THE collesuem

Ciao! I've been antsy to update yall on everything that's been happening! It's been a craaaaazy few days here with lots of exciting and fun stories to share. Starting out directly after the last post: my roommates came down to get me because we had to get international phones and we wanted to check out the colleseum. Success with the phones, but il colosseo was another story.

We left the hotel and headed in the direction we thought that the famous landmark was. We were SO excited when we ran into an ancient amphitheatre. Naturally, we figured it was the collesseum. There were security cameras everywhere and gates up to stop you from getting close (though there were no signs, was only like 1/4 of a circle, and it wasn't lit up at all for the nighttime..). I took probably 20 pictures from every angle possible, then we continued on our way exploring. As we started walking, we realized that we hadn't seen the Arco di Constantino which Debbie had been so excited about seeing - she's all about the arches. Slowly we put together the obvious pieces of the puzzle: the ruins that we ran into was NOT the colleseum. The best part: Debbie took a picture and tweeted it. People were retweeting her being like "THAT'S SO AWESOME I'M REALLY JEALOUS". SINS (that's for you page and rohan).

the REAL colosseo

We finally managed to get to the REAL Colosseum - THE colosseum haha. The arch told us we were close, we could see it from all the way down the street. It was sooooo beautiful. It was night time so they had it lit up so pretty! Again, we took loads of pictures. At least this time it was the real thing.

Headed back towards the hotel looking for some chow. Luckily we were starting to know the city and remembered the way back from our tour earlier. We were walking down one of the smaller streets and passed by the cutest looking alley..all lit up with sparkley lights and chairs outside with heaters and tents. We just had to stop and eat there. It was a darling little restaurant in the heart of Rome, but it seemed like a well-kept secret since it was tucked away so well. I had the most amazing homemade pasta with a salad, yummy bread, and we split our first bottle of vino italiano. I love how the vine comes with the dinners here, it's AWESOME. Italy was definitely a good choice for me. I don't think I could live without wine.

The plan was to go back to the hotel and freshen up before a night out on the town, but we just couldn't wait. On the way home from dinner we went straight to Scholar's Lounge - the American bar in Centro Storico. Lucky for us, it was kareoke night!! The plan was to just have a drink or two then head home, but the entertainment was too much to leave. I went with a VCR, Debbie got a kamikaze, Kaylie was feeling a Blue Eyes, and Ashley got Blue Hawaiian - I'm loving these drink names. They all split a pitcher after so I did my own thing. Ended the night with an electric lemonade..perhaps the only lemonade I've ever had that was NOT my favorite thing in the world.

Of course we had to check the list of songs to see if they had "Hey Juliet" (LMNT), but sooo sadly it was a fail. We'll have to brainstorm for the next time. We made friends with Sufi, the busboy (typical) and promised him we'd be back Sunday for the next kareoke night (KAREOKE TWICE A WEEK EVERY WEEK I'M IN HEAVEN). We spent the rest of night trying to remember his name (Sofa? Seafood? Suji? Sophie?) and laughing at all the crazy Americans singing their night away. Definitely going to hit up that place again at some point. Headed home for bed since the next day was what we've been waiting for: apartment move in day!!! I got a few skype sessions in before bed which was nice:)

The next morning we had a nice breakfast at the hotel then packed up quickly and after a long line for the elevator (they're tiny here and only fit 1 person with their 2 bags..and there were 40 of us trying to move out at once), we headed to the Prati neighborhood to see our apartment for the first time. We didn't know what to expect. We were told horror stories, probably just to not get our hopes up, about having to pull a cord for the water in the shower to come out, no washing machines, no internet, living in a closet kind of space, etc.

view from our appartamento

Our apartment is literal the complete opposite of that. It's HUGE. Audra, one of our resident directors, told us that most Roman women would kill to have the apartment that we're staying in. Kaylie, Debbie, and I share a room, but we could honestly fit 8 more people in it. I'm planning on teaching a full yoga class in my extra floor space. It's very open and sooo beautiful, in such a nice neighborhood. Ashley and Tara are in another smaller room together, and we have a dining room, full kitchen, bathroom...it's absolutely amazing. I couldn't be happier. Internet was supposed to be installed yesterday or today, but of course they didn't get around to it (ooooh italians). So we're hoping for tomorrow! The shower's a little iffy, but other than that I'm in love. And even so, I'm STILL in love.

my room!

We unpacked then decided to explore our new part of town for some dinner. After searching for awhile, we settled on Ristorante del Gracchi. Little did we know that "ristorante" doesn't just mean restaurant here...it translates to "fancy, extremely expensive, super dressy, 5 course meal restaurant." Us living-on-a-budget college students were not prepared for what was to come. I can't even explain the awkwardness of the dinner, it's like the ultimate you-had-to-be-there story. Ashley tried to stay calm while we all laughed/broke down/worried about how to tell them we only wanted one course. Debbie turned to whispering because she thought it drew less attention (fail). Kaylie just sat up as straight as she could and tried not to smile. Tara gave up and laughed at everything. It was ridiculous. At least we got free champagne and bread! Oh wait...they put those on the bill too.

We ended up getting away with only 1 course after some sneers and insulting looks from the staff. Again, SINS. Most eventful thing that happened: Debbie didn't realize that "scampi" meant a meal with prawns. She doesn't eat seafood. We sneakily switched dishes 3 times, and by sneakily i mean accidently almost breaking one of the wine glasses and clanging the plates around. Oops! We also learned that you have to ask for the check ("Il conto, per favore") or you'll literally sit there all night, they never bring it out to you. You also can't take you extra food home! So different than the US. Learning from experience is definitely the way to go, though. It provides the most entertainment and is the most fun.

emergency wine stash

We stopped by a wine shop on the way home and loaded up on the cheapest wine we could find to drink the embarrasment of dinner away. Surprisingly, but not really surprisingly, the cheapest wine here is about 4239048302423x better than ones that cost alot more at home. Hooray! We decided the first rule of the house: always have at least one bottle of wine stored away for emergencies. I don't think I'll have a problem with these roommates:)

Thursday (today) was John Cabot University orientation. Boring boring boring BUT we did learn about the activities and excursions that they offer! I think I'm going to sign up for the Venice and Verona weekend trip they offer at the end of this month. Magnifico! After orientation we decided that today was our shopping day. We needed to get food for the apartment, get a few necessities to finish moving in, and Kaylie was avid about finding some black boots. We spent the next few hours shopping around Prati. Only one casualty at the grocery store when Kaylie didn't have exact change and the cashier FREAKED out on her. We need to brush up on our grocery shopping lingo before we go back next time!

I'm feeling very good about my Italian. I'm surprised at how easily it comes for me! Every day I feel like I'm learning or remembering new phrases. For fun we like to sit around and just read phrases out loud from our pocket dictionaries. Somehow, I feel like the phrases are sticking. It must be all those years of Latin and Spanish paying off.