April 29, 2011
Yes, guilty again... It has been quite awhile since I have written, and once again it is going to take me another good 5 hours to update everything. So much has happened since I last wrote. I honestly cannot believe I only have a WEEK left in Rome. It is so bittersweet, because not only will I be leaving Rome, but I will be moving on with my life and starting a new chapter...being a grown up! I am still kind of in denial about it all and scared out of my mind, but I guess it is something everyone has to come to reality with. I have an apartment in Glen Carbon right next to the Northwestern Mutual office and will be sharing it with my friend Chelsie. She is also going full time with NMFN when I do, so we will be experiencing everything together! As for today, I am sitting on the terrace of Guarini Campus on a beautiful, but soon stormy day. The weather lately has been rainy off and on, which is not making me a happy camper! I want it to be nice the last week I am here, so hopefully it changes! The Royal wedding was today, so I streamed the vows online, then logged off. Kate looked pretty, but I was soon over it! I met my friends David and Sophia for lunch at T-Bone Station for an American lunch.. I had chicken fingers! They were actually really good. I was going to walk to Tiber Island, but it's thundering as I speak! But...onto my life the past couple of weeks!
April 19, 2011
Today I had class, but left my second one a half hour early because Umberto, Court and I were headed to the soccer game! We waited for the bus and took it to the stadium. We got pizza and beer, then headed inside. It was awesome!! The fans are crazy...they had flags they were waving throughout the entire game, and they would throw smoke bombs onto the track. Firefighters had to pick them up and put them in trash cans. Roma ended up losing, which sucked... but the game was quite the experience. I can't say that I would go to another one, cause soccer just really isn't my thing, but it was cool to go to one and say I went. Court left early cause it just wasn't for her, so Umberto and I came back after the game was over. I was going to go out to celebrate some friends 21st birthdays, but decided against it cause it was already midnight! I just went to sleep since I had an early class, but it was a cool experience!
April 20, 2011
Today I had class outside the Roman walls at a really pretty church! We had to meet at Termini, so we took a bus there and then another bus to the place where we had to be. After that, I went to tan so that I would have a little bit of color for the weekend. I headed back to my residence and packed for the Amalfi Coast! I couldn't believe that it was already here... We had booked it so long ago! We were going for Sophia's birthday and leaving Thursday night. She wanted to go out for her birthday, so we went to G Bar in Trastevere, then David met up with us. We went over to La Cucaggna near Piazza Novana. We were just hanging out, drinking our drinks, then some Italian guys came over and asked us to get them into La Maison. You usually need girls to get you into clubs here, so I was like okay, but I'm not staying long. David had a flight around 2am for London, so he left and Sophia and I stayed. We ended up staying out pretty late, because the guys we met were so awesome! Matteo, one of the guys, had a car and drove us around Rome. We went up on a hill and saw St. Peter's through a key hole. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen and is now my favorite place in Rome. I didn't even know that it existed! Then we drove to the Spanish Steps, and NO ONE was there.. It was so crazy to see the steps empty...So overall, it was a great night!
April 21, 2011
Today I slept in and then had class. After class I met Sophia, Michelle, and Jackie back at the residence and we all walked to Piazza Trilussa to get a cab to Termini. Our trip to the Amalfi coast was about to start! We met infront of the Nike store and boarded a bus to Sorrento. It took like 5 hours to get there, because we stopped at a place to get food and take a break. We watched Forrest Gump on the way, but I was so glad to finally get to the hotel. We thought about going out, but had to be up early to head to Capri, so decided against it. It was nice to get a nights rest!
April 22, 2011
Today was our first day out in Sorrento and Capri! We woke up early and took a ferry to Capri. It was awesome to see the coastline from the water, but sitting in the open air of the boat was chilly. We got to Capri and took little boats along the coast to the Blue Grotto. On the way, we saw many cliffs, which were massive! Seagulls were flying all along them, and it was a really cool sight that pictures couldn't even capture that well. We got to the grotto and waited while everyone got into little row boats to head inside. Only four people could fit into a boat, so Michelle, Sophia, Jackie, and I crowded into one. We had to literally lay down in the boat in order to get inside the grotto. When inside, it was was pitch black, but our boat driver told us to look behind us. It was amazing! The sun pouring inside the grotto made it the prettiest blue I had ever seen. Pictures do not do it justice. I couldn't get that great of pictures because we were only in there about 5-10 minutes. Our guide was singing in the grotto and was echoing throughout. It was definitely one of the coolest things I have seen. Just breathtaking to know that the water and sun together can look that beautiful, and even more so that someone actually found this amazing place! We headed back to Capri to explore the city and climbed to the city center. It was a good 20 minute hike uphill. It was not easy and made me feel sooo out of shape! We got to the top and I got a lemon ice slushie, then we headed to the gardens there to take some cool pictures. We took a bus up to the top and walked around the little shops. We went into a sandal store where they make custom sandals. I got a pair and also got a pair for mom for Mother's Day! We ate lunch at a cute little restaurant outside in the sunshine, and had fish, because it was Good Friday! Afterwards we walked around a little bit more, and then took an open-air cab ride down to the bottom. They have like convertible taxi cabs, which was so awesome to see everything on the way down. We layed out on the rock beach there, which had an amazing view of the sea. I laid there wishing that that could be my view everytime I layed out! We got some gelato then had to take a boat back to Sorrento. That night we headed into the city center to eat dinner, then just went back to the hotel because we were so tired!
April 23, 2011
Positano, here I come! Today we went to the black sand beaches in Positano, which was about a 30 min drive from Sorrento. We winded down the crazy road right next to the water. We could have definitely gone of the side. There ended up being a traffic jam, so we walked down, which was like a 20 min walk. We ended up finally getting to the beach and got some lunch at a little place. I got a veggie pizza, which was pretty good. I couldn't eat the whole thing though.. it was huge! We headed to the beach, got some beers, and layed out for a little while. Then, they came and told us that if we wanted to go cliff jumping to hurry up and get on the boat! It was SO awesome. We took a boat to some cliffs a little while away. We had to jump in the water and swim to shore. The water was gorgeous, but SO SOOOO cold! It took your breath away when you hit the water, but after awhile, it got kind of warm because my body was kind of frozen I'm thinking. Everyone had to climb up the side of the cliff to jump off. I did it twice, but was good after that! Standing up there the first time, my heart was pounding cause I started to freak myself out! From the boat it doesn't look that far away, but when you get there, you are like oh my gosh, this is high! I had to count, then just went for it...I think the water sucked more than anything, haha. I went for a second time, then had to swim back to the boat. After some crazy people jumped from 40 feet high, we all cruised next to the cliffs just to see more of Positano. We headed back to the beach and layed out the rest of the day. We left from Positano and headed back to Sorrento. That morning I had noticed that I had little bumps on my legs that were red and itched like crazy.. I had no idea what they were, so I just ignored it. After we got back though, it was worse than that morning. I had no idea what it was, so I asked the front desk, and they said heat rash happens a lot from the sun there. But, I looked it up and it didn't look like heat rash. It was instead a sun poisoning rash that was so miserable, but I sucked it up and that night we headed over to 7 Hostel, which was soo much nicer than our place! It had a full restaurant and bar area, so we ate there and hung out all night. They had a rooftop bar which had amazing views of the city! We chilled up there for awhile, then headed back to our hotel for the night.
April 24, 2011
Happpyyyy Easter everyone! Sophia and I went to mass at a little church in Sorrento this morning. The mass was nice, but nothing different from masses back home, except of course it was in Italian. I went to the pharmacy before to get medicine for my sun poisoning. My throat was also closed up and I could hardly breathe. After mass, I stayed in all day. Everyone else went to Pompeii, but we skipped that part of the journey! It was honestly the worst Easter ever! I was in bed all day long and Sophia and Michelle would bring me food when they went out. I felt like such a loser being inside, but I couldn't do anything about it! I watched Friends, took a few naps, and did some homework. I got to skype with Mom, Dad, and Braedon though! It was good to see them on Easter and complain to them about my disease..haha. So basically, pretty chill, miserable day for me!
April 25, 2011
Last day of the Amalfi Coast! We packed up and headed to meet the group at 9:30, then got on a bus for Naples. After about an hour and half drive we were in the land of pizza. The main pizza place, where Eat, Pray, Love, was filmed, was closed, so we instead went to a place called Solo Pizza. I had a bufalo pizza with bufalo cheese, fresh tomatoes, and ruggala. It was sooo good! Naples was good for pizza, and that's about it. There was trash decaying on the streets and not much to see except for the harbor and one pretty building. The streets were filled with hanging clothes, like Rome, but definitely not pretty like Rome. I would suggest not making a trip to see Naples...totally NOT worth it! We got back to Termini station around 7:30 and had to walk back to the station in the rain... what a welcome back! It was pouring, so we got in a cab and headed back to the residence. That night Court and I met up with our friend Mary and her friend Sharon, cause they were in from London. We went to a little restaurant in Trastevere, then headed to Birrera Trilussa, which has a lot of beer on tap. We had a drink there, then I went home to crash. I was soo tired from all the traveling and going, plus I still wasn't feeling the best from my sun poisoning.. I hadn't been sleeping well cause all I would do was itch at night! Ugh...
April 26, 2011
Today I woke up and had to meet my group on campus to finish a presentation we were to give that day in class. We worked on it, then I had to study for a test I also had. I went and got medicine for my sun poisoning, because I could not stand the itching anymore. I felt like a little kid with chicken pox! It was by far the grossest thing I have ever had...This was probably the worst day that I had it. It had cleared up a bit on my legs, but was still very visible and annoying! After class I headed to Aristocampo and got paninis for Court and I. I'm going to miss them so much, cause they are fantastic!! I headed home, watched a movie, then went out with Matteo for the first night! He brought me to La cuggagna and we had a drink, then walked to Piazza Novona and to the Pantheon. I absolutely love the Pantheon at night. Then we walked back to his car and drove to the Trevi Fountain. Even at night, there are still a bunch of people there...I don't think it is ever not crowded! We then went to Ponte Milvio, which is known as the lover's bridge because of all the locks on it. It was so peaceful because you could just hear the water. We then went up to the highest point in Rome to overlook the city...It was awesome! He brings me to the craziest places in Rome that are so pretty and I never knew existed..guess that's the perk of living in Rome.
April 27, 2011
This morning my friend Mary asked if I wanted to go to the Papal Audience with her to see the Pope and get her rosary beads blessed. I had never gone, because I always had class on Wednesdays, so I met her there. After we had lunch at a little caffe near the Vatican and were going to do the Vatican Museum, but it was too nice outside! We found our way to the metro station, which was my first time on it. We headed towards Villa Borghese. The walk there was uphill, and quite the trek, but totally worth it! It was so gorgeous with all the flowers blooming. We walked to the zoo and saw all of the animals. They have cows in their zoo, which we both found funny considering they are everywhere where we live! We headed to find the row boats because it looked like it was going to start storming. We found them and tried to each row, but that wasn't happening...we went no where! So, I took over and we rowed around the lake. We kept saying how “Notebook” it was and were just hoping it wouldn't start raining! Luckily we found our way back to the metro before it started raining and stopped at the Spanish Steps on the way back. It was so pretty, because now they have all the blooming flowers lining the stairs. We got gelato, then hopped back on the metro to head back to Trastevere. I had to walk back in the rain, but it wasn't too bad. That night I met up with Mary and her friend Mark. We went to take chocolate shots at a place in Trastevere, because Mary had never tried one. They are quite tasty, but so strong! One is definitely enough.. We then headed to Mister Browns, which is down Viccolo del Cinque. We had a drink and David met up with us with some other people. I was surprised, because Donata showed up, also! I hadn't seen him since Venice, so it was good to catch up with him. After that, we headed to Campo di Fiori to meet up with Matteo and his friends. We ended up going to La Maison to dance. Matteo gave me his phone and wallet, which was fine, but at the end of the night, his wallet was missing. I had nooo idea how it happened, but I felt SO bad. He ended up having to go to the Carabineri the next day to file that it was stolen.. :(
April 28, 2011
Ahh, Thursday... I slept in until around 1 and checked my e-mail to find out that I hit Power of 10 again for my internship program! I was pretty excited about that, considering I am over here and just have the help of reps back home to get me to that goal. I'm very fortunate to have such awesome people in my office! I met my friend Mary for lunch in Trastevere. I met her at the tram station and we walked to a nice little Italian restaurant. We ordered wine and I had gnocchi. We talked of our time abroad and all the experiences we have had, and how much we are going to miss it all and how much we have learned just from being here. It is crazy the friendships you form while abroad. She is definitely a girl I will continue to keep in touch with when I reture back to the states. She lives in New York, so a trip is definitely on my mind...ha! We then went to her friend Mark's apartment, which is at the end of the tram line in Trastevere. She had a flight to catch back to London, and I had class to go to. I went to class, and as I was sitting there, I kept thinking of how it was the last class I would ever sit in. Another girl in my class is graduating in a few days, too. I actually started crying after class just because of the reality of it. She knew people at a bar down the street from school, so we went and took a “congrats shot” to celebrate both of us graduating, lol. I headed back to my apartment and took a nap for a little while, falling asleep to Little Rascals. I woke up and got ready to go to dinner with Matteo. He brought me to this Roman restaurant near the Vatican. Roman food is completely different than Italian food. Our first course was Roman style beans, a dip that tasted like hummus, and a kind of meat that tasted like our deer meat. I still have no idea what kind of meat it actually was, but it tasted good! Next course was pasta, and we got carbonara. It was the best carbonara I had ever had! Then, meat...I had veal, I think. I just had him order for me what he got! It also came with potatoes and salad. Finally, dessert! We had cookies that you dipped in a sweeter red wine. Definitely something I had never had before! We got up to leave and I asked if he paid the check.. he said to hurry up, cause he didn't. He is quite the sarcastic one! After, we headed to Campo di Fiori, but were stuck in traffic for a little while. We went to la cucaggna, which is a bar near Piazza Novona. I had this chocolate kind of drink, which was very interesting...Can't say I loved or hated it! We went to Studio 18 after and I met up with Court and Gab. Matteo had to leave cause he had work early at 7am, so I just stayed with the girls. Ended up being a fun night!
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