Life is returning to normal after Brandi Ply’s whirlwind visit. She arrived on Thursday night, November 9^th, and the next morning we were off to Germany. Except our flight was cancelled while we were in line to board, so we lugged our stuff all the way home, went back to bed, and then schlepped back to the airport later that night. We finally got to Frankfurt at midnight, instead of 10:00am, so we lost a whole day. We were picked up by John and Marita Mettar, friends of my family. We stayed with them for our (short) weekend. They were very gracious and took us all over their little town and across the Rhine. On Saturday night we had dinner in a CASTLE, a special dinner for the St. Martin’s feast! We received a shoutout for being “special American guests”. The scenery in Germany was so beautiful; I kept humming songs from the Sound of Music to myself (I know, different country… but same vibe)

                                                                                             (across the Rhine)

                                                                                                                                                                    (St. Martin bread man!)

                            (dinner in a castle, yay!)                                                                              (the hills are alive...)

           (John and Marita)

Back in Rome I did all the touristy stuff with Brandi. We thoroughly enjoyed the Roman Forum and our day at the Vatican. We saw the Pope speak, and the cardinal who spoke before him gave a shoutout to different groups in attendance, including the Franciscan University of Steubenville, ha! On the day I happened to be there. Although, knowing Steuby U., they probably have a group there everyday! We decided to climb the million steps up to the top of the Cupola of St. Peter's.  The view of the city was amazing from there!  The Forum was incredible too; I can’t believe I hadn’t been there before. I may go there just to hang out or read a book. Sit around where ancient Romans walked and where Julius Caesar’s body was burned, oops. Beware the Ides of March!

   (fountain at Spanish Steps)                   (Vittorio Emanuele)

                               (Trevi Fountain)                                                                                                          (Pantheon)

      (inside the Pantheon)                   (Castle San Angelo)                                                        (St. Peter's)

(The Roman Forum:  this thing I'm touching?! Really really old!!)

                                                      (Our Vatican Day of Fun!)

                                                                                                                                                 (inside St. Peter's)

(views from the top of the dome of St. Peter's!)

After a few days in Rome, we flew to Prague. Prague was so beautiful! (And apparently they love their Jaromir Jagr in Prague.) We walked all over: Old Town Square with the Clock Tower, Wenceslas Square, Charles Bridge. I made the customary wish at the famous statue of St. Joseph of Nepomuk, and we drank mulled wine (gross) and ate apple strudel (yum!) We also visited several churches, as well as Prague Castle. (I want a castle!)

       (clock tower)                                                 (Old Town Square)

                                  (Wenceslas Square)                                            (Good King Wenceslas)        (National Museum)

                                     (Prague Castle!)

                                                  (Statue of St. John of Nepomuk)

                                                                                                                                                   (John Lennon Peace Wall)

I can’t believe I only have three weeks left in Rome. My flight leaves on December 14^th for home. I couldn’t be without my family for Christmas. Thanksgiving was weird enough. And after the holidays, I have no idea what I will do next: maybe get a job in Pittsburgh, Dallas, NY, or maybe even return to Rome. We’ll see where the wind takes me!

I know I have been slacking lately, and it’s been awhile since I have updated my website, but I haven’t been traveling too much so I didn’t really have any exciting pictures or stories to share. But here’s what I’ve been up to lately:

I still go to class every single weekday, for 3 hours everyday. Class is from 11-2pm. September was the pre-beginners course, October was beginners, and now we have begun intermediate. It’s getting hard, learning all of the tenses and conjugating verbs, etc. But I definitely feel more comfortable with speaking Italian now.

Two days a week after class, I travel to the home of an Italian family and tutor their 16 year-old daughter in English. The family is so sweet. The first night I went over, they cooked a wonderful dinner and told me I couldn’t leave in December, that I should stay in Italy. They also invited me to their country home in Tuscany for a weekend, all on the first night I met them! I only get paid 30 euros a week, but it is worth it because I get to practice my Italian a little too. The mother speaks no English whatsoever. Oh, and every Tuesday I still go to Cinecitta for my little internship-thingy.

At night during the week I cook dinner or go out to dinner with my roommates or other friends. I do my homework (yuck!) or watch movies. Every Thursday my friend Tim hosts a “Lost” party. We all go over his place and bring food and we eat and then watch the newest episode of Lost, which he downloads from iTunes.

And of course on the weekends I go out and about on the town with my roommates. During the day I try and see something in Rome. This past weekend I went to the catacombs. They are ancient Christian burial tunnels outside the walls of Rome. So fascinating to walk down these tiny corridors deep underground, looking at tombs and paintings and frescoes that are almost 2,000 years old. And at night I go out. Sometimes we go to Campo De Fiori, a square in the center of Rome with a bunch of pubs, where all the English-speaking people in Rome hang out. But other times we head to Testaccio, a section of town filled with bars and clubs, where the ltalians hang out.

On Thursday, Brandi get here, yay. We’re going to Germany on Friday for the weekend. Then we’ll spend the week here in Rome, and then the following Thursday we’re going to Prague for the weekend. So I’ll have many more picture to share after that. So excited!  Some pictures of me and Rome

(Tiber River)                                (dining al fresco)               (Castel San Angelo)             (George, me, Andres at catacomb entrance)

        (Andres is my friend from Mexico)                                            (Dinner with Mika, Donato, and Gian Maria)

 (click on any pic for better view!)

               (my roommates!  Reanne, Giovanna, Katja)                                                     (Phil and Alex, dancing with his scooter helmet on!)

No new pictures to post, but today was my first day of school! I am taking an intensive Italian class, 3 hours a day, 5 days a week.  The entire program is 6 months long, and I'll have 3 months done by the time I come home for Christmas, and hopefully be close to fluent!  I was looking forward to class, not only to learn, but also as a way to meet new people and make new friends.  However, today didn't go exactly as planned.  There are only about 10 people in my class: a couple of Chinese nuns, a couple Brazilian girls, a couple Japanese guys, and a male Palestinian dancer. So not only am I the only American, I'm the only one who speaks English!  Oh well.  Actually, the Palestinian dancer speaks a little English.  Maybe he'll be my friend. 

I also have a job, sort of.   It's an internship, except here they call it a "trainingship."  I am interning at Cinecitta, the Italian version of a Hollywood movie studio!  On the studio lot is a old-time New York set where Gangs of New York was filmed, a submarine from U-571, and pieces of the tunnel sets from Daylight.  One of the guys I met on craigslist works there and he arranged it for me.  I don't get paid right now, unfortunately, but he said as his firm gets hired for individual jobs there may be money involved.  At least it's something I can put on my resume. My first day was last Friday.  All I did was help write some email blasts promoting the company to American studios, and helped answer phones. But it was cool to be on the studio lot!  The first thing I saw as I was walking to my building was a couple of actors strolling around in full ancient Roman garb.  They film parts of the HBO series, Rome, here. Maybe I’ll get to meet James Purefoy! Mmmmm….

That’s all for now. This weekend is Notte Bianca, “white night.” All the shops, museums, and attractions in Rome are open all night long, and all the streets are closed off for bands to play, etc. There is so much going on that they divide it into 5 themes: poetry, mystery, games, music, and party. Yay!

 August 18, 2006

VENICE

Our last stop on the trip was Venice.  It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be.  Rome has around 3 million people, and Venice has about 64,000? Water taxi rides are kind of expensive, so we walked around a lot.  I wore a pedometer just out of curiousity, and we logged over 10 miles in one day.

Venice was beautiful, and so romantic.  Christeen was missing her boyfriend as we walked through St. Mark's square at night, with the orchestras playing outside, and as we saw couples enjoying gondola rides.  I was missing... oh I don't know...Nikolas from General Hospital?  Jack from Lost? Maybe Chris Cornell....yum. Any of them would be nice to enjoy Venice with.

                               (St. Mark's square...and pigeons)                                                               (St. Mark's church)

                                                              (inside St. Mark's)                                               (Outside)

(Ahhh, Venice!  Just like in Indiana Jones)

 August 14, 2006

CINQUE TERRE

I was most excited for this stop on our tour.  I had heard amazing things about the Cinque Terre.  "Clinging defiantly to the steep coastline, the five villages that make up the Cinque Terre - Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore - are among the most charming in Italy."  The five little villages were linked by train, and we were to stay in 2 of the 5 over the course of our 3 nights there.  They also have hiking trails that connect all 5 villages.  The entire hike takes about 5 hours.  We hiked about halfway then called it a day.  This was supposed to be the laid-back, beachy part of our vacation, but again the weather was not cooperating.  It rained 2 of our 3 days there.  Since they are tiny villages, there's not much to do when it rains.  We started to go a little nutty and napped a lot, trying to bide time until it was time to go eat again, ha.  We tried all the local specialties, including fish ravioli, fresh anchovies with lemon juice, and fresh pesto.  We found a place that one of our guidebooks recommended, Il Pirata.  "The Pirate" is a pastry shop owned by twins Massimo and Gian Luca.  They make delicious homemade pastries, and we looked forward to having breakfast there everyday, enjoying our chats with the flirtatious brothers.  They also specialize in marzipan, and have all sorts of shapes of marzipan candy, including mounds of poo.  I swear.  Look at the picture!  It can't be anything else but poo.

Even though it rained a lot, the Cinque Terre is a wonderful, beautiful place.  I would love to go back again! 

                                                                                                    ("Il Gigante" statue)

(above, 1st pic: vineyards along the coastline of Manarola)

(Il Pirata: Massimo and GianLuca)                                               (See?! A bunch of fruit, and then behind it....poo!)