(Source: quotebites, via quotebites)
Hi everyone! Here is where I will be posting all of my photos, stories, and life in Roma! I will try to update it as often as possible! I miss you all! Ciao!
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Can’t believe I leave in 5 days. This has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.
(Source: whitepaperquotes)
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Thanksgiving- Part 2
So we asked the hotel for a recommendation for a nice restaurant around the main christmas market area and they circled one on the map. So after quickly figuring out the metro system ( I love that every city I have been to besides Rome has a pretty easy and reliable transportation system) we made our way downtown to discover our love of Christmas markets. It was amazing and made us so excited for Christmas. We decided to find dinner first then walk though the market before the ballet. After getting super lost we gave up and decided to try and find a different place. On our walk back I noticed what I thought was a restaurant and we went to check it out only to realize it was the place we were looking for!! Crazy! So we had a nice dinner of Sausage and fries before walking back to the christmas market a while before heading out to the ballet. We got off the metro near the ballet and discovered a Starbucks with Red Cups!!!!!!!!! So of course we had to get something and take photos to document the momentous occasion. :) Right before we got to our seats I discovered that I had dropped a hat that I bought in Poland which I loved. I was unable to find it and was super bummed but I got a different one the next day. Anyway, so after getting kind of lost we found our seats. Turns out we were sitting in one of those opera boxes. Our tickets only cost 8 euro and were labeled limited view and we soon discovered why. We were in the second and third rows of the box and could not see a thing sitting down. We ended up standing the whole time which was fine. The ballet was just different dances all set to famous classical music. I am so glad I went and we had an awesome time. Even though we had to stand and could only see half the stage even standing, the parts I could see were amazing and the atmosphere was so fun that I did not mind. It was hard not being home on Thanksgiving but I was glad that I was able to spend it with such great friends and in such a beautiful city.
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Things I miss about home
I decided to make a list of random things I miss about home (besides family and friends and in no particular order)
1. Being able to communicate with people
2. Ice Cubes
3. Clean sidewalks (no dog poop everywhere)
4. Sitting down in a coffee shop and being able to study or have a conversation
5. Coffee to go
6. Peanut butter
7. Mexican food/ any type of ethnic food and breakfast food
8. Wireless that works
9. American TV and Candy
10. Public Transportation that is on time and does not randomly strike
11. Actual seasons
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Readjustment
I can’t believe I leave Rome in 5 days! Where has the time gone? Since my departure date is quickly approaching I decided to also make a list of things I will have trouble readjusting to once I am back home
1. Pizza and Pasta (sorry for the amount of times I might mention it but it is true!)
2. Walking on a sidewalk and not in the street
3. saying Grazi, Scusi, and ciao ( i know I will slip up and I apologize)
4. Not having to look out for vespa’s trying to kill you
5. Not traveling on the weekends
6. Coffee
7. Public Transportation (that is on time usually)
8. Having a cell phone not made in the stone age
9. Having a phone in general
10. Driving
11. Not being able to get gelato whenever
12. The ease of being able to tell a waiter sono celiaco and have them immediately understand you
13. Having to actually walk outside for class and everything (I will miss J-Force so much)
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A Thanksgiving Abroad
So I realize that I have not posted about spending my first Thanksgiving away from home and since I am procrastinating finishing my philosophy paper I figure now is a perfect time!
I spent Thanksgiving weekend in Vienna with Dylan and Greta. We left relatively early on Thursday morning because we wanted to go to the Thanksgiving meal the school threw for us on Wednesday night. Since our flight was at a normal time we were able to take public transportation to the Airport instead of a taxi. Luck seemed to be on our side as we only had to wait fiveish minutes for a bus and then the metro arrived soon after we did. In order to get to the airport we had to take a bus to the metro and then the metro to the main trainstation where we were supposed to pick up an airport shuttle bus. So we come strolling up to the shuttlebus and are told that they are leaving in exactly one minute and we need to buy our ticket inside the train station. So I go running in to buy tickets for the three of us only to have the girl in front of me become all confused and waste precious time. I end up getting the tickets (barely) and go running back outside and we are able to hop on the bus pretty much as the doors are closing. It was a close call!!
So we make it to the Vienna airport without any further problems and then have to find another shuttle bus to take us to the city center. So we find our bus and we thought the sign said it was arriving in 10 minutes. We figure the bus would arrive in 10 minutes then we load our stuff and it would leave so we go back inside to wait because we are freezing. (it was probably only in the upper 40’s but coming from Rome where it had been in the 60’s, and still is some days, it was rough. I will be unprepared for a cold Chicago winter. I have been spoiled.) So 10 minutes later we go out to see if we can get on the bus yet only to see it pulling away. Turns out the bus we wanted had been there all along but we did not see it and apparently can’t read a sign correctly either. We ended up having to wait another 25ish minutes for the next bus but we eventually made our way down to the city center and after getting a little lost we found our hotel.
We arrived at the Hotel and chilled in the room a little to get warm and figure out a gameplan for the rest of the weekend. The hotel offered a tour of Budapest which we had planned on going to on Saturday and so we decided to sign up for the tour. It was only 20 euro more then we were originally going to spend but totally worth it. We also decided to go to the State Opera House that night and see a Ballet. So we got all dressed up and went off to find a thanksgiving dinner in Vienna before going to the ballet.
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My thoughts right about now. :) But I only have to get though Saturday and turn in a paper Monday. I can do it!
(Source: gilmorisms)
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My feelings now that finals are approaching. But luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) all of my finals are on the very first day. Then I am off to explore Rome more and go to Milan for a day and a half! Can’t believe I will be home in less then three weeks.
(Source: theunicornarmy)
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Checked two things off my list!
Before coming to Rome I had made a small mental list of things that I wanted to do in Italy. This weekend I was able to check two of them off! On Saturday night I went to see my very first Opera (check 1). It was Verdi’s La Traviata and it was preformed in a church in Rome. I had an absolute blast and was actually able to understand a little of what they were saying which was a major plus. I think I am also going to see an opera in Vienna when I am there for Thanksgiving which will be a lot of fun.
Then Sunday night I went to my first calcio (soccer) game! It was Roma vs. Lecce and Roma won. We managed to get tickets on Saturday for just 6 euro and our seats ended up being 16 rows behind the goal. Not bad for 6 euro. It also helped that we were girls and got a special price. :) Sometimes I love being a girl in Italy. The atmosphere at the game was incredible. I ended up getting really into the game and was cheering just as much as some of the Italians behind me. There was a group of like 7 year old boys sitting behind us and they were so funny to listen to. They had such attitude and were constantly yelling and swearing when Roma did something wrong. I ended up getting a lesson in Italian swearwords just by listening to them. There is one more game in Rome while we are here and I just might have to go back. I will have to learn the Roma song first though so I can sing with everyone before the game starts.
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Whoops!
So I realized that I have not updated in a while. Sorry!
So a couple of weeks ago my parents came to visit. It was so nice to have them here and being able to spend time together in Rome. I got to stay in their hotel with them which was a nice break from JFRC and it felt like a mini-vacation. I had trouble remembering that I had class Monday morning and that we were not on a family vacation (minus one member) :( We hit all of the major sites in Rome and I finally got to see the Sistine Chapel which was amazing. I also got to see one of my favorite statues, Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. Then of course we ate some amazing Italian food! It was nice to eat out and not eat cafeteria food every night. Since I was in charge of navigating, it showed me how well I have come to know Rome. I was shocked that I was able to get us around without getting lost once! It was very sad to see them leave but I will be home in a little under a month so I was not as upset as I thought I would be. Also after I said goodbye to them at their hotel I had to take a taxi back to school and the driver taught me Italian on the way home which was a nice distraction. :)
I can’t believe the semester is almost over. The time has flown by!!! While I was walking around Rome with my parents, I remembered some of the other times I had been to certain locations. Once I actually sat and thought about it I was amazed by how much I have seen and done. It has been the experience of a lifetime and I will always remember the great times that I had in Rome and the great people I met while here. But at the same time, I will be ready to come back home.
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