It's a long one...

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Ok, so it's been a really long time since I've written a blog. I apologize for this. It's been so busy here over the past few months that I really didn't have much spare time. I hope that I can remember most of what happened and recount the events from this time.

Let's start with the most recent, shall we? Right now it's early morning and I'm just relaxing for a bit before starting the day. Vacation started about a week ago and I've been a busy bee. I had to pack everything in my apartment because I moved in to my new place on Tuesday evening. I'll be living with Alison in our new place. The location is great...I'm just outside the Vatican Walls and close to many buses and the metro. My friend Chris has been visiting me, and he's been a huge help with my move. The new apartment features A/C so, it's nice to come home to that when it's so hot outside. Chris and I actually walked home from the center last night. We had a dinner of wine, suppli, pasta, and grilled scamorza with salad down by the Tiber River. On Wednesday we saw the Colosseum and Forum, and in the evening we went to dinner with Jen and Helen for tasty Mexcian food. Oh, how I miss variety. Chris actually enjoyed it also, since he's been eating Chinese food for the past 2 years. Today...more walking in the Eternal City.

So, what else has happened? Well, a few months ago there was a terrible earthquake that rocked L'Aquila, which still unfortunately lays in rubble. I wish the government would help those poor people. It's been a really difficult time for them and their families. The earthquake was so strong that we felt it here in Rome...it was a bit scary. I'd never been in an earthquake before, and I don't want to go through that again.

We all had a long weekend for Easter, and so we decided to head to Messina for the weekend. Usually it's bright, sunny and warm in Italy. Of course we went and it was damp, cold, and raining the whole weekend. That kinda put a change to the plans a bit. We stayed with Fabio's family and they treated us to a delicious Easter meal. There was soooo much good food. It was definitely better than I could've done. But once again, I think I reinforced the idea that I will never take the night train to Sicily again. It really was as terrible as I remembered...maybe worse this time. It's actually cheaper to fly if you don't go on a peak weekend.

Remember how I said the students are all really wonderful? Well, two of the student, Nayrous and Houria, invited Jenny, Alison and I to lunch with them. They took us to a typical Middle Eastern restaurant. The food was really good and I remembered how much I love pita, hummus and falafel. We went back a couple times since then, and even introduced the place to Aimee and Jen too. I'm pretty sure that I've eaten more Middle Eastern food here in Rome than I ever have in my life...but it's a great departure from constantly eating Italian food.

Let's see...what happened next? Heather left us and moved back to Portland. We had been living together for a year until that point, so it was sad to see her go. Things really do change quite a bit when you get to know someone so well, and then they leave. Sure life goes on, but it's always changed just a bit. It's still sad knowing that she's not coming back again. But we have some really good memories that will last a lifetime. And now I have a good excuse to visit Portland.

After this, Marissa and James came to visit. We had a lot of fun together. I was really happy that they came to visit. They were even able to take a few side trips, and I joined them on a trip to Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri and Positano for the May 1st holiday. What a disaster that turned out to be. It's a good thing that the beautiful scenery makes up for it. We had to fight to get seats on the train...thanks to Marissa pushing a woman with her suitcase and me pushing in front of people we managed to get seats for the 3 hour trek...when in Rome 😊 When we finally arrived at the hotel, they had overbooked and decided to put us up in a campsite. It wasn't in walking distance to anything, and we weren't planning on camping. After being on the phone with hotels.com and arguing with the hotel they finally put us up in a real hotel. At least we got a really good breakfast out of the deal 😊 While Marissa and James were visiting, my friends Ursula and Matt were also here on their Italian vacation. So, we all met up one evening and had dinner together. It was really very nice having so many people from home here.

After Marissa and James left I had about a week free until my family arrived for their vacation. Of course, that's when the horrible heat started also. I felt bad that it was so hot and somewhat difficult for my family to enjoy. Since we had so much time set aside for Rome, we were able to relax a bit and not push ourselves too much. We also took a side trip to Sicily, in Caccamo, to meet our Italian cousins. I loved going there, and it was so nice meeting everyone in the family. We ate really good food, and got a chance to see where most of my family came from. It was a very small, but very beautiful town. The whole family was really very welcoming and it was also nice to be there with the American cousins as well. The whole family was together.

Hmm, what else...I'm trying to give updates but also keep this blog "short" at the same time 😊 We also had other visitors too. Alison's brother and sister were here studying for the summer, and came to visit us also. We all had a lot of fun together. They even got to meet my parents when they were here. So, it was very good I think. Jenny had Scott come to visit, and also her friend Jackie. The Rome Tour and Visitors Bureau should thank all of us for bringing so many visitors here. Of course with all these visitors it means that we've all visited the tourist attractions more than 99% of the Roman population. While Alison's siblings were visiting we all decided to have a day at the beach. We went to a different area of the beach which was really nice because it wasn't very full, and it seemed cleaner. The bus ride from hell hardly seems worth it though. Honestly, we were on a packed stuffy bus for an hour trying to make it back to the train station. We were getting pushed, smashed and poked for an hour...the walkable beach just seemed much more worth it at the end.

So, I guess this brings me to the "departures" portion of the blog. Alison (and siblings) left Rome on July 1st. Alison will be back at the beginning of October, but it was still a little sad saying goodbye. Before they left though, we had our 4th of July celebration complete with burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, pasta salad and an American flag cake. Next up, Jenny's departure. I was really sad. I've known Jenny for almost a year and a half now, and we became very close in that time. So, it was difficult to say goodbye. The good news is that she lives in Chicago, so it's easy enough to visit from Philadelphia. Rome just won't be the same though. And a few days after Jenny left, Dario also moved. He's now living in London. July was a very difficult month, full of friends leaving. Even Davide left...but only to go on vacation. My birthday came and went without any special fanfare...just the way I wanted it. Before Jenny and Dario left, we did finally have dinner in the "hills" of Rome. It was a very nice dinner...I'm glad I finally got the chance to do it.

On Saturday I actually got the chance to meet up with Larry here in Rome for dinner. Larry and I have known each other since kindergarten, but we both think that we actually haven't seen each other since the Junior Prom in high school...that's now like 12 years ago. It was really great to see him and to meet everyone in his family that he was here with. We enjoyed a nice dinner, and even got a tour of the old well in the basement of the restaurant. After dinner we took a nice walk (in the hot Roman humid summer evening) through the center and just caught up a bit. I was really happy that we met up, if only for a few hours.

So now, I suppose I should get started on the day (after I've been writing for the past hour). I'll really try to be better with the updates. I'm sure I left out quite a bit, but at least I was able to remember most of the major stuff that has happened. I'll be leaving in just a few days to go back to America for a few weeks. I'm really looking forward to a nice break from being here and to seeing my family and friends. I hope you're all doing well. Talk to you soon.

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