I had only one class today (2/3) and when I
got there, found out class was cancelled! That's the second time that
has happened for two separate classes. Turns out my professor posted the
notification online two days ago. Professors post their "messages" or
class notifications on a school system called MyJCU (Lesley University
uses MyLesley, so it's slightly similar). But the problem is that you
have to look at it to see if there's a message. There NEEDS to be an
email notification system implemented so I'm aware of the class
cancellation before walking all the way over to campus!
Rant of the morning: End.
Last
week on Jan. 29th, I had a drawing class in St. Peter's Square in the
Vatican City! In hindsight, I
should've chosen a better vantage point because it's really too much to
draw looking at it straight on!
Class that day let out early because it started to rain. Again.
But it was okay afterwards because I met up with Taylor!!!
It
was a great reunion. We hugged for 5 minutes and we couldn't stop
laughing in disbelief because for 4-5 months before I came here, we knew
we wanted to study in Italy together and finally, there we were! We walked around and I gave him neighborhood tours, tips
and such. We walked to the Pantheon (did you know you could go inside? I
didn't!) and grabbed dinner together at a nice restaurant nearby.
On January 31st, Taylor and I met up again after his orientation activities and made dinner for Brittany who was really sick. We made pasta with wine and sauce and spinach (apparently frozen spinach only come in cube shapes!) Brittany and Taylor got along well! :)
While walking Taylor back to his apartment, we stopped at a nearby teeny
bar (reminder: standing coffee bar!) and ended up staying there for
over an hour because we talked with the barista/owner named Claudio and a
customer named Fabio about a lot of stuff, mostly in Italian and broken
English. We talked about the newspaper (only because Taylor mentioned I
could read Italian better than speak it) and Claudio made me read and
translate it! I barely passed the grade because there's a lot of
vocabulary I didn't know. There was an article about ostriches and
somehow that led to a conversation about Australia and kangaroo meat. We
also talked about religion, philosophy, math (Fabio really liked number
theories), and life in general. I had a cappuccino. They had Duff beer there (fictional beer
from the Simpsons and apparently it's a thing!), and Claudio gave Taylor
and I Duff Beer coasters!
February 1st, Taylor and I decided to do a real walking trip despite the drizzle. We went to see the Bocca della Verità , bought a ticket to see private houses and old architecture from the Republic and Imperial Rome on top of the Palantine Hill.
(Taylor has a picture of me with my hand inside the Mouth of Truth, but I'll get it on here someday)
From Palatine Hill, we could get inside the Roman Forum! I wish it was a sunny day so it was nicer to see but it was still pretty cool. :)
(Taylor took this photo on his phone- didn't notice it until he posted it on Facebook!)
(Best photo in existence or best photo in existence?)
My cat Africa doesn't even sit on my lap!! I wanna adopt this cat and take them home. (Technically I could......) Maybe I can visit this cat again every once in a while. It'll be easy to identify them because they don't have a tail.
After walking a bit, we found a little restaurant in a little alleyway. This little restaurant was unique! We had lunch really late. You also had to pay downstairs at a cash register. This was similar set-up to a restaurant I went to in Pisa.
Afterwards we walked around more and saw more forums and architecture long gone. Night fell and we made one last stop: the Baths of Caracalla. But it was closed so we vowed to come back another day!
We later ate sushi for dinner at this Japanese sushi/restaurant near my street and it was WILDLY good with honest prices. They even had onigiri!
Yesterday, Sunday February 2nd, Brittany was feeling better and we decided to brave the rain and go to Porta Portese - Rome's flea market! We went there around 8:45 AM. At first it didn't seem much and I wondered, "this is Europe's biggest flea market?" But then we turned a corner, and then there was hundreds and hundreds of white tents flowing down the street and branching off on smaller streets. We got lost two times!
(Don't worry, those are BB/paintball guns)
(Not gonna lie, I nearly got these!!! I love this series)
(Antonio the creepy baby doll)
Brittany went back to the apartment to meet up with her Italian family and I met up with Taylor again. We decided to go inside the Colosseum because our ticket from the Palatine Hill was good for two-days and granted access for us into the Colosseum as well! But the rain got so ridiculous that we had to take a bus back home.
SO SICK OF THE RAAAAAAAIN. Three weeks of rain is pushing it, y'know.
This isn't London or the Amazon Rainforest. You should see the Tiber River - it's
overflooded and really gross looking. On the news, there are towns in
the south where the river broke the surface and flooded the town(s). Here are photos I've taken over the last three days
Afterwards Taylor and I made coffee and relaxed after being cold and miserable all day. All my shoes and my pants were soaked. It was awful. So we used the rest of the evening to plan a trip! February 28th is when Brittany is going to Krakow, Poland for the weekend. I'm not going because Poland isn't on my to-do list.
So Taylor and I decided that from Feb. 27th to March 2nd, we're going to Athens, Greece! It's exciting and nerve-wracking. It took me a while to figure out the best price options but three hours later, I figured out the best round-trip flight, best hostel in the best area for the best budget price, and understand the transportation about how to get from the airport to the hostel. I'm good. (Taylor jokingly gave me an American quarter 'for my services')
This weekend I'm off to Florence! It's an excursion provided by my program and I'll be seeing major monuments and going to the famous leather markets! I'm really excited for it. :)