I Live In Rome and It's No Big Deal

Yesterday I got pizza to go at the Campo di Fiori for 3.50E and while walking through the square an Italian man said to me "buon appetito". Actually. And today while in Saint Peter's Basilica a woman looking around said, "mammia mia". Actually. Every single day I walk by the Coloseum to get to my apartment. Actually. It's weird to think that I'm living in Rome, and it's no big deal. I walk past ruins everyday that I barely give a second glance to. And when I do take a minute to acknowledge the impossibilty of where I spend my life now, I can't even comprehend. So I just go along like normal life, and it's cool. Whatever. I'm over it. ;)

Shop Til You Drop-- Roman Style

Today we met the deputy mayor of Rome. I don't know what deputy mayor is, and it seems like a definite down grade from the mayor mayor, but I guess that's pretty cool. Our school (UW) is the hosts the only program that the city of Rome pays any attention to-- at least that's what they told us-- maybe it was all a lie to make us feel special, but it worked.

After that I went to the shopping district with some of my roommates and we shopped til we dropped. Literally. I mean, figuratively. Except, tonight, while I write this, I actually think it was pretty literal. We had been planning on taking a walk tonight but when we got home tonight after dinner with the program, we felt like we would never walk again.

Shopping is good in Rome. I mean decent. It hasn't blown me away, but I feel like however obsessed I am with shopping, I have also become very picky. I put a dress back today that I think I have to go back and get. As they say, when in Rome, buy all the cloths. But the clothes are cute, pretty standard-- I feel like fashion is pretty universal in this world of globalization. We found a store that could have passed for a Macy's-- four stories high and clearly a chain. Someone said it is actually an international store so maybe I'll find one back home. I bought two shirts in total today. We all want to go back again soon and shop for more!

Now I hurt everywhere. My toes, my ankles and my heels all hurt the most. I thought I walked a lot in Seattle-- nope, here is ridiculous. Everyone is so worried they are going to get fat on this trip, meanwhile I'm excited to get toned! I have two blisters so far and one of them hurts like hell. I've been wearing good walking shoes too!

If I have to whip out my running shoes for tomorrow I will be disapointed. I've worked very hard to dress nice here-- I want to be cute in Rome! Plus, with everyone snapping pictures of our experiences I don't want to look crappy. Most girls on the trip seem to be following suit I've noticed-- but there are a few girls who didn't get the memo: I thought it was pretty well established that Italian culture demanded a slightly fancier dress code. Oh well, I guess they don't give a fuck.

Tomorrow we have our second day of classes (almost one week in and only two days of class so far?!) and that should be cool. We also are starting our "internships" tomorrow-- which I have no idea what to expect for that so we will see.

Cheers for shopping and looking good-- and being exhausted afterwards!

Che Casino, Che Casino

If you are having a bad day, it's best too admit to yourself that nothing good is gunna happen and hide in your apartment. Otherwise, you end up crying. Still adjusting I guess, but it's hard. I was seduced by the shiny glory of the Rome party scene. But I don't know it that's what I want. I need to make sure that I'm taking advantage of what I have here, not frittering it away on cheap thrills. New motto: make it mean something.

Via Annia Bitches, YOLO, and Che Casino

In Rome, everyday is an adventure. The first day, as I described last time, was the Guadian Angels day.

Day two was Via Annia Bitches day. This was the first day we were all together and we made dinner and dessert and then went out to a pub. We cooked a really responsible meal and then had a relatively irresponsible night out... Well not really, some of us were worse than others-- but the Via Annia bitches don't judge each other. We are a compatible group of weird, crazy, energetic girls. There are five us and we spent the second night bonding instantly.

Day three was YOLO day. YOLO, or you only live once, was the phrase of the day. We had an understandably slow start to the day on day three. Once we did wake up we went shopping and wandering around. Then we might have taken a recouperating four hour nap and jumped outta bed at 9pm ready to go again. Laura and Julia (two of the Via Annia bitches) had met two Italians who brought their friend and we all went walking through the city. The city is so peaceful at night. It is beautiful but so quiet. Our vivid energy was like a bright light in a dark room. We all wanted to know where we were going but the guys didn't seem in any hurry to get anywhere in particular. And then suddenly we were at the Spanish Steps, in a the balmy late night Roman air. It was devestatingly beautiful. Then we wandered back. They were great guys, other then their inability to speak English which is actually a great thing because it forced us to practice our Italian creatively. By the end of the night I could feel that my Italian had improved.

And today was Che Casino day. Everything today was ridiculous. Without each other and our infalable sense of humor, we would have ended up crying by the end of today. It started with Laura pouring pasta sause all over herself before I had even gotten out of my morning shower. Then little things kept happening. Che casino was today's title because since we have been here we have learned three different meanings for it: What a mess (as in the house is a mess or the dishes are a mess), What the fuck, or What a confusion. Today was all those things!

Things that went wrong today:
1. An Italian man told Julia to "move bitch"
2. We mayyyyy have seen the Mafia....?
3. We got attacked by a pidgeon who had an egg hanging out of it??!?!?! (WTFFF??)
4. I spilled pesto everywhere while making dinner
5. We bought really awful cheap lemoncello... and drank it anyway...
6. We found out we aren't supposed to keep our windows open or keep the lights on while we are gone (even on the third floor) and having been doing that......... So went immediately home and fixed that.
7. We were ignored by the other people in our program group :(
8. We went grocery shopping and almost dropped all our bags because we were carrying out weight in food

BUT THENNNNN... We decided to change our fate and are leaving for a bar right now to wind down-- or wind up-- it's ladies night at the bar so holla for half price drinks... YOLO

My Guardian Angels

I'm not particularly religious but in the last 24 hours I have had enough miracles happen to make me believe in guardian angels.

I got on BART heading to San Francisco and after a few stops a couple entered and sat down across me. They seemed like your average, slightly crazed, bay area hippies. Then, out of the blue, with me only about three and a half feet away, they started making out. Now, I'm all for the modest PDA but this was hot and heavy, steamy windows, quick before someone walks by, I need you now making out. Now I'm not going to use the word sex, because as far as I could tell nothing was penatrated, but things were definitely happening and I was trying desprately to find something else to look at. This is where my first encounter with guardian angels occured. These two little old ladies, sitting several rows to the left of me. They caught my eye after a few stops and beckoned me to join them. But with two loaded suitcases, a full BART train, and the steady awkward motion of the train, moving several rows back would have been quite an ordeal. So I ignored the couple going at it a few feet from me and focused on the ladies. Old and wrinkled with old cotton hair. Eventually the PDA people got off the train but the old ladies stayed on the train with me all the way until Colma.

After that I thought my troubles were over, but I was mistaken. Everything went smoothly until my plane got delayed on the way from Heathrow to Rome. I was alreadying going to be getting into Rome pretty late and any delay might cause trouble. I got into Rome at 7 and headed to the UW Rome Center, hoping I could find someone to point me towards the direction of my apartment. I wandered around the area and happened upon a street performer who for the first time in several hours made my poor tired self laugh, which at the time seemed like a miracle and I named him my second encounter with a guardian angel.

After a few more minutes of hopeless wandering I heard my name being called behind me, only to find several of the other members of my program walking towards me. If they hadn't have had dinner there, if they hadn't have seen me, or if I hadn't have heard them call out, I could have still been wandering around. They were my third group of guardian angels.

Two of them took me to their apartment so I could look up the address and directions to my apartment. Then I started walking in the direction of the apartment, only to realize that I was in a very remote, very dark, part of the city. A part I was unfamiliar with and that I did not want to be walking in alone. Just as I decided to go back to the other apartment, one car drove by, a taxi and I saw my opportunity. I hailed him and he took me to my apartment. He was my fourth encounter.

When I arrived to my apartment I found the front door locked, I had no way of getting in, and no way of finding out what number my apartment was. But by chance, one of the program directors had stopped by, concerned that I had not yet made contact with anyone. He took me to his sister's apartment, where he was staying, and let me sleep on the fold out couch-bed. Guardian angel number five.

I woke up and got ready to go back to my apartment. While I was brushing my teeth, my professor's neice introduced herself to me. I asked her the simple questions that my frazzled head could remember and she rambled on fast about things I only understood about a quarter of. She did teach me what bear is in Italian, which at the time I didn't appreciate, but in hindsight, seems appropriate. She brought just a little bit of sunlight back into my complicated arrival. That's why she's my sixth angel.

When I got back to my apartment I was told my apartment was number three. I spent fifteen minutes knocking on the door to number three until an Italian construction worker working in the building informed me that that was indeed a storage closet. He let me borrow his cell phone, and with his surprisingly good English, helped me as much as he could. And for that he is my seventh guardian angel.

I had just talked to my program leader on the construction workers cell phone about how I still couldn't find the apartment number when I heard on of my roommates voices down the hall. They just happened to be going to the market and they found me and helped me up to the apartment. And if they hadn't found me, I would still be wandering around the building trying to find the apartment. They are my eighth encounter.

Oh, and it was the apartment on floor three, not apartment three. So, good times.

The last +24 hours have seemed impossible. They have been a little bit impossible. Last night they felt EXTREMELY impossible. But what I am beginning to understand after yesterday is that nothing is impossible when someone is watching out for you. Thank you, my guardian angels. Without you I literally do know know what I'd do or where I'd be.

Thank goodness for luck, chance, karma, fate, or whatever. It's a miracle.

Pre-Departure Statistics

I am now sitting in the gate waiting to board. I've got about an hour until anything super exciting happens so I thought I'd check in. Hi, how are you? I'm great. I've reached the point of no return. No turning back now, although you'd have to drag me in handcuffs if you wanted to get me out of this terminal. I'm doing this, nobody can stop me.

I said a drowsy goodbye to my dad this morning and this afternoon said goodbye to a pouty boy and a teary mom. I've said my goodbyes to my friends and now I've just got to go go go!

But first, a few pre-departure statistics, for everyone's information.

Weight: 164
Height: 5'11"
Pant size: 30
Dress size: 10
Shirt size: M/L
Shoe size: 8-8.5

I am chronicling this information because I intend on eating my way through Italy and I wouldn't be surprised if some of these dimensions changed.

But I also plan on taking long walks, doing yoga with my roommates, and playing soccer in the parks of Roma. So maybe I can combat my iminent expansion.

Cheers, to lots of food and lots of exercise.

Cognitive Processes and Conquering Italy

In about a week I am leaving the comfort of my home country to study in Italy for three months. At what point should I stop being in denial about it all? Because it still seems as unreal as it did four months ago when I was accepted into the program. I feel like with a week left, I should feel ready but I feel more unprepared than ever.

Studying abroad was a priority in my college experience from the very beginning. I like traveling and I knew I wanted to find an excuse to spend months in a country, learning in school and out of it. So I started making parameters and slowly it culminated in this.

I had a very simple cognitive process that led me to Italy and, more specifically, this program.

1. I want to submerge myself in the culture.
2. I want to go to a place where I can communicate with the locals.
3. I want to speak the language.
4. I speak English.
5. I should go to England or Ireland.
6. Where would I go if language was no object?
7. Italy.
8. Can I speak Italian?
9. No.
10. Can I learn Italian?
11. Sì.
12. Will I learn Italian?
13. If I take classes.
14. Am I really acing Italian 101?
15. Apparently.
16. Hey, there's a program where I can learn Italian in Italy!
17. Uh, wtf, cognitive process, you just got your answer.

So now I'm off to learn Italian in Italy! Thanks cognitive abilities!

Fast forward to tonight I tell my friend I need a list of reasons/goals/expectations for myself. Big broad concepts that can guide my interpretation of events and experiences. I want to go into my journey with this lense because I didn't do this with college and I actually kind of regret that.

I just went to college because that's what ya do when you are part of the upper middle class socio-economic tier--I knew it was to better myself or get a better job or whatever, but that was based on what everyone in society was telling me, not what I told myself. I never sat myself down and took the time to explain it to myself. At one point this year I finally did and it wasn't very successful because I was already entrenched in habits of my established college experiences. If I could change one thing about college prep, it would be to examine my own reasons/goals/expectations for myself in college.

The one good thing that came from making that mistake is that I learned from it. I know that for me to get the most from this trip to Italy, I need to actively think about what I *want* to get from this trip. I can't just go there and think "I'll learn so much," I think in a way I have to choose what I learn from any experience.

Maybe that's universal. Maybe that's a quirk of mine, in any case, here's my list:

1. Learn the language.
2. Eat the food.
3. Meet the people.
4. See the things.

My friends think I sound like I'm going to conquer Italy. We joked about it for a full 10 minutes tonight, but actually... I like it.

So cheers, to conquering Italy.