VictoriaLynne789

It has been a unique couple of months, apparently. Living in Italy, you learn to take nothing for granted and plan accordingly. For example, busses don’t always stop, the post system is constantly on strike, packages don’t always come on time, shops close when they feel like it, not based on any posted sign, and EVERY thing is closed on Sundays. The best way to describe the weather is that one must expect the unexpected. The sun doesn’t always stay out, and just because it hasn’t snowed this far south since the seventies does not mean that this will not occur the one semester I am here. On day when it will rain, the only meteorological indicator is a morning of sunny blue skies and sparse innocent looking clouds. It has been raining about 60% of ... read more

Rome has many varieties of pasta, each more delicious than the next. It is SUCH a good thing that this is a city built for walking, or I would have gained about fifty pounds by now (and it's only been three weeks!) Early last weekend, I remembered something called protein. Go figure, remembering to add protein and veggies to my diet has actually improved the quality of the cuisine. Regarding Carbohydrates in general :: -Pizza is purchased by the slice and then by weight; if you are particularly hungry, you simply order a bigger slice. This system makes SO much sense for both consumer AND vendor. -The risotto is incredible. Although interestingly enough, I've had trouble finding the "from scratch" type (made with the rice grains + chicken broth + an onion or two) that I ... read more

This will be a very short post because I have class in the morning. Or actually, at noon. A very high note in my afternoon was a spot in a later Italian class opening up, so now, rather than starting class at 8:30am on Monday and Wednesdays and going to 3:15, I start at noon and go till 5. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I go from 2:15-5:00 with two classes back to back. My classes this semester include :: Intro to Italian Comparative Political Systems History from Constantine to the First Crusade Political Economy of Globalization History and Politics of the Middle East It's looking like a really interesting semester :) But back to the main point in this post. The last few days have involved a LOT of (boring and quite honestly, pointless-because-they-could-have-been-accomplished-via-email) orientation meetings. ... read more

Note to self: must acclimate to a more geographically appropriate tie zone. Although being up at 3am every night is useful for things like travel blogging because I don't have to worry about doing this INSTEAD OF seeing as much as I can while I'm here, it's probably not a good idea in the long run. On a happier note, I'm finally sleeping for periods exceeding two consecutive hours; I'm almost at five. My roommates back at school are probably very amused that I find this to be an accomplishement, considering how very good I was at it at school. Now that I've been in Rome for more than twenty four hours, I have had time to make a few observations and learn a little bit about my surroundings. I'm staying in a part of Rome ... read more

I have finally arrived in Roma!! I got to my apartment late last night, but, by coincidence, all of my roommates are from California, and so we have the same jet-lag/time difference schedule. None of us were tired despite the hour, and so we ventured out into the city and bonded over pizza, wine, and of course, boys. The coincidences continue; we all went to Catholic All-Girl School. Our amazing apartment - which includes a courtyard - is only a few hundred meters from the university, a leisurely five to seven minute walk paved with pizzarias, wine bars, ristorantes, gelato stands, and, or course, cobblestones. We read all the menus and weighed the length of the dessert menues against the prices; it's unfortunate that the dollar is faring so poorly in comparison to the Euro. Happily, ... read more