"Until Further Notice"

It used to say until Monday...

We only thought we were joking...

Alyx, Chris and I went out to Campo Di Fiori to watch the soccer game last night. Roma had a rough start but ended up winning it which I can only assume was a big deal because the ENTIRE city was out honking car horns and waving flags. We spent our 30 minute walk home, cheering and yelling with all the Roma fans. I thought it would be calm and quiet by the time we got towards the Vatican and our residence but it just kept going. 

As we walked towards the vatican we made jokes about the Pope being a Roma fan only to find an AS Roma banner in a vatican window. hmmm maybe we only thought we were joking...

1

1 week and I'll (hopefully) be flying home.



If the volcano interupts my plans, I'm moving to Cinque Terre, living in a beach town, working at a bed and breakfast, and in my spare time I'll hike and go to the beach for the rest of my life.

This could be interesting...

Volcano affecting air travel in Europe. hmm am I really leaving in 8 days?

Look what I did in Italian Class!

Tiramisu!

Not Real.

Motion

My parents and I started the day off with mass at my church, Santa Susanna, then went to the vatican to see  the Pope who was actually not there, so instead he broadcasted his blessing and sermon. Next we tried to go to the Roma game, only to find out you have to buy the tickets at least a day in advance. Oh well. The bus was sooo crowded, we were packed in as tight as possible and the fans were all singing fight songs the whole way to the stadium. It was an experience anyway, even though we didnt get into the game. These are some of the pictures I took for my final photo project "Rome in Motion".

On the move again

• We woke up and took our time getting ready then headed out to wonder around the beach which is literally right across the street from our hotel. I could totally live like the people in this town. There was a man down on the beach with his fishing poles set up. Others were out with their dogs and I also have noticed a lot of people out running in the morning. Everyone gets around by bike. We collected some pretty stones along the beach and did a little walking (although after yesterday, I’m pleased we can walk at all).


• Went back to the hotel for breakfast and then walked the town a little more before it was time to go to the train station and move onto our next destination: Pisa.

• With only 3 hours to spend there, we stopped for Panini and carried them to the lawn right next to the tower for a picnic lunch, complete with leftover wine from last night. There isn’t a whole lot to do in the town other than a few museums and shopping so it’s the perfect place for a 3 hour picnic lunch next to the tower. Oh and of course we couldn’t resist taking our turn to “hold up” the tower. 

Now back to Rome...

This place is not real.

• Breakfast in the hotel overlooking the ocean and the gorgeous mountains. I can’t believe we are still in Italy, I feel like I’m on an island. Or in a fairy tale, really. It’s not real. We at delicious cornetti- actually probably the best I’ve tasted so far, really, really good “American” coffee (they had a cappuccino maker but I realized that at this point, the American coffee is more of a treat to me), and yogurt with granola.


• Set out for our hike but first, a few stops along the way in Levanto to pick up bread and fruit.

• Began our hike through the Cinque Terre. The first and second towns were incredibly hilly and had a rocky, narrow path with a drop off down the mountain to the right. The path was lined by vineyards and trees but most surprisingly, there were often houses on the sides of mountains. I could not imagine living in a place like that! The majority of the 11K hike had a view of the sea as well. 3 of the 5 towns we passed through you could stop at the beach/sea and relax. We started off in the first town where we did not stay long enough to explore but this was the first sand beach and a great photo op. We were in awe of the clear, blue water that went further than you could see, with tall, green mountains on either side. This place is not real. When we got to the second town we bought cheese and pesto to complete our lunch and had a picnic on the rocks at the beach, under the sun. I have to say, it was nice to see colorful sun umbrellas and Italians dressed to live in a beach town (colorful and relaxed clothing). After wondering around the town a bit we headed on our way for the rest of the hike. The third town was off the trail so we didn’t stop at it. The fourth was a rocky beach where we sat for a bit on the rocks and stuck our toes in the water. The last bit of trail was only 20 minutes of walking until we got to the 5th town. At this point it was about 5:30 so we decided not to stick around. We boarded the train and headed back to Levanto.

• Had a nice dinner at a restaurant called “Le Palme” where I had seafood for an appetizer and the regionally made pasta, troffe, with seafood and olive oil sauce. Afterwards we got gelato (hazelnut and caffe) at the same place we at pizza last night and headed for the hotel.

• Had a little feel of home when Mom found the Iron Pigs afternoon game broadcast on the internet. I have to say, it was kind of weird listening to radio commercials from the Lehigh Valley and hearing “Cedar Crest” and “Rodale”. We fell asleep to the game…then I woke up a while later and it was still on. A great way to end my day.

Off to Cinque Terre!

My parents got to Rome and I picked them up at the train station around 12:30. After that we went back to my room, had lunch and reorganized then set out for Cinque Terre.

• Dad almost got pickpocketed. The distraction: 2 women on the train got into a "fight." The result: they realized all they got was his dirty, broken, old, dollar store reading classes and case. They dropped it and got off. In all seriousness, it was the first attempted pickpocket I've encountered. Pickpocket-0 Us-1

• The loudest little Italian I've ever encountered and she was no more than 6 sat near us on the train. Her mother was just as bad. She stuck stickers all over the window, yelled, talked, ran around and caused general ruckus. The guy in our box was so funny and just kept rolling his eyes. Eventually she came and joined us in our box. Loudest Italian EVER.

• I managed to get us off at the wrong Cinque Terre stop. Luckily the ticket allowed us to get on the next train. 15 minute delay but it could have been worse. Train-1 Courtney-0

• Made the 10 minute trek across Levanto litarally from one side of town to the other. I love Cinque Terre, I walked 2 streets and saw the entire town of Levanto.

• Had a late dinner at a little place right around the corner from the Garden Hotel where we are staying. Dad and I had pizza and Mom had a regional pasta with pesto.

• Back to the Hotel where the front desk guy is so helpful. Mom and I discovered the balcony which far surpasses my apartment balcony.

overall, a good start to the weekend.

Easter Sunday!

First picture is the pope splashing Holy Water. Note the positioning of the umbrella.

(Remind you of Holy Trinity in Egypt?)

Easter morning, Alyx and I trecked out to Vatican City in hopes of being able to stand outside St. Peters Square and hearing mass- and maybe seeing some of it on the screen. Turns out we were mis-informed and you didnt really need a ticket to get into the square, they were only to get into the seating area. We got a pretty good spot to watch mass but it poured the ENTIRE time except for communion. Most of the time we only got to watch on the screen but it was totally worth it.

The second picture I think pretty much defines our time in Rome- Lots of rain!

The last one is of Pope Benedict giving his Sunday Blessing which he always does at noon. This was his Easter Sunday Blessing.

Ostia Antica

Took a pit-stop on our way to the beach to visit the ruins of Ostia Antica. We anticipated no more than an hour here but realized there was tons to see. We still didnt get to see everything since we did want to go to the beach. It was definitely worth visiting and I think it would even be worth another day-trip. Great places to have a picnic lunch, ruins to explore, and an atmosphere you can't find in the city setting of Rome.

Good Friday

These are of the Papal Good Friday
stations of the cross at the Colosseum. Alyx and I attended the Candle-lit service and sat up on the hill, however there was a huge crowd on the ground, right in front of where the pope was. It was all in Italian except the titles of the stations so we had to work to understand bits and pieces but it was the experience that matters!

Midterm Week!!

I can't believe we're half way through classes and are taking midterms already!! This semester is flying!

I'll have to update about this past weekend in Pisa and Siena sometime when I have more time. Until then, I'll be studying slides for Art History on Thursday and practicing italian dialogue for the oral exam tomorrow.

And for more photo fun...

http://courtneylinrome.shutterfly.com/

for photos I took for class (and I'm trying to keep adding others from random adventures too).


Well, I'm off to Pisa and Siena for the weekend, be back Saturday night- then Roma soccer game on Sunday!!

Best discovery ever!

I've kicked the craving for american coffee.
I've kicked the constant urge to check my phone.
I've kicked the urge to text.
But I just couldn't rid myself of the craving I had for pretzles which seemed non-existant in Rome.
Today, I found pretzles. Not only did I find pretzles, I found them in "Euro Village".
yes, Euro Village- like Dollar Tree... but with Euros. Best discovery ever.

25 Years

Rome has not experienced snow in 25 years. We had some flurries in the early morning then late morning it really started falling. For about an hour, the Romans didnt know how to react. The shop keepers came out of their shops and took pictures with their cell phones. The umbrella salesmen who try to force sales on you in rain were having a blast. A woman even improvised and squeegied snow from her sidewalk in front of her store. Everyone came outside to take a look. As I walked down the street to the metro on my way to Vatican City, everyone I made eye contact with burst into a smile or even laughter becuase they just didn't know what to think of this event.

Probably one of my favorite days so far :-)

Progress?

I'm directionally challenged. Really, it took me about 2 years to finally be able to remember how to get to Ted's house and the end of this summer, I was finally able to get myself to Main St. Bethlehem without an issue for the first time. Driving stresses me out mainly because I never know where I'm going.

Here in Rome, I never have to drive which is pretty nice- I can just rely on the A & B line metros to get me to my usual destinations. However, 3 of my 4 classes are on-site classes. This means that they generally meet somewhere in the city other than the Temple University building. Sometimes they are in really easy places like the Coleseum- get right off the metro stop and you're staring at it- but sometimes its a little more difficult- especially for the directionally challenged.

Last night, in preparation for class this morning, I glanced at the syllabus for the location of my sketchbook class. This is a direct quote of what it said for today:

"February 11
Meet at bar on the Tiberine Island (Take bus 23 from Piazza Risorgimento or Bus 280 on the Lungotevere towards Trastevere)."

end of instructions.

At first glance, this looks like decent directions- but let me disect it:

• take bus 23 from Piazza Risorgimento (I've never been to this bus stop. I had no idea where it was. ok not a huge deal, I consulted a map to find out. Looked like if I took the metro to Ottaviano- one stop up, it would be right down the street from there... Hopefully)
• Or bus 280 on the Lungotevere (this might be across the street from the campus building, a 20 minute trip in itself. However, I'm not positive)
• Towards Trastevere (well that would have been helpful if it said the name of a stop to get off at...)
• and assuming we find our way "towards Trastevere," where to we meet? Meet at bar. Now let me interject by saying that bars here are not the same as the US. A bar is a coffee shop- thats where you go for breakfast to get your caffe and cornetto (pastry) and there are at least 2 or 3 on every block in the main parts of town. So lets think about this as a landmark for where to meet- "at bar on the Teberine Island." So glad I have such a descriptive land mark to find!!

So there we were, about 8 of my class mates and I with nothing but these slightly ambigous directions, a map, and our past experiences. Luckily that was enough to get us there- we did end up in the right place by some miracle. One of the guys in the class had another class in that area the day before so we were able to pick up the 280 bus at the Lepanto metro stop which worked out really well and from there we basically had to guess which stop as we got closer to the island.
I guess the point to this story- aside from the slightly humorous lack of specificity- is that the thing I fear so much has become a daily part of my life. A lot of times its frustrating and stressful but the more I'm faced with my fear, the easier it is to handle the next time. Maybe one day I'll even be able to navigate Rome :-) (ok that might be a lofty goal)

I love street vendors!

I just bought another pair of boots on a whim- 5 euro :-)

Family Dinners

These Photos were taken from Lauren's facebook since her camera got passed around last night and everyone took some pictures throughout dinner.
Shannon preparing french toast (left). Everyone awaits dinner, below.





One of the best ideas my friends have had in Rome is having "family dinners." We decided to rotate who does the cooking and everyone takes a turn to buy and make dinners. We have had great variety in what everyone has made- we have had everything from pasta to bratwurst to taco night. While one person usually volunteers to cook, often everyone contributes by helping out with the process or contributing drinks, ingredients, or sidedishes.


Last night Lauren and Shannon hosted breakfast for dinner in Lauren's appartment. The girls really went all out! Lauren scrambled 28 eggs total, with spinach, and had various cheeses to put on top. Shannon made french toast (which is really interesting to do when you're not using american style slices of bread). As far as we can tell, Rome doesnt have ground cinnamon so Shannon, Chris and I rotated turns of trying to grate sticks of cinnamon with a cheese grater.



Chris decided to make bacon in 7 different forms- the mashed potatos didnt really work out so they didnt make it to dinner. The gravy wasnt quite right either. However, the other 5 styles of bacon were fantastic. 1 pan was left plain, nothing added. One pan was dipped in honey, one pan- sugar and cinnamon (my personal favorite), a dish of sliced potatoes, bacon, and cheese which was hearty and a nice break from straight up bacon, and finally, as shown in the last picture, bottom left corner of the table, chocolate covered bacon.

French toast and scrambled eggs.

The whole gang enjoys dinner. Note the chocolate covered bacon.

Sunday

Both of these were for a study of light assignment for photography

Vatican city on a Sunday: I got lucky with this one

The Culinary Adventures of the Mystery Meat

It was one of those days. Sick, tired, a little homesick. I went to the grocery store hoping to get some beef or maybe chicken to replenish my energy. What I ended up with was a whole new story.

I paced around the meat section for a little before I discovered dinner. I didnt want to spend a lot, so I started looking at the sale section. I found a mystery meat and whipped out my dictionary. I couldnt really figure out what it was other than something involving a pig which seemed safe enough to me.

When I returned to Residence Medaglie d'Oro, I google translated the label (and may I say, Alyx opened up an amazing world for me when she suggested google translator our first week here- best translator I've used!). Turned out, I bought pork neck. So I turned to various sources including allrecipes.com which informed me that this flavorful meat was used in soup and stews.

I ended up making my first soup ever created from scratch- I simmered the meat in a pan with water, spices, and red wine for a bit then put it in our pot with even more water and seasoning and let it go for about 2 hours to create the broth. In this time I ran over to visit my favorite veggie vendor who I affectionately and creatively have named "veggie man." Veggie man has a small store across the street and about a block down from the residence which was probably the best business decision he could ever make seeing as American students tend to need somewhere to buy groceries last minute. Not only does veggie man have fruits and vegetables but he also has a small selection of pretty much anything else you would need last minute- pasta noodles, sauce, beverages, cereal, milk, eggs, snacks, and more edible treasures. He is open later than anywhere else I have found - and this includes Sundays as well- which is a relief when you approach 8:00 PM and realize you are missing an ingredient for the dinner you volunteered to make or when you plan to eat alone and find out all of your food is gone, or in this case, when you spontaneously decide to make soup from a mystery meat on a Wednesday night with no ingredients suitable for soup.

I bought some carrots, potatos and onions and returned to Medaglie where I began chopping veggies- a great experience when all you have been provided with is a dull steak knife and a bread knife and no cutting board to speak of. Anyway, long story short, I added my veggies and potatoes and realized I had told Alyx I would meet her at the school about 5 minutes from the current time.

I let my soup go for a little then turned off the burner and strolled to the Metro to go to school for Italian movie night wearing a Phillies t-shirt with a hoodie, Trojan sweatpants, and crocks with bright green socks and eating an apple while I walked. Points for being culturally acceptable: 0

When we returned from the movie, Alyx and I finally got to taste my creation. The funny thing is, just making it made the whole day feel better so imagine how great it was to finally taste it!

Can't wait for another spontaneous grocery store adventure!!

11 steps.

I'm not thrilled with the pictures I got from my first photography assignment but I liked this one (and a few others too...). This weekend, while looking at ruins and the architecture, etc. I realized something. I'm really a country-side/woods/nature kinda girl. It is my favorite thing to look at and take pictures of and appreciate. I know that's not exactly what you want to find out about yourself while you're in Rome- big city, lots of buildings, very little nature- But I know it will grow on me (and I say that with the least amount of pun humanly possible). I know I'll start to appreciate those things more as well, especially as I learn more about the city and the buildings. Until then I have my spots around the city to visit and get my fill of green.

Enjoying Tea and Wishing I understood the buses.

FYI, the bus to cavour leads you to Piazza di Cavour... Not the Cavour Metro. You would think these two are remotely close to eachother... they arent.

Sono di Allentown.

explanation of the title: other than simply the fact that i have my notecards sitting in front of me, there is a reason i chose that phrase. In italian class today my prof was going around asking everyone "di dove sei?" (where are you from?). Almost everyone in my class was from Philly which was interesting because with a few exceptions, I realized most of the people I've met are not from temple. Anyway, when she asked me, I said "sono di allentown" (I'm from allentown) at which point my prof broke out the air guitar and said "Bruce Springsteen" and i just laughed. Then i realized Bruce is from Asbury Park, NJ and thats my connection to him. Billy Joel is in fact the one who sings Allentown. It just took me a second. I didnt correct her.

Ironically, 3 people have commented on the whole Billy Joel/allentown thing since i've been here... You would think I'd get that more than I do.

As i was writing this, I thought of another story. When Alyx, Molly and I were visiting the Vatican, we stopped in this cafe/bar (they are one in the same here) for capuccino and started talking to one of the guys who works there. He asked where we were from. Molly and Alyx are both from the west coast but I told him PA. He asked if i was from Philly and I said that it was probably an hour and a half from there, but close! (at least he knew the general area i was talking about). This caused Mr. Cafe-worker to burst out into song and dance to Eye of the Tiger- incredebly out of tune. I love Italians.

Mi Piace Correre

(ok im not sure thats gramatically correct but its supposed to mean I enjoy running)

I knew it had to happen eventually. I had to give in to my inner runner. It was such a beautiful day so I packed my running clothes and shoes in my bookbag before my first class at 2. I was still feeling motivated at 3 when class let out so I threw my stuff in a locker and set out for a run. I did not determine how long i wanted to go because its been over a week since I last did any physical activity (other than walking, which i must say, i've done a lot of). From the academic building, I headed to the Villa Borghese, armed with my headphones and bright green running socks (sorry Italy, I can't be a bella figura all the time).

Villa Borghese is the only place I can think of in Rome that is suitable for running- trees, some grass, paths, and a slightly lower chance of getting hit by a car than the rest of the city. It was a really beautiful run through the gardens and beyond. I ended up going for an energizing and amazing 60 minutes (after which, i was so pumped i even did 3 minutes of planks and 1 minute of wall sits!!). It was stress relieving, beautiful, spontaneous (I really had no idea where I was going for most of the run, I mostly just picked directions to go in and returned by the same general direction), empowering, relaxing, most likely slow, but still rewarding all at the same time. I found some great hills to do repeats on once I get a few more long runs done.


I want to do a stairs workout on the Spanish Steps. Is that socially acceptable? Is it worth it even if it's not socially acceptable? I'm pretty sure the answer to that last question is yes!

Buonanotte!

Como se Dice?

If i thought i loved food before, I didnt know what i was talking about. Seriously.
Same goes for coffee.
(pictured is dinner from tonight. not sure what it was called but it included goat milk cheese and octopus [-= yummmm)
the beautiful thing about eating in Italy (aside from what my tongue finds beautiful) is the linger. Its expected. I wish all my teammates from Messiah could be here lingering with me.


Today Alyx and Molly and I visited the vatican. We didnt get to spend nearly enough time there and we all agreed we have to go back (probably multiple times) to take it all in. Seriously. You cant just do it once and be satisfied. We didnt even make it to the museums and the "cupola" (the dome).

It's so tough because as beautiful and amazing as all of this is, I can't possibly capture it with a camera. I think some days I'm going to take pictures but some days I just want to go to these places and look without a camera in my hand.

Spent the day on a walking tour led by Anita, the sketchbook professor and saw a lot of really sweet ruins, buildings, streets, etc. I had to include a typical picture of the Coliseum :-)

Again, we saw so much in such a short period of time, its hard to be able to remember it all. We were running short on time and kind of flew by a few really cool things but we have a whole semester before us- no reason not to go back a few times (especially once we have our monthly metro passes in February).

Couldnt resist taking a picture of the heart shaped foam in my capuccino!

Later that night, mario taught us about Italian cooking and cuisine and made some amazing tomato sauce with tons of spices.

Our First Dinner :-)

Alyx and I ventured out and found the market. We bought bread, spinach, bell peppers, and plum tomatoes and communicated knowing very little italian. We went to the grocery store to buy spices, cheese, and chicken (we werent brave enough to go to the butcher quite yet). We made a really tasty dinner of garlic chicken. Since we didnt have dressing for our salad we used olive oil and sauteed the bell peppers to put over the spinach to moisten the salad a bit. I think it was even more satisfying just knowing we managed to put together a meal having spent only one day in Rome!

After hours of trying to configure our computers and getting things in order, Alyx, Zach and I explored. We started at Piazza del popolo- including the Santa Maria de popolo (the church), journeyed up to the villa borguese, down the spanish steps, and back through the "trident" (3 streets stemming from the piazza del popolo). Pictured is the Piazza and my first capuccino in italy!

These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes

(anyone know that song?)


I'm sitting in the Residence right now with my two roommates who are both really cool. I'm excited to get to know them, I think we'll get along really well!

The pictures are from my first flight alone!! I took off from Maryland on Monday at 9 at which time i was served an airplane dinner of really awesome pasta, etc. Too bad I had just eaten way too many wings. I watched Julie and Julia on the plane entertainment system then listened to some Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts. Tried to sleep around midnight (U.S. time), but found out its really difficult to sleep on a plane.

I realized flying is a lot cooler in the morning when you can see outside.




















Yes, I am that immature. I couldn't resist.

Before we arrived in London, we were served breakfast too. This was strange becuase I feel like i had just eaten 2 dinners right before that. At this point I cant really tell what meal I'm eating anymore! Julie told me to take pictures of all the little things. So this one is for her- Breakfast on the plane :-) [the smell of coffee was never more satsifying than this morning on about 2 or 3 hours of broken and interrupted sleep]

At this point, I still havent been able to grasp the fact that I'll be here for over 3 months. I've been meeting tons of people and its a little overwhealming but I know things will calm down soon as we become more comfortable with each other.

Oh! and a group of us managed to find ourway from the residence to the Temple building for the pizza dinner tonight!!! So happy we figured that one out before tomorrow!

As of now, my roommate Alyx and I are planning on getting up around 8 tomorrow and wondering around the city to find breakfast, groceries for cooking dinner this week, and possibly [hopefully] a thrift store. Meetings at 1, then the rest of the day to explore :-)

Last supper. (and probably the last hot wings i'll have in a really long time)
Below is dad's sliders (this is for brandon)

Hot wings :-)

Talk to you all when i'm in rome!!

Just this moment that I need...

It was only after I took this that I realized I should have used the landscape function on my camera....

Anyway, as you may come to realize (or probably already know) I am obsessed with the sky and taking sky pictures. This is a field I pass about 30 seconds away from my house.

Still Some Christmas Left

Loaded ?'s

Craig and I drove up to the Poconos for some Munoz madness. This was the family and friends playing our new favorite game, Loaded Questions.

We met some really cool people like Justin and Dani...

And spent some quality time with the Munoz family.