Blogs from Rome, Lazio, Italy, Europe - page 308

Rome is a good place to learn about history of Christianity, and catacombs are an important part of the learning experience. Unfortunately, there are only few people would consider the opportunity to check out catacombs when visiting Rome, and as our time in Rome is running short, I decided to visit a catacomb. Catacomb is always an intriguing place for me, especially with my goal of becoming a better Christian. Many early Christians lived in catacombs as places for sanctuary from Roman prosecution, where they died, buried, and hoped to resurrect with Christ at the end. Other than fulfilling my goal, Roman experience is not complete without visiting a catacomb; besides, who doesn’t want to experience a real eerie place, dark and mysterious, except the fact that I don’t think any of these souls would haunt ... read more

Caren has more creative titles. Hers today was "would you like some ruins with that Basilica?" Which basically describes Rome. But first Florence. Wow it's been a while since I wrote It feels like a lot longer. Florence was a dissapointment. We went to museums and churches and saw cool stuff there but the overall feeling of the city was not so good. The first day we were all running from place to place completely exhausted cause none of us had slept. We had to get there really early because the hostels in Florence don't take reservations. We ended up staying in one that was pretty expensive becuae it was all we could get. During the day we checked out other ones that said that if we got there really early to get on the waiting ... read more

Quiet and calm Lucca seems a world away from Florence. Ill go chronologically... We spent sat afternoon in Lucca, playing on the wall, eating more fantastic gelato, and going to a villa with a great garden. Tania and i went back to the hostel early (7). She decieded to have a quiet night there, and Josh, the American we ate dinner with the night before, and i went seeking more pasta. We found more pasta and some meat, spliting a fresh tagliatelle with cream and fungi (yes, fungi, it is on almost everything, so i figured id try some). It was fantastic, exactly what i thought italian pasta should be. We also split veal marsala and carpaccio... yum. Then more gelato and wall walking. In the morning Tania and I headed to Pisa to meet Lauren ... read more

As much as I like to explore Rome as a tourist, living in Rome as a ‘temporary’ citizen of Rome as our instructor Katherine referred to, is interesting. By day eight, everything becomes so ordinary for us - a group of ignorant tourists everywhere blocking the narrow streets of Rome talking in different languages, doing groceries, loud dump truck that regularly comes at one in the morning in front of our apartment to pick up overloading garbage, locals that always reply in English even though I started the conversation in Italian, two line Metro and bus number 70 or 30 to go to the studio, and schoolwork. The progress of my studio work in Testaccio turns out to become somewhat personal experience. I chose a small unattractive plaza of the Parco della Resistenza dell'Otto Settembre, located ... read more

The difference between visiting and living abroad may lies in the grocery shopping. Our newest favorite grocery store is called DiPerDi, which is strategically located nearby the Vatican outer wall, merely five minutes walking from our apartment. There are too many things to list the difference between DiPer and grocery shopping back home in the U.S. Firstly, there are fewer selections on items; for example, there are only two kinds of cereal choices, one kind of milk (half a gallon in a card box), and to my dismay, there is no 2% milk, ramen noodles, ranch dressing, or Mt. Dew (typical American). Bread is measured by its weight instead of loafs, so my first day grocery shopping ignorance resulted a big chunk of bread, since I asked for 'due killi di pane' - two kilos of ... read more