The eternal city
So this is my fifth day in Rome and I'm loving this city. The 16 hours of flying were agony, but it was all worth it. At first, I was a bit overwhlemed and homesick. The city is just so big and busy. There's so much to do, I simply had no idea what to do, if that makes sense. After a couple of days, though, I got comfortable and I'm having a great time.
I am living in an apartment with three other UW students in the program. Our apartment is small but it's pretty nice. The only downsides are the phone-booth sized shower and we have no dryer. All we have is a clothesline out the window, suspended 20 or 30 feet above a courtyard, surrounded on all sides by other apartments. If anything fell, I don't know how I'd ever get it back. I should probably look for a laundromat. We live near the train station, which is extremely convenient for travel purposes, although we've pretty much been walking everywhere (which is just killing my feet; I really hope they toughen up soon). It takes about 30-40 minutes to walk to the UW Rome Center, which was a bit of a chore at first, but the more we do it, the shorter it seems. It's a nice walk, too, as we go by some old cathedrals and right in front of the amazing, gargantuan Victor Emmanual monument. The collisseum and forum are also visible on our walk. Walking in this city was terrifying at first, and really takes some getting used to. There are traffic lights, but most Roman drivers only take them as a suggestion, not a law, and many streets have no lights at all, so knowing when to cross can be a bit of an adventure. Luckily, this town is to busy that there are usually actual natives walking about, and we can cross with them.
Our apartment came with a TV, which is nice. We have a satellite reciever, but every channel just says "no signal." We also can't get cell phone service in the apartment. These two phenomena must be related. My best guess is that our walls are made of lead. But we don't have a land-line phone. We were given a cell to use as a house phone, but even outside, where there is reception, it doesn't seem to work very well. Anyway, we can watch a few channels on the TV. It's pretty interesting to see American shows and movies dubbed into Italian. I also watched "Chi vuol essere milionario?" yesterday, which our more astute readers may be able to figure out is "who wants to be a millionaire?" It was incredible, it had the same cheesy music and lighting, the same set, and the same structure as the American version, except, of course, it was all Italian. I was actually able to understand a lot of it. It helps, of course, that all the questions are spelled out on the screen, but even so, game show Italian is a lot more simple than news Italian, or the Italian I overhear people speaking to each other on the street. Of course, the qestions were nearly impossible, because they dealt with Italian culture and history, of which I know very little.
The food here is simply incredible. It's almost unfair that one country should have so much delicious food. I may have to give up eating when I get home, because it can't compete. I've yet to have a meal that wasn't delicious. They have the best sandwiches here. They're very simple, just prosciutto and cheese (I think it's mozzerella) on bread, and grilled. They're cheap, too, at only 2 or 3 euros. Pizza and pasta are also affordable and delicious, but for some reason, Coke is more precious than gold here. It costs 2 euros to get a large bottle at most places. I've seen beer here that's cheaper than Coke. It makes no sense at all. I've been eating chocolate croissant things for breakfast the last couple days, which are incredible as well. But so far, my favourite thing is the gelato. I had it twice on Friday, my first day in town, and have had it every day since except yesterday. I'll have to make up for it today. The best flavor I've had so far is tiramisu (though I have yet to try an actual tiramisu here), although stracciatella (chocolate chip) is great as well. This is all I have time for now. I'll write more soon.
I am living in an apartment with three other UW students in the program. Our apartment is small but it's pretty nice. The only downsides are the phone-booth sized shower and we have no dryer. All we have is a clothesline out the window, suspended 20 or 30 feet above a courtyard, surrounded on all sides by other apartments. If anything fell, I don't know how I'd ever get it back. I should probably look for a laundromat. We live near the train station, which is extremely convenient for travel purposes, although we've pretty much been walking everywhere (which is just killing my feet; I really hope they toughen up soon). It takes about 30-40 minutes to walk to the UW Rome Center, which was a bit of a chore at first, but the more we do it, the shorter it seems. It's a nice walk, too, as we go by some old cathedrals and right in front of the amazing, gargantuan Victor Emmanual monument. The collisseum and forum are also visible on our walk. Walking in this city was terrifying at first, and really takes some getting used to. There are traffic lights, but most Roman drivers only take them as a suggestion, not a law, and many streets have no lights at all, so knowing when to cross can be a bit of an adventure. Luckily, this town is to busy that there are usually actual natives walking about, and we can cross with them.
Our apartment came with a TV, which is nice. We have a satellite reciever, but every channel just says "no signal." We also can't get cell phone service in the apartment. These two phenomena must be related. My best guess is that our walls are made of lead. But we don't have a land-line phone. We were given a cell to use as a house phone, but even outside, where there is reception, it doesn't seem to work very well. Anyway, we can watch a few channels on the TV. It's pretty interesting to see American shows and movies dubbed into Italian. I also watched "Chi vuol essere milionario?" yesterday, which our more astute readers may be able to figure out is "who wants to be a millionaire?" It was incredible, it had the same cheesy music and lighting, the same set, and the same structure as the American version, except, of course, it was all Italian. I was actually able to understand a lot of it. It helps, of course, that all the questions are spelled out on the screen, but even so, game show Italian is a lot more simple than news Italian, or the Italian I overhear people speaking to each other on the street. Of course, the qestions were nearly impossible, because they dealt with Italian culture and history, of which I know very little.
The food here is simply incredible. It's almost unfair that one country should have so much delicious food. I may have to give up eating when I get home, because it can't compete. I've yet to have a meal that wasn't delicious. They have the best sandwiches here. They're very simple, just prosciutto and cheese (I think it's mozzerella) on bread, and grilled. They're cheap, too, at only 2 or 3 euros. Pizza and pasta are also affordable and delicious, but for some reason, Coke is more precious than gold here. It costs 2 euros to get a large bottle at most places. I've seen beer here that's cheaper than Coke. It makes no sense at all. I've been eating chocolate croissant things for breakfast the last couple days, which are incredible as well. But so far, my favourite thing is the gelato. I had it twice on Friday, my first day in town, and have had it every day since except yesterday. I'll have to make up for it today. The best flavor I've had so far is tiramisu (though I have yet to try an actual tiramisu here), although stracciatella (chocolate chip) is great as well. This is all I have time for now. I'll write more soon.