Well, I am all moved in and settled! My room is amazing and the view is stunning. I can actually see the Pantheon. I attached pictures of the room, and I will upload more later tomorrow. One of my roommates and I went wandering after the first orientation talk this afternoon and ate some pasta at a little cafe by the hotel. I ordered and spoke Italian! I even asked for help when I didn't know what to do with the tray after we finished. Before we ate, we made a huge circle seeing what we could find. When we got back to the hotel, we had a group meeting and they gave us a tour of the classroom building and showed us where the library is. The classroom building reminded all of us of an old schoolhouse and it has a tiny door leading to tiny stairs up a floor. In the schoolhouse, we had a long lecture from the director, Dr Prebys. She made it very clear no flipflops were allowed outside hotel rooms by repeating that fact for about 5min. Other than that, we went over general rules about classes, dress, guests, and such. The meeting ended with about two hours until mass, so six of us went for a walk, and then four of us went to the opening mass. On our walk, we stopped at a pizza place, and found some good gelatarias to keep in mind, and also just wandered. As for mass, the program has it’s own private chapel with about 8 benches in a tiny almost closet sized room. Mass was wonderful, though it was in perfect English since its with the program… I may have to venture elsewhere soon to get the full Roman experience. Once mass ended, we had a nice chat with the priests and deacons before heading to Scholars, a local Irish bar, to watch some of the football game. It was so crowded and all of us couldn’t get a seat so we stayed for a little while and then head over to a different bar that was far less crowded. We decided we should probably try to get to Scholars sooner next time!
our room (including our view and the poodle in our bathroom):
After a short, but fun evening, we head back to the hotel for some sleep. I skyped with my mom for a bit, showered, and set my alarm for 7am before going to sleep. This morning when the alarm went off, it was torturous. We were still so tired! So I just hit snooze and didn’t end up moving until about 7:30. My roommate and I were both moving in slow motion, trying to get ready for our 8am class when suddenly she looked at the clock, brought it over, and asked “is this right??” It was 7:57. We grabbed our coats and bags and ran out the door! Our next door neighbors were in the exact same boat and actually opened their door at the same time as us. The four of us sprinted down the stairs, across the street, and into the classroom building with a minute to spare. But, of course, the professor wasn’t even there yet. We all took a deep breath, sat down, and waited. He was about 20min late when he walked in, which was perfectly alright with us. It is a music appreciation class that goes from 8-11 every Monday. As part of the class, we get to attend three operas, and the first is tomorrow night. I am so excited!! It is in English, so I can maybe actually understand what is going on, and it sounds really interesting! He read us the entire plot; it’s about an Italian-American family and the husbands two cousins who illegally moved to the US. As is the usual story, one cousin falls for the wife’s beautiful cousin but the husband is jealous, admits to loving his wife’s cousin also, and eventually is killed for it. We have planned to walk over to the theatre tomorrow night after dinner in the Tiziano (our hotel) which is about a scenic 20min walk according to our professor.
Our first meal in the Tiziano is today in one hour (1oclock)! None of us can wait. Everyone says the food is amazing, and other programs say we most definitely have the best food of any of them. After that, at 2:20, I have my first art history class. I hear it is extremely difficult, so I am a bit nervous, but also very excited. That is my only other class today so tonight I will be heading to a nice pizza or pasta dinner with friends, and maybe a quick tourist type of tour hitting a few of the big sites. I would love to see the Trevi and such, so maybe I can convince a few girls to go with me.
I will post again either tonight or tomorrow about what I end up doing, but for now, arrivederci!
I just remembered something hilarious that happened before mass sunday so I decided to add it on here: on our walk over, before we turned the corner where all the school buildings are, including the chapel, we heard loud singing and music in the distance. As we continued walking, a large group of people in white robes and colorful floral necklaces were dancing toward us in the street. We still don't have a clue what they were saying (it wasn't Italian), but when we tried to get by they pulled one of the girls into the group and started spinning her around to get her to dance with them! The rest of us, being the amazing friends we were, ran out of fear they might catch us too. Luckily, that may have been the best thing to do because the guy noticed we left and shooed her away so she could catch us. It made us laugh hysterically, maybe a bit too much for walking into the silent and tiny (yet very echo-y) chapel. =)
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