Gelato Journal

The best thing about Rome is that no matter where I am going, I stumble upon ancient monuments and beautiful architecture. I'm on sensory overload a bit with all Rome has to offer. Monday, I went to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. Both, especially the fountain, were incredible. The area was a little touristy, with street vendors selling little toys and flowers (someone from our group got "shot" with a bubble gun) and restaurants with names like "That's Amore". After snapping about 50 million pictures of the fountain, we all went to dinner. I forget the name of the restaurant, but it was sooo good. Italians generally eat three courses for dinner (pasta, meat, and a side) so when we tried to order only two, we were forced into a third. The pasta pesto, mixed salad, house red wine, and grilled chicken sound basic enough, but they were 10 times better than any of those back home. Dinner was especially nice because we did not feel rushed. Where in America, the waiter will give you the bill as soon as your meal comes, thus ushering you out of the restaurant, in Italy, you have to ask for the bill and dinner usually takes about 3 hours. After dinner, a group of us started walking back to our apartment, but got lost for 3 hours. At least there were a lot of pretty buildings to look at along the way. It is very easy to get lost in Rome because a) The street signs are hard to find (they are on the buildings, if that) and b) I get lost everywhere.
Orientation meetings have been going on all week. They mostly consist of people talking at us about people getting robbed or raped, but I still feel pretty safe, as long as I'm with someone and have a death grip on my purse.
Yesterday I went to the Pantheon. Ancient. Incredible. Lots of pictures.
Today I took a bus tour paid for by Notre Dame. Jet lag started to kick in on this tour and I nodded off a little, but I got to see a lot of Rome and it was ancient, incredible, and I took lots of pictures.
I have had gelato every day. I'm going to keep a gelato journal so I can write down the flavors I've tried to make sure I sample every one of them. So far I've had melon, strawberry, pineapple, creme, chocolate, tiramisu, and white chocolate. Each has been a taste sensation. Everything is a sensory sensation. Despite eating a ton of gelato, I don't think I'll be gaining any weight, as I'm constantly dehydrated, never hungry, and we walk about 50 miles a day.
Today I finally got to do a little shopping (I've been staring longingly at stores as we pass their windows on mandatory orientation journeys). Things are not as expensive as I would have thought and the clothes are very cute. All the designers have stores around the Spanish Steps, so there's some good window shopping. Customer service is not the same as it is in America. People who work in stores don't greet you or help you out unless you ask them and the stores are a lot smaller.
Some other things I've noticed about Rome:
Lots of people have dogs. Dogs poop everywhere, so you gotta watch your step.
Beggars are much more theatrical. There is a little boy I've seen who stand near the Vatican and plays the violin and a woman who cries and wails. It's very sad and much more dramatic.
Women get really dressed up and wear heels. I do not know how this is possible on cobblestone streets.
I will always be recognized as an American tourist, no matter what I'm wearing.
Cars and mopeds won't run over you, but they will come close enough to give you a heart attack and kill you.
There are lots of lingerie stores.
Most places close at 1 and maybe re-open around 3. America needs national nap time.


That's it for now! Ciao!

OMG I'M IN ROME!!!

Ciao from Roma! Yesterday, after a grueling hour and a half delay and an 8 and half hour flight, I arrived in Rome at around 10:30 am. After skipping customs (don't know how that happened) and being ushered onto a bus by a skinny Italian man, we arrived at our apartments. Everything is very close together, all the buildings are different colors, and there are tiny cars and motorini everywhere. The Notre Dame group was divided into apartments of 4, 5, and 6 people. I'm in an apartments meant for 7, but there are only 6 of us living here, so we have some extra room. The apartment is pretty big, especially considering I would be living in a shoebox sized dorm room if I were at ND. We have 4 bedrooms (3 doubles and a single), two bathrooms, a kitchen, and two sitting rooms. The bedroom I'm in has a door leading out to a balcony. There's not a fantastic view (I can see some trees and another apartment) but its nice to keep the door open at night since its incredibly hot (though, keeping the door open also brings in a lot of noise from the street, but I guess its kind of fun to hear some Italian men fighting at 3 in the morning). Yesterday, a group of us walked to John Cabot University and to get there, we had to walk through St. Peter's Square. It was so incredible! Once I walked into the square, I really felt like I was in Rome.
Later in the evening, we got some gelato, which was so delicious. However, I was not so successful at ordering the gelato, since I kept stumbling over the pronunciation of Italian words, causing the gelato guys to laugh at me and respond in perfect English. Oh well, I'll eventually get the hang of it. Right now, I'm practicing my Italian by watching Italian "JAG". I don't think it's helping.
Today, a few of us went to the market to stock up on groceries. The market is the coolest place ever. Everything is very colorful and fresh and it just looks so healthy. We got the biggest grapes ever and some fresh bread and eggs and all sorts of things. The meat is displayed quite grotesquely, however, as we saw some whole pigs and cow heads. One of the stand owners was trying to convince me to buy some of his produce and handed me a fig, saying "Mangia! Mangia!" It was the sweetest fig ever and so delicious, so I bought some peaches (I accidentally called them "fish" causing a bit of confusion, since the word for fish is "pesci" and the word for peaches is "pesce"). Figuring out the amounts to buy, especially for meats and cheeses, is a bit difficult, but everyone was very nice to us, though the egg man may have overcharged us.
We went to the grocery store as well, where we got basic things like cereal and salt and yogurt. I was surprised to find a lot of the brands we have in America and some of the foods even had the "Weight Watchers" label and points on them. After grocery shopping, we got a cappuccino and drank it "al bar" (standing at the bar as opposed to being charged for sitting at a table). My mom's fear was that I would never come home from Italy, and after that cappuccino, that might happen, because I cannot imagine ever drinking an American Starbucks coffee ever again. I think I could probably only drink cappuccino for the next 4 months and be perfectly happy. We did get some catcalls during our walk around Trastevere, but they were more funny than offensive. We got a lot of "Ciao baby! I love you!" which sounds hilarious in the Italian accent, as the word "baby" is over-pronounced. I think I saw Danny DeVito in the market. Well, it wasn't really him, but there was a really short, stout, older Italian guy. Time for orientation activities! Ciao!

Summer of Movie Love

I mentioned in an earlier edition of "Blogalicious" that I have spent a great portion of the summer watching movies I had never seen before. This all started when I watched AFI's 100 Greatest Films. I didn't exactly set out to watch those 100 films, but it did inspire me to watch some movies that I've never seen, either because they came out when I was too young/not born yet or because I just hadn't gotten around to seeing them. I started out strong, watching about five movies a week, but then I slipped a bit and ended up watching all 6 seasons of Scrubs as well as the last 5 seasons of Friends. In any case, here is the list of my summer movies divided into categories.

I Can't Believe I'd Never Seen This Fantastic Movie!
The Royal Tennenbaums
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
What Dreams May Come
Summer (a Canadian film)
American Beauty
Thank You For Smoking
Pulp Fiction
See This Movie (another Canadian film)
Jaws
Children of Men

Well, At Least Now I Can Say That I've Seen It
Waiting
Girl Interrupted
Moonstruck
Mystic Pizza
The Queen
Capote
Happy Endings
Super Sweet 16
Harold and Maude
The Two Worlds of Jenny Logan (a made-for-TV movie from the 70s starring the original Bionic Woman--my mom ordered it from Amazon)

It Was Either This or Sort CDs--Movies I Watched at Work
Accepted
Shooter
Premonition
The Last Stand
The Hills Have Eyes 2

Still In Theaters
Spiderman 3
Pirates of the Carribean 3
Shrek 3
Hair Spray
No Reservations

So there you have it--my summer. There are probably some movies that I have forgotten and left out, but those are the ones that were unimportant and unmemorable (how Super Sweet 16 made it on the list, then, I have no idea). My final thoughts after watching these films--Canada makes some sweet movies. I recommend anything by Ardustry productions, especially Hatley High.