Trams, Fountains and Italians... oh my

Learned all about transportation today. The method Ashley and I use to get to school is that we take the tram and then walk through the center part of Rome to get to our school building. I saw the Pantheon, the Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain and a couple of other neat plazas and such. It's so different here in the sense that the city is gorgeous. Unlike at home, every building here has old architecture. It's somewhat dirty, but through the graffiti and grime you can see that almost all of the buildings have gorgeous outer walls and inside are stone or tile floors. It's a completely different vibe. I can't wait for the weather to cool down a bit so that I'm able to spend more time outside comfortably. When tourist season ends, I plan on just sitting the day away by the Trevi Fountain, reading and doing homework. I've always been big on doing my homework near fountains and it's like I'm being called home to the mother fountain :)



We had our orientation today. There are 99 students in the program and about 10 of them are boys. So it's pretty amusing because the men are completely overpowered by the female influence. All of the people I've met so far have been really nice. The program seems like it will be really fun. Tomorrow we have another orientation, a tour and our italian language placement test. At first I was planning on not taking the test seriously so that I would be able to skate by through the first language level and get an A. But that kind of thing's not really in my nature. So I'm going to try my best on the test tomorrow to see how well I can do and I'll keep you posted as to what level I'm placed in!



I'm basically living the dream here. The city is beautiful, the landmarks are beautiful, heck even the people are beautiful (if a bit full of themselves at times...). I can't wait to get started with my schooling and travelling and really begin to experience life in Rome.

Here's a picture of myself in front of the Pantheon:



Above is a picture of Ashley at the bistro where we ate lunch. They had the BEST bruschetta I have ever tasted in my entire life. I always liked bruschetta but I never realized how truly amazing it can be. I just want to go back there and order bruschetta everyday for lunch forever. The bread was crusty sourdough-esque bread and it was saturated with yummy olive oil. Then the best mix of tomatoes, fresh herbs and spices was just piled on top of the bread. I can't begin to tell you how good it was. You all know me when I find something I like... I get it over and over and over again! I also had yummy pizza which was waaay larger than anticipated. I thought the portions in Europe were small! We were in a touristy area though so that's probably why the portions were bigger. Overall a great day!

Comments

Opus #6 said…
Glad to hear you are getting out and seeing the sights. I'm excited to hear about your Italian test. GL!
August 21, 2008 at 4:17 PM
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