VISITORS (continued) !

picnic!

Weekend weekend yayyyyy. Thursday was an awesome day. We woke up early for prepare for the day. India and Dad met us at my apartment around 9:30 and we headed to the market. Plan for the day: picnic in Villa Borghese. We got lots of yummy fruits, veggies, cheese, ham, and bread for our picnic! Everyone went back to the apartment to prepare for our meal, and I ran to Billa to grab some last minute additions (oil, vinegar, parmesan, and a Kinder chocolate sopresa egg for Indy). Last stop before heading to the park was the wine store. Perfecto.

india loved the fresh pomogranite!

We hopped on the metro and made our way to Villa Borghese. It's a beautiful walk from Piazza del Popolo. We passed a pretty view of Rome, a few parks in between, and picked out a nice picnic spot in Borghese. Eating time!! We unloaded everything from the various backpacks - fresh mozzarella cheese, prosciutto from Parma, freshly baked bread, a yummy salad Dad made before leaving the apartment with our new veggies, some apples, pomogranite, kiwi, olives, oil and vinegar, blood red oranges, strawberries, cherries, and topped it off with some white wine. YUM. It was one of my favorite Rome meals (and days) so far. We sat in a sunny spot on the grass and ate & ate. It was a beautiful day. India even ate so much that she burped - that's the first time she's stuffed her tummy with food other than plain pasta since she's been here. SUCCESS!!!!

helping india with a handstand

We relaxed in the sunshine to rest off our lunch. Dad took a little nap, and India and I did some yoga moves in the grass. Zach was relaxing, taking pictures of Innies and me from afar. I got out my big camera for photo class and got a few good shots of India and Zach as my models. I'll print them in the next few weeks and post them for you to see:)

After a couple hours of lunching and playing, we walked around the park to the ZOO! It was fun to see all the animals. India really liked the monkeys and the elephants. We watched the monkeys forever - they were so funny!! There were the cutest little babies. The baboon came right up to the glass and was looking right at us, it was awesome. We saw zebras, lions, monkeys, bunnies, wild dogs, giraffes, goats, these weird looking puff ball animals, and so so much more! It was nice to just mozy around the park all day.

monkeying around at the ZOO

Time for our afternoon rest. Dad headed back to the hotel, and the rest of us came back to the apartment. We rested up, I caught up on the blog a little, Zach thought about studying for his hydrology test on Monday, and India had some peanut butter crackers. Dad met us at our apartment for dinner time! We had made a reservation at a place near Piazza del Popolo, so we took the metro there and walked a little ways to Gusto - an Italian/Pacific Rim restaurant. It was wonderful! We got lots to eat (as always). I got the gnocchi, Dad got 2 courses (a pasta then fish), Zach got some pasta as well, and India tried the chicken stir fry. We got appetizers, a cheese platter of cheese from Lazio, and some yummy dessert as well. Veryyyy good. The seafood night was still my #1 though!

wetting the wall with designs

Dad and India grabbed a cab from the restaurant, and Zach and I walked home since it wasn't too far. Also, we needed to walk off all the food from the week haha. It was a chilly night, but by the time we got home we were nice and warm from our brisk walk. It was late, so we just hungout and relaxed together. Yay for a great day!

the Butlers frescoing!

On Friday, we reserved the morning for fresco painting. I had some frescoing to do and India was really excited to help me with it, so we all trekked over to the art building. I taught them all about the process and everyone joined in to help. The boys realized why they were invited along - the mixing is QUITE and arm workout! Dad helped me put on the sandcoat, Zach mixed and was an expert cleaner, and India helped with painting. It was a loooong morning - it took about 3 or 4 hours to finish everything. But we got it done, and now they know how to fresco! Yippeee!

zach's an awesome mixer :)

After frescoing everyone was pretty hungry. We walked around the corner and dropped in a little cafe. My hands were so dry I poured a little olive oil on them to help, but I went a little overboard and my hands were dripping with oil. Oops! After a quick lunch of pizzas and pastas, we decided to just wander around the area. India made a list of things she needed to do before she left: presents for people, chocolate egg every day, chocolate eggs to bring home, eat a crepe. I think we can handle that. We decided to get the crepe out of the way now, so we walked to Trastevere (tre-STEV-er-aye - Dad always pronounced it TRA-stev-AIR-aye haha). I showed them around where my 2 academic campuses were and we got India a crepe at one of the gelaterias nearby. Dad was excited because we got to walk on the 1 solely walking bridge in Rome (Ponte Sisto).

photo store!!

Next stop: Jewish Ghetto. Since I'd never been and Dad really loved it, we decided to head back. Zach told me about this amazing vintage photography shop that they'd spent a couple hours in earlier in the week, so we attempted to find it again. On the way to the ghetto, India found a nice Italian colorful leather wallet. Success! It was so cool to be in a completely different part of town for the first time. Dad and Zach found the photo shop from memory. It was incredible. There were probably hundreds (could I possibly say thousands? estimating numbers isn't my strong suite) of old photographs - landscapes, portraits...special moments in peoples' lives that they captured years and years ago. It was so cool. Every picture I saw was like flipping back through time and teleporting me into that moment. I'm for SURE coming back to this shop. Jada, you would die if I took you here!! It was so dangerous.. I could spend so much money in that store haha.

best.shop.ever.

Dad bought me 2 that I couldn't live without. They're really beautiful. One is a great shot of a buddhist monk bowing in front of an open door - the shadows and feelings evoked are amazing. The other is an Indian man sitting cross-legged with a beautiful landscape behind him and a huge clay pot, staring dead into the camera and laughing with all his heart. Ahhh. Absolutely incredible. I had to narrow down to those 2 from about 40 pictures that I'd pulled aside. India was a great helper. We found some silly pictures of cats too that she liked. Dad got a great shot of a man climbing beside an amazing looking tree. Zach had bought a climbing picture the last time he was in the shop, so he only stayed inside for about 20 minutes before going to sit outside. I wanted to make sure everything was alright, and when I asked he said "if I stay in there any longer I'm going to buy out the whole store." Understandable! He studied a little outside while we looked around for about an hour and made our decisions. New favorite shop? I think yes.

zach and me with an awesome grafitti saying
"ti amo da qui...alla fine del mundo...di nuovo qui...all'infinito"

After a successful shop we walked back over to Trastevere. We walked along the river a ways to check out the grafitti (aaaand because Zach wanted to see the flow of the river. oooh environmental science majors...), then wandered in and out of shops. Zach found a cool screen-print shirt shop and got a couple things. We saw all kinds of cool stuff. We even found a Nepal shop with prayer flags, awesome rugs, symbols, singing bowels, etc!! I got mala beads that I've been meaning to get for awhile for meditation. I haven't spent much time in this area other than just going to class, but it's really neat. Yay for visitors expanding my Rome knowledge!! We were getting a little hungry and it was starting to get dark, so we narrowed down a couple places for dinner. One of them was up on Janiculum Hill, which was supposed to be a beautiful view and wasn't too far. We settled on that.

grafitti by the river!

The walk was awesome - definitely a calf workout! It was a pretty steep climb to the top of the hill, but the view was fantastic. We got to the restaurant 30 minutes before it opened (Antico Arco is what it was called - looked yummy!), and India and Dad were tired so they hungout outside to wait for it to open. Zach and I walked around the Aurelian walls nearby trying to find the best view of the city. We found a cool fountain that we thought would have a great view, but when we got there the view was covered by construction material! BOO! Zach was tall enough to see over the top and I peeked through a hole in the screen until he lifted me up to see over the top. So gorgeous. Ahh, Romaa:) We walked back to the restaurant just in time for the opening. Perfecto!

pretty rome

This restaurant slowly made its way to #1 as the night went on. We started out with fresh, homemade (that day) bread. Some were stuffed with olives, others with onions, sesame seeds, of walnuts. SO GOOD. We tried an incredible white wine called Le Case or something like that. I'm going to have to give you a play-by-play because it was just too good. We started with appetizers: onion pie with a light cheese fondue and squid in a mint/lemon sauce. They were gone in a matter of seconds, after lots of ooohing and aaahing. They also brought us a free little appetizer called a croquette (different than the paris croquettes). They're little fried balls filled with different things - tonight they were potatoes. We tried some the other night that were stuffed with fish and India liked those a lot. We went all out this meal and each got a first course AND a second course (my stomach was hating on me later, but it was just too good to pass up). India got her signature plain pasta and nibbled on some of mine.

squid soup thing appetizer

My first course was one of the best foods I've ever tasted: risotto with a sharp cheese that came with a red wine/cinnamon/other seasonings sauce that you poured on overtop. It. was. amazing. Zach got lasagna stuffed with squid with this yummy yummy sauce on top. Dad got a seafood-y pasta that was also great. It was cool because they brought little mini bowls of each of the dishes so that we could all test eachothers. Nice technique! (especially because I was reluctant to share mine!) Second course: I got lambchops with some potato-y thing underneath, Zach got a sirloin steak that was TO DIE FOR, and Dad got some fish. I'm just going to let you all imagine the most amazing taste you could ever think of, and know that this was at least 3 times better. I was in awe. YUM!! I'm so thankful for my Dad coming so that I can get a taste of the best of Roma! :)

SUPERmousse!

Dessert was wonderful. Our tummies were so so full, so Dad and India got strawberry sorbet, but Zach and I couldn't resist the "supermousse"! We split the supermousse - chocolate mousse with malt balls and white chocolate - and a mandarin sorbet. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Dessert wine came with that, followed by shots of expresso to help with digestion - that was MUCH needed. Zach took pictures of everything we ate because it was just THAT good haha. I'm going on and on, but I just can't explain it! Sooo I'll move on now.

Dad and Indy grabbed a cab home. It was a little walk back to the apartment (about an hour), but Zach and I were up for it. I'm so glad that we did - it was a gorgeous walk! The views of the city walking down the hall was ridiculous. The hour walk turned into about a 2 hour walk because we kept stopping to absorb the beautiful city. We decided on another detour after we got to the bottom of the hill. Vatican City was right near us, so we walked over to St. Peter's square. I'd never actually been in the square although I've walked by it every day on the way to school. We sat on the ground and took everything in. It was such a pretty building!! I couldn't believe that tomorrow would be the last full day with India, Dad, and Zach for 2 months. Yes, I love Rome, but seeing them makes me remember how much I love being with my family and friends, too. Goodbyes are always hard! BUT one more day of fun left before we have to think about that.

st. peter's basilica at night

We made it back to the apartment after a long day of exploring. What a day! My stomach was hurting alot, so I took some digestion meds and we went to sleep. I need to work on my proportions here, it's too hard to control yourself when you're at restaurants like the one that we went to!!

Saturday we decided to do another day of wandering since that was so successful on Friday. Zach and I met Dad and India at their hotel around 11. The goal for the day was to get gifts for people back home, so we wandered up and down Via Nazionale for awhile. We checked out some cool shops and were quite successful in our gift-picking-out-age (thanks to Zach's tallness - he could see everything in the store right away!). We were getting hungry, so I took everyone to the Kebab place by my house. I know I've told you about this before - the mystery meat (lamb perhaps?) in tortillas with sauce etc that is SO SO GOOD. India got a pizza and the rest of us ate our kebabs happily. Dad and Zach were loving it! I'm glad I could show them a little local eating:)

fam in front of Old Bridge Gelateria!

Dad picked up his slick jacket that he got tailored a few days ago from a Roman suit shop. He looked so sharp! He put it on right away and wore it for the rest of the day. Perfecto! We walked to Vatican City afterwards. We weren't feeling like waiting in line and going on a 3 hour tour of the whole thing, so we just hung out in the square and looked around at everything. I'm definitely seeing the Sistine chapel at some point, but I'm hoping Father Charles can take me so I can skip the 3+ hours line. FINALLY we went by Old Bridge Gelateria - the best gelato in Rome! My roommates were teasing me for not having gone yet since it's so amazing, and now I understand why. The rumors are true..it was the best gelato EVER EVER! I got blood red orange, chocolate, and ricotta/cinnamon flavors. Yum. Definitely hitting that up again. Alot.

Innies and Dad were tired, so I gave them the keys to my apartment since we were nearby and Zach and I finished the gift search. Dad wanted some nice olive oil, so we went to a shop we saw near the Spanish Steps. On the way we ran into Ashley with her visitors - how exciting! We grabbed a capuccino then were on our way. We found the store, picked out some olive oil, then searched for some of the wines we'd tried over the past week. We were semi-successful. We found Zach's dessert wine from the night before (Mufatta) and the famous wine of Italy (Brunello di Montalcino), but left with no wine - too expensive for our budget.

long day, but st. peter's is gorgeous!!

We were exhausted from the long few days, so we wandered to the Spanish steps, got some soda (2 sodas for 8 euro IS THAT A JOKE), and sat on the steps people watching. There were sooo many people out. I guess because it was a gorgeous day (60s, blud skies) and the weekend, and spring breaks are starting up. We laughed at the selling strategies of the vendors, shooed some of them off (one actually came up to me when Zach and I were mid-conversation and poked me with a rose "miss? miss? rose for you?", which didn't end up well for him haha. Zach's "new york roots" as he called it came out. SINS.

Around sunset we headed back to the apartment to check up on India and Dad. They were relaxing and resting up for dinner, but had a few more errands to run before heading back home in the morning. I gave them directions to places nearby for their needs and they ran out while Zach packed up and I took a baby nap. We decided on dinner near India and Dad's hotel tonight. There was a wine bar that sounded good, so we went there. It was very gourmet-like, but they still managed a special plain dish for India! I was still full from the week of incredible eating, so I just got a light gnocchi that Zach shared with me. Dad got some swordfish that was incredible, and Zach got sirlion! We had a couple good appetizers as well - a cheese platter, salami platter, and something else that was really good but I don't know exactly what it was haha. The wine was really great - we tried 2 different reds and a dessert wine.

India was worried that Zach would forget the flash drive that I was importing pictures from the week onto for her, so she wrote out a VERY descriptive plan for him of ways to reach her. She's crazy crazy! Haha she gave him her class schedule, drew a map of st. catherines and the neighborhood with her friends' houses listed, facebook name, emails, etc etc. Hopefully he'll be able to follow those directions to get it to her! She also played a couple games of MASH with us that turned out with interesting results. Silly silly girl:)

After dinner, we walked Dad and India back towards their hotel. At our bus stop, we said our goodbyes. Their plane left early Sunday morning, so I wouldn't be seeing them again until I come home in May. So sad! The week went by too fast!! Lots of hugs and kisses, then they were off. Zach and I caught our bus back to the apartment, with a few tears shed on the way.

The apartment was hopping when we got home with visitors and everyone staying in tonight, but we still got to talk some and chat about the week. It was nice. We were both exhausted (as always), so we went to bed. Zach's flight was at 10:30am, so we left the apartment at 7. It was a sad metro then train ride to the airport! Two months is too long, but my experience here is definitely worth it. It's just hard being so far! BUT I'm loving every minute and in no way regret studying abroad - it's such a great, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That doesn't make saying goodbye any harder though! I stayed on the train back to Termini and Zach headed towards his plane home. Sighhhh.

It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with my family and Zach here in Rome. I loved that I could show them around and teach them everything I know, but at the same time they introduced me to new places and encouraged me to try new things and explore Rome even MORE! It was such an amazing week. Definitely worth the pounds gained and exhaustion. More than worth it.

visitor time!

It's been so long since I've posted, I am so so sorry! India, Dad, and Zach are visiting so I haven't had much down time. Also my crazy insane honors midterm was today so FINALLY that's overwith and I can update yippee!

me and zach!

SO. Where to begin? I suppose we'll start with Friday. I woke up early to meet Zach at the airport. I squeezed in a nice yoga session beforehand, then took the train to the arrivals gate at Fiumicino. His plane was a little late, so I wandered around the airport a little bit. It was fun to see people reuniting - hugs and kisses and smiles galore. He finally arrived (YAY) and was a complete zombie haha. He walked out of the terminal and looked around like he had no idea where to go - I guess that was pretty valid though. It was so good to see him!! He exchanged some money, then we began the treck back to the apartment. After struggling a little with the ticket machine, we hopped on the train, transferred to the metro, and made it back in one piece. As soon as Zach hit the bed he was out. He took a nice long nap while I made puppy chow with the JIF peanut butter (YES) and chex that he brought me (i used nutella instead of melted chocolate - AMAZING) and watched Gnomeo and Juliet (cutest movie ever by the way). I got a little studying in for my midterm too.

For dinner we decided to walk to Storico Centro. It was an easy walk, just across the bridge. We ate at a nice restaurant right on Piazza Navona. It was sprinkling a little bit and had been raining on and off all day, but we were nice and warm with the heater beside us. The bottle of wine helped, too:) We both tried different authentic Italian pastas yum yum yum. Jet lag was still hitting Zach pretty hard, so we headed home after dinner and watched a movie before bed.

On Saturday, India and Dad arrived! They called us from their hotel once they settled in around noon, so Zach and I headed over to meet them. They were worn out from all the traveling, but we made it out to a nice lunch at a little diner by their hotel. They're staying near Termini, which is convenient because that's a main bus/metro stop. Perfecto! We split a couple pizzas and tried a cheese platter. Dad was pretty exhausted still, so he headed back to the hotel. India came with us back to my apartment. We wandered around Cola di Rienzo for a little while looking in the shops, then rested in the apartment until dinner time. The plan for dinner was a place that Dad had read about in his Rome tourist book. He was craving seafood and it was apparently the best seafood in Rome, so we headed that direction.

India throwing coins into the Trevi

Not only was this the best seafood in Rome, but it was the best FOOD in Rome. So. Amazing. The restaurant was right by the Pantheon, so we stopped by and took a few pictures there before making our way to dinner. The restaurant was called Quinzi & Gabrielli. I was so overwhelmed looking at the menu - everything sounded so amazing! We were all totally lost on what to get, so I asked the waiter what his favorite was. He smiled, picked up our menus, and told us he would make us very happy that night. He went over everything he'd bring out to us, but I didn't understand half of it. I hoped for the best. And the best is what we got. We started out with wonderful bruschetta, then came our first appetizers. I don't even know what we ate. It was just so so so so good. The 3 course meal included swordfish, seabass, prawns, lobster, calamari, tuna, oysters...literally one of the best meals I've ever eaten. Dad, Zach, and I split a nice bottle of wine and we finished off dinner with some sorbet, chocolate mousse, and champagne with a little coffee to top it off. Absolutely incredible. This is an absolute MUST if you're in Rome with a little money to spend. Check out their website: http://www.quinziegabrieli.it/index.html.

After dinner we wandered back to the Pantheon and circled around to the Trevi Fountain. We each threw in our 3 coins for our 3 wishes! It was freeeeeeeezing cold, so we hopped on the metro and parted ways. A very successful first day for the Butler Visitors.

dad, indy, and zach overlooking the forum at capitoline hill

Sunday we hit pretty much every tourist spot we could. Zach and I met the fam at their hotel at 10am and the plan was to go to the Carnevale parade a couple streets over. India and Dad were dragging (still getting used to the time difference) so we ended up not making it to the parade. Oh well! Once they finisehd getting ready, we made our way to the Colosseum. Lucky them - I just had my exam on il Colosseo and the Roman Forum so they got a personal tour! The line was way too long to go inside, so we just walked around and I told them random facts. From there we walked up Via dei For Imperiali to Piazza Venezia (the "wedding cake") and Capitoline Hill. We hung out for a little while on top of the hill overlooking Rome. It was a nicer day today thank goodness - finally the rain had stopped!! After resting for a little longer, we hit up Largo Argentina (I had to show India the cat sanctuary), and went back to the Pantheon to eat some lunch.

India likes to use Zach's camera for close-up artsy piczzz

Dad loved the Pantheon. We couldn't go inside when we had gone the night before, so we spent about an hour wandering around looking at it's beautiful structure and art. Zach is into geology, so he and Dad found out some cool facts about the marble in the walls - neato! After wandering through the Pantheon, we grabbed lunch at a little restaurant right outside for the pretty pretty view. India doesn't like tomatoes (in Italy, I know, insanity) so we had to ask for a special dish with just plain noodles and white sauce. Luckily they obliged, but other restaurants haven't been so willing. Hopefully her tastebuds will expand to new foods by the end of the week! We all got pasta or pizza and split a nice Pinot Grigio. The Spanish Steps weren't far, so we figured we'd go all out. We passed the Trevi again so they could see it during the day time, then walked to the steps.

SO MANY PEOPLE FOR CARNEVALE

It was really cool because they were having Carnevale events EVERYWHERE and Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps were two of the main event places. We stopped in Cafe Grecco (GREAT capuccinos there) to re-energize then sat on the steps and watched the performers below. It was so neat - there were tons and tons and TONS of people there watching and walking around. The kids are so cute. The all get dressed up like Halloween for the entire Carnevale week. We saw some pretty funny costumes. After resting for awhile, it was getting late so we decided to head home.

SINS door near carnevale
(this is for you, page/rohan)

We walked to the top of the steps then walked to Piazza del Popolo (where the metro stop was). We admired the view for a few minutes, watched some of the horse show in the piazza for carnevale, then made our way towards the metro stop. We parted ways with Dad and India for a few hours so we could all rest up for dinner. Zach and I walked home because my apartment's not too far. We got to walk through the main Carnevale festivities which was fun! We found our favorite costume of the events - a little boy was dressed in a full body walrus costume. That's legit. We had a nice late afternoon walk home, then I studied a little until dinner.

Dad and India met us at our apartment for dinner. I was pretty stressed out about my exam (because my professor is insane and expects us to know waaaaaaaay more than the capacity of my brain can handle), so we decided to go to the pizzeria across the street and just grab something quick. Unfortunately, we forgot that it was closed on Sunday!! Hmm. Instead we walked a few blocks to another pizzeria that I hadn't tried before. It was very very yummy, though! It was the typical Italian pizzeria - busy busy busy with lots of people trying to do too many things at once. We finally were seated and ordered. Zach had been wanting a calzone, so he got a football-sized (HUGE) calzone, Dad and I got yummy pizzas, and India's special request of plain pasta didn't fly here so she somehow mustered the courage to force down a plain cheese pizza. Phew! Everything was incredible. I took a card home with me - I'll definitely be going back there.

visiting the colosseum while i studied AH

I was a complete zombie all during dinner. I think I was overwhelmed with my exam and had just been going nonstop since everyone got here, so I decided to spend Monday studying and resting in the apartment. I got SO much done, which was nice. I finished up my fresco for class Wednesday then studied all day. I was feeling a lot better about the exam, although I still had a long way to go. Zach was so good about my panic attacks whenever I freaked out mid-studyage - he put on Dave Matthews and got me blood red orange juice. Yum:) quite a catch. The visitors explored all day Monday, went back to the Colosseum and Forum to explore the inside since the line wasn't as long on weekdays, then came back to the apartment around four.

zach's canolli

I had a little coffee break with them and took them to the canolleria that I love so much. It was a successful trip - we tried the pistaccio, original, and chocolate chip.  Mmmm Mm MMMM! Came back to the apartment and chillaxed for awhile. Dad and India headed back to their hotel and I continued the never-ending studying. For dinner we decided to meet at the Pantheon since we'd been there a couple times and then walk to the restaurant. I was a little nervous because my dad isn't the best with directions, but we were hoping for the best.

Zach and I got to the Pantheon a few minutes late, but Dad and India were no where to be seen. We waited for a little while, looked around some shops, shooed away the flower and toy vendors, did some foot dances to keep warm, and then finally they arrived! Apparently they got so lost getting here that they had to take a taxi haha. Oops! Luckily the restaurant wasn't too far of a walk, so we hurried there to warm up. I took them to Rossopomodora - the place I went to the first night with API that had the most incredible bruschetta. We all tried pastas and pizzas and appetizers and wine. Yippee! I've probably gained 10 pounds from my dad being here haha. So much food all the time. I'm DEFINITELY not complaining, though.

CONFETTI!!
(dad kept calling it graffiti haha)

Tuesday I had my on-site class. We went to a couple old churches near the Colosseum. I felt like I was in Angels and Demons - searching underground for hidden treasures. Actually there's one scene from LOST where they're underground in some old building. One of the underground levels of the churches we went into looked EXACTLY like that. At first I thought I was having a weird deja-vu, then I realized I had seen it on lost haha. It was so so cold though, because the church was 3 levels deep (from all the different centuries), so as you went lower it got colder and colder. brr!

After class I hurried home to meet Zach for lunch. The visitors were having a chill day since we'd been going nonstop since they got here. I got back to the apartment around 12:30 and he was just waking up - so jealous. We made some yummy pasta filled with cheese and nuts for lunch and had surprise visitors!! India and Dad came over and dropped off some flowers for me that they'd picked up at the flower market down the street:) Yayy! Tuesday was International Women's Day, so there were vendors selling flowers everywhere called "mimosas". These flowers are the special women flowers apparently. They're very pretty - they kind of remind me of forsythias (or as we were taught growing up forCYNTHIAs!). Dad and Indy got me a beautiful white orchid, a big plant of purple daisies, and a little baby green plant. I was so excited:)

confetti everywhere!

Zach and I rested up then wandered around Prati in the afternoon, checking out some stores. He's looking for a pair of selvage jeans (Travis knows all about these - follow his jean project blog at http://hoboventures.blogspot.com/ ), so we stopped in a few stores but didn't find anything. We grabbed gelato from a place I'd never been before - gelateria dei gracchi. I was a little nervous because it was by the ristorante that we went to once of the first nights I was here - I'm still intimidated. But they had really awesome flavors so I'll have to go back. I tried grapefruit and yogurt - yum!

I was super excited about Tuesday night because it was the final night of Carnevale so there was a big event at Piazza del Popolo - only about 10 - 15 mins from my apartment. India and Dad met us at the apartment then we walked over. They'd bought masks for us to wear, which i was SUPER excited about. India and I switched off wearing the cat mask and the dog ears/nose. There was confetti EVERYWHERE so we picked it up off the ground and had a massive confetti fight. It got everywhere - think I still have some stuck in my hair haha. There were some cool exhibits that we walked through, but we were most excited about the fireworks finale show. Ashley, Kaylie, and Debbie met us at Popolo. We waited and waited and waited. Finally, the fireworks began! (45 minutes after they were supposed to - what can we expect, it's Italy?). It was so beautiful. A fantastic fireworks show! We were freezing to death by the end of it, so we hurried to the pizzeria across from out apartment for dinner.

dog rawr

They were full for the night, so we ordered 7 pizzas to go to share with the roomies. Everything was wonderful! It was a long day, and I still had lots of studying to do, so Dad and India headed home and Zach helped me study - aka calmed me down every time I had a panic attack just thinking about EVERYTHING I was expected to know. Ridiculous.

bark bark!!

Wednesday was the exam day. I wasn't feeling well Tuesday night (sore throat, stuffy nose) so I had taken some benadryl before bed. It completely knocked me out. I couldn't keep my eyes open if I wanted to. Getting up was hard, but I forced myself out of bed to study a little more before the test. Ugh. It went okay. She expects us to know SO much. My brain cannot retain all of it. Whatever thank goodness it's over.

India, Zach, and Dad were wandering around the Jewish Ghetto for the day, so I met them at Campo to grab lunch after the exam. We ate at a nice place right by the Campo dei Fiori market while they told me about their morning adventures. Apparently they found an awesome vintage photo shop that they want me to check out. We'll definitely have to head back there. We wandered around Storico Centro, then came back towards my apartment area in Prati. Dad, Zach and I walked around the shopping street while India rested in the apartment and caught up on Cake Boss. We got home a little while later, watched some Glee, then headed to dinner!

Since my dad loves Mexican food so much, I had to take him to the Mexican place right by my house to see how it compared to Richmond. He actually approved! The queso wasn't up to India's standards, but everything else was awesome. We ate, relaxed, had some sangria/margs, then parted ways. India and Dad have been struggling with the public transportation - it never seems to work out for them. Every night something goes wrong. We were sure that everything would be fine since we finished up in time for them to take the metro, but Thursday we heard differently. Apparently they didn't get there in time and then the buses had stopped, and they finally ended up catching a cab an hour or so later. Boo!! Terrible luck. Maybe by the time they leave they'll have it down.

Zach and I had a nice night in the apartment, relaxing FINALLY after the crazy few days of exams. We watched Hot Tub Time Machine..I didn't realize it had so many famous people in it! It made me miss snowboarding.

What a week so far! I'm so excited for the weekend with everyone:)

midterms midterms boo

John Lennon door in Prague
newly printed!

This week was pretty crazy. We're half way done with the semester. AH! It's going by so so fast. I can't believe I've been living here for two months!! It's already been decided that I'm coming back to Rome at least 4 more times in my lifetime. Four just seems like a good number.

Yoga on Monday went great. I got there a little early to warm up and work on inversions, and Sam was there so we played around with a new sequence Alba showed her. The guy who sits at the desk to let people in saw us practicing and came over to show us his skillzzz. It was fun! Class was focused on balance, so we tried dancer, crow, tree..good times.

It's been a rainy week. It's rained every day since Monday. BOO. I'm ready for sunshine and HOT weather!! (Miami, come back to me!) Hopefully it'll be warming up and clearing up soon. Starting tomorrow we're expecting sunshine. India, Dad, and Zach are bringing in the good weather! Of course I forgot my umbrella Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday. Apparently learning from experience doesn't always work.

After yoga was photo WOO! I was excited to print more pictures, because Phoebe and I went in last Thursday but the hot water was broken so the chemical process didn't work and the pictures weren't coming out. We had to give up. Today I was planning on printing at least 2, hopefully 3. FAIL. I forget how long it takes during class. There are 18 people in the class and 2 enlargers - so only 2 people can go at a time, and since we're all beginning it takes everyone a good 20 (at least) minutes per picture to do test strips, set up, and perfect it.

tree in Prague
(it's hard to see, but there's a
little boy playing on it!)
newly printed

Since I knew how to print from the class before, I helped everyone with their pictures and ended up going last. Two hours of standing got a little old, but the picture came out great! I decided to work on the statue picture again and perfect it to get the variation, contrast, and light right. We're hoping to move into the new photo lab next week, which will be exciting because there are more enlargers WOO!!

John Lennon wall in Prague
newly printed

Tuesday was my on-site exam which was pretty hard to study for since I don't take very good notes in that class. We walk around to different museums, monuments, buildings, art, etc. I always get too distracted at looking at everything to take super in-depth notes. Luckily it ended up being okay, there was only one or two that I wasn't super confident about. One down, two to go!

Painting was cool because we had a critique of our still lives then started our next project: figure painting. I'd taken a figure modeling class at Miami, so I had a little background in it. Painting/sketching nudes was way harder than sculpting them though. We focused on sketching out the layout of the canvas in class and will start painting next week. It's going to be harder than the still life, I can already tell. Challenges are exciting, though!

Carracci's "The Loves of the Gods"
The photograph doesn't do it justice.

Wednesday my honors class met an hour and a half early for a field trip yippee! Getting up early was rough, but it was totally worth it. We visited the Palazzo Farnese. This is a palace that's famous for Carracci's "Loves of the Gods" fresco in their Galleria Farnese. It's usually closed to the public, and actually takes a LOT of work to get into - my teacher only had been once before because she knew the ambassador of some country who happened to be friends with the French ambassador (who lives in there now). He decided to open it up to the public for a few months - lucky us!! We spent a loooooot of time there, almost 4 hours. It was lots of standing and a little tiring, but so incredible. I spent at least 2.5 of the time just staring up at the ceiling. Here's a picture from google, you should look it up though. It actually looks like the frames and statues are real, not painted on the walls. Awesomeeeeeee.

In fresco we planned out the walls! We lined the different sections of the walls to get all the proportions right and know where to do our giornata ("days work" - where you cut off the mortar so it looks neat and the seams are disguised into the walls). I think the final design will look really awesome. Somehow my math skills worked out and I got all the measurements together. Debbie designed this really cool top border for us, so we worked for a little while in the computer lab figuring out colors. Yay.

"haunting" trees in Prague
newly printed!

Today (Thursday), I met Phoebe at the photo lab to try to get some printing in. The hot water worked, thank goodness! We got to work and I ended up being able to print 5 pictures! Phoebe left after 2 hours because she was catching a flight to Paris this afternoon, but I stayed for another hour after that to finish up. It was so nice to just get in the zone and be able to take my time and print as many pictures as I wanted. It's hard with limited tools! But we manage. I was happy with my progress today. I printed another statue picture for Page (he told me he liked it yayy), a picture of the John Lennon door from Prague, the John Lennon wall in Prague, and two pictures of awesome trees in a park in Prague. Pretty pretty. I took pictures of the printed pics and scattered them throughout this post, but they never come out as good as the real-life print. But you get the picture (no pun intended..)

AMERICAN FOOD (don't judge)

The rest of the day I rested up. I'm exhausted for some reason! I didn't feel bad about staying in bed and watching movies all afternoon since it was so rainy and gross and cold outside. We were all craving American food, so we ordered in from an American steakhouse in the Prati area - T-Bones steakhouse. YUM. I don't even like burgers regularly, but my cheeseburger was AMAZING. Just what I'd been missing. We had to wait until 7 to order it because the restaurant didn't open until then, and we were all literally counting down the minutes until 7pm haha. Tara also made some sangria for us with fresh apples and oranges, which only added to the awesomeness of dinner. It was terrific! And we devoured everything in ten minutes. Just a typical night in "da scip".

I'm heading to the airport early tomorrow morning to meet my first visitor - Zach! Yay!! Can't wait for India and Dad to get here on Saturday, too (DAD/INDY: guys have to skype/email me so we can figure out your arrival situation!!!) I'm so excited for the week to come:) well, besides my honors exam on Wednesday. But I'll just think about that later...

Ciao mi amores!! Happy spring break to you JMU-ers and UVA-ers! Love.

"I thought it was pronounced 'FRIENDS'" (Florence/Firenze!)

What a busy busy week it's been! I apologize for the late update from the weekend, but it's midterm week so I've been a good student and focusing on my exams. Luckily I only have 3 (my 2 art histories and fresco painting - painting/photo don't have exams WOO), and I got one of my big ones out of the way this morning. SO I have a little time before painting to update you on my European life!

This weekend was the API trip to Florence. It was a blast! Since I was choosing to study abroad in either Rome or Florence I was anxious to see how I would like it and how different the city would be from Rome. Verdict: Florence is gorgeous and way different than Rome...and I'm SO happy I chose Roma!! It was really amazing to see all the art and architecture in Florence (or as Italians call it - Firenze), but there is just so much more to do in Rome, and so many levels of history here. I can do something new and different every single day in Rome if I wanted to, but I felt that Florence didn't have as much variety and things to do. Soooo yes I did love it! BUT yes I am so glad that Rome is my home:)

Duomo

Ashley and I woke up early Friday morning to meet at Piazza Trilussa for the trip. Debbie was going with us, but she went to Florence a day early since she knows some people studying there and wanted a chance to hangout with them. Tara and Kaylie's families were visiting, so they stayed with them. It was really fun to do an API trip because we knew so many people. Yippeee! The bus was about 4 hours to Florence. My plan was to sleep the whole way since, yet again, I didn't get much sleep, but they put on the show "Friends" for us..I couldn't resist but to stay up and watch! Who doesn't adore that show? We stopped once to grab lunch and ended up getting to Florence around noon.

the copy of David

The city is much much smaller than Rome, with not as many crazy drivers (that was a plus). They actually block off a lot of the streets so that they're mainly pedestrian! Our hotel was right in the city center, literally just feet away from Brunelleschi's famous dome. SO COOL!! We had a few minutes to wander around and unpack, then met up for a guided tour. It was really chilly in Florence (snow was in the forecast for Sunday), so luckily the tour didn't last too long. We visited Santa Maria del Fiore (with the famous duomo of Firenze), Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Repubblica, Piazza della Signoria, we saw the Uffizi Galleria (the line was too long so i couldn't go in :( maybe next time), etc. etc.! The David statue was originally in the Piazza della Signoria, but they only have a copy of it there now. There are actually 3 David statues - the original (in Galleria dell'Academia in Florence), the marble copy in Piazza della Signoria (which we saw on the tour), and a bronze copy in the Piazza della Michelangelo (that we visited on Sunday). It was cool to see the copy in the original's location, but I had my heart set on the REAL David.

After the tour, we had free time for the rest of the day. Ashley and Debbie wanted to shower, so I headed over to the Galleria dell'Academia to see DAVID. After learning so much about him, how could I not see the original? Let me just say - definitely worth the 6 euro. The museum itself was very small with lots of altar pieces and paintings from the early Italian Renaissance, which were cool to see. Another famous statue, the Rape of the Sabine Women, was there also so I was glad I got to see that as well. But honestly - just paying that much to see only the David was worth it! There were tons of people around, gawking at the intensity and magnificence of the statue. I stood there circling the statue, viewing it from every angle, for about 45 minutes. Well done, Michelangelo.

SO EXPENSIVE. Ponte Vecchio

We got dinner with a big group of Debbie's friends from Stonehill (her college) who were studying in Florence. I didn't realize she knew so many people there! There was 12 or so people at dinner, we went to this awesome place called ZaZa's. Ashley and I got a little (okay, a lot) lost on the way to the restaurant. Everything looks so different in the dark! Apparently we walked right by the piazza that ZaZa's was in, but we didn't realize it. We ended up circling pretty much the whole city of Florence before finally making our way back. Note to self: next time, bring a map. I got the yummiest pasta EVER. I never really know what I order, I just usually get the "specialties" or famous dishes from whatever area I'm visiting. So, I did my typical choice and decided on some sort of pasta (I'd never heard the name before..it was called Gramigna) with a "homemade specialty sausage sauce". YUM. Dinner ended pretty late so we headed back to the hotel.

Saturday we had the whole day to ourselves! We slept in a little bit, then began our adventures. Debbie stayed with her friends in Florence, so Ashley and I explored Florence together. We walked around for awhile, crossing the Ponte Vecchio to adore the jewelry. The whole bridge is COVERED with jewelry shops like I've never seen before. So much gold, silver, and jewels AH! We picked out our favorites in each window, telling eachother that we'd be rich and famous someday and could maaaaybe then afford them haha. On the other side of the bridge we found a funny shop that had a yoga shirt (yay!) and I picked out a beautiful watercolor. One of my goals is to buy a piece of art from every place we visit. I think this one is my favorite so far. The lady was so sweet. She could barely speak any English but tried to explain every painting to me. After I picked out my favorite, she even gave me an extra one as a "gift from me"! How sweet:)

waffle + new leather jacket!

Next stop: the leather market. We rubbed the famous boar statue's nose for good luck, then went on a search. My goal: find a leather jacket. My parents told me they would buy it for me as my big European semester present, yippee! So I was ready to bargain my way to a good price. The only problem was that I had a very very specific color and style in mind. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find the exact one I wanted, so I was just going to search and see. If not, I'd find another present they could get me! :) We walked along the leather market for awhile and there was SO much to choose from, it was overwhelming!! Everything we saw was black or dark brown. I'm not a "dark color" person, so I wasn't too hopeful for finding something lighter. Luckily, I spotted the PERFECT color at one stand, so I asked if they had any more. The vendor took Ashley and me to a shop down the road. The jacket was perfect! It was the last one, and in my size! Hooray!! I tried on a dark green, too ("it matches your eyes! you must!" the vendor told me), and a more caramel color, but the light one was perfecto.

Ashley chilling in Santa Maria Novella Piazza

Now the hard part: bargaining. I was ready to pull out everything my mom had taught me. "I give you good price," he told me, but I was expecting the initial offer to be around $200 because that's what Ashley and Kaylie had said was typical when they were getting theirs. I warned him I was a student and needed an awesome deal. He told me the jacket was $380, but he added on a few discounts for me and it ended up being...$125! AH! With 2 years guarentee - I can send it back and they'll fix it whenever. Plus, it's waterproof AND fireproof (in case I'm ever in a fire...). No bargaining necessary. This was the cheapest we'd heard of anyone who'd bought a jacket here - usually they were at least $150 (but usually closer to $200), and that was after lots and lots of haggling. I took it right away. When we left the store, Ashley said "Don't even talk to me. I hate you right now." Haha sins! Yay!

We got a couple bracelets at the market also, then sort of ran out of things to do. We wandered around Florence, I tried their famous waffles with nutella (it smelled amazingggg), then found the cutest piazza to sit in. It was in front of the Santa Maria Novella. It was a gorgeous day if you were sitting in the sun, so we sat down in the grass and people watched for an hour or so. I had my big camera with me, so I got some good shots of little kids running through the pigeons to scare them off :) A guy set up some speakers and started singing and playing guitar, it was the perfect afternoon rest.

After our break, we tried to find the famous Santa Maria Novella Farmacia - the oldest pharmacy in Europe! It was started in 1212 inside the Santa Maria Novella by the monks. They would make medicine and herbs for themselves, and evenutally opened the pharmacy to the public. It was so cool - like a museum almost! There was all this natural medicine, herbs, teas, honey...really really awesome. I'm actually thinking about going to med school for natural medicine, so I was very intrigued. Ashley and I took a few brochures home and realized they opened a store in Rome, so we'll have to check it out.

cooking away

Later in the afternoon we climbed up Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore! The dome was a masterpiece in it's time, because it was freestanding. Brunelleschi had to invent all kinds of tools (like the pulley) to make it. Inside the walls of the dome there is little steps and ribs that the workers used when they were building it, so they've opened some of these to the public. You can climb up the dome (it's 463 steps to the top! with no elevator option! and it was SO STEEP!) and it opens to the top of the dome with a beautiful view of Florence. Ashley and I climbed up at sunset. It was absolutely gorgeous. I love Italy.

That night, API had booked us a cooking class! It was amazing. We walked to the cooking school and made eggplant with mashed potatoes and zucchini and cheese for appetizer, crepes stuffed with ricotta and mushrooms for the meal, and tirimasu for dessert. I was in heaven. The best part is that we were given the recipes to take home, so I can make everything for you when I get back to the states!:)

Debbie, Ashley and I at Piazza del Michelangelo

Sunday we were up early and on the road. We stopped by Piazza del Michelangelo to get a nice panoramic picture of Florence and to see the final David statue. It was raining, so we took a bunch of pictures really quick then headed to the Chianti region of Italy for a wine tasting! The wine tasting was at Castello il Palagio. We got a tour of the castle which was neat (but very cold and rainy - by the end of the tour it had started to snow AH), then headed into the warmth of the restaurant for our wine tasting. Yum yum yum. Wine is my favorite. We got a nice array of food to go along with the tasting - bruschetta, hummus, an interesting spicy jelly, salami, ham, etc. We tried 3 types of wine. The first was a Rose which was pretty good, the second a classic Chianti, and the last one was a typical Tuscan wine that was TO. DIE. FOR. It tasted like I was drinking flowers. At the end, we got a little taste of a dessert wine that you dip little cookies in. mmmmmm so happy:)

wine tasting!

I was feeling very nice for the ride home haha. We watched "Friends" again after much begging - they made us wait until we got to the interstate. Luca (our API leader person) was trying to explain something about Florence to us to get our minds off of watching Friend (we were tired, okay?), and he said "Fir-en-ze (how they pronounce Florence), and someone in the back yelled "WAIT..I thought it was pronounced "FRIENDSSSS". Haha quite the jokester - hence the name of the post.

We made it home around dinner time, and I got to studying for the looooong week. I'm so excited for the week to be over because that means 2/3 midterms will be done (my honors one is next week) AND Zach comes Friday morning to visit AND India and my Dad come Saturday morning!!!!!! Hooray for visitors!! I can't wait to show them around my new home:)

progress in the art department

YO

This week in classes was just a normal week. We're getting into the swing of things now with midterms over the next few weeks and projects starting to build up, so it's been a little tiring. I need to work on sleeping more! The time difference is hard because I want to talk to everyone back home, but they don't get online until the early evening THEIR time, so that's +6 hours here! But it's worth it... I can sleep when I die :)

Monday I was super super tired from getting home late the night before, but the yoga class went really well. They finally completed the new gym, so we were in that space which was cool! I got there early because I was afraid I'd get lost, so I practiced some intense inversions (meaning the rest of the week my body was sore out the wazoo. perfecting the forearm stand, scorpion, and handstand is worth it though!). It was a lot louder in this space compared to the temporary room, though, because it's an open room that connects on 2 sides to the weight room and machines, and you just pull a curtain over the openings for the class. So the music's blasting and the machines are loud and people are having conversations, oh boy! It was still a nice class though. At least the space is bigger so we can fit everyone nicely.

second official printed picture!

Photography was fun, like always! We learned a little about photoshop, scanning our negatives into the computer using this funny little machine, then editing out the dust and scratches. It was neat! After our mini lecture we had the rest of the class to either develop film, print pictures, or walk around outside and finish our rolls. I worked on printing another picture from Prague. This time I went through the whole procedure and spent a lot of time perfecting the picture, so it came out really nicely! It's one of my favorite frames on the roll - it's of a love bridge Ashley and I found. People lock their engraved or initialed locks on the bridge and take the keys with them, symbolizing that they have the key to eachothers heart :) I love it. Jada and I found a mini love bridge in Paris, and apparently there's one in Rome, too. I'll have to keep my eye out!

printed picture with
all my test strips

Tuesday I wasn't feeling well. My body was hating on me for going going going nonstop on zero sleep. I woke up and felt terrible - major headache, my body was achey, stuffy nose, and the beginnings of a cough. NO NO NO I will not be sick in Rome!! So I made the executive decision that my health was the most important thing, and walking around in the chilly morning for 3 hours would not be beneficial. SO I emailed my professor and took my first sick day. One of my friends in the class let me borrow her notes from the day, so I should be okay. Sometimes you have to take care of yourself first and foremost!

It was definitely a good decision. I still got up at the same time I would for class, but I rested in bed, drank lots of water and orange juice, and got ahead on homework for the week. I also did a nice restorative yoga practice and long meditation. A lovely health-awareness morning for Kelsey. I made it to painting in the afternoon since painting class is a lot less intense than an on-site in the cold, and finished up my still life. Yay! Next week is our critique, we'll see how it goes.

completed still life! i took it with my ipod
so the pictures a little blurry. sorry!

I got in bed nice and early on Tuesday, and woke up feeling a little better Wednesday. Thank goodness! I don't want to speak too soon, though..still trying to flush it out with water and rest up. Honors class in the morning, then fresco in the afternoon. Our homework for fresco was to do our first actual painting! This meant we had to do the 2nd and 3rd layers of morter (sandcoat and intonico), wait for those to dry, then paint on top of it. Debbie and I went in on Thursday to do ours, and it took over 3 hours. Lots of waiting around for the walls to dry. But the painting turned out nicely! I love little putti (the chubby angels in a lot of the artwork in Italy), so I attemped to paint one. I definitely have some work to do before it's perfected, but it was a solid first attempt.

So for the class period we planned out the layout for the whole room. For some reason, I was put in charge of dimensions of everything...math is NOT my forte, but we'll see if I come through successfully. The class decided on doing a landscape kind of scene with hills that roll from one wall space to the next, with thin columns separating each person's part of the wall, and a uniform top and bottom border. Next week's the midterm, but we start on the final frescoing the week after that! It will take the rest of the semester to finish these big scenes. It will be SOOO cool to see the room once we finish, I can't wait!!

first fresco painting!

Tomorrow the plan is to get some homework done, then I'm meeting my friend Phoebe from photography in the dark room to print a few photos. It's so crazy in the dark room during class because everyone's trying to do the same thing at once, so we figured we'd get a head start and have some room to do our own thing. I'm really enjoying photography, so I'm super excited to be able to print more pictures. Then this weekend I'm heading to Florence with API! I am extremely excited about this, because I was choosing between studying in Florence and Rome so it will be cool to see how they're different.

Until next time mi amores, arrivederci!