European Vagary

Ok so here's a picture of me con amiche at the club: And here's a picture of DJ AM, (so good!): Also, I was too lazy to post pictures earlier today but I'm more awake now. Today we had a little scavenger hunt at the Pantheon for class. We had a list of information about the Pantheon we had to find and also a church by the Pantheon: Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. The church was really pretty so I took a couple of pictures. Here's one of the altar and ceiling with the light rays shining through the window: And here's a picture of one of the beautiful stained glass windows: Gotta admit, the church people really do know how to decorate :)

For those of you who don't know him, DJ AM is a famous DJ who was engaged to Nicole Richie and dated Mandy Moore. Well, last night a group of us went out to a club called Gilda where DJ AM was DJ-ing! It was for Linnea's (aka, bella ciao's) birthday and a big group of us rolled out to the club around midnight. We stayed there dancing until 4:30 in the morning (I know, crazy... but it was reeeeally fun and I wasn't going to be doing anything difficult in class the next day). I ended up getting home around 6 and had to wake up at 8, but it was ok because I took a long siesta yesterday in preparation for the copious amounts of sleep I would not be getting that night. Anywho, DJ AM is good. Like really good. I didn't stop dancing the entire time he was spinning. I had myself a little box about 3 feet off the floor that I was dancing on (because I like to dance up high, but you knew that) and my friends would join me periodically on the box. So my evening was basically: ...

Today my signora made spaghetti alle vongole which is spaghetti with clams. It was sooo good. I love Italy, people making spaghetti with clams on a Tuesday just because it's the thing to do. She told me how to make it too: while the pasta is cooking, put extra virgin olive oil, garlic and pepperincini or something else picante in a pan and then put the pre-soaked clams in the pan too and while the spaghetti's cooking, the clams will cook too. Then put it all in a bowl with some freshly chopped parsley. Dinner was all kinds of good tonight. Tomorrow I have my final composition in my intensive italian class. I'm going to try to do well on it because I would really like to get an A in this class. I'm doing well so far though, I got a 14 out of 15 on the written portion and a 9 out of 10 on the oral portion for the last exam. So hopefully I can get a perfect score on the final and pull out an A. We'll see! I'm really quite excited to go to Greece this Frida...

Alright, I know it's been a while. That's why this post is going to be super long. Longer than long. A word that's longer than long. Anyway. Well, last Tuesday Lina, Robbie, Peter and I went to Trastevere and hung out with Peter's friend Ibu (sp?). We just sat for a few hours and played the guitar/drums and sang. Here's a video of Peter playing: Please note Robbie's immense drum-playing skills. Wednesday night Lina, Ashley, Robbie, Rachel, Peter, myself and others all went to a party that was being thrown right next to the Collisseum for American students. It was fun and there was a pool, but we weren't allowed in it. Towards the end of the evening on the way home, Rachel swam in the fountain but I didn't get a picture of it. Here's a picture of Rachel, Lina and myself at the party: Then this past weekend, Rachel, Lina, Peter, Robbie and myself all went to Cinque Terre. It's a beautiful group of five cities in northern Italy. You should definitel...

Started my new italian class today! It was a lot more interesting than the ultra-beginning class and I didn't feel weird speaking in italian like I did before. Finally, I'm allowed to know italian in class! Haha. Did really well on my test last week, go fig. We played taboo in class today in italian which was fun. Morning class is different. I can't tell if I like it more or less. Remains to be seen I suppose. I just spent the day relaxing and I just skyped with my mom (she read me a children's story from my childhood, just for fun... gotta love free calling with video :) ). I was also able to talk to my dad for half an hour which was really nice. We got cut short, but he should be getting skype at his office soon and I can't wait to bug him while he's trying to work (just kidding Dad ;) ). Other than that, I'm just having a good day, looking forward to getting some nice sleep. Bella ciao! (FYI, piu A is the name of the italian class that I'm...

Today was a day of soccer and ponti (bridges). We weren't able to make the deadline to buy the soccer tickets, so we ended up going to a bar to watch the game on TV. The bar was really cool and we were able to sit upstairs and drink beer while we watched the game on the TV which was actually hung up where we were, here's us at the bar: After that bar, we all hung out on Ponte Sisto while Lina ran around taking pictures of us: It was fun to hang out on the bridge just drinking Peroni (that's the thing to do here): After a while we went to the apperativo for dinner which was really yummy Mediterranean food that was kind of a departure from the italian that we've been eating every day. Very nice. Then we all went to Robbie's apartment and hung out for a while and I read the Economist and drank this weird stuff that everyone else despised but I really didn't think was that bad (something made of herbs and mint...?). Then we just wandered around and went to another b...

So I slept in until 11:30 this morning. I got back really late last night so that didn't even equate to that much sleep, but that's ok. Lina and I then got lunch and walked around Monteverde (our neighborhood) and just kind of explored. The place we went to lunch was a place that we had been to before and they have this really good, salty bread that Lina was dying for. They also had good pizza, so I was happy. I absolutely LOVE the pizza here. I really cannot get enough of it. After that, we went to our respective apartments, siesta-ed and then met back up for dinner. Ashley came with and we all went out to this random restaurant in Trastevere that was super busy but relatively cheap. My pasta was good, but I really should have ordered pizza. I should always order pizza. Anywho, so after a long dinner, Lina and I parted ways with Ashley and while she went home, we went to Campo di Fiori, which is a nightlife hotspot with a bunch of bars and young people. We met a big ...