Hey Friends, Family, Random Blog Stalkers ;)
Sorry it’s been like 10 years since I last blogged. It’s been crazzzzy busy with the holidays and school, etc. I’m sure most of you can relate. Anywho, thought I would bring you up-to-date on my adventures in Italy. Actually, this time some of my adventures take place in the good ol’ U.S. of A! Confused? Some of you should be..
It all began about a month ago when I realized all my friends in Rome would be going home for the holidays. Being that most of them are from Europe, this made sense for them to take their (unfairly short) 2-hour flights home for our winter break. Thinking about the fact that I would be all alone for Christmas and New Year’s made me doomed to be Ebenezer Scrooge in the upcoming weeks. Thus, my parents decided to help me out and send me home for the holidays :) I was sooo excited!! I thought the next time I would be stepping foot on my homeland would be another 4 months ahead of me! And, to add to the excitement, I decided to make it a surprise for all my friends and family. Pretty sneaky, huh?!? We’ll get back to this in a minute..
As the holidays neared in Rome with all the piazza markets open and street lights hung, one of my best friends from Pittsburgh, Jennie, came to visit me the week before we both headed back to the States. We had fun walking the streets of Roma, showing her the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Trastevere, Spanish Steps, etc, etc. One of the things I hadn’t seen, since my arrival in Rome, was the Vatican. So, she and I, and my Irish & Swedish friends, made a day visit to Vatican City. It was pretty amazing to see the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel. All the history of the paintings was just unreal. Seeing Da Vinci paintings and Michelangelo’s ceiling- I feel like you could visit it 100 times and still have more to learn about the art. We were pretty lucky this particular day because we moved fairly easily through the museum, hearing that otherwise it’s normally wall-to-wall people and you’re typically just pushing your way through. Not sure why it wasn’t quite so crowded considering it was less than a week before Christmas and the streets of Rome were getting more and more claustrophobic by the minute! But, I guess we were just lucky.
After the tour of the Sistine Chapel and Vatican museum, Jennie and I decided we wanted to see the actual Vatican, itself. My other friends had seen it before so they said they’d meet up with us later that night and headed back into the city. Jennie and I waited patiently in line for about 45 minutes until we noticed that the line wasn’t even budging. I saw a few police officers monitoring the line so I went to ask them what was going on. From what I could understand, there was some sort of church mass going on and would be over shortly. As promised, the line began to move and as we reached the front a man asked us for our tickets. We didn’t know we needed to buy a ticket to get in so we just moved aside and asked where we could find a ticket booth. As we asked this, a generous young man offered two extra tickets to us. We were thrilled! So, we jumped back in line and headed into the Vatican. When we read what was on the ticket, it said something about the Pope and universities in Rome. We were sort of confused until a nice girl, around our age, from Nigeria told me that the Pope was going to be speaking to us about students in Roman Universities. So, long-story-short, we got to listen to the Pope speak for about 2 hours about how these students were going to have a big impact on the world, etc, etc. He could have been talking about why the grass was green and I would still be in awe of him. I mean, I GOT TO SEE THE POPE!! And not in a typical way either, which made it extra unique. I, of course, took many pictures of him (which will be posted later) and was happy to be able to understand him, for the most part. Definitely goes down as one of the best memories I’ll have in Rome :)
Jennie and I continued to have fun in Roma, going to the best pizzeria in Rome, right around the corner from my apartment in Trastevere, and eating at the best gelateria in all of Italy near the Pantheon. Then we walked all that food off by doing some damage shopping the streets of Via Del Corso, near the Spanish Steps. Before we knew it, it was nearing time to leave for Christmas.
We headed home on the 22nd, and after a relatively smooth flight, despite the ignorant woman next to me who flung a ravioli on my new winter coat, I arrived back in the States and was picked up by my friend, Sara. She’s the best. She drove all the way out to the airport to pick me up and help me surprise my friend Stephanie at her house. It was worth staying up ‘til 7am Rome time seeing Steph’s shocked & confused face as I stood on her doorstep. lol I continued to surprise people as the week progressed, and loved getting every reaction possible: screams, tears, pure shock -definitely the most entertaining moments of the entire trip back. I was so glad I got away with all the surprises and extremely happy to be sharing the holidays with all the people I loved.
After a too-short break, I headed home. :( I have to tell you the weirdest thing that happened on my trip back though..
During my flight en route to Rome, an [assumed] narcoleptic man fell next to my seat & was lying passed out in the aisle. After about 20 seconds, and some man slapping him on the face, he jumps right back up & asks if anyone was in the bathroom ..?? After my initial shock, that apparently no one else shared, I turn to the man across the aisle and whispered “oh my gosh!!!” whom responds with a shrug & continues to stare out the window. Now, I've either been watching too many Twilight Zone's or absolutely NOTHING affects Americans anymore.
Molto molto strano..
*phew*
Man! This was a long blog. Hope you didn’t fall asleep reading it- I think my hands did writing it! Anywho, my cousin Hillary comes to visit me this Thursday and we’re heading to GREECE on Friday!! I can’t wait!! I’ll have many stories to tell and lots of pictures to share.
Talk to you soon.
xx
Kate
Showing posts with label new blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new blog. Show all posts
Monday, January 11, 2010
Monday, October 19, 2009
Just Another Manic Lunedi
Buena Sera, Amici!
Come Stai? (see you guys can learn Italian too). How am I, you ask..? Well, I could be better. I managed to catch a really bad cold that consists of every symptom you can think of: sore throat, stuffy nose, runny nose, cough, congestion, never-ending sleepiness, loss of appetite and freezing cold 24/7. So much fun when you’re a million miles from home :( However, I am one of many in my classes that has this cold so at least I know I’m not allergic to Rome or anything ;)
Alas, this put a major damper on my weekend plans. I can’t even remember what I did Friday night, but Saturday I went to IKEA(!) and the largest mall in all of Europe, which just happens to be right outside of Rome. I went with my friends' Isabella (from Sweden) and Clementina (from Venezuela). We shopped ‘til we literally dropped and complained the whole bus ride back to our station how tired we were. At this point it was 7:30pm and we promised our friends Mandy and Annemarijn that we’d go to the discoteca that night. So, we had to put on a happy face and rush home to be ready to meet them BACK at the station by 9:30pm.*deep breath* So, I hurry through the fastest shower of life and jump on the bus and get to the termini to meet Mandy and Annemarijn to only get a text from Isabella that she and Clementina probably weren’t coming anymore. Ugh! I even showed up in heels! Which is quite gusty with all the cobblestone. Luckily Katie thought ahead and brought sandals ;)
Well, Mandy, Annemarijn, and I decided to head out anyways and I told Isabella to text me if they changed their minds. By the time we got to the bus stop near the Vatican, death was upon me. My nose was about to fall off and I had the chills beyond recovery (even in 60 degree weather). So, we decided to just head to a caffe in a nearby square. It was gorgeous. Actually it was one of the squares that was in Angels and Demons (the movie). I never saw the movie but Mandy is obsessed with Dan Brown so she knows all the spots. Lucky for her, she lives right near the Vatican so she sees stuff like this all day, every day. Anywho, we enjoyed some cappuccinos and hot ciccolate as I simultaneously died from the decreasing amount of tissues I had available. Then Mandy and Annemarijn decided to teach me some more Dutch. I didn't know that Dutch was the second hardest language to learn aside from Mandarin. Truly. This is a fact. I think it’s a beautiful language. It sounds like German but less harsh on the tongue. Kinda like German with a French twist. I duno, either way, I learned how to count in Dutch and say a few random words so that was fun. My nose also made some of the words impossible to pronounce so we had a good laugh over my incessant incapability to sound pretty when I speak another language.
However, after my nose made it apparent that he was running the show for the night, I decided to pick up a cab and head home to die at least in a semi-warm bed.
On Sunday, I ventured around my neck of the woods to find a supermarket and then laid in bed all day watching Friends episodes and When Harry Met Sally (best movie of all time).
Today, class was the same ol’ class. I went to try to see a movie with the other American, Jan, but the theatre was closed. Bummer. So, we’re gonna try another time.
Tomorrow, it’s time to visit the Colosseum!! Can’t wait. I had a sneak peek of it with Ursula on our first-day tour of Rome. But tomorrow will be the real deal, and in Italian too! It’ll be a long day with classes from 9-5pm but at least there’s time for fun afterwards :) Again, I promise pictures are sure to come. Probably this weekend.
Well, as always, I miss everyone and hope you’re enjoying the blogs. I’ll try to post at least once a week. Don’t forget if you ever want to email me I’d love to chat:
Kstuart2009@gmail.com
Love you all,
xx
-Kate
Come Stai? (see you guys can learn Italian too). How am I, you ask..? Well, I could be better. I managed to catch a really bad cold that consists of every symptom you can think of: sore throat, stuffy nose, runny nose, cough, congestion, never-ending sleepiness, loss of appetite and freezing cold 24/7. So much fun when you’re a million miles from home :( However, I am one of many in my classes that has this cold so at least I know I’m not allergic to Rome or anything ;)
Alas, this put a major damper on my weekend plans. I can’t even remember what I did Friday night, but Saturday I went to IKEA(!) and the largest mall in all of Europe, which just happens to be right outside of Rome. I went with my friends' Isabella (from Sweden) and Clementina (from Venezuela). We shopped ‘til we literally dropped and complained the whole bus ride back to our station how tired we were. At this point it was 7:30pm and we promised our friends Mandy and Annemarijn that we’d go to the discoteca that night. So, we had to put on a happy face and rush home to be ready to meet them BACK at the station by 9:30pm.*deep breath* So, I hurry through the fastest shower of life and jump on the bus and get to the termini to meet Mandy and Annemarijn to only get a text from Isabella that she and Clementina probably weren’t coming anymore. Ugh! I even showed up in heels! Which is quite gusty with all the cobblestone. Luckily Katie thought ahead and brought sandals ;)
Well, Mandy, Annemarijn, and I decided to head out anyways and I told Isabella to text me if they changed their minds. By the time we got to the bus stop near the Vatican, death was upon me. My nose was about to fall off and I had the chills beyond recovery (even in 60 degree weather). So, we decided to just head to a caffe in a nearby square. It was gorgeous. Actually it was one of the squares that was in Angels and Demons (the movie). I never saw the movie but Mandy is obsessed with Dan Brown so she knows all the spots. Lucky for her, she lives right near the Vatican so she sees stuff like this all day, every day. Anywho, we enjoyed some cappuccinos and hot ciccolate as I simultaneously died from the decreasing amount of tissues I had available. Then Mandy and Annemarijn decided to teach me some more Dutch. I didn't know that Dutch was the second hardest language to learn aside from Mandarin. Truly. This is a fact. I think it’s a beautiful language. It sounds like German but less harsh on the tongue. Kinda like German with a French twist. I duno, either way, I learned how to count in Dutch and say a few random words so that was fun. My nose also made some of the words impossible to pronounce so we had a good laugh over my incessant incapability to sound pretty when I speak another language.
However, after my nose made it apparent that he was running the show for the night, I decided to pick up a cab and head home to die at least in a semi-warm bed.
On Sunday, I ventured around my neck of the woods to find a supermarket and then laid in bed all day watching Friends episodes and When Harry Met Sally (best movie of all time).
Today, class was the same ol’ class. I went to try to see a movie with the other American, Jan, but the theatre was closed. Bummer. So, we’re gonna try another time.
Tomorrow, it’s time to visit the Colosseum!! Can’t wait. I had a sneak peek of it with Ursula on our first-day tour of Rome. But tomorrow will be the real deal, and in Italian too! It’ll be a long day with classes from 9-5pm but at least there’s time for fun afterwards :) Again, I promise pictures are sure to come. Probably this weekend.
Well, as always, I miss everyone and hope you’re enjoying the blogs. I’ll try to post at least once a week. Don’t forget if you ever want to email me I’d love to chat:
Kstuart2009@gmail.com
Love you all,
xx
-Kate
Sunday, September 27, 2009
12 Days til Roma
Hey bloggers :)
Welcome to my new Blogsite! This site will strictly pertain to my adventures in Italy for the next 6 months. Follow me on here to read about everything I do, visit, and experience.
Oh, and for those who don't know, I am going to be enrolled in the Dilit International Language School in Rome, Italy to become fluent in Italian from October to April. I decided to embark on this journey in order to become more cultured and broaden my international knowledge :) So. Here I am, 12 days from my departure and I cannot wait!!!!
So, stay tuned for the real fun :)
Arrivederci Amici,
~Kate~
~Kate~
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