MINE

btw, if you happen to be reading this, I'm sorry if my writing's been sucking lately. It's just that i've been completely overwhelmed with everything that I've seen and done lately that I have no time or energy to process it thoughtfully and put it into the words I can't seem to find right now. For now, this blog will not serve as my medium for thoughtful expression, but merely as a journal to collect my experiences so that they won't be lost. More thoughtful entries later.

Week 2

Day 1 (of Week 2)

Classes began... the course material and discussions are incredibly interesting, but the workload is insane. i've already found myself spending alot of time doing homework... alot more than I usually do over a semester back at home. Meet Allaire and Chael, and afterwards head back to the apartment to chill. Talk to Marcia for the first time in weeks, and I realize how much i miss her - it really has been the longest time that we've been apart, and we're living such different lives right now... head out around 5 to watch Eclipse with Liz, Ryan, Catherine, and Robert. We literally trek all the way across Rome into the Touristy end, PAST the Pantheon, just to catch the movie in English. Was surprised by how good the movie was, and even better, how COMFY the seats in the Roman movie theater was - you literally get individual couches! Walked back to the Pantheon, grabbed a panini, and ate dinner on the fountain right staring at it's entrance. That's when it hit me- I'm not just any tourist in Rome - I live here now. I eat lunch on the steps of Roman arches and fountains that have been here for hundreds of years, staring at apartments and walking on cobblestone streets steeped in history - and I don't even realize how much I should be in awe of this. It was just another dinner, another place to sit down and chill in the shadow of the monument where Bernini and Victor Emmanuel now lies. Despite my newly found jadedness, we walk over to the Fountain of the Four Rivers (where in Angels and Demons, the Albino drowns the man before Tom Hanks gets the chance to save him), and I click away with my camera and pretend to be Robert Langdon. We trek all the way back to Trastevere, and grab gelato on the way - of course.

Day 2 - just another day of classes. we cook for the first time in our apartment, and we all eat together - just pasta with meat and vegetables. Manage to finish my homework and pass out by 1. I must wake up by 8:15 every day to get to class by 9... it's a weird occurrence for me, but I'm adapting to waking up earlier.

Day 3 - Class all day. Eat lunch with Allaire and Chael and two other boys, and then head back to Guarini campus to try to get some work done. End up falling asleep on the couch in the lounge instead, and wake up to Ryan's phone call for the cooking class. We make carbonara, some beef skewers with cheese and sage, and tiramisu with a gorgeous Italian chef, Andrea. I think he liked me (as a student) because he spoke to me more than the others and assigned me more cooking. Ate with Ryan, Josh, and Craig, and then left for the Spain/Germany World Cup game that was to be broadcasted by FIFA at the Villa Borghese. it takes us almost an hour to get there, and we get lost in Rome and end up watching the last five minutes of the game in an American bar in the middle of tourist district. I trek back quite late with Josh and Craig, and finish my papers and reading...

Day 4 - today! I have four readings and a paper to finish, and I am planning on going to Tuscany this weekend... it's going to be a great weekend, but I hate that I have these readings in the back of my mind... I'll just have to try to cram it all in now before I leave.

Random Observations

I've just spent my first day in Rome, and while I could go on and on and on about HOW FREAKING UNBELIEVABLY GORGEOUS everything is, I think my FB album pretty much explains all of it. Instead, there's so quirky things about Rome and Italy I want to remember.

1. There are billboards displayed on every single road. even the country bumpkin ones, where you think you could evade the commericals but you turn a sharp corner and there's a half-naked woman selling apple juice in your face. No joke. Oh yea, and these billboards mostly consist of two things, which brings me to 2 & 3

2. People are evidently VERY open about sexuality and the human body, because I've seen more gay guys kissing and half naked women on posters and billboards than I have in NYC. Seriously. It's kinda cool that they're so open and liberal about it, but those italian models makeme wanna cut back on the gelato a teensy bit. (yea right, who am I kidding?!)

3. Football is EVERYWHERE. In every corner of the airport, plastered across buses, and yes, in the aforementioned billboards as well. Again, I don't mind (hubba hubba =D), and the men, I will admit, are QUITE gorgeous here. Actually, fuck, everyone is gorgeous here. Being Asian and looking a little different from the rest of the American students here is a bit of a plus for me, I guess; at least I'm not plain or blend into the crowd easily.

4. Rome really is the city for love. There's passionate Italian couples everywhere, and the people are sweet and accomodating (besides the jerks that laugh at my terrible Italiano).

UPDATE

5. There are old-fashioned iron fountains EVERYWHERE, just for drinking. they're pumped out of the centuries-old aqueducts that still, to this day, work. we refill our water bottles and wash our face every time we pass one - the water is cold and delicious. Incredible, how easy it is to get along in Roma.

Day 5

Went to the first day of classes today. Woke up at 8, rolled around for a bit before hopping up, throwing on my romper, and jumping on the tram to get my ass to class. The first one - intercultural communication - has around 12 students, and the teacher immediately proceeds to tell us about the daily reading assignment and paper. We watch "Monsoon Wedding", which is actually pretty damn good, and I head next door after class with Allaire for our next one, Survey of Rhetoric. It only has four students, and the professor is a quirky old academic that compares Tupac to Gorgias. I head back to the apt with Liz and Ryan after class, and chat with Marcia for a while and try to nap. Catherine and Robert get back, and we all head out around 5 to catch an english viewing of Eclipse all the way across Roma. We revisit the Pantheon afterwards and grab a panini (where I left a beautiful purple belt I bought for Marcia...), then the Fountain of the Four Rivers (Piazza Navona). We walk back the full four miles... my legs are getting super strong! More class tomorrow...

Journal for Roma

Day 1: arrived at Rome, slept off jetlag and explored Trastavere (Rome's oldest neighborhood and now my temporary backyard). Got lost in back alleys of Rome and found street after street of postcard-worthy buildings and cobblestone and signs. Actually, the entirety of Rome could probably be a postcard. Ate dinner with Roomies Mary-Margaret and Alyse - carbonara with a glass of sauvignon. Passed out from weak stomach.

Day 2: Orientation. Had ridiculously strong cappucino, met Liz, Ryan, Catherine, Robert, and Ryan (my non couple buddy) and attended orientation all day. Had ice cream for lunch because of weak stomach. Walked to the Colosseum after last orientation, saw the Roman Forum, the Circus Maximus, Colosseum, and other theatres and crazy/incredible Roman ruins and sights. Wandered back to our side of the Tiber and found a neat place to eat (bruschetta, prosciutto e melone, and fruit for only 8 euro - score!), grabbed some wine and beer and headed back to our apartment. spent the night playing Kings (aka "circle of death/fire, or Mr. Dickhead?! WTF?!) and Never have I ever.... started off with a bad one (never have i ever been tied up... woops) but recovered my innocence in the end =]

Day 3: woke up late from the night before, went on Bus Tour of Christian Rome with Ryan, Liz, and Ryan. Saw St. Peters Basilica, some freaky Christian catacombs (where Ryan scared the shit out of me), and St Pauls Basilica. I was bowled over by how beautiful and intricate everything was. How grand and reverent... Hard to believe that Christianity was ever a poor religion. Wish I could upload pictures, but the damn wifi on my phone is acting up. Went to meetngreet cafe, met some other students and met up with Robert and Catherine. Ryan ditched, and we headed back to the apartment to get pretty for the night. Wandered around Trastevere at night - what a sight to see, with everything lit up and the streets packed with locals! finally found a restaurant (between getting lost, getting distracted with a pyro artist, and looking at menus), and ate. Ordered a pizza e vegetable, was not as good as the ones everyone else had yesterday. picked up some bangin gelato (tiramisu was definitely the winner, whoop!) and headed down to the Tiber to check out the nightlife. Everything was PACKED TO THE BRIM with people, food, games, and so much beer. Met up with Ryan the ditcher (who left with party people 20 mins after we arrived), bought some beers by the River, and toasted to Independence Day. Went back around 130 to catch some sleep so I could wake up in the morning for my Sperlonga trip. Woke up at 330 to a drunken call from the Ditcher at the vatican, completely lost. Hang up and sleep.

Day 4 - Wake up at 7 with only four hours of sleep, head over to the meeting point with Alyse and Mary Margaret. Met a bunch of girls on the bus on the way over the Sperlonga, including a bunch of kids from Rutgers, and basically find a new circle of girlfriends for (at least) the day. Arrived at Sperlonga, the most BEAUTIFUL Mediterranean beach village, complete with white stucco walls and blue doors and views to die for. End up swimming and tanning and eating lunch (had a paella-esque risotto with shrimp and crab and mussels and clams - yum!). It was too hot to go back to tan, so we hike back up to the main village to soak in the gorgeous sights and eat gelato and smoke in the town square. We finally leave for Rome, a three hour trip on the bus where everyone passed out, and here I am. School starts tomorrow, so more updates later.