Un molto bene fine settimana.

You know, I feel a lot different about Mondays here than I do at home. I don't dread the weekends ending. In fact, I am actually looking forward to my 5:15 class... Dorky? Yes, I am sure. But if you were in my Italian class, you would understand. My whole class and I are going to Sicily this weekend. Woo hoo!! We leave wicked early Friday morning (because here, there are no classes on fridays :):):)) and we come home Sunday night. We're staying in Palermo.

This past Friday we took a hike over to the Spanish steps. Well, we didn't actually make it to the Spanish steps, but our bookstore is around there so we went book shopping. Afterwards though, we thought we would treat ourselves to some yummy gelato. It was kinda chilly out, so we sat inside. Little did we realize, however, that not only did we order 6 Euro gelato, but we had to pay 3-4 Euro for service. Jeepers crow, I would have scooped it myself... BUT on the bright side, it was amazingly delicious. At least it was almost worth the 6 Euro.

Saturday I went to buy art supplies. If anyone thinks art is cheap, try taking a painting class. When we got back my credit card told me it is not leaving my wallet for a month. After that though, I introduced Whitlee to the magical world of cooking. We went grocery shopping (a hysterical endeavor) and then that night we made tortellini with cream sauce. Tonight is burger night, and tomorrow we're going to try making spaghetti carbonara. Delizioso!!!

Yesterday I went once more to the ginormous market right next to my apartment. I only spent 12 euro. I got a pair of dark brown boots and a extendable outlet thingy. A successful adventure if I do say so myself. I learned sacchino means mirror and provaro mean I want to try something on. (Essential shopping words.) Though I got lost trying to find my way back. Quite easy to do in one of the worlds biggest flea markets. Last night, Chloe and I met up with Cory and some friends for dinner and THE BEST GELATO EVER. Seriously. The best. Ever. It was so good I even excused the guy who waited on me for thinking Rhode Island is part of New York (That's Long Island, people).

Un molto bene fine settimana. Now I have to go do my Italian homework.

Last night Katie and I made chicken pesto alfredo. It was molto bene!! We were going to make quiche, but we couldn't find frozen spinach. Not to fear fellow quiche lovers, because today we found the ice-cold veggie and our taste buds feasted on a delicious spinach and pancetta quiche with parmigano cheese. Note for next time: less thyme, less spinach, more egg. And measuring cups. I wish we could have videotaped Katie and I's argument over how much 2/3 of a cup was. But finally, our baby was born from the oven and we feasted on half the quiche. Mmmmm... tomorrow, leftovers! The only bad part of dinner was when we were getting the ingredients, I stepped in dog poo. My shoe is sleeping outside tonight.

Some observations on Italian life:

Some observations on Italian life:

1.) There are tons of dogs. Tons of dogs mean tons of dog poo. Guess who doesn't pick up dog poo? Italians, apparently. Gross.

2.) I have seen only 2 gas stations so far. And when I say gas stations, they are really only a couple of pumps on the side of the road with no convenience store or anything.

3.) You know how Skinner conditioned his pigeons to have a certain response to a certain stimulus? Well I have officially been conditioned so that every time I hear a car coming my heart starts racing and I run to the side of the road. I fear for my life on the streets of Rome because the drivers ARE CRAZY! Chloe tells me not to run - that it shows a sign of weakness. I say I run because I want to live to see my 21st birthday.

4.) Cappuccino: Only to be drank in the morning. You are a fool if you drink it around dessert time.

5.) Speaking of dinner, everyone eats at about 7:00-8:00.

6.) Americans stick out like a sore thumb in Italy. I don't know why- they just do.

7.) Italy is a very green country. I don't mean green as in the landscape. I mean green as in they are very energy efficient. There are no dryers here- well, none that I have come across and none in our building. Their version of heat is turning it on only so that the room is cool, not freezing. What I find a little contradictory is that they have public water fountains that have a continuous flow of water 24 hours a day... a little wasteful if you ask me.

8.) Speaking of their water, it's nothing like good ol' fashion American spring water. Here, the water is very mineral rich with lots of calcium. Good for my bones, but my tastes buds don't care for it very much.

9.) Tropicana orange juice: Gone. I mean, I knew this coming into this trip, it is a Florida company, but it is still a little depressing. However, for the next 4 months, I have found a suitable replacement. It's called ACE juice. Arancia (Orange), Carota (Carrots), and Limone (Lemon). Strange combination, I know, but it tastes like the Nantucket Nectar POG.

10.) Finally, NUTELLA. Enough said.

Yesterday marked day 1 of my classes. I only had one class: Intensive Italian. The intensive refers to the fact that I will (hopefully) be learning Italian 1 and 2 in one semester. In the entire hour and 50 minutes I was there, my Professor spoke no English. It was somewhat of a struggle, but I think it will turn out to be the best way I can learn Italian.

Today I have my painting class, and another session of Italian. Tomorrow, my drawing class and Italian, and then Thursday I finish off my week with an on site class and Italian. My on site class is a class where we meet at different locations and learn about their historical significance. The class included a mandatory trip to Pompeii. Mandatory? Really? Who in their right mind would need someone to tell them a trip to Pompeii is MANDATORY. Not this gal, I'll tell you that much.

Not too much else is new except for the start of the amazing adventures of Christina and Katie in the kitchen. Katie (one of my roommates) has this cook book that we decided to have a look through. She showed me this prosciutto wrapped salmon that was cooked with fontina cheese and sage. We decided to try it out last night and in the end, it looked exactly like the pictures in the book! (Keep a look out for future pictures to see for yourself.) Tonight we're going to make a quiche. Partly to enjoy ourselves, but partly to teach Chelsea, our other roommate, how to cook something besides pasta with butter.

Ciao Bella!

So I decided to start a blog about my Roman adventures. Obviously, since you're reading it. It's my version of journaling (with the added bonus of spellcheck).

My fellow API friends and I have been here for almost a week now. When we first got here we stayed in a hotel for 2 nights. We toured the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Piazza Navona complete with Bernini's four rivers fountain. (Angels and Demons, anyone?)

Tuesday we moved into our AMAZING apartments. Minus the beds and lack of heat, I can't really complain about living here. The setup is quite nice, my roommates are great, and we really are not that far from the heart of Rome. We live in an area of Rome called Trastevere. It's a more residential place rather than central Rome which has many english speaking tourist traps.

Two days ago we took a tour of St. Peters Basilica and Castel Sant'Angelo. I walked in the entrance door, took a right, and walked right to Michelangelo's Pieta. *sigh* It never ceases to amaze me.

That night I went to my first ever discoteca (a club). I was quite surprised to still have my hearing the next day considering how loud it was. It was one continuous stream of techno music (yes Steph, you would have loved it) with a famous Italian guest star DJ. If I had any doubts about the creepiness of the Italian men here, they were completely justified that night. I danced with one guy who after one dance told me he loved me. I said, "No, you don't," and walked away. Well Romeo followed me for the next half hour asking for my number. It was actually quite amusing. I found a second Italian though who I wouldn't define as creepy, just very forward. He was Scottish and Italian, so when he spoke English, he had a Scottish accent. As if the Italian accent didn't impress me enough. (I love accents.)

Anywho, yesterday me a few other girls walked around the Pantheon and Campo d'Fiori for a while and went shopping. Very fun. And finally, last night I slept for seven whole uninterrupted hours. I've been averaging 3-5 hours every night so last night was heaven! I also bought a new pillow today, so hopefully that helps my sleeping issue too.

Today I experienced my first Sunday flea market. Right next door to my apartment, there is a flea market that goes on for about a mile every Sunday. It has clothes, shoes, pots and pans, cd's, dvd's, electronics, fishing gear, antiques, handcrafted things, and I even saw pets for sale! I bought my fluffy new pillow, a belt, a dress, and a purse. I wasn't planning on buying the purse because it was 15 Euro and I only had 5. The guy said," OK fine, give me 12". I said, "If I had 12 Euro, I would give you 12." Then he told me to give him 10. Apparently he wasn't understanding me because I said again, "I only have 5!" Well I ended up getting it for 8 Euro (I borrowed 3 Euro from a friend). I was impressed at my haggling abilities when I didn't even mean to. I should try that more often. All in all, a pretty good day.