Photos

These are pictures I promised to post. First picture is a little teaser of what my new bedroom looks like (which has changed quite a bit since this photo was taken). The group picture is from Thanksgiving dinner. And the last pictures are of the Cathedral and scenic views of Siena.

Enjoy!
xx

Thanksgiving, Tuscana, e Danza

Ciao Tutti,

I apologize again for the delay in postings. Life has been busy here in Roma.
Where did we leave off…

Thanksgiving
Well, I managed to actually have a real turkey dinner last Thursday in Rome. My roommate, Dezera, told me that the Hard Rock Café holds Thanksgiving dinners in most major cities, Rome being one of them! So, I was beyond excited; Thanksgiving wasn’t a lost cause after all! I managed to get a few friends to join me and not a single one was American. It was pretty cool to be able to share this holiday with others my age from across the globe. My group consisted of, Magdalena from Austria, Annemarijn from Holland, Padraic from Ireland, and Mandy from Belgium. It was a pretty solid group and everyone went all out and paid the 25 euro for a real Thanksgiving feast. Our menu was:

-1 flute of champagne
-Onion soup as a starter
-Turkey, baked potato, corn on the cob, and cranberry sauce as the main course
-A bottle of wine -not included in the 25 euros ;)
And for dessert:
-Pumpkin pie or bailey’s Irish cheesecake (which I obviously ordered..YUM)

So, needless to say, we were all rolling each other out of the restaurant. But, it was definitely worth it and I am so lucky that I have such great friends here who wanted to take part in my country’s holiday :)

I hope everyone at home enjoyed their Thanksgivings as well! I was certainly wishing I was in NYC with my family to share the holiday, but I was also thankful to be in another great city across the world.
You should have heard me trying to explain Black Friday to everyone here. It probably only made Americans seem even crazier than they already appear. “You mean you get up at 2am to SHOP?!? Non capisco..”

Next Up: Siena & San Giovanni Trip in Tuscana
My friend, Clementina from Venezuela, and I decided to join the school on their monthly excursion around Italy. This months’ trip was to Siena, and then to a small town called Porta San Giovanni, both of which are in Tuscany, so clearly beautiful places to visit.

It took a good 4 hours to arrive in Siena by bus, but we left around 7:45am so I managed to sleep a few extra hours on the way ;) Siena was a great city and not at all what I was expecting. It was very similar to Pienza and Montepulciano in the way that the town was very, very old and full of cozy, winding roads. However there were a lot of high-end stores that lined the streets instead of the typical butcheries and gelaterias that appeared in the other cities. Don’t get me wrong, Siena had these shops as well, but it definitely had a more modern feel to it. They had stores like Versace, Furla, and etc. so it was odd to see that in such a historic place. You’re probably thinking that I’m a hypocrite right now considering Rome is a historic city with high-end shops as well, but really the difference is that Siena is much, much smaller than Rome and it felt almost like the stores were completely incongruous. In Rome, you don’t really feel like you’re in a historic place until you come across old monuments. Whereas in Siena and these other towns, you are constantly reminded of their time period with the aging buildings, lack of taxis, buses, & metros and really the simplicity of life around you. So, that was interesting to me.

We went inside one of the most amazing cathedrals I have ever seen. It was just called il duomo di Siena (the cathedral of Siena), but it was so unique. The interiors were entirely striped in black & white marble. And the details in the church were absolutely incredible. I mean you could look around that church for years and probably find new sculptures on the walls or ceilings. In one of the areas of the church there was a baptismal bath and when you looked up you could see a circle of angels throwing things down towards the bath. But you really had to look hard or it just looked like a ring of branches or something. So, it’s details like that which made it so unique and exquisite. I’ll post a few pictures so you can get a good image of what I’m talking about.

After Siena we made our way to Porta San Giovanni. Which to be honest wasn’t that exciting because we didn’t get a tour so I didn’t learn much of the history about the place. It had great architecture though and the old buildings were some of my favorite. I was disappointed especially because they had lights on just about everything and I wished it was dark so we could have seen it. I bet it is just amazing once they’re all on. Alas, Clementina and I just grabbed a bite to eat there since we really only had an hour to tour the city and then took pictures of the buildings, etc.

After this city, we made our way home and arrived at the school around 10pm. So, it was clearly a VERY long day. However, we had a good time and met some new people from school (most notably one boy in particular named Samuel who is just the best eye candy you’ll ever see, and of course he just happens to be a doctor, who lives in Switzerland, and is just as friendly to talk to as he is nice to look at ;) so that always makes for a good time too) lol

Sunday I managed to crawl out of bed to go to a dance show with Annemarijn. On our way there we thought we’d take a bus to the train station, hop on the metro, then walk to the teatro. Jumping on our local bus, it was unusually crowded, and Anne got quite a bit ahead of me, but I saw her give me a look of terror as she pulled away from the crowd to grab me. Suddenly I see she’s searching through her purse counting her money and double, triple, quadruple counting all her belongings. Finally she says some woman had been going through her purse as we crowded onto the bus!!!!! Annemarijn’s purse was unlocked, unzipped, and wallet open when she realized this girl’s hand was in her bag. Luckily Anne noticed fast enough to pull away from her and had every single one of her belongings in place. I don’t even think she realizes how lucky she was. When I saw the girl on the bus who had opened Annemarijns purse, I seriously burned a hole through her head with the look I gave her. She was wearing a fur vest and other nice clothes. Who did she think she was trying to steal from Annemarijn??? As she got off the bus only about .10 miles away, we watched her stand there eyeing every single person around her. These poor people had no idea that they were her next victims..
We decided that from now on, we talk only in Italian at the bus stops so we don’t stand out as vulnerable foreigners. And we also continued to essentially HUG our bags the whole night. *sigh* Okay enough of the serious talk.

The dance show we were going to was where dancers were going to compete for the Federazione Italiana Danza (Italian Dance Federation). Basically, this federation would choose the best dancers from all the performances to be in their company. Kinda cool to witness that. And the dances were truly very good. It was mostly modern dance, but some hip-hop that really reminded me of America’s Best Dance Crew competitors. The show started at 4pm and we sat there for like 3 hours thinking it was almost over… ummmm it went on until 10PM!!!!!!!!!!! Thank god we found a woman who told us that it went on until then so we left around 8 to get food and get out of dodge!! Sorry but even Brad Pitt in a tutu wouldn’t keep me there for 6 hours. Well- okay, maybe Brad Pitt would, but let’s be real. Absolutely way too long. And yet absolutely so typical for Italians. We should have known better..

And now, I’m just about to pass out from my busy weekend. Tomorrow I am going to be making plans for a trip to Venice and Garda Lake (near Milano) next weekend! So, look out for details on that trip in the next week or so :)

Sorry this was a rather boring and inevitably grammatically error-filled blog, but my energy was sucked out somewhere between San Giovanni and the 6 hour dance show we nearly sat through. Hope you can at least enjoy the pictures I’m going to post and I’ll be talking to you soon about my next trip :)

Tanti bachi,

-Kate

Back from the Dead

Currently listening to: OneRepublic "Good Life"
listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDucOmhxFGE&feature=related


Hey Friends,

First of all, I want to apologize for the super long delay on my latest entry. As my *cough cough* “editor” posted the other day, I’ve been out sick with the stomach flu for the past week. I am still on the mend, but considering I took a five-hour nap this afternoon, I am in no hurry to jump back in bed.
Ergo, I am back to grace your presence with another update on my adventures here in lovely Roma. And, as I am sure the details of this past week will surely not be missed, I will thus jump back a week before, to my move-in weekend!

For those who need reminding, I decided to move on from my host families flat, to one of my own that I’m sharing with 2 other gals. Our cozy abode rests right along the Tiber River with a view of Trastevere across the bridge. And if you juuuust stretch your neck enough you might see the tip of the Vatican from our kitchen window too :)
It’s really a great building with huge oak doors, a classic early 1900’s-style lift, big windows in each of our bedrooms, a huuuge bathroom, an extra bathroom! (total plus), and a great kitchen too.
The surrounding area is wonderful as well. Of course we have the river on one side, but then we’re also just a few blocks from great shopping, theatres, restaurants, a tiny park, and the bus-stop (which is handy for me with class being 40 minutes away). So, it’s really a practical location.

Anywho, it was kind of sad saying goodbye to Rosanna and Mario. I told them that I would try to visit them later in the year if I could and they seemed happy to hear that. They were very sweet throughout the whole move, not acting too disappointed or anything. I really didn’t want to hurt their feelings either, it’s just about my own personal comfort level with living amongst strangers whom they rented out rooms to. Of course, I never told them that’s why I am leaving. I said I was moving in with friends and I was with them all the time anyways so it made sense for me to leave. Either way, we left on a good note, and Nasrin, my old roommate who stayed at her friends a lot, was leaving a week after me so we said our goodbyes’ days ahead of time.

So, my friend, Isabella, helped me move all my stuff out and back into my new place whilst I simultaneously kicked Padraic out of his room to hand over the keys. Haha! I kid. Although he did threaten to lock the doors and pretend not to know who I was when I came a knockin’. And honestly, I wouldn’t put it past his Irish trickery ways to carry through with it..
No worries, he didn’t of course. He hung around a bit before he headed to a hostel (god that’s so depressing isn’t it- I am a mean person). I met up with him the next day though and he seemed to have survived alright. Some odd situation with an older lady being in his room when he got there, but I think they figured that out.. lol
Never-the-less, everyone is settled, my roommates are great. Dezera is from NYC, she’s a broadway performer but teaching English here in Rome and has lived here for 2 years now. And Karry is from Los Angeles and is in International Relations but teaching English here as well. They’re so awesome. We cook and drink wine every night at the dinner table. So, I’m very blessed to have them as roomies.

Don’t know how much I’ll be hanging with my crew this weekend, as I mentioned I am still recovering from my bout with the influenzia. Bleh! Oh, and there is also a little thing going on tomorrow, maybe you’ve heard of this movie coming out, New Moon? Lol Yeah, so my Friday plans have basically been penciled in for about a year now. Other than that, I’ll have pictures up of the new place surely this weekend. I’ll post a few on here and then more on Facebook.

Hope everyone is healthier than I am these days and continue to stay healthy. Oh, and hopefully I’ll post before then, but if not, please, please, PLEASE enjoy your Thanksgiving dinners for me. As I am sure it won’t be quite the same atmosphere here in Rome this week as in America. But, rest assured I WILL be making a Thanksgiving dinner- just maybe a little less grand than I’m used to :)

Love you, miss you, and chat with you soon.

Cheers,
-Kate

p.s. Happy (belated) Birthday to one of my best friends from home, Lindsay Heckthorn!! 23 girllllll!!! Woohooo!!! Love you girlie!!! Kiss kiss! (oh and you better believe I found the most gorgeous Italian wedding dresses here…probably a little out of your budget though lol) Miss you tons sista!!

Note From the Editor

Kate is out sick with the flu :( writing will commence after her recovery

Short 'n Sweet

Buena Sera,

Gosh, not a whole lot to report on my end so far this week. Kind of feel like I’m getting into a routine of things, which is always good. Guess I can update you on my accommodations situation.
I believe we left off with me telling you that I wasn’t very comfortable living with my current host family. Maybe some people are okay with 15 strangers sharing one bathroom, and unless you’re the Duggars, this is just NOT okay. Thus, I started to look into my other options.

After meeting with the accommodations department at my school for about 3 weeks, I decided that sharing an apartment, rather than staying with a host family, would be a better option for me. I think host families are there for students who need some support or guidance, for example, a younger student. And that really is best for some people. But, at this point, I think I can handle things on my own and I’ve got enough of the culture surrounding me 24/7 to keep me submerged in the Italian way of life. (my spinning class alone is enough of a culture shock every day- all those tight Italian butts, and they still eat carbs?? ..completely foreign to me)

Anyways, I found out that there was an opening in a 3-bedroom apartment in one of the best areas in Rome for young people. It’s also a 5 minute walk from two of my good friends. So, I was really excited. The other two girls living in the apartment are both American, but do not go to my school. Still, I think it’ll be nice to meet people outside of class. Thus, the accommodations office recommended I see the apartment before settling on my decision. So, currently, an Irish boy named “Porick” (sp?)(Gaelic for Patrick) lives in the room I’ll be moving into. He met with me after class last week and we spent the evening touring his neighborhood and apartment. The room will be superly duperly teeny tiny, but welcome to Rome. He told me not to look into the other girls’ bedrooms because it’ll just upset me with how much bigger they are. But then again, they are probably paying a whoooole lot more than I am too. So, I’m okay with my cozy abode. Porick was such a great help and a really nice guy. I took him to a local pub to meet my friends on Friday night, and Saturday he took me to a concert with his friends at Circolo Degli Artisti Coop, a very hip venue outside of the city. So, here I go adding another country to my Roman friends list:
Ireland
Sweden
Holland
Belgium
Russia
Venezuela
Greece
France
Italy
Argentina
.
.
.
And I’m sure I’ll be adding more as the months continue..

Anyways, I should be moving in this upcoming Saturday. A bunch of my friends said they’d help me move-in so I’m very lucky to have the help. I’ve acquired so many things while staying here that it’d be next to impossible to move everything myself.

So, hopefully I will have updates on my living situation next week, or even as close as this weekend. (I’ll have new internet at the new apartment! So hopefully it’ll be faster than this one) Until then, hope you are enjoying the blogs. Sorry this weeks’ is a bit boring. Maybe I’ll post again later in the week once things are more in motion. Either way, talk to you soon.

Tanti Bachi,
-Kate

Short 'n Sweet

Buena Sera,

Gosh, not a whole lot to report on my end so far this week. Kind of feel like I’m getting into a routine of things, which is always good. Guess I can update you on my accommodations situation.
I believe we left off with me telling you that I wasn’t very comfortable living with my current host family. Maybe some people are okay with 15 strangers sharing one bathroom, and unless you’re the Duggars, this is just NOT okay. Thus, I started to look into my other options.

After meeting with the accommodations department at my school for about 3 weeks, I decided that sharing an apartment, rather than staying with a host family, would be a better option for me. I think host families are there for students who need some support or guidance, for example, a younger student. And that really is best for some people. But, at this point, I think I can handle things on my own and I’ve got enough of the culture surrounding me 24/7 to keep me submerged in the Italian way of life. (my spinning class alone is enough of a culture shock every day- all those tight Italian butts, and they still eat carbs?? ..completely foreign to me)

Anyways, I found out that there was an opening in a 3-bedroom apartment in one of the best areas in Rome for young people. It’s also a 5 minute walk from two of my good friends. So, I was really excited. The other two girls living in the apartment are both American, but do not go to my school. Still, I think it’ll be nice to meet people outside of class. Thus, the accommodations office recommended I see the apartment before settling on my decision. So, currently, an Irish boy named “Porick” (sp?)(Gaelic for Patrick) lives in the room I’ll be moving into. He met with me after class last week and we spent the evening touring his neighborhood and apartment. The room will be superly duperly teeny tiny, but welcome to Rome. He told me not to look into the other girls’ bedrooms because it’ll just upset me with how much bigger they are. But then again, they are probably paying a whoooole lot more than I am too. So, I’m okay with my cozy abode. Porick was such a great help and a really nice guy. I took him to a local pub to meet my friends on Friday night, and Saturday he took me to a concert with his friends at Circolo Degli Artisti Coop, a very hip venue outside of the city. So, here I go adding another country to my Roman friends list:
Ireland
Sweden
Holland
Belgium
Russia
Venezuela
Greece
France
Italy
Argentina
.
.
.
And I’m sure I’ll be adding more as the months continue..

Anyways, I should be moving in this upcoming Saturday. A bunch of my friends said they’d help me move-in so I’m very lucky to have the help. I’ve acquired so many things while staying here that it’d be next to impossible to move everything myself.

So, hopefully I will have updates on my living situation next week, or even as close as this weekend. (I’ll have new internet at the new apartment! So hopefully it’ll be faster than this one) Until then, hope you are enjoying the blogs. Sorry this weeks’ is a bit boring. Maybe I’ll post again later in the week once things are more in motion. Either way, talk to you soon.

Tanti Bachi,
-Kate

Tuscana Adventures

Hey Everyone!
Welcome back to your weekly dose of Katie’s adventures in Italy ;) I apologize for the tardy posting, my internet has seen better days..

To start, this past weekend I went along with my school for one of our monthly excursions. This particular trip was to two Tuscan towns: Pienza & Montepulciano.
One known for their cheeses, and the other for their wine. A perfect pair! This trip also happened to fall on Halloween :) So, I was very excited to celebrate this holiday in new towns with their own little histories and mysteries to be explored.
Tuscany is about a 2 and a half hour bus ride from Rome, so it wasn’t too bad getting there. My friends, Anna, Annemarijn, Jan, and Isabella were all with me too. Our school tour guide spoke only in Italian, obviously, but I could really tell my Italian was improving as I understood the majority of her explanations at the sites.

First stop was Pienza. This was the most amazing, quaint, beautiful, perfect little town I have EVER laid eyes on. You can only read about towns like this in fairy tales. Imagine Belle’s town from Beauty and the Beast -but cuter. and even more quaint. In fact, there was only one main road in the entire town. It was medieval and perfect for Halloween day because the air was crisp and clear with only the scents of smoked ham and burning wood filling every inch of the winding alleys and shops that lined the streets. People were even dressed in medieval wear and riding massive horses; however, they were filming a movie on location here so I doubt this is normal for the town. But, the girls and I just kept saying how the town was nearly magical with its ability to transcend you through time.
Along the edge of the town is a peripheral view of the mountains that line Tuscany. It was truly surreal. As I walked by the real estate agency, I couldn’t help but think how amazing it would be to live there. Believe me, if you’re looking for a place to retire- I’ve found your town!
Before we left, we stopped for lunch in a tiny family-owned ristorante, where we comfortably spoke Italian to the waitress and even spoke to their parrot which said “buongiorno” and “ciao” lol. Very cute place and had the BEST gnocchi con ragu. Yumm.. By the time we left lunch we had to book-it to get to the bus for our next stop.

So, after Pienza, we went about 20 minutes up the winding roads to the mystical town of Montepulciano. The roads were so tight and windy, in fact, that we had to get off the bus and walk about twenty more minutes up to the main entrance of the town. Once we entered the main street to Montepulciano, we noticed that most of the shops were closed for the afternoon. It was Saturday, after all, and Italians know weekends mean relaxation for all, not just the privileged. So, we were kinda bummed, but we were soo excited to get to the main square because this was where the second Twilight Saga movie, “New Moon”, was filmed. So, we raced up the winding streets to get to the square and we all took pictures and purchased authentic posters that the town made specifically for the movie. It was so funny because even the shops had gossip magazine clippings in their windows of Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart (“New Moon” stars). Clearly they were very proud of their new-found fame- especially for such a small town. They even had an article on the recent Rome Film Festival where they had a special screening and red carpet for the Volturi characters (Twilight’s quasi vampire government) from the movie. (more details on my experience at the Film Festival below).
So, like I said, we took lots of pictures where the movie was filmed and toured through the surrounding church and castle nearby. Montepulciano also had a great view of the rolling hills in Tuscany. And the fall weather provided such a large pallet of differing vineyard colors. Green, yellow, orange, red, brown… spectacular place.

Anywho, we only had 2 hours to tour Montepulciano so by the time we walked up to the square and back we only had time to grab some yummy crepes at a local shop and then proceeded back onto the bus.
In sum, it really was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I had always heard of Tuscany and how beautiful it was, but these towns had such character that it was so easy to fall in love with the area even more so. However, it wasn’t nearly enough time to get to tour everything, so some of the girls and I have planned to come back in the spring so we can get a glimpse of more churches, etc.

And now, of course I have my own Montepulciano red wine to share with all my friends back in Roma :)

Well, hope everyone enjoyed my Tuscana adventure. Next month we visit Siena! I hear it’s absolutely beautiful so I can’t wait!

Until next time..
Buena Notte
-Kate

and
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN! Love you big brother!!! And miss you tons! :) Hope you have a great great great day (which could only mean that your boss doesn’t show up for work ;)


For the Twilight followers who care:
In reference to the Film Festival mentioned earlier, I was one of the lucky few to actually attend the red carpet event for the Rome Film Festival premiere of “New Moon”. Being the experienced celeb-stalker that I am, I quickly weaseled my way to the front line of the red-carpet to make sure I could talk with the stars and get only the BEST pictures :) haha! So, I met the “New Moon” screen-writer, Melissa Rosenberg. She was also the screen-writer for the first Twilight film and will continue to write for the entire Twilight Saga movies. She’s also the writer for the tv series “Chuck”. So, she’s a busy lady.. She told me personally that I’m “going to love “New Moon” and that she had just viewed the film so she was very excited about it. I also met three of the so-called “evil vampires” from the Twilight saga: Caius, Demetri, and Alex (those are their character names). But, they were verrrry nice and probably glad that I could speak English considering no one standing along the red carpet spoke a word of it, or coherent enough to hold a conversation. So, we talked about typical topics: Twitter, Vancouver (where they’re currently filming) and their experiences in Italy. It was the coolest experience; even to just attend a red carpet event was amazing.
But, ahhh! I can’t believe in the span of one month I’ve been to where “New Moon” was filmed AND met the Volturi! I don’t know about you, but November 20th CANNOT come soon enough ;) And you know I’ve already sought out all the English movie theatres here. Because Edward is NOT the same in Italian. Mi dispiace Italiani genti. Solo mio (opinion).