What a day, what a day.
After a well-deserved night’s rest, I awoke at the crack of dawn to start my first day of school in Rome. Well it wasn’t the crack of dawn, but 6:30 is pretty early in my book. I felt almost famous opening the bedroom door to the balcony to wake up to Rome’s fresh air.
We went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up the necessities and the roomies and I had the most amazing fruit for breakfast. My peach was perfect—it tasted like I was drinking peach juice. I’ve never had peach juice, but this, my friends, is the closest I am going to get.
Shortly thereafter, we headed downstairs to meet the voice behind our spring online course and our current teacher, Diana. She’s basically awesome. She led us to the Metrebus, a form of public transportation that takes us near the school. (This is also the tram the runs past our apartment every five minutes and rattles the windows.) She said that the school was only a short walk from the station we would get off at. Once we reached the school, we would begin orientation.
Little known fact (at least to me): A “little” walk to Romans is about 20 minutes—one way. Now, I’m used to walking around the large U of I campus, but Rome is an entirely new story. There are only a few main streets and the side streets are fairly narrow and paved in cobblestone. These narrow corridors mean that you have to cling to the closest building to make sure that you don’t get run over by a Smart Car or a Vespa. Granted, these Italian have got it down. Sure, it looks like they’ll run you over or hit you and your friends who unfortunately have gathered around their vehicle, but they work their way through the mob like pros. But I digress—back to walking. As you can imagine, walking around these streets and vehicles is not very fun. You’re constantly in the way, whether you want to be or not. And don’t even get me started about directions. I will be the chronically lost American for the next three weeks.
Back to Roma: after getting of the tram, we walked to Gustolab, our school for the next few weeks. We explored the cafeteria and the classroom we will be using, had our orientation and ate a delectable (but rather lengthy) five-course lunch at school.
And we finally got to meet the great Oz and our Roman professor, Fabio. (Seriously, how much more Italian can you get?!) We then attended his lecture on coffee and gelato. Please note that I use the verb “attended” quite loosely. Class consisted of us sitting on chairs, stools and couches in a small classroom talking about food. It was one of the best (and most delicious sounding lectures) that I’ve attended recently.
After class, Fabio led our group of *scoff* Americans (that’s how every Italian person sees us) around the Piazza Navone region of Rome. Our very lengthy walk led us past multiple gelatarias, to the Piazza Navone and to the Parthenon (our first real site!). The piazza was near the Brazilian embassy and filled with countless other tourists. We also caught our first glimpse of gypsies. A woman balanced a fishbowl of water on her head, a man posed as a painting, another man was practicing a magic act, and an elderly man was lip-synching to a very Italian song. Some gypsies were more impressive than others, especially since the elderly man did not appear to know the song he was singing. Anyhow, the Parthenon is amazing. Although restored, it is one of the oldest buildings in Rome. Originally purposed as a place for the gods, it now houses deceased kings and hordes of tourists.
On the way back to our apartment, we passed a sidewalk artist. You remember Mary Poppins, don't you? Well, we saw our own Bert on Viale di Trastevere. His painting was gorgeous!
There were also some Italian children playing football in the plaza. They were in a pretty intense game, but the ball was starting to roll into the street. Being the nice person I am, I kicked the ball back into play, thus completing my dream to play football with Italians. I admit that it wasn't a dream at the time, but looking back on my day, it certainly should have been. It also didn't hurt that I likened my situation to the horrific Will Ferrell movie, Kicking and Screaming. "Pass the ball to the Italians!" (in a Mike Ditka voice) echoed in my head.
Once we got back to our apartment after being away for the entire day, we ventured out for dinner. We stumbled upon a place I believe is called Kabob and got some fresh (and cheap) pizza. The man behind the counter was Egyptian and spoke little English. Our Italian is non-existent. We somehow got what we ordered and I even tried using my first non-please/thank you/hello Italian word: caldo. That’s what my dictionary said, anyway. Apparently, the real word for “hot” is scaldo. Either way, he knew that I wanted my pizza heated because only real Italians like cold pizza. This was the pizza we were waiting for. My slice of margherita pizza seemed so authentic. Mozzarella has never tasted so good.
And now onto the most anticipated food venture of the day: gelato. Next to the restaurant we ate at the other night was a gelateria. I know my food adjectives have been pretty awful, so I’ll try to step it up a notch. My Nutella gelato was the most über, scrumptious, joyous thing I have eaten in a very long time. I really can’t describe it better than that, but it was good. It had chunks of Nutella in it and was the perfect ending to my first day of school.
Tomorrow I’ll be exploring a restaurant near the Parthenon and might take a gander at the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Until next time, buena notte!
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