Day Four

Day 4 August 18, 2010


I am so tired tonight! It is 2230 (10:30pm) and I just got home a few minutes ago. Granted I slept in until 1030 this morning but that is because I had such a yucky sleep last night. I was wide awake and once I did drift off to sleep a noise outside my window or Olga coming home at 0115 in the morning woke me up. Between 0400 and 0500 I finally took a Tylenol to help me go to sleep. Thank goodness I had some restfull sleep after that and felt great in the morning. I took a quick, freezing shower. I don’t know what is going on with the water here, but this is the second day that I do laps in the tub: run into the water to get wet, run out to soap, run in to rinse off and so on. At least it ensures I’m fully awake! I took a while to get dressed and didn’t notice how the time flew by. It was 1319 when I looked at the clock! I grabbed a Kashi bar (thanks Mom!) and ran out the door.

I arrived to the school with just a few minutes to spare. Whew! Today we had a new instructor, Federico. He is a little more intimidating that Jasna because he won’t speak any English at all. Ok, he said maybe 5 English words the whole time and that was because we all couldn’t figure out what we were supposed to do. I can’t believe how much we are learning just from playing games. Today we had to figure out what the correct words would be for the following scenario: a guy is asking a girl if the seat across from her on the train is available. She says that it is and removes her bag for him to sit there. We had to come up with the right words and each of us had to learn how to say each work with exact pronunciation. We collectively came up with each sentence of the dialogue piece by piece. We would start out with just a word that someone guessed and then had to figure out what the other pieces around it would be. Once we finally came up with a good sentence he would tell us, “Great! Perfect sentence, but there is another way, a better way to say this.” And we would have to start all over again. This took us an hour. Let me show you what the end result of the conversation was:

Boy: Ciao.
Girl: Ciao.
Boy: E occupato qui?
Girl: No no scusami.
Boy: Non c’e problema.

Yes, this really took us an hour to figure out. I know I exaggerate, but not this time. But the cool thing is that we learned a lot of other vocabulary and conjugation along the way. We did do several other activities, this was just the main one.


Once class was over I went down to the Club to post my blog. I was in a rush and didn’t do anything else on the computer because I wanted to do a bus tour of the city before it got dark. I thought I was going to go it alone, but at the last minute Tamara decided to join me. The more the merrier! So, we were off to Termini to get on a red bus. Thankfully we found seats on the top of the bus. I was hoping for a top seat not only to feel a breeze while we were driving but because I was really hoping to get some good photos from a higher vantage point. I think I took some great pictures during this ride!


Oh, talking about pictures, I did upload all of the previous pictures on my computer, but I can’t figure out how to put them on the blog. Do any of you know? I tried to play around with it today, but I was in a hurry and didn’t spend much time on it. I’ll try again tomorrow. Hopefully I will have some time before the Wines of Italy Seminar at the school begins. This will be the first seminar I go to through the school. I’m also signed up for something Thursday evening, a film or something.


Anyway, back to the bus tour. We started at the Termini and went in a big circle around Rome seeing the major sites. I wanted to take this tour today so that I could get a better idea of the lay of the city. To be able to see the 3D version of the map I am trying to follow. (haha, I had to throw in the 3D reference cuz everything has a 3D version now. Yeah, I still crack myself up over my stupid jokes!) So here are the stops we made: Quirinale, Colosseo, Bocca della Verita, Piazza Venezia, Piazza Navona, S. Pietro, Piazza Cavour, Ara Pacis, Piazza Navona, Fontana di Trevi, Via Veneto, Villa Borghese, and back to Termini. Ok, so I got so caught up in seeing everything, listening to my audio guide to what I was looking at, and trying to take pictures that I forgot to pay attention to the “lay of the city”. Rome is so OLD! It is so neat to see the ancient ruins juxtaposed with new buildings. Hah, most of the “new” buildings would be considered old in San Diego!


I’m too overloaded and tired to be able to go through a run-down of the history or interesting tidbits I learned during this tour. One thing I will share though. I learned who Vittorio Emanuel is/was. I was embarrassed to have not known when I did find out! Victor Emanuel was the first Italian President. This monstrous monument was built in his honor. I mean this thing is HUGE!!!! There is what looks to be a somewhat big bronze statue of him on a horse on the top of the steps leading to the actual building. The statue doesn’t look THAT large from the street, but it is made out of 5 tons of lead salvaged from old cannons! It is reported that before the chest of the horse was sealed up, an actual banquet was held WITHIN the belly of the statue holding 20-30 dignitaries and government officials! The monument was considered an eyesore for a long time because of its size and wasn’t used. After World War II, the Unknown Soldier was buried there. This unknown man is the only occupant of the entire building. So, now we know.


After the tour, Tamara and I were back at Termini. We had a little time to kill as we were meeting up with my roommate and some school acquaintances for dinner. It was 1930 (7:30pm) and we were to meet with them at 2030 (8:30pm). We were both hungry and decided to split a sandwich to tide us over until dinner. Then we checked out train ticket prices to different cities through Italy. They were not too bad. For instance, a ticket to Napoli is 10.50Euro one way. I’ll have to think if I want to do any weekend trips outside of Roma and Toscana. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do in Toscana. I guess I better make planning that a priority soon. I’m waiting for some more money to appear in my bank account before I start making plans though.


Sorry for the little “side thoughts” that are distracting me from the main story! I guess I am writing the way I would talk. Hehe.


Back to the day. So, the other girls arrive at our meeting point and are dressed to the nines. Meanwhile I am looking pretty shabby, carrying my school bag, wearing flip flops, and a sweaty mess (yes, Rome is hot and yes I sweat easily. Wish I didn’t cuz it makes me look ugly! but it is what it is. Ok, move on.). And on top of that they wanted to go clubbing after dinner. Ouch. I was just not ready for all of that. So, I decided to go my own way. Tamara is sweet and didn’t want me to go on my own, so we decided to go somewhere near Termini and have dinner together. We were debating where to eat and just walking down a street when we came to an outside sitting area for the restaurant 27. I was tired and didn’t really want to venture any further and their menu looked alright. We basically were looking for a pizza to spit. They had it, it was at an ok price, so we took a seat. It was a delicious 4 cheese pizza that melted in your mouth! What is up with the cheese here that it is so great! Wow! and Yum! I was so hungry that I just started eating and forgot to take a picture. I’m trying hard to stick to my written documentary of this trip, but sometimes I just get lost in the moment…


Once we finished with our dinner we wanted to go find a gelateria in the station. Unfortunately, or fortunately in my case, all of them had just closed before we got there. Ah well, it was time to split ways and go home. This time I knew the correct spot to get off the bus, but I started walking in the wrong direction! Positive side of things is that in my wrong direction, I crossed the Trevere and got a beautiful picture from the bridge. (This is the river that runs through Rome. It is one of the reasons that Rome became a strong seat in the south. This river became a main trade route from Austria to the Meditteranean) Negative side was that it was dark and I was tired. Once I realized I had no clue where I was, I pulled out my map and got myself in the correct direction. I was happy to see Bascilica San del Fiorentini, the church at the end of Via Giulia. Why do I all of a sudden feel so weary when I know that “home” is just a few steps away? I couldn’t even carry my bag over my shoulders anymore and had to carry it cradled in my arms like a baby!

Now it is 2340 (11:40pm). I am again tired and ready for my shower and bed. I just hope that there is hot water tonight!


Con affetto, (With love,)

Reem