jan 22 THURSDAY
we finally got out to explore the area. still jet lagged, i slept in until noon and then did nothing until abour 3pm. AUR had a neighborhood tour that we all went on, we rode a bus and took the tram all over trastevere and monte verde. it was cool to see how everything worked and we got a general feeling for the layout of the neighborhood and bus/tram system. at about 7.30 we headed home and decided to have dinner at the pizzeria/resturante located next to our apartment called di Bruno ai 4 Venti. It's a cute little restaurant that always seemed packed. Luckily we beat the dinner crowd and we were able to get out waitress' full attention. The menu was in italiano of course so I asked the waitress to get me what she recommended, I was hellbent on having something besides pizza. She gave me this roman specialty (which I don't remember the name of) that was your choice of pasta in a sweet sauce, egg or tomato and prosciutto (sp?) I chose rigatoni with tomato. I must admit, it was pretty good. I also had the house rosso vino (I've been trying all sorts) and it is the best I've ever had (not that im a connoisseur). After dinner we had desert Betsy had this flakey pastry with confectioners sugar and chocolate sauce, Renee had Tiramisu (sp?), and I had this egg based custard with caramel sauce (I really wanted a cannoli). I can say I wasn't particularly fond of any of them. The food was very good though. We the called up the boys (Steven, David, Greg, and Ben) and visited their apartment, they are on a busy street off of a large piazza (Piazza Dunaut) Our apartment is better. We drank wine/I got rid of the wine I did not like. Then we walked home, it was midnight and lots of people were still out.
jan 23 FRIDAY
today was orientation! we got up early (kind of) and headed up to school at 10, they told us about stuff. after orientation we went to the colleseo (click here to see what I liked best)!! we took the bus and got off at the roman forum, it was awesome to finally see it! i took about 600 pictures and we didn't even go into the buildings. my fascination with pictures which i like to call head/butt pictures also started (click to see more). We spent about 4-5 hours out walking around and taking pictures, i absolutely loved it! We met up with the boys (David, Greg, Steven, and Ben) to have dinner at di Bruno ai 4 Venti, tonight we would have pizza. We all got something different then what we had the night before, I got fried mozzarella ball (mmmm!) and brushetta (sp?) that had olives on it (that was an accident, I hate olives!) for appetizers and pizza and of course rosso vino, my favorite. and the best part this evening was the dessert! i ordered cocco gelati AND IT WAS MAGNIFICENT COCONUT! i was so happy and content i actually shut my mouth. it was too good for words :) After dinner (which, may I add is a 2-3 hour affair) we showed the boys our apartment, I love it.
jan 24 SATURDAY
last night was just one of those nights, i slept in till 12.30 without even knowing. It was a rough night, I just couldn't fall asleep and at 9.15 am when my alarm rang I was in disbelief. After finally getting ready we went up to AUR for their welcome BBQ, ate some food and talked with friends. I fell in love today too. I don't know what it is but Italy's tastykake version of snacks are DELICIOUS! I was feenin for something sweet and wanted to try something new, I got this coconut chocolate piece of heaven for .90 eurocents, it was damn amazing. Then it started to rain, hard. We went home after. I also got to meet the family I was babysitting for. I googled how to get there and had some trouble, mainly due to the rainstorm I struggled in on the way. I finally found their street and building. The family is super nice, I got this job mainly thanks to being recommended by S.Deez. The mom introduced me, showed my momly things and left me alone with the boy (he's 6 or 7) while the daughter (11) went to her friend's party and mom and dad went to a movie. We played then I read him 2 books (Nate the Great) before putting him to bed, after playing around, he finally fell asleep. Then mom came home around 10pm and I left. She gave me money to take the bus home since it was late (I liked that).
jan 25 SUNDAY
MALL TRIP! today we went to Europe's largest mall, Parco Leonardo. All the girls went, but Lauren, Renee and I stuck it out. 7.5 hours of shopping till I dropped. During January Italian stores have sales, I bought stuff. A new purse (with a gypsy proof zipper), due pairs of boots (one brown, one black), and a cute top. It was good to see what they had to offer. I had a blast. we also took the train for the first time, that was interesting. It was a double decker! it only cost 2.60 euro for round trip.
jan 26 MONDAY
first day of classes and i wanted no part of it. i decided to start running again, trying to offset this eating habit i've developed. I ran in villa pamphili because apparently no one runs in the streets. It was amazing, its just beautiful I ran around a lake and before I knew it I had run three miles, on my way home i bought some bananas, I was hungry. i went home and showered. and off to class... i only had design and survey of the history of ancient rome. The studio is nice, we all crammed in this small space to learn about our new project, were designing a new transit station in the archeological heart of rome (piazza venzia). the history class was pretty cool too, the teacher is an adorable german man, he had an accent and funny mustache. He makes me laugh. I made dinner tonight, pasta, chicken, peas and garlic bread!! (Mmmmm) I bought wine too, it was blush and reminded me of good old Carlo Rossi, it sucked! the bad thing in design is this charette the professor scheduled the week after spring break (when my mom is coming) so I wouldn't be able to spend time with her. I don't understand why we couldn't have notice, it is just rediculious in my opinion. I'm trying to talk to her to see if I can put in more work during the earlier days so I can go away with my mom. on a better note, i will be babysitting tuesdays and fridays! tomorrow i learn the ropes!
jan 27 TUESDAY
second day of class, and although i only had one class it was a long day. we had history of modern architecture in rome, it was awesome. the professor is practically a book. we went to the top of this hill, giancolo, and saw almost all of rome. he told us everything about the spot we were on and pointed out the buildings. then it started to rain. that sucked, it rained on my notes. i gave up and decided to put up my umbrella and just listen. next time ill need to bring my other coat and camera. so after class lauren and i dropped our stuff in the studio and went running. we ran in the park across the street from the school. it was raining and we ran. it felt really good, we thought we'd do an easy long run, but the park was really hilly so we did an intense 2 mile bootcamp-esque run in the mud. i almost fell down a hill, i dont know how i caught myself. so after our run we stopped back at the studio then walked home. people were looking at us funny, we were a bit sweaty. so i went home thinking i had alot of time, showered then napped (15min) and went to meet the boys mom to pick him up from school, and basically learn where everything was. i met her at a bar and we walked together to his school and swim practice, and i walked him home. I'll do this every tuesday and friday. every once and a while ill stay late on fridays too when the parents go to a movie. i rode the bus home and then ran home, i decided i wanted to try soccer. i made it late to meet for practice but it was okay. it was all right but practice is 8-10 pm tuesday nights with games late too. i just didn't/don't want to make a commitment to a team, not here not now, since ive been playing forever. then, i came home and ate dinner (some banging fish betsy made). then i tried to shower and the hot water stopped, it was cold... i couldn't handle it so I quit and went to bed dirty.
jan 28 WEDNESDAY
today was long day, 3 classes: sketchbook images of rome, design, and hist of ancient rome. our sketchbook teacher is probably the cutest ever, shes irish and old and adorable. anyways the class seems awesome, she's an artist who is getting us into museums to draw. and she seems 100% supportive. we're also having all classes on site, so we'll get to see stuff. then for design we had a site visit piazza venezia, we went atop the highest monument in rome. i took tons of pictures, i still have to edit them all. julianne made dinner tonight, it was good. no running today because I overdid it yesterday.
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