop. The ride took about 3 hours, and I actually loved it! Although my legs were kind of squished on the bus, I love listening to music on long car-rides, so this was one of the most relaxing times I've had here. Along the way, we stopped at one of the coolest rest-stops. It was nothing like the old McDonald's/gas station stops on the way to Toronto. It was much more modern with more upscale to-go food places and a grocery store!
At Pompeii, we had a tour of the archaeological remains from Mt. Visuvius's eruption. We saw the streets of the main town, a bakery, and some houses. We also saw the bodies of people who died, including a pregnant woman and a slave. Another main part of the tour was the brothels. Apparently, prostitutes were very common and men would pay hardly any money for visits.
Main Road
All 7 roommates at Pompeii
Inside a home
Also, as seen in the photos, I wore my glasses on this day for the WHOLE day. I haven't done that in years and it wasn't on purpose. I left my glasses on for the bus ride since I knew I would be napping. Then, I put my contacts in before we got out at Pompeii...only to drop a contact on the ground after 5 minutes. And since I only had my no-less-than-6-hours-cleaning-time solution with me in the bottom of our bus, it was glasses or going blind. I didn't really like wearing them because the prescription is not as updated and peripheral vision is almost non-existent. But thank goodness I hadn't left the glasses on the bus or else I wouldn't have been able to see anything at Pompeii!
After our tour and some lunch, we got back on the bus and headed for Sorrento. This took another 2 hours and it might have been my favorite part of the whole trip. I had just bought the new Ariana Grande album and I played it on repeat because the songs are SO good. After only 15 minutes, our ride turned into long, winding roads with beautiful views of the water. Listening to music and looking out the window at the amazing view was like a little piece of heaven.
BEAUTIFUL view out the bus window
Once we made it to Sorrento, we checked into our hotel (our room was all pink) and had some time to explore the town before dinner. I took a shower and for the first and only time since I've been here, I blew dry my hair! It was awesome! Then, Rachel, Emmy, and I got some postcards and looked at a cool villa. Dinner was at the hotel, good but not great. That night, we had free time to go out. We got some gelato; I had very good pistachio. Then we walked around trying to find a good bar. I ended up seeing a girl from PC who is in the Florence program, so we went to the English Inn with her. Crazy enough, I also saw Catherine Dambruch (also studying in Florence) at this bar. AND, I saw a girl from my grade at NDA. It was so weird to run into people in Italy, especially since none of us were actually living in Sorrento. Apparently all of the Americans always find the same places.
Saturday: In the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel. I had some weird hard-boiled eggs and other random food which I think was the cause of my later sea-sickness. Then, we boarded a ferry to Capri. Capri was absolutely beautiful. Our program organized a 2 hour boat tour for everyone. We went out on the water and saw so many beautiful views. We were also able to jump off of the boat into the water. It was really strange for me to jump into salt water. I am so used to fresh lake water that it kind of shocked me when I jumped in. The water was really blue and kind of rough so I only stayed in for a little while but I loved that we were able to jump in! After that, I started to get a little sea-sick but I just sat on the boat and enjoyed the views.
The beautiful blue water (these pictures don't do it justice)
Gorgeous Capri
After the boat ride, Rachel, Emmy, and I really wanted seafood. We found a place near the water and it was DELICIOUS. I got spaghetti with shrimp, tomatoes, and arugula, one of the best meals so far. Then, we walked around Capri a little before heading to the beach. We were tired from the boat ride so we just sat on the rocks (no sand) and relaxed before our return back to Rome. Before leaving Capri, we got the best gelato I have had yet: tiramisu and chocolate. So good! We took another ferry to Naples and then got back on the bus. Overall, it was a really great trip and I would definitely go back to Capri if I get the chance.
Great seafood
Sunday: Notable part of Sunday night is that I finally cooked myself a legitimate dinner in our kitchen. Up until this point, I would only have sandwiches or snacks besides eating out. So, I was pretty proud of my fusilli with peas and pesto. I had to take a picture.
Monday: My friends and I tried to find a Mexican restaurant since it was National Guacamole Day. The Italians we asked for help were confused and probably annoyed that we were looking for Mexican. After about an hour and a half, we decided to give up. Of course, we ended up getting Italian food. After talking to Dad on Sunday, I ordered the spaghetti all'amitriciana which he recommended as a traditional Roman dish. It has tomato sauce and pancetta, very good! After dinner, a friend really wanted cheesecake so we went in search of that... Pretty hard to find and I was anxious to get home to do some homework. We settled on a pizza place that had desserts. Instead of cheesecake, people got donuts and muffins.. When in Rome! I got a mini pie, where my friend said "You are the slowest pie-eater I've ever seen". I told him I'm just the slowest eater in general. We didn't get home until 9:30 so I was up until 2 am doing reading for a quiz, but these experiences make it worth it.
Amitriciana
Also, on this day, I was looking at a map at school. I was very excited to find Roseto on the map so I had to take a picture. For anyone reading this from the Pappano side, please consider visiting so I can go to Roseto! I don't want to go by myself. Thanks!
ROSETO!
Tuesday: I was very nervous because I had my oral presentation in art history. We went to the Museo Nazionale Romano and saw a bunch of statues. Then, my teacher took us upstairs to see the frescoes from the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta. This is what my presentation was on. I was a little confused when my teacher started talking about them to the class, but I didn't know if she was just giving an intro to my talk. I looked at my friends to see if I should stop her but they seemed confused as well. She kept talking for awhile and then when she finally stopped talking, I told her that I had done this presentation... She felt really bad and had me talk about the points that she hadn't mentioned. She liked what I had to say, so hopefully the fact that she did half of my presentation won't affect my grade!
For dinner, I think it's interesting to point out that we got veggie burgers. They were really good, too! Then, some of my roommates and I decided to finally try to plan a trip. We booked Prague for Thanksgiving weekend!! It was a difficult process to get a good flight and we didn't really do much research. Only after booking the flight did I realize that we should of looked up its credibility. We are flying with Wizz Air and it looks like the seats are very small and they are a pretty bad airline. Oh well, I am just happy that I finally have a trip planned! I don't mind having my legs squished on a plane for 2 hours. Next trip to be booked is Paris for Canadian Thanksgiving. Hopefully, I will do that today or tomorrow.
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