Second Day of School!

okay--should be first day of school but i forgot to update. classes are---amazing, to say the least. my italian class is SO much fun! my teacher (cristiano! "sono christiano! ti chiami?" "mi chiamo sade!") is very hands on so i find my self learning a lot. i just have to practice what i learn. so far the most specific thing we've gotten into was the alphabet. he insists that we pronounce perfectly! but everything else has been more general things that we'd need to know when interacting with shop owners, getting directions, and properly greeting people. all very informative! good thing i have it everyday!

unfortunately they're moving the infamous 6 block Andrea Doria outdoor market IN DOOR (weeps!) so i won't be able to ask for "un chilo di patato" until at least the end of the week. and there was something so amazing about the andrea doria---it was lively and it's own little city of merchants by day and by night it was a ghost town---almost like the place didn't exist! it was SO thoroughly clean! if it wasn't for the slight smell of fish as you pass through the "carne district" (what i call the meat section of the market) you wouldn't even believe it existed!

i also had my my advance drawing class. my teacher is pretty cool---very laid back and insists that we get away from drawing on blank paper. he even told us to tear down the posters (and there are TONS that cover rome) and draw on the back of them. there is a lot of freedom, which scares me and he insists that we draw everyday (which i haven't been doing) but i think i will really learn from this class even tho i'm sure that it will be my most difficult.

today i had my inside italian design class! THAT i was so looking forward to and it turned out to be so much more than i expected as we're covering all forms of design from architecture, to engineering, to fashion---the list goes on and on. for a country that was was behind the world by 15 years, italy has grown while retaining amazing traditional trades that has been lost to the rest of the world. every thursday we go on excursions and get to meet various designers as well as the head of major design companies in italy! we also have a three day excursion to MILAN coming up where we will be attending major design shows so i'm VERY excited.

so far rome classes are AMAZING!!!!!

Into the Mountains

so today i went to Tido (tee-dough) to attend the "welcome to rome" banquet organized by my school! i was smart and packed ahead but i was also a smart ASS and forgot to load my camera with batteries so unfortunately i was unable to take pictures BUT tido is an old medieval town located high up in the hills. so high up that once there looking down is like looking down from an air plane. it was FREEZING! and yeah the air is fresher but, my god! anyway, many movies have been filmed there and i can totally see why, it's the perfect replica of a medieval town, very well preserved, and very picturesque. but after walking around for about 30 minutes i quickly became aware of the fact that tido looks EXACTLY the same no matter where you turn. there's that brief "ah, how beautiful!" "wow, like a fairy tale" feeling and then i just got bored. i was SO ready to go at the end. tido is not a day trip, it's an hour trip---nothing more.

after tido we went to a nobleman's manor called Titignano (tee-tee-anno) and enjoyed a three hour meal. yes, that's right--THREE HOURS of delectable italian food. everything was made fresh because everything was grown/ made/ produced by the manor. that made the wine (cheap as hell---only 4 euro!) stronger than normal, more pure, and even at three years old the white wine was BEYOND amazing! it was SO good! i downed two glasses before i remembered it was a bit more potent then other wine so the potential of getting tipsy was triple! we had pizza (and italian pizza is WAY different than american and also way healthier) then we had ham, rice, chicken, lamb, spiced potatoes, vegetable, salad, fresh fruit, biscotti, tiramisu, expresso, and sweet wine. all of this was served over three hours, slowly, and in proper portions so i was able to eat ALL of it without feeling overstuffed! SO GOOD! i was glad to leave todi was sorry to see titignano go. it was cold but the castle like setting was amazingly beautiful and the food was SO delicious and the wine SO good and SO cheap! too bad i was low on euro--woulda bought a 20 pack of that white wine in two seconds. 

i remember my manager (who's been to italy many times) asking me if i drink, and i'm like, "no." he goes, "by the time you live italy you WILL drink." and he's right! O_O i'm no alcoholic in the making but i've developed a huge appreciation for good wine and---liquor in general as the italians drink with a lot of finesse and very often. 

classes start tomorrow! italian and then advanced drawing! everyone keeps scaring me, saying advanced drawing is difficult for sophomores but i really want to improve my drawing skills! we'll see how that goes...

The Vatican!

day 2 of orientation! can't believe it's already wednesday! the days go by so slow, i really lose track of time. it's so EARLY right now but i keep thinking it's supposed to be 6pm or something. really weird. and i get tired really fast too. maybe because i WALK like 3hrs a day now, lol. i met the legendary gianni today! TOO FUNNY! ahhh---he's a natural comedian even tho he thinks he isn't. teaching us ways to cheat the italian customs. "and don't be american, ya kno...cause that's, not cool." in a thick italian accent.

since me and anna got had orientation earlier than michi and cheryl, we left and went to the market today! it was so nerve racking! there were tons of stalls selling fresh fruit, vegetables, and all sorts of random things. we finally settled for this one random vendor who had lots of fruit and was very nice. we bought pineapple, apples, blood oranges (good for your health!) and bananas. she spoke a fair amount of english and the transaction went fairly well until she said it would cost 80 euro! at least that's what it sounded like that's what she meant but it was really 8 euro. and we got a lot of stuff too. we also bought cookies and orange fanta! i would like to kindly point out that italian orange fanta kicks american orange fanta's ASS! the stuff is SO GOOD!!!!! so i bought two bottles today, lol, even tho we need water SO MUCH more.

so me and anna dropped off our stuff and decided to go exploring! we walked into these mini gardens, braved italian traffic, and walked up these steps and around the corner to THE VATICAN! gianni was right, lol, the vatican is so close we can see the pope brushing his teeth! we didn't want to go in without michi and cheryl so we explored the stores around. total tourist traps. we DID go into an italian footlocker and watched this awesome italian rock video. LOVED IT! made me all giddy inside because it was so american rejects. many shoes were on sale but i figured it would be really unwise for me to blow 80 euro, no matter HOW cool the purple chucks with gold olive branches looked. O_O 

we walked back around and stopped by this gellato place! the guy working there was very cute and very nice to us. he spoke good english and asked us where we were from even tho the obvious answer was america. lol, he asked us what we wanted and didn't even charge us for the cone! we gave him 5 euro each (because he didn't ask what size we wanted) and he gave us two scoops on a cone! he didn't even count the money we gave, he just kept smiling. lol, he asked us our names, i think he liked us! will definitely go back there again!