Minus my whole being sick deal and losing my camera, I've had a pretty good week.

BUT before I delve into the details, I forgot to mention one AMAZING night a couple weeks ago. What, you ask, was so important that I must retell events from a fortnight ago? Dinner with Cory Larkin, that's what. And just so we all know, I am definitely not typing this because he yelled at me for not putting him in my blog. That would be FALSE, as Dwight says. Anywho, in all seriousness, I did mean to mention dinner in my last post, but completely forget. Cory, his roommate Paul, and Chloe came over for dinner with my roommates a couple Tuesdays ago. Chloe made amazing garlic bread, my roommates and I made dinner, we discovered how much Cory loves cheese, and I think Paul went deaf sitting between Whitlee and Kelsey. After dinner, Chloe, Paul, Cory and I strolled on over to the bar next door for a beer. I got a surprisingly delicious beer (because usually I hate beer). We hung out there for a couple hours, watched the olympics, and heading back to the apartments. It wasn't until I was back in my room ready for bed that I realized I lost my phone. After searching literally everywhere, I figured it could only be in one of 2 places: Either Chloe picked it up accidentally thinking it was hers, or Cory picked it up jokingly to steal it and forgot to give it back. ...Cory had it. Thanks again, buddy. Though apparently karma almost literally bit Cory in the butt as he was chased home/ almost eaten by a dog. Was that enough of a mention in my blog, Jersey?

Jess just walked in and said that she wanted a blog mention as well... as she is eating a bowl of cereal. Surprise, surprise :P:P

Did you know there is a pyramid on Rome? Smack dab in the middle of Testachio, there's a pyramid! That's where I had my drawing class, and that's where I lost my camera. Let me just preface this story by saying that most things that happen here, I do not want to blog about because I don't want my mother reading them. Get your mind out of the gutter, I'm not talking about drinking or partying, I'm talking about my debate over whether or not I should tell my mom I lost my camera, or whether or not I should tell her I'm sick. Let's be serious people. If you haven't met my mother, you should know it doesn't take much to get her nervous. Especially since I'm an ocean away. There is no way, however, that I can go a week without skyping her, and the second I did skype her, the first question she asked was whether or not I was sick. Secondly, I needed to tell her I lost my camera so she could take money out of my account to by me a new one and bring it here next week. I would buy one here, but it would be a lot cheaper in America. Besides, if I have any questions, I would like to not have to decode the manual book with my Italian-English dictionary. Anyway, now that I have gotten sufficiently off course from my story, let me back up and continue with the pyramid. It's located in front of the Protestant cemetery which holds the resting place of many famous artist, poets, philosophers and authors. The big ones are John Keats, Percy Bysshe Skelly, and Goethe. I thought that THE Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, was buried there, but as I looked up what Skelly's first name was (because not gonna lie, I never heard of him before I saw his tomb), I saw that it was actually THE Goethe's son, August von Goethe that is buried there. As creepy as this sounds though, this cemetery was one of the most beautiful, peaceful places I've ever been to in Rome so far. It smelled like spring (yes, spring has a very distinctive smell), it was quiet (well ok, that word doesn't really exist in Rome, but relatively speaking), and it was just so peaceful. I loved it so much than I spent three hours drawing there. Then I realized I lost my camera. And it was absolutely no where to be found. I checked high and low, gathered other recruits to help look, went to the front desk, went back to where I was sitting because... I had to go back! I mean, I had to go back to look, of course. But alas, after a lecture on how I should hold on to my belongings by the British woman working at the cemetery, and a small chat with skechy foreigners who I think took it, I left. Defeated. On the bright side, I did get all of my Florence pictures off that before I brought it to the cemetery.

Ciao!

For all my fellow science nerds...

Exam in 2 days means new blog now. If there is one subject I can pass it is procrastination.

I just got off skype with my mom and she said I have 2 months to decide what dinner I want to be waiting for me when I get home from the airport. Eggplant is my obvious choice for all those who know me, but she quickly jumped in and said that we will have eggplant on Mother's Day, after dinner. Which doesn't make sense, I realize, but Mother's day is my birthday so after we all go out for dinner to celebrate the moms, we're coming back to my house to celebrate me! And I love eggplant. And everyone will be full. So I can have lots of leftovers for the rest of the week. Really it is quite an ingenious plan. Way to go mommy Martone. The point of this story is that I am open to suggestions for my meal.

Anywho, not too much to report on except that it's raining. I kinda feel like I'm back in New England with this weather, I walked around with a heavy coat yesterday, a t-shirt today, and tomorrow it's going to rain. I really hate when it rains on Wednesdays. It's my outdoor drawing class day and when it rains, we don't draw :( It's my second favorite class - Italian being my first. Painting is slowly not becoming my least favorite. I have been getting a lot less frustrated with the course than I was a few weeks ago. And I have to say, painting a nude model is not as awkward as I thought it would be (though I am sure Kait would have a few giggles to spare). And Kait- it's a woman model because I know you're wondering.

I've actually come to a strange realization this semester. You see, I'm only taking art and Italian classes. No science classes. I truly thought this would be such a great semester and that I would LOVE the break from LB broth and impossible multiple choice questions on my Bio exams. I have to say though, I miss my Biology!! I've always wondered whether making the decision not to go to art school was the right one for me, and now I know without a doubt that I am a full fledged science nerd. This was also reaffirmed when Katie was reading my purple Chem/Biochem club shirt yesterday. After she read the "You know you're in Biochemistry/Chemistry club when..." on the back of my shirt, we had the following conversation"

Kaite: You habitually was your hands before and after using the bathroom?

Me: Yes.

Katie: You wish people a happy- what's that say?

Me: A happy mole day, and yes I do.

Whitlee: What's mole day?

Me: It's October 23rd and it celebrates Avogadro's number. We have a party too.

Katie: You have a party?

Me: Yup, with my Professors.

Kaite: Have you really sung a Kinetics song?

Me: Twice.

Katie: One more question, do you wear that shirt around school?

Me: Yeah, duh. As well as every proud member of the Chem and Biochem clubs.

Katie: Oh...

After telling her about me being president of the clubs last semester, I officially solidified my dork status in the house.

Alrighty, tea time with Whitlee. A presto!

A weekend of great company.

I know, I really need to update this more. Sorry, Steph and Kait.

This past weekend my roommates and I went to Florence with API. They set up a great weekend for us complete with a cooking lesson, a wine tasting and a tour of Florence. None of those things, however, compared to seeing my best friend. :D But I'll start from the beginning.

Friday morning I woke to the lovely pitter patter of rain. Wait, rain?! Yup, our lovely weekend forecast reported maaaany lovely reunions with the precipitation. It was only a drizzle when we left, however. At the rest stop, it picked up a bit more, and when we arrived in Florence, I thought we we drove into a giant waterfall. The good news is that it stopped pretty quickly. After the tour of Florence, I met up with Keara and Joe. :):):):) That was literally all I wanted this weekend. We chatted, walked around, chatted some more, and eventually made our way over to what Keara calls her apartment. I called it the mansion of apartments. It makes my cute apartment over here look like a pea. Later on we went met up with their friends for an appertivo. At restaurants, you can buy a drink for about 7-13 euro and then get an all you can eat buffet of appetizer foods. Keara and Joe's friends made their own appertivo for everyone. Mmmmm.... molto bueno.

Saturday I woke up and got to see my boyfriend, Dave! I have been dying to see him.

I just wanted to comb my fingers through his curly locks, and pinch his cute butt. Of course, I didn't because the security guard wouldn't even let me take a picture of him :( (I didn't take this picture of him to the right, I got it offline) Well, I mean, I would have to climb on a ladder to reach him, anyways. He's pretty tall, and he simply took my breath away. Silly Katie tried to steal him, we both agreed I love him more. In a side note, remember me talking about Michelangelo's Moses and how it was supposed to originally be composed of 40 statues? Well he started to carved 4 more of the statues, but he never finished them. When Katie and I walked in the museum, we saw those unfinished statues!! Neither one of us knew they were gonna be there, but we both flipped out in excitement.

After I parted from my love, I went on to devour a heavenly lunch. It was called ribollita. It's a Tuscan soup made of bread and veggies that is cooked for hours and hours until it smells like heaven and sunshine. Well, that's at least what I thought it was. After lunch... MORE KEARA AND JOE TIME! We went a Leonardo da Vinci inventions exhibit. It was preeeetty cool, as Keara says. Alright fine, she doesn't really say that. In fact, she hates when our friends say that. Anywho, we then walked around and got this waffle with nutella on it! Only after we finished them did the three of us remember that Keara gave up sweets for Lent. Then came the worst part of my weekend: saying goodbye.

However, my mood improved when I made the greatest gnocchi, eggplant, and tiramisu, EVER. I have officially promised my Papa, mom, dad, sister, Charlie and Meredith that I will make homemade gnocchi for them when I come back home. If you would like some as well, I am currently taking reservations. After dinner, my roommates and I went to grab a cider at a bar, and I literally ran into Kerri Soscia!! Totally unexpected and not planned. We had been trying to get on touch with one another, but kept missing each others calls. We had kinda planned that we were just gonna see one another next weekend when she visits Rome, but there she was! Standing in the bar! Celebrating her birthday! I was immensely excited to see her.

Sunday, while I woke up to the unpleasant sound of my alarm clock, I was happily greeted by a delicious croissant. I packed in 0.52894 seconds (I timed myself) once I realized that was the amount of time I had until I had to be on the bus.

The group and I went up to Piazza Michelangelo where we saw a GORGEOUS view of Florence. After that, we visited the small, but breathtaking town of San Gimignano. Imagine climbing up the cobblestone streets of a small, residential town, to reach a tiny hill where you look out onto the breathtaking Tuscan hills, watching the sun inch across the vineyards as you listen to the soft, soothing sounds of the harp playing behind you. Literally (as Kelsey would say), not kidding. I can die happy after visiting San Gimignano. It was everything I wanted to see in Italy.

We got back on the bus for about 15 minutes to travel to our wine tasting. About 10 of those minutes we drove through the vineyards of the winery were going to. When we finally arrived the place, we met the craziest, funniest guy.

We spent the next few hours with him as he explained the ins and outs of wine. He also served us food where I ate even more delicious ribollita than before!! I also tried truffle oil for the first time and I have to say I was not impressed. After I took my picture with the guy (below), we departed for home sweet Rome.

I saw Moses!

Last time I went to the market- I mean grocery store, I bought this instant cappuccino mix thingy with chocolate in it. I figured it would be a mocha-y drink that I could have in the morning. Well genius me just had one with lunch and while it was delicious, my afternoon plans of napping are now shot. Thus, a new blog post.

It's almost the weekend, and while everyone but about 7 people studying abroad are going to Venice this weekend, I am one of the few staying here. I was a little upset to hear that I could have seen Keara if I went, BUT not only did we book a trip to Paris together last night, I am also seeing her next weekend, and possibly the weekend after that, AND hopefully a day in March. Speaking of seeing loved ones, my family is coming in a few weeks too!! I cannot wait! :):):)

But back to the weekend, I don't have any big plans other that working on my project for painting class, and (finally) going to the Pope's Sunday blessing.

Last weekend I dragged my roommates to San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains). It's this small yet stunningly beautiful church right near the Colosseum. The in chains part refers to the fact that the church holds the chains of St. Peter when he was held in Jerusalem. In addition to that, it is known for holding the tomb of Pope Julius II.

You might be holding back a yawn but those art history majors out there might know that his tomb was designed by Michelangelo (hence why I dragged my roommates there). He carved this ornate Moses statue that is centered around other statues and columns (image to the right). It was supposed to have over 40 statues, but then Pope Julius II took him of the project for a while to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. By the time he got back to finishing the tomb, he had to scale it down. Then Pope Julius II died, so he halted the project once more. The Moses was one of his greatest masterpieces (then again, arn't they all) but Michelangelo was extremely frustrated with it. He believed that a sculpture was a soul trapped in a piece of marble just waiting to be freed. When he finished the Moses he looked at it, expecting it to talk back to him. When it didn't (don't laugh, all geniuses are a little bit crazy), he yelled and threw his chisel at the sculpture, making a nick in the knee. Apparently if you get close to the piece you can see it, but we couldn't get past the rope to get a close enough look. So anywho, that's how we spent our afternoon. Then my umbrella broke, which made me buy my shiny, new, obnoxiously large umbrella. But that doesn't seem as exciting now that I think about the fact that I put that in the same paragraph as me seeing a Michelangelo sculpture...

But alas, I am tired. I shall commence the afternoon nap.

PS- Impressed I figured out how to upload images? Because I am.

Things I miss and things I love about Rome.

Things I miss: (in no particular order except for #1 and 2)

1.) Family and friends, of course.

2.) Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice (with Calcium).

3.) Dryers.

4.) Things written in English.

5.) Stop and Shop.

6.) Being warm.

7.) My Chi. RIP little buddy. You were the best hair straightener a girl could ever ask for.

8.) The proximity of school to home.

9.) Stonehill and everything associated with it.

10.) My little peanut butter. (Treat her well, Steph. I know you've been driving her.)

11.) Science. I never thought I'd say that, but I truly miss Biology classes. I CANNOT wait for SURE this summer. If I get in, that is...

12.) My cell phone. Well, actually, I have it, but I miss the readiness that I could call family and friends from back home on it.

13.) Chai tea lattes.

14.) Sushi dates with Steph. I am including in this cheap sushi as well.

15.) HOPE trips. Or at least, I know when spring break comes I'll be missing them.

16.) My bed.

17.) The value of American money.

18.) Sidewalks where cars are not allowed.

19.) The whole dog-poop-being-illegal thing.

Things I love about Rome:

1.) My new friends.

2.) Cooking dinner with the roomies (except for Mexican night).

3.) The proximity of me to the Vatican.

4.) Michelangelo. I mean, I've always loved him, but can appreciate him more being this close to his masterpieces and where he completed them.

5.) ACE juice. Though still incomparable to my tropicana. Don't be mistaken.

6.) The Sunday market. Especially since I'm getting kinda good at haggling.

7.) The freshness of produce.

8.) Blood red oranges.

9.) Getting asked for directions (even though I have yet to be able to answer them).

10.) Little Italian bambini (children).

11.) The history.

12.) The food... has it really taken me this far into the list to think of this one?

13.) CANNOLI'S!!

14.) The views from just about everywhere.

15.) My Italian class.

16.) Palermo, Sicilia.

17.) 10 Euro boots.

18.) Skype!

19.) Walking around/ exploring the city.

20.) Drawing in the Vatican.

21.) Having the chance to go to Easter Mass with the Pope.

22.) My classes.

And I just feel the I need to throw this in there since its been on my mind all day: To everyone who was affected by the Warwick fire, to the entire Mount Saint Charles community, and to all those who were especially close to Dan, Nick, Amanda, Tayla and Annabelle, I am so sorry for your loss. We all know they were too young, and regardless of whether or not we knew them, we all know they will be deeply missed. Rest in peace, fellow Mounties.

Beautiful Sicilia!

Alrighty, I know it's been a while and I am sorry to all those upset about me not posting recently. So really I am just apologizing to my sister, Steph (Now you can stop the vicious facebook messages.)

Well, I had bunches of things to report on from last week, but I forgot them all/ they are all overshadowed by my amazingly perfect weekend to Sicilia (that's Sicily, folks).

Let me start by saying that no class at Mount Saint Charles or Stonehill has compared to how great this Italian class is. It's really just because of my friends in the class- every single one if them. We were all pretty close beforehand, making our own little jokes and such, but the weekend just brought us together in a whole new way.

First, we met at 4:45 FRIDAY MORNING. Disgusting. I proceeded to have the most terrifying taxi ride of my life. Our driver looked at stop lights as mere suggestions. It is supposed to take 45 minutes to get to the airport. We got there in 20. Anywho, when we finally arrived in Sicilia and got to the hostel we were all pretty tired, but we only had one room with a bed and a futon. Our genius solution was to fit 6 people in the bed, and 4 on the futon. It was a giant spooningfest. Except feet were spooning with backs and heads were cuddling with legs. When I couldn't fall asleep I decided to go meet some friends who I knew had went out to walk around for a bit. I was still slightly sleepy, so I got a espresso. For those of you who know me, you know I hate coffee. The flavor is too strong and bitter. American espresso, or at least the one's I've had at home are about 10x worse than coffee. Well let me tell you, ITALIAN espresso was about a million times worse than the ones at home. I almost spit it out. Though I am sure my sister, my mom or Wayne would love it. They all enjoy the Italian caffeinated beverages.

Later on, when everyone was dressed and ready to go, we went to this place called Libera. It is an organization dedicated to stopping the mafia. The building we went to holds the Sicilian branch of Libera. The coolest/ most difficult thing was that the man who gave us a presentation on Libera only spoke to us in Italian. That was the point of course, because even in class my Professor doesn't speak English. Regardless, my Professor did stop him at points to make sure we were understanding everything he was saying. We found out there was a law passed that forced any convicted mafia to hand over all of their possessions. The possessions, in turn, go to helping those who need jobs, home or land. They do pretty amazing work there.

Afterwards we went to dinner where Mor and I got the MOST amazing eggplant I have ever feasted on (don't tell Grandma I said that)! We had a four course meal with the rest of the class which was sinfully delicious. The only sad part was that no cannoli was included. Saturday my mission became to get a cannoli.

Saturday when we woke up we were greeted to a yummy, complimentary croissant. We walked over to the theater to get Opera tickets for later that night, and spent the rest of the day touring Sicilia in on and off rain. We visited this castle in which we tried so hard to talk Italian to the tour guides. We understood most of what they said. Then we watched as Greg tried his hardest to record a phrase in Italian in front of the castle. Rola, Mor an Alex did theirs in one try, but Greg had three takes. It was quite funny to watch. We also stopped by arguably the most beautiful church I have ever seen. (And yes, I've been in St. Peters several times.) If you ever go to Palermo, you HAVE to stop in this cathedral. Oh! I almost forgot about the pastry. We stopped in this pastry shop and I swear we bought half the bakery. I got this sandwich thingy and then a piece of Sicilian cassata. It is this traditional cake that has a sweetened ricotta cheese filling covered in sponge cake with a hint of sweet liqueur. YUM! It was dusted with powered sugar. I actually didn't speak at all when I was eating it, just a slight nod to the question, "Is it good?" I found heaven in those few bites. Anyways, still no cannoli. (How does an Italian bakery not sell cannoli's?!)

Later that night we went to the Opera. I had never been to one before so I didn't know what to expect, but it was actually pretty cool. We had the script beforehand so we would know what was going on, but as I was looking around, even the Italians had them out! I thought they might be able to understand what was going on, but apparently not. Afterwards we went to this little restaurant specializing in traditional sicilian cuisine. I got baked beans as an appetizer, and sardine balls as a meal. Why, you ask, would I get sardine balls when I hate sardines? I don't even know. They just called to me. When in Rome, right? Except when in Palermo I guess... For dessert we FIIIIIIIIIINALLY got cannoli's!! *pause for effect* They were quite amazing, but mini, so I still vowed to get a big one on Sunday. Apparently though, I was the only one who enjoyed them... Sad day. Only because everyone still finished them even though they didn't like them. My belly would have made room for them.

Sunday rolled around and we woke up to the pleasant smile of Giuseppe, the guy at the front desk. NOT. We argued with him for an hour about the bill. He was trying to charge us an extra $100 just because of a miscommunication. He should have been more organized, if you ask me. Giovanni, however, was a much nicer employee. He was my boyfriend for the weekend even though he didn't know it because he didn't speak English. It was quite interesting when he would try to talk to us and we would stare at him blankly. His solution was to speak slower. Oh thanks, Giovanni, that's going to help us understand the words we don't know. After we checked out we walked outside to a pleasantly sun shiny day. NOT. It was dreary and rainy. But Christina found her cannoli's so the day instantly perked up. We walked around the beach where Alex and I found the 2 islands from LOST. Or at least they looked a lot like them. We also went on top of a mountain to get an absolutely BREATHTAKING view of Palermo. Even with the grouchy hostel employee and the rain, it was a phenomenal day.

Later that night we flew home. After I tried my hardest to calm Hillary down from the shakiest takeoff ever, we were bonding over not wanting to leave. Wait, Hillary and I bonding? STOP it! Ok fine, we're secret friends but don't tell anyone, we have to keep up appearances of not liking one another :P:P

Honestly, the city overall was kinda of dirty and partly scummy looking, but at the same time it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It was so raw. No tourist traps, no overly commercialized places. Just Italy, as the locals see it. That is what I have been trying to find here in Rome. Spending the weekend with the coolest people on the world was a pretty great perk as well :):)