From Ancient City to Chocolate City

Last Sunday, my roommates and I took a spontaneous trip to Perugia, Italy, in the Region of Umbria. We heard of a chocolate festival going on and there was no way we were going to miss that! So we woke up at 6am and made out way to Termini train station- where we of course had to buy our tickets and RUN to the train because it was leaving the platform right as we were getting on. Apparently, every 15-25 year old in Rome had the same idea as us because the train was PACKED. We literally had to stand for 3 hours, on very little sleep. (We were hoping to be able to take a little nap on the train and maybe even get some homework done, boy we were wrong) However we did meet a very nice American couple on the train, so it helped time go by a little faster. Couple of things about the youth of Italy though- they have no problem with discussing every detail of your looks while you’re standing right next to them. They assumed we couldn’t speak Italian or understand them, but I guess they were a little surprised when we shouted “parliamo Italiano” as they were walking by. They’re quite the impatient type also, pushing and shoving in order to get a seat or get the train moving. But, I guess it was all in the name of chocolate.
Once we got to Perugia, piled off the train and headed to a pizza place for a quick bite to eat. Then, we made our way to the mini metro. (yes, mini- that’s what it was called and that’s what it looked like. Very un-economical when you have hundreds of people trying to pile on and get to the festival) After waiting almost an hour to get on, we finally found ourselves in the heart of the chocolate festival. There was chocolate everywhere. Sculpturing exhibitions, free samples, and even stands that sold everything and anything made out of chocolate. (from chocolate salami to chocolate kebabs) It was really fun to walk around and see/taste the chocolate, until it started to rain. And when it rains, it pours. We tried to make the best of it, but after getting soaked from dancing in the rain, we found ourselves in a café drinking some cappuccinos and trying to warm up for the rest of the day. When we decided to call it quits in Perugia, getting on the mini metro and the train home was just as hard as getting there. Thankfully though, we sprinted our way on to the train and got a seat for the 3 hour ride back to Rome. All in all, it was an interesting trip. We got to go home with some chocolate and a new perspective on the people of Italy. It’s funny how Italians are so loyal to their region- being outside of Rome made that even more apparent. Umbria was fun, but my heart belongs in Roma.

Pomeii, as it was...

Last Saturday, I took a day trip with AUR to Pompeii. I actually woke up on time and we were EARLY to meet the bus. So early, in fact, that the bar we usually get breakfast from in the morning was still closed! The bus left from school at 7am, and I took a nice 3 hour nap for the whole ride. We arrived in Pompeii around 10 or 10:30 and split up to take a tour. Pompeii is an ancient city, perfectly preserved by the ash from Mount Vesuvius when it erupted in 79 AD and covered the city. Our tour guide was really good. She did a great job of showing us even the slightest details around the city and what their significance was. We started out walking through the city walls and stopping to see the smaller of the theaters. She showed us the acoustics and how if you are standing in the middle, the sound echo’s through the entire theatre. It’s pretty amazing how smart the people back then were without any technology or anything to help them build their structures. (As my tour guide said, back then they had the money and not the technology, now we have the technology but not the money!) We then walked through the streets of Pompeii and visited one of the large homes. The walls were covered in beautiful frescos- original from before the eruption. They we’re chipping, but for the most part you were able to see the pictures as they were 2000 years ago. We also got to see the brothels – a huge tourist attraction there- of course those fresco’s (or “menus”) were also preserved and quite vivid. We walked to the forum, which was the city’s commercial, religious and political center. The forum was dominated by the Temple of Jupiter, the supreme god of the Roman Pantheon. It was an epic structure, probably bigger than most of the temples in the Roman Forum. Towards the back of the Forum, there were casts of Pompeiians, just as they were when they were covered by ash and lava. This, to me, was the most interesting thing to see. When Vesuvius Erupted, 2000 Pompeii citizens suffocated under ash and their bodies were buried in volcanic debris. While excavating, modern archeologists detected hollow spaces in the rock, created when the victim’s bodies decomposed. By filling the holes with plaster, archeologists were able to create molds of the people in their last moments. Literally, you can see every feature in their face, its eerie. We continued on to the basilica, the bath and some of the more famous homes- such as the house of the tragic poet and the house of the faun. All the homes basically looked the same layout wise, but the art and gardens in each one were unique. I assume we walked into all the rich homes, because they were huge! One of them even covering and entire city block! (House of the Faun) Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the house of the Vetti, which is the famous bachelor pad of two brothers who enjoyed entertaining women. However, we did pass many “fast food joints”, the ancient McDonalds. I guess times really haven’t changed.
After a quick stop to eat, we were back on the bus and heading home. It was a day filled with history and archeology- It makes me wonder, 2000 years from now will people be touring the ruins of Philadelphia? Pompeii was such an important city in the Roman era, and now it’s just ruins. Is that what everything’s destined to become?

Ancient Rome

On Wednesday, Tom and I spent his last day exploring the Roman Forum, the Coliseum and Palatine Hill. We got up super early- as we have been for the whole week to maximize the time I have before and after school- and headed out to ancient city. We stopped for a delicious cornata and café before walking from the tram stop to the Coliseum. We took some pictures in front of the Coliseum, but didn’t want to wait on the long line at that entrance so we walked behind the Arch of Constantine and bought tickets at Palatine Hill. We debated whether or not to hop on a tour but winded up just going at it alone. 12 Euros gets you in to the Coliseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum and you can enter though any of the entrances. (Palatine Hill usually has the shortest lines) Palatine Hill was interesting, although we spend the least amount of time there out of the three sites. During the Republic, the Palatine was the city’s most fashionable residential quarter, where aristocrats and statesmen built their homes. We walked around the ruins for a bit but then made our way to the Roman Forum to see the real interesting stuff. The forum was not reserved for any single activity- there were basilicas, government buildings, temples, the city’s eternal flame, wells, etc… Since we didn’t book a tour, Tom and I found our way around using the map that’s in my Rome book to guide us through the ruins. We walked by the Basilica Amelia, which was the judicial center of Ancient Rome, through the market square to the Arch of Septimius Severus- which was pretty epic looking. The arch is covered with reliefs to celebrate the imperial family and was raised to celebrate the emperor’s victory in the Middle East. We walked by some temples- each with their significance to the gods- to the House of the Vestal Virgins. The Vestal Virgins were the female “priests” of the city and guarded the eternal flame (that was kept continuously lit for over 1000 years), among other prestigious other rights. We spent a good 2 hours in the forum, reading about all of the ruins as we walked by- especially the senate and government buildings. The temples were interesting too, but there was just too many of them to remember what each one stood for in its time.
After the Forum, we finally headed over to the coliseum. It was pretty packed once we got there- probably should have gotten there earlier, but in the end it was all the same. How do I even begin to describe the massive amphitheater? It dwarfs every other antiquity in Rome by reputation- if not by sheer size. I can just image how majestic it must have stood 2000 years ago- covered in marble that’s now gone, and holding crowds of 50,000 people. Some parts were reconstructed to show what the stands used to look like and the underground maze that was used by the gladiators and animals to prepare for the night’s activities. It was interesting to learn that a pulley system was used to bring the gladiators from the underground to the arena floor. (Arena coming from the Latin word harena- meaning sand, which covered the floor to soak up blood) It was just amazing architecture, the very first stadium in the word, with more history in its walls than any other stadium anywhere. Needless to say, we really enjoyed it there. Tom and I had most of our conversations around what it might have been like back then, what the people were like and how this was their life. It was pretty amazing to be walking through the streets just as the Romans did 2000 years ago.
I called it a day after the coliseum; unfortunately I did have to go to class. I can’t get enough of this city, honestly. I wish more than anything that I had all day to wander and literally do as the Romans did. And I wish more than anything that I didn’t have to say goodbye to Tom the next morning…

Vatican City

On Tuesday morning Tom and I took a tour of the Vatican Museums and saw the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica. We arrived half an hour late for the tour, due to the fact that busses in Rome tend to come whenever they want even if you’ve been standing at the stop for half an hour. However, we got really lucky and didn’t miss the tour group- they waited a while for us, but then the guide began to describe the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and we missed most of the explanation by the time we got there. (Thankfully I had my Rome book to teach me about what we missed) After the lesson on the Sistine Chapel, we headed into to museums. It’s amazing, really, how much art has been collected by the popes. It was filled with ancient, Renaissance and modern paintings, sculptures, and other works of art. It’s hard to explain most of what I saw. It’s one of those see-it-for-yourself museums. Every work of art is different and appeals to different kinds of people, so the ones that I stared at for 10 minutes could have been a piece that others passed by in 10 seconds. It’s been said that people like to hurry through the museums in order to get to the final destination- the Sistine Chapel- but I stopped when I was intrigued and didn’t move on until I saw something else that caught my eye. Being on a tour helped, too- When the guide was describing a particular art, I either paid attention if I was interested or took the time to wander to another piece and still get hear what she had to say about the particular era. We started with the ancient art, and then moved on to statues, candelabra, tapestries and maps before spending a lot of time in the Raphael Rooms. I really enjoyed the Raphael rooms. Although religious, the art was beautiful and the tour guide did a good job in explaining the important impact he had in the Renaissance and the power behind his art. The gallery of the Candelabras and Tapestries are well worth seeing, as well. The history behind them didn’t intrigue me as much as the skill it must have taken to create the works did. It was also amazing to see how each civilization borrows from and builds on the previous ones art.
We made it through the length of the museums and reached the Sistine Chapel. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in there, but it could have been my favorite part of the day. Michelangelo depicted a story from Genesis in each section of the ceiling. The creation story, although I’m not in any way religiously affiliated with the work, intrigues me like no other. I had to use my travel book to help me understand what I was looking at, but it was all so dramatic and – perfect, honestly.
We moved on to St. Peter’s Basilica via a secret hallway our tour guide told us about. To say the Basilica was big would be an understatement. It measures 187m by 137m along the transepts. Every step we took we found another part of the Basilica tucked away behind a pillar. Obviously it was packed with tourists, but it was definitely worth the experience to visit another gem in the history of religion and art. Of course, it was just epically beautiful.
Vatican City was once the mightiest power in Europe- and even thought today it’s just another popular tourist attraction, it really makes you stop and think about the history it holds and the importance of literally every piece of art or architecture in there. Truly the epitome of shock and awe.

Ostia Antica and a Taste of Home

This week, I had a little taste of home because Tom came to visit me. I’ve gotten used to living here by now, so I almost felt like a tourist again walking around with him to see the sites. He’s never been to Rome before, so I guess I was more like a “tour-guide.” We did a ton of cool things and found some really good restaurants around the city. The first day I took him to Campo De Fiori and we shopped around in the open air market. Then we had lunch at Monte Carlo’s, which is only the BEST pizzeria in the city! After a nap, Tom and I went to dinner and enjoyed some Roman night life. Over the weekend, we walked around the city- all the way up to Villa Borghese, which was beautiful. The garden was so quite it almost felt like you had left Rome. We also took a day trip to Ostia Antica, which is something I probably wouldn’t have done if Tom wasn’t here. It was really awesome- Ostia is an ancient port town, and the ruins that are left reflect warehouses, theaters, apartments, markets and baths that were once used by the thriving port of 60,000 people. The city is named after its location. Ostium means mouth, as the city is located at the mouth of the Tiber River. It served as a naval base and protected Rome from attacks from the sea. After a while, however, the city became more commercial than military and it became popular for its control of big business and trade.
I wish it was easy to explain how big this city (well, now ruins) actually was. It felt like it could have easily been the size of Philadelphia, only with bigger stone buildings and an amphitheatre. We walked the entire length of the city, and even tried to venture off the main roads and imagine the residential areas- picturing where the gamblers even could have hung out. Some of the ruins we saw included the Necropolis (which was right in the front because the dead were not allowed to be buried in the city walls), Porta Romana and the Republican Warehouse (ruins of where the goods from the port would be stored), The baths of Neptune, the Theatre (a boy even went to the front of the Theatre and sang a song from the Phantom of the Opera in front of the whole crowd of tourists. I felt like I was watching a show just like the people of the city did two thousand years ago), the mill, the forum and the baths. We climbed to the top of the some of the ruins and got some great views of the water and the ancient city. It took quite a few hours to see the sights, but it was well worth it. You’d think I’d get tired of looking at ruins after a while, but they just keep getting more interesting. This city was particularly cool because of its proximity to the water and the importance it had on trade in the Mediterranean at the time. Overall it’s a site well worth going to see if you want to get a different perspective from the ruins of Rome. It’s only about a 45 minute train ride away, and we were back in Rome for dinner....

Advertising Fail - Thank You, Language Barrier

So far, I haven’t really had any troubles with the language barrier
living here in Italy. Particularly because I go to an American
University, and the little Italian that I know can get me by in
restaurants and when asking for directions. However, I made a “fatal”
mistake in the last place that I ever thought I would need to
understand Italian- in class. In my advertising class, I had to
research a brand the way it is marketed in the Italian Market and
present with a group. Easy enough, right? I found an ad on youtube
that I thought was an Italian commercial for the product. I added it
in my presentation to show the positioning of the brand. However,
about ¼ of the way though the commercial my professor literally says
“you should stop this, anyone who speaks Italian would know that this
is not a real ad.” I obliged, but I was confused at the time as to
why she asked me to stop. (I thought it was perhaps because it was
getting to long) My group continued with their parts, and at the end
of the presentation we learned that the ad that I showed was actually
a spoof of an ad, and its voice was dubbed over with curse words that
were talking negatively about the product. My professor basically
said that showing that ad was a fatal mistake, and if I was presenting
to a company I would have lost the business immediately for not
knowing more about the culture. It was quite embarrassing when I was
up there because I honestly had no idea. How was I supposed to? I
never learned the “bad” words in Italian so I just assumed they were
adjectives or verbs that I just didn’t know. True, I should have dug
more into the ad before I showed it, but if I was giving this
presentation in the American Market this goof would not have happened.
It’s a perfect example of how a language barrier can ruin a business-
or in my case, a presentation. Hopefully my next presentation for
this class will be a lot better, to make up for the less than desired
grade I’ll probably get for this one. Either way, it was a learning
experience- and as embarrassing as it was, I will never again show
something to a class/client/etc.. without knowing EXACTLY what it is
that it is talking about.

Tuscany Weekend

Friday morning, I frantically wake up at 5:52 am thanks to my alarm that decided not to go off 40 minutes prior. That gave me exactly 8 minutes to shower, throw some things in a bag and get on a bus to meet a group from the school who organized a trip to Tuscany for the weekend. I made it with just enough time to grab a cappuccino and a croissant and find a seat on the coach bus that left at 7 from AUR. I fell right back asleep on the bus, and when I woke up 4 hours later, we had arrived in Pisa!
Pisa was a cute little city. (note: really little) We had a walking tour of the most popular area, obviously the piazza where the leaning tower is located. It was quite interesting though, I learned about the construction of the leaning building and why it had to be placed in that spot regardless of the soil that was giving way beneath it. The piazza was actually an ancient clock. All the buildings were strategically placed so the residents of pizza would always be able to know what time it was just by looking at the way the sun hit certain buildings. Most of the buildings are gone, but the leaning tower still stands! Go figure. After the tour, we had some time to wander and shop. My friends and I had lunch at a cute little restaurant that had the best raviolis I’ve ever eaten. Then we went to snap some cliché pictures of us trying to hold up the falling tower. (I also got some funny pics of everyone else trying to do the same thing.) After some shopping and some dessert, we met the group at 5 got back on the bus to go to the hotel.
Back at the hotel we freshened up and got ready for dinner. Dinner was included at the hotel and it was the most lavish meal I think I’ve had so far in Italy. First course: salad, second course: pasta, third course: chicken and potatoes, fourth course: ice-cream. I’m using to eating only one plate at a restaurant in order to stay within my budget, so it was really, really filling to have 4 plates like an authentic Italian dinner should have. After a long day and a long meal, we headed up to bed.
Saturday was equally as busy. We woke up super early, had breakfast (also included!) and got on a bus to be in Florence by 10. I can’t say enough about that city. It was beautiful, clean, friendly and very historical. We took another walking tour and passed through the religious center, the government center, the museum area and made our way all the way down to Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in the city. The city is much smaller and more manageable than Rome. We didn’t need to take any public transportation to get from one side of the city to the other. After the tour, my roommates and I ventured to Santa Croce- the church that holds the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo, among other great names. There were tons of street markets and shops that we stopped at. We visited the Duomo, the leather markets, and of course, went to see the famous David. It was truly a long, exhausting day but worth every step. I’m happy I got to go home with some nice new leather, too! We met the group at 6pm and headed to the hotel. After another 4 course dinner, my friends and I enjoyed a nice bottle of wine to end the day on a calm note.

Sunday was probably my favorite day out of the whole trip. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel around 8am and headed to Trequanda. Once there, we visited a vineyard and winery. The area was so beautiful, surrounded by mountains and fields. We were taken on a tour of the winery and taught how the wine is made and the aging process. It was really interesting and reminded me of a movie I watched recently called “bottle shock” – definitely recommend it if this kind of stuff interests you. I took tons of pictures of course, because the land was beautiful and historical. The winery is one of two in all of Italy that is run entirely by women. This is to make the statement that “anything you can do we can do better” since winery typically only hire men. After the tour, we got a chance to taste some of the most famous wines that are made there. After trying a couple, we were then brought back to the kitchen area and taught how to make pasta! It was super fun. We got to watch as the chef created the dough and then we were given the chance to shape the pasta ourselves. Surprisingly, making pasta is really easy! It’s definitely something I want to try to do on my own! By the time we finished our cooking lesson, it was way passed lunch time. We headed to the restaurant, which was absolutely adorable for our meal. This lunch literally took three hours. We had no idea it was going to last that long or that there was going to be so much food. They came around with a first plate of cheeses and meats, and brought us a different bottle of wine to taste with the first course. Then we were served some pasta Bolognese. I thought that was going to be our whole meal, considering they came around asking if anyone wanted seconds. But I was way wrong. After two plates of pasta, they brought us more chicken and potatoes. It was so delicious but unexpected- since they waited about an hour between plates- and a different bottle of wine to enjoy with the meat. After trying to get through most of my dish, dessert was already on its way- this amazing apple tart pie. (I’m making myself hungry now just thinking about it). It really was the longest and most filling meal I’ve ever eaten. I think it even tops any Thanksgiving meal I’ve had too- but worth every second. After the meal, we were able to walk around the vineyard and follow a trekking trail. The trail was much needed to walk off some of the food. I also bought a couple bottles of wine that I liked from the winery. After a few hours of wandering, we got back on the bus and headed back home to Rome. It was truly an unforgettable weekend. Every day was something new and interesting and we got to top it off with some authentic Italian food and wine. La dolce vita.