Wednesday, September 30, 2009

GIddy Up...er sbrigati!

SO...this has been a long weekend/week already.

We're gearing up for midterm week (next week). While I write this I am also simultaneously doing my Religions of the World midterm, writing about the little raft and the big raft of Buddhism. Fun.

I broke my school computer. Well, I didn't break it. Really the backlight just burnt out. I think it's because of the electrical current here. Even though I have a converter everything tends to make a buzzing sound when I plug it in. It's kind of freaky when the straightener does it.

I'm a brunette now. I have been for the past week or so. It's wonderful. I missed brown hair. Being a blonde is not what it's cracked up to be.

Being here makes me realize how much I miss home...or, if not home, the people at home. I miss my friends so much, but it's good that I can talk to them all the time on skype. They are so open minded and I like them 100% of the time which is a feat.

My chosen family

Anyway, back to life in Italy. So this past weekend we went to Florence (a.k.a. Firenze) to go horseback riding in Tuscany.
 Overall it was amazing. We has a 6:20 am train so I didn't sleep the night before. We got to Florence and then went to the markets to do some really cheap shopping....well as it turns out not so cheap. I bought this really fierce black fall coat and some scarves for myself.
 
Here's all of us in the farmer's market after eating prosciutto and mozarella sandwiches.

Then we went to the Duomo and saw the Gates of Paridise (or rather the replicas). We got some hotel rooms right by the Duomo and then Steph & I went on an hour+ search for the police so she could get some form of identification.

Around 4 we got into a van that took us to Tuscanny. We rocked out on the way to music from the 80's and 90's. When we go there we were quized on our hourse riding abilities. Since I had only been riding a few times I got the docile horse. He was a chill horse. He didn't try to eat everything on the way like everyone else's horses.

We walked and trotted through the woods and vineyards. I got some great photos that I will put up on my photobucket later thiss week. I have more to say on this all, but I am extremely exhausted. I think I will revise this tomorrow...

Bises.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

University Service Day

Wow...it's been a long weekend. I will tell you all about it in the next post. Right now it's 5:30 in the morn and I have class at 9am. I've been up working on this video for University Service Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8pg37W5plo


Bises!
-Chace

Thursday, September 24, 2009

What I Like About Rome

So....we get bored at 2 am....and make videos now.

My craziness continues...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PRRpIbjmd4

<3 Chace

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A Buldging Bag of Biscotti

So, silly Chace moment of the day...

After acing my Italian test (no, not really, but I think I passed) and after a well deserved nap, I set out to buy provisions for the week (Read: chocolate croissants, prosciutto, and chocolate chip biscotti). SO I went up to the pastry counter and asked for about 15 biscotti (in Italian). The guy who was working there asked me if I wanted 15 grams worth of biscotti or 15 something else. I don't know how to say "pieces" in Italian so I said it in English and picked the second option assuming it was the right one. So he gets this big bag and starts piling biscotti in. I'm mentally counting in my head and thinking "That is WAY more than 15 (quindiechi)." But you can never have too much biscotti, especially with tea! So he FINALLY fills up the bag and it comes out to about 13 Euro. Apparently the second option that I didn't understand was 15 Euro worth of biscotti. Of course I was too proud to correct him and, like I said, you can never have too much biscotti, so I took it.

Lesson learned: I need to work on my Italian.

Monday, September 21, 2009

A woman with a GPS, some horses, and a picture of a picture

So, how is it that a woman with a GPS in Michigan cannot find a restaurant to eat at, but a girl with a computer in Italy can find one and then give her step-by-step directions on how to get there. Hmm....oh my mum and my GPS...how incompatible you two are.

So I think plans for Tuscany this weekend are set. We are going to go horseback riding, go to a wine tasting in a 13th century castle, grab dinner, and go dancing all for a reasonable fee. Sounds like a fun weekend....but I'm not telling you where in Tuscany because God forbid someone sets up a sting. :p haha

Interesting day. Went to Giancolo Hill with Jeff to check out the view at night. We had a very interesting and deep conversation about thing. He gave me the most amazing memento: a photo album pf all these beautiful black and white shots that he took of Italy and of me when we were at the hill the other day. I wish I could put up the prints, but alas they were taken with an old school film camera. This picture of a picture doesn't even do his skills justice.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Cheated by the Devil

Cioccolato di diavolo is NOT the same thing as Devil's Chocolate in the US!!!

I just had a rude awakening. I felt like expanding my gelato knowledge adn decided to try some new flavors tonight...BIG MISTAKE!!! Cioccolato di diavolo is dark chocolate gelato with a secret ingredient...peppers. It is a spicy, jarring flavor that I was totally not ready for. I know it is common to put pepper in chocolate for sauces, hard chocolates, and chocolate drinks, but in this gelato it was too much!

I also decided to try the Zuppa Inglase...basically trifle gelato. It really didn't taste like any trifle I have ever had. Basically it was a bust. Maybe I will just stick to my reliable Canolo and Nutello. At least they taste like what you think they are supposed to taste like. ;p

Saturday, September 19, 2009

True Religion My Ass!

So...it wasn't actually Mackenzie's birthday yesterday...it was another Mackenzie's birthday. I didn't know that at the time when I called her and sand "Happy Birthday" to her answering machine....oops. :p

Small rant: Thank you uber-militant Catholic side of the family for nit-picking at every part of my life and making me never want to see you people again. Have fun with your "true religion" and your mild mannered clothes. It is no wonder that all my cousins on your side of the family have either run away or gotten pregnant. I don't blame them. I don't care if you end up in heaven, hell, or somewhere else...just stay the fuck away from me.


Now that I've calmed down,
Last night was fun. We wanted to all go out to this club called Fake in Testaccio, but a few people in the group started to complain about the price of the cover charge. So we changed our plans and were going to go to Trastevere instead, except on the way to collect everyone I ended up getting separated from all the girls. I looked high and low, but they were nowhere to be found. So it ended up being me, Jeff, and Greg. We went to the Little Devil, basically the bar on the corner where everyone from my school goes. We got a shot on the house and then my favorite flaming absinthe shot. After that we ended up in Trastevere at a bar that we now call Moe's due to the fact that they sell Duff beer and the bartender was wearing a Duff shirt. He made me the best Mojito with ginger ale. It is definitely a place I will be revisiting...

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Lights, Camera, Passion!

First order of business...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MACKENZIE!!! I wish I could be there to celebrate it with you, but unfortunately I am far, far away in Roma. Love you honey.

Now onto more about Rome and life at college.

Another week down and another weekend of nothing to do. Originally I was planning on going to Cinque Terre to hike through the 5 villages, but as it turns out it's 40 Euro each way on the train. I cringed a little bit at the price, but I would do anything short of taking a flight back to the US to get out of Rome for a weekend. Everyone else is using the "I'm broke and would rather spend my money on Italian boots" excuse. It seems like everyone here is being supported by their parents who put money into their accounts for the week. I'm sorry, but that's kind of ridiculous. Usually when you're in Europe you travel through Europe and you kind of need more than a weekly allowance to do that.

Well it's not their faults really....I'm just frustrated at being stuck and being a girl and thus more "rape-able" (in the words of the great Noah) if I travel alone. That's probably what I'm going to end up dong though, which is fine. I feel I can make it through most countries on my own. I'll probably do Ireland, Amsterdam, and maybe France on my own. Meet up with a friend in the UK. School trip to Brussels and Luxembourg. Drag people to everywhere else maybe. We'll see. It will probably get better when everyone has been in Rome a few more weeks.

SO yeah, besides that it's been pretty chill. I went out to Gianico Hill with one of my friends the other day and we took some crazy black and white shots...mostly of me and a rose sitting on the wall overlooking all of Rome. It's really beautiful here. I think I'm warming up to Rome, but I'm still not in love with it. I really don't know why I haven't fallen in love with this city like everyone else has. Every time I tell someone that they look at me like I'm crazy.

Speaking of falling in love... (No, not me! Italian men smell of heavy sweat and cigarettes...not my thing)

Paris may be the city of love and lights, but Roma is the city of passion. There are people making out everywhere here. It's beautiful. Every movement, every touch is filled with this heavy, purposeful romanticism. I can't even try to explain it in words. I would take pictures of it, but I don't want to be that creepy tourist/photographer hiding behind a bush with a telephoto lens. :p

So yeah, it's almost 3am here and I still have some Theology to finish up.

Bises!
-Chace

Saturday, September 12, 2009

The Rain in Rome Falls Mainly on the Cobblestone

It rained today for the first time since we have all been here in Rome. We all went out into the courtyard and danced around like little children. It's been so hot here...we really needed the rain.

Thank God it didn't rain last night though. Jeff (a fellow classmate) and I went out for some amazing tiramisu at Pompi and went walking around Rome to see the monuments in the dark. We ended up taking a 7 hour trek, getting lost for a few hours in the windier parts of Trastevere. I got home at 3:30 am...but it was an amazing, spontaneous tour of Rome. For part of it I was afraid that we had walked out of Rome completely.

So yeah, it's a rainy Saturday. We might be off to Pisa and Florence tomorrow if we choose to get up and buy train tickets. We shall see.

Oh! We went to Tivoli yesterday too! It's this beautiful town outside of Rome that has a beautiful villa with dozens of fountains. They town itself was a lot calmer than Rome (which is one notch down from a NYC pace). We walked along the winding cobblestone streets looking into shops. We found a delicious little bakery with cannolis and tiny fruit pastries. It is definitely somewhere I would travel to again.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Impulsive and Explosive...like fireworks

I may have just done something very silly.....or another of the hundred adjectives that are hiding behind these blushing cheeks.

Burn baby, burn

So here's some excepts from my journal that I brought to the beach:



Taking the train to S. Marianella (the beach). I never know what I'm going to see when I look out my window. There's the bustling city, the beautiful green hills, the dry towns. It reminds me of so many places as once, yet it's unlike anywhere else I've ever been.

It took forever to get to the train this morning. We took the A to Termani, accidentaly took the B one stop, had to go back to Termani, and wasndered around the station attempting to ask in Italian where to go. We finally found the train and go on the 12:09 towards Pisa.

It has been a 2-day process trying to get to the beach. We tried to go yesterday, but we were so tired from dancing the night before that we slept right through until the late afternoon. So instead of laying out on a beautiful beach I made Fettucini Alfredi which I found out is only netive to one restaurant in Rome, D'Alfredo (Thanks Dan!). All in all it was a good day regardless.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It's September and I am lying out on a beach in Rome. Sant'Marianella to be exact. With eyes closed I can hear the soft lapping of the waves on the hot sand and the murmuring chorus of a dozen Italian voices. They don't scream or shout; they express themselves vividly with their hands. Their voices are soothing like the sound of the sea. You can taste the salt, rich in the air. It burns my lips. It's wonderful.

To my left there is an Italian couple playing paddle ball. They are pretty good. There is no diving into the sand to save the play; only the gracful twisting of their bodies under the glaring sun.

This beach has a different feel from the islands [Read: U.S. Virgin Islands]. Where the islands have color blooming everywhere, the Italian beach has a singular tone like looking through a tinted lense. It reminds me of sepia or old photographs of the beach. There is no pressure to do anything, anything at all. I'll probably end up burning, but that doesn't matter as much as the warm sun on my skin. There's a letter I want to write while I'm still awake.

One more thing: although I usually don't like guys in speedo-type bathing suits, I'm not adverse to them here...



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm red. Not bright lobster red, but still red enough that it's probably going to hurt tomorrow. It was worth it...

Friday, September 4, 2009

On a side note

ALright, so to see all my pictures here's the photobucket link:
http://s769.photobucket.com/albums/xx331/savetheworldcomplex3/

Something that I was just talking to my dad about that I found interesting:
There isn't a drinking culture like we have in America here. A "bar" is actually a cafe where you can get espresso, paninis, and such. There is alcohol everywhere, but they don't drink to get drunk like a lot of Americans do. It is acceptable to have a glass or two of wine for dinner, but no one pounds back 12 beers in a row here.

While there is not a big drinking culture here, Italians are facing new drinking problem with their youth. All the best clubs are right outside of Rome and the transit systems shut down relatively early so the youth of Rome drive there. At the clubs they pound back a few drinks (the youth are more similar to us in their drinking habits) and then proceed to drive back to Rome drunk. There have been a rise in alcohol related accidents/deaths. Hopefully the Romans will do something about this like open their transportation systems later or start a drunk driving/designated driver campaign. Needless to say I'm not getting into any cars with Italians any time soon.

Week 1 in Italy = Freshman 1st semester





It's been only a week, but it already feels like home here!

After unpacking and showering off the airplane grime I met tons of awesome people and we decided to go out to Campo di Fiore. Campo is basically the American clubbing and bar area where all the tourists and international students go at night. It's so alive! We had no idea how to get there so we called my roommate's friend in the US and he gave us vague directions to the other side of the river. We followed the river ALL the way down for about an hour...definitely the wrong way to go. We thought we were lost so we talked to these girls who looked American. As it turns out they were from University of Washington in Seattle and they were really awesome.



They showed us to Campo and we ended up going to The Drunken Ship, a VERY VERY American bar where they play beer pong and the drinks are twice as strong as normal. It was really crowded the first night and a lot of fun. As the night went on we ended up meeting up with one of the guys from University of Washington and crossing the bridge to Trastevere which is the Italian version on Campo, but less rowdy and with more wine. We went to a wine bar and just chilled out for the rest of the night.

The next day we had orientation where they warned us against Campo di Fiore and showed us around the neighborhood and the historic parts of Rome. It was amazing. We stopped by the Piazza di Popolo (sp?), the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain...basically everywhere. BRING BANDAIDS!!! If you ever plan on coming to Rome you will need bandaids for your feet.

The Piazza di Popolo was fun. There's a giant Egyptian monument in the middle of the area and street Performers were located all around it. The Trevi Fountain is very beautiful, but I think I would like it better if there were no people there. I think we're going to go visit it around 2am one day this week when it will be less crowded.







We ended up in Campo again that night because we told the University of Washington guy, Cee, that we'd meet up with him. The University of Washington housing in Rome is so much nicer than ours. They get their own apartments in Campo and the surrounding area, although they have to share facilities with more people. We amassed a large group from U of W and then ran into a bunch of students from our group and ended up going to some small bar/club...Il Sorrentto, or something to that effect. It reminded me of a more stylish Trads. They played American music and the whole lot of us were singing along to it. Eventually it got really crowded and the creepy Italian guy to American girl ratio go out of hand so we left for another club. We lost some people along the way, but eventually we made it to Mood, a crazy dance club with strobe lights and little corners with couches that you could sneak off to. I danced with this really nice/cute boy from U of W in the strobe light room. We danced for what seemed like hours and ended up busting some moves on top a table. All in all it was a terrific night!



The rest off the week passed by normally. Of course we walked around and went to Campo for paninis, but we had classes too so we didn't get too crazy.

As for classes they all seem really good and interesting, although there are some things that could be better.

International Business – This class is pretty interesting, though admittedly with a lot of reading. The professor is Italian and has a bit of an accent, but is still mostly understandable.

Italian – Our professor is very energetic and likes to move fast. Right now it's only basic Italian that we are learning; how to get around, the days of the week, numbers.

International Relations – I think I like this class? I'm not sure yet. Our teacher talks way too much and likes to flit around from topic to topic like a humming bird, but she really does enjoy her subject. We've only had to read one article on “Thinking Theory Thoroughly” so far.

Religions of the World – Our professor is a priest and he only knows his own religion. This is quite a disappointment since the class in going to be about a number of religions outside of Catholocism. He didn't know why the Hindus thought the cow was sacred and explained a Buddhist story incorrectly. The first class he basically told us we were all wrong. He's a nice guys though. We'll see how this class goes.

So yeah, that's been my week. Everyone went out last night to the club on the river under the bridge by Castle Sant'Angelo, but I elected to stay home and get some work done. If I'm ever going to travel to other countries on weekends and actually experience them I'm going to have to get work done now.

I think we're going to the beach tomorrow. I'll definitely take pictures!