Ciao =)
This morning was delightful! I finally got some legitimate sleep and didn't get up until 10:30. I took a quick shower and started my reading for Art History, which was surprisingly fun to read. My first class today was at 1:30 so at 12 when my roommate and neighbors got out of their class we went for a walk to find a supermarket. It took a while but we finally found one. My roommate needed shampoo and conditioner - and who knew how hard that would be! We stood in front of them all staring at bottles trying to decipher which was which. I guess it would help if we knew what "conditioner" was in Italian, but after about ten minutes we figured it out. We took a short walk to the Pantheon and a few small piazzas before heading back to Pascucci's for lunch. I got a pizzeta con pomodoro e mozarella and a mixed fresh fruit juice. It was delicious! The room is very small, but it is adorable / delightful. Our program has a deal with Pascucci's so we don't have to pay cash - like munch money, we have Pascucci dollars. After lunch, I went to my Italian class - language and literature. It was ok, but the five of us in the course are scared. She expected all of us t be practically fluent but I was the only one to use Italian in class. It was intimidating but I thnk I will learn a lot. We have a reading we have to start this weekend so I guess we will see how hard it will be. I am a bit nervous. Directly after that we had our first tour. It was a tad disappointing because we had to walk so quickly and we only got a minute at each stop, but Piazza Navona was spectacular!! I think Bernini is my new idol (sorry Gaudi). I am excited to see more of his work. We had to rush back to make it to Mythology, and made it just on time. Mythology went well, and I think I will really like the class. He referred to many art pieces and I realized that knowing these myths will make so much art work make more sense. I can't wait to get reading! Luckily, Mythology ended with 15min to spare before religion so I sprinted back to the hotel, changed into my outfit for the opera (red and black plaid skirt, black sweater) and ran back for my next class. Religion also was interesting and I have to say, it is going to be so easy! All readings are optional and only what is mentioned in class is on the exams. He said as long as we know generally what is going on, we are all set. I seriously need that with all of my difficult classes this semester! Religion ended at 7, and all of us ran back for dinner. We had chicken and rice, salad, and a weird cake thing with chocolate which all was delicious as usual. Dinner ended at about 7:45.
As soon as everyone dropped off their books and grabbed their tickets, we left for the opera! Miss Mchugh (our RA) told us we shouldn't walk there because not know where we were really going was too dangerous at night, so we took a bus. Tickets are sold at Pascucci's so we bought one for each way and went to the bus stop. We were told to take the 40 bus to the stop with the Burger King. Easy enough, right? Well turns out there are two Burger Kings... We got off at the first one and looked around but couldn't find a theatre. So we started walking in the direction that the bus was heading in thinking it must be close. After about two blocks and nothing we decided to ask someone. We stopped a man and asked "Dov'รจ il teatro del'opera?" and he laughed, pulled a map out of his pocket, handed it to us and walked away. Not so helpful when you have no clue what street you're on. So we kept walking until we finally found a sign and though we figured out exactly where we were... At this point we had about 10min to get there. We kept walking and eventually hit a massive piazza and fountain - the one Miss Mchugh told us to turn around at because that meant we went too far. But there was absolutely no theatre on that street. So we asked a few more people and right when we figured a map out, someone found the only Italian willing to help us. We ran around the next corner finding the massive theatre on our right. There was no time to waste. After most of us got through the ticket line, one girl realized she accidentally brought the wrong ticket... Luckily the guy believed her she had one to this show too and let her through a few minutes later. We sprinted to our seats and got comfortable right as the lights went down. To our dismay, our private box seats were awkwardly placed on the farthest left side of the stage... From my seat, I could only see maybe half of the stage. And, of course, the entire show took place directly below us - the one spot we could absolutely not see without leaning our entire upper bodies on the wall in front of us. (Not the most comfortable way to watch a show. For most of it I just sat back and listened. The show was great, I just wish I had seen more and that the actors has mics - they were nearly impossible to hear most of the time over the music. I followed along best I could, and knowing the plot beforehand certainly helped. It left me craving a real Italian opera - in Italian. While we were waiting for the bus to pick us up, we were all standing in a group talking. This man started staring at us in shock and inching towards us. I turned and tried to ignore him but before I knew it he was literally smelling my hair... I jumped and he stared at me, then tried talking to me... But i turned away so he started talking to another girl instead. He said "You. What universe are you from?" We all laughed, but he was serious. She said "Uh, America..." and he was like "You are America girl. What cigarette?" And he got mad when we didn't give an answer other than to laugh. Luckily, our bus pulled up right then so we all ran on, laughing hysterically.
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