Friends and Fromaggio!

---

---

After 10 days of hard work, numerous trips to Gelaterias all over Rome (but it tastes so good and fresh and delicious and heavenly....), sightseeing and making new friends (namely Simone the pizza guy and Bruno and his family-not my landlord but a chef down the road who owns an incredible restaurant...are you picking up on the food theme?!) Mum and Dad reluctantly went home. They loved it here and no doubt will be back to visit as much as possible. I couldn't have done the move without them and was so grateful for their generosity and good humour.



The night before they left Anna arrived from Stockholm (by way of Indonesia!) and it was wonderful to spend the following 5 days with her. We continued to explore the city-notably the Colosseum and Roman Forum, and I took her to some of the beautiful spots I had already discovered with Mum and Dad. One night we were taken out for Pizza in Trastevere old town by the other Anna (translator Anna!) who bought along a girl called Sydney who she is working with on the World Food Project. Sydney is from Alabama and has only been in Rome a couple of weeks too, so it was great to meet someone in the same boat as me and who I can discover Rome with. We sat on a lively street eating 'fiori di zucca' -deep fried zucchini flowers- and fabulous pizza. I will be very surprised if I leave Italy the size I came, with such a carb rich diet. But how can you say no when it tastes this good??!!!



Anna won't mind me telling you that she loves her food. But it has to be high quality and nothing less for my Swedish friend. So to see her delight in all the food and drink that we consumed over those 5 days was a joy! She nearly cried when she ate the slow roasted pork at Bruno's restaurant. I thought she was going to get up and kiss the chef's feet at one point! 😉 And how can I forget the cheese?! Anna sent me out for cheese and wine whilst she prepared dinner one evening, and I got talking to the Deli owner round the corner from my house. He recommended one of his own cheeses and we chatted away via a lovely customer who translated everything for us! In the Deli I saw the Gelataria owner whose shop is next door, ran into Imran my friendly neighbour who works at the B&B, called 'ciao' across the road to Simone who was standing out on the street and saw Bruno's wife (name unknown as yet) carrying a huge cheese to the restaurant! Love it!! I feel like part of the community already. Everyone tries so hard to speak English and is so apologetic when they can't, and yet I'm the one who needs to be speaking Italian! I am picking up a few words but am really looking forward to starting lessons soon.



Anyway, back to the cheese! Needless to say Anna made all sorts of noises eating it and it was the perfect accompaniment to the pasta and bruschetta she had made. I was sad to see her go on the Sunday but if it's one person I know I will see again and again for fun weekends in Stockholm or Rome or all over this planet, its Anna!!



Can I take a moment to point out its not all sunshine and cheeses! I have already had a taste of the infuriating bureaucracy-trying to buy a train ticket at any of the machines in any of the stations is a joke-they freeze, they don't accept your cash, noone can work them and the queues are huge! And of course the ticket office is only open a few select hours a day, if at all! I have now luckily bought a year's season ticket so that saves a lot of stress! The trains do not seem to run on time, and can sit for ages at each station. I will have to let go of my English expectations pretty quickly if I want to remain calm here! Other such pains are that you have to get a medical certificate (which costs around 40euros) before you can join a gym, and to get the certificate you have to get a doctor, and to get a doctor you need your 'Codice Fiscale'-like your NI Number, which of course takes a while. Looks like I won't be doing any working out to counter act all of this eating then!! Well-not for a while anyway. And the bills! No such thing as bank transfers here! No-we all have to trundle to the Post office to pay our bills with the rest of Rome who have received their electric bills at the same time! And I have to go in person to each office to register that I am the new tenant-so that's the gas, electric, phone, maintenance and rubbish collection offices. Wowsers! I have not even attempted one of those yet!



And lastly my landlord-he calls me all the time. He knows I can only say -hello, how are you, I am fine, everything is good-however he insists on calling and speaking Italian at me down the phone. I keep on telling him to get his daughter to email me and then at least I can use good old google translate to decipher what's going on. I'm hoping he'll settle down!



All in all it's been an amazing start to this new chapter in my life, now I have two weeks of August to fill until school begins!

---

Comments

[Caroline R M]

Ciao bella! It all looks a lot of fun! Not sure I envy you with all the bill paying but maybe all the running around to all those different offices will burn off all the gelato?! If there is anyone who can change the efficiency of the country it's you Vicky! Just make sure you speak to the right people! It sounds like you are having a lovely time though and I am so happy for you. When I walk to and from the station in Clapham I feel really sad but then I remember how happy you are and that is most important! Looking forward to December! Much love to you darling Vicky, Caroline XXX (& James is asleep next to me but he would be saying hello too!) XXX