Last Day in Roma

... but Istanbul tomorrow!!!! Sorry for the lack of posts -- soon I will post you some examples of what I've been working on the last few days (lots of powerpoints...)

[I'll post pictures when I have more time, and am not running off to see monuments for the last time!!! mi despiacha!]

1) Which are all finished! All four of my presentations went pretty well this week -- in case you wonder what I'm actually studying (maybe you don't), my topics were Islamic medical influence on western medicine, a novel about immigrants to Italy, a group presentation about the Pamphili family (SUCH A SOAP OPERA!), and a ten minute individual presentation on madonelle (Roman street shrines to the Virgin Mary). Lots of late nights at the Rome Center's air conditioned library...

2) It's my last day in Rome. I am very sad, and frantically eating as much as I can, as well

3) Really sweet last roommate dinner! Maggie made pasta, Kate made caprese (mozzarella, tomato, and pesto!), Yuting brought DELICOIUS PIE from Forno, and I made a tomato, buffalo mozzarella and vinegar salad that only I ate... I LOVE YOU ROOMIES!!

4) Buona fortuna to Mamma Mia and Daddy Dia on their trip back to Shoreline! Fly safe!

5) Liz, if you read this in time, do you still like balsamic vinegar...? D:

6) Am off to possibly buy birkenstocks, write postcards (yikes, do i have anyone's address???), see the Spanish steps, get coffee, see my favorite church Santa Maria in Trastevere, coffee, see the Pantheon and some French church, pack, last all group dinner (at the "best restaurant in Rome"? according to Prof Lisa?), see the Trevi fountain, maybe Pantheon again, sleep, see sunrise, and then on the bus to the airport at 8:15a tomorrow morning. Don't worry, I wrote that all down on paper so I can remember where I'm going in my sleepy haze. ;)

7) Miss you!

So apparently you have to "study" on study abroads...

Which is what I did a lot of the past few days. :( It doesn't feel so good wasting even a minute of my time here not out and about, but with all three of my projects due next week, I suppose I had to put in some time at the Rome Center Library!

That didn't keep me from avoiding ALL adventures however:

1) The 20 euro opera we went to was apparently 20 euro because it was more of a "community theater" production than actual opera! Which actually, I think, made the whole thing way more enjoyable. The stage was set up in the courtyard of (what we figured was) a school, and you could see the actors peeking down through the curtains to catch their cue. At just over 2 hours, it was the shortest opera one of our party members had ever seen! The extent of my memory: they sang very loud, and the chorus upstaged the main actors hardcore. Quite enjoyable. :)

2) We visited a mosque on Wednesday morning! It was gorgeous, and the scarf skills that Kate had taught us came in handy. :) When you enter the mosque, you take off your shoes and can walk barefoot or in socks. So, strangely enough, the mosque smelled of new carpet/carpet cleaner!

2.5) We got lost on the trains because our station was under construction. Adventure time!

3) Pretty churches all Wednesday afternoon -- yay Santa Maria! They had graffiti from the first Christian tombs (catacombs) -- it looks like something I would be able to scratch out on a tomb!

4) DELICIOUS chicken, pasta, and caprese dinner with Kate, Maggie, and honorary roommates Brandon, Bennett, and Erik! Yum yum! Then watched the Spain vs. Germany game till late, and enjoyed tiramisu, yelling Brazilian football fans, and soccer.

5) Thursday = class, zzz, class, zzz, work, nom nom, work, gelato!!!, work, zzz. It was very hot, but I set up a sweet squishy chair next to the breezy window in the Rome Center's student lounge. Very productive!

6) Today, we enjoyed some more paintings and old architecture at the Palazzo Barberini (GIANT STAIRCASE!). On the way there, we came across the Trevi Fountain -- it was gorgeous!! On the way back we tried the best coffee in Rome. 8D It actually wasn't the best, but very artisan so I liked it by default. ;)

7) Got attacked by pigeons while Bennett tried to present on Galileo. I screamed and shuddered a lot in Mom's honor. :(

8) Miss you!

FIRENZE (My Actual Birthday!)

Y'all ready for this blog post? I think it is my longest ever!

1) So it was my birthday. Now I'm twenty. Wow.

2) On Saturday (bday morning!) I was up at 6:30 AM(!dad aren't you proud?!) to shower! I was clean and READY for Florence! Frantically packed my backpack (i had my laptop, journal, course readings, passport, tooth brush, etc...unfortunately forgot many clothes...) and we raced out the door to the bus (which I was very proud we caught correctly, and quickly) and arrived at the Roma Termini (that's Rome's train station). It was a surreal experience -- so many people, trains, noises, shops, food, magazines, ticket stalls I was overwhelmed and big eyed. Of course, that may have just been a side effect of no cappuccino yet, but I like to think it was the impressiveness of humanity, etc, etc. Our cheap cheap train was the furthest possible from the entrance, and we awkwardly got on, only half sure it was headed to Florence...?

3) But it was thank goodness! I fell asleep near immediately, so missed much of the slow slow train ride. Apparently the reason the cheap train is so cheap because they make you pay less when the train stops for hours at a time at tiny podunk train stations on the way to Tuscany. Go figure.

2) My slow train partners were Emilio, Erik, Yuting, and Kate! We were all super tired and cranky, especially when I woke up from my cramped 4.5 hour nap to the worst caffeine headache ever (August is gonna be awesome without cheap cappuccino...). This feeling was made better from the hilariously bad restaurant service (because we stupidly and desperately hungrily ate at what translates to the "Paradise of Pizza." Emilio said that it was paradise for pizza because no one wants to eat the pizza there...) Kate/Yuting had the tiniest hotel room!! It was on the 8th floor (or something) and we all barely fit when we visited!

3) All I remember from the next hour or so is: Bigchurchwoot... Foundthepeoplewhotookthefasttrainwoot.. Ohlookacafewoot. OH WOW COFFEE THANK GOD. Everything becomes clearer after that.

4) So, in our inexperienced and naive new-at-traveling fashion, we rented a penthouse apartment for one night instead of a hotel room. :D Whoops! Guess I'll read the Orbitz.com description better next time! I will skip over the Type-A stress and panic when the nice people at the apartment offices told us they indeed booked *apartments* and *not* hotels -- and instead move on to the incredible TERRACE and an incredible marble BATHROOM and KITCHEN and incredible TONS OF ROOM. So incredible. (David was very logical and thought we had gotten what we paid for, but it was still INCREDIBLE!)

5) After running around our PENTHOUSE APARTMENT we much-less-crankily adventured out to the city! It was the most incredible view I've ever seen - a setting sun over the river, as we stood on Ponte Vecchio (a famous bridge that had room to build buildings so they did). There was a musician in the background, and just as the sun disappeared into the purple clouds he sang "Let It Be." I missed you very much Mommy!

6) After the sun set we continued on our walking adventure, and everyone for some reason had very angsty and deep talks with each other. It was actually really refreshing (and somehow appropriate for my 20th birthday?) until we had to walk less angstily back and I was tired... We took a break on this concrete piazza that was still warm from the sun.

7) That is, I was tired until I had GELATO for my birthday dinner!!! Nutella swirl and stracciacella (which is a fancy name for vanilla with chocolate chips)! :)

8) We chilled on our terrace ALLLLLL night (overnight apartmenters = Zinnia, Sydney, Mauna, David, Erik, Emilio . At my birthday midnight Mauna and I watched Florentines (read: American tourists) walk down below while we listened to Coldplay. <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Ebs3JQJRRSzXQ2bnMhvXrih2ud05L903HcxK-T1Cvap8IjG7k2XSgwfGwy8N48FRIbfKbtHL5PePHHm5Dh0jZu8AxXriPdErrnF1q_G-mkzE27Js-rhn9skonVtWWNOpDs5GvDuuyt_z/s1600/terrace.jpg">

10) Up at 7:00a with David to meet Yuting and Kate for the Ufizi gallery! WE SAW BOTTICELLI and buttloads of sculptures! But what I enjoyed the most was a visiting exhibit of Carvaggio paintings -- his focus on light and psychological emotion/expression is my favs. What I enjoyed the second most was the cafe at the end of the museum where I got cappuccino...thank god...

11) After some breakfast gelato (coffee flavored!) Yuting and I randomly decided to check out a tall, kind of interesting looking tower, and ended up staying two hours running around the best museum I'd seen! It was called Palazzo Vecchio, and was set up how (what appears to be a famous Florentine family) actually lived in. Perhaps half of the goodness was the surprise of the place, but we saw some of the greatest art. :) A ridonkulous Lion, random holes in the walls that were good for cute picture taking, ancient toilets (!!), and the first gorgeous landscape view of Florence!! (David and Kate chilled on the Ufizi steps, and bonded over being sleepy.) :)

12) NOTE: We did not see Michelangelo's David. We instead looked at the lifesized replica outside Palazzo Vecchio... which was pretty much the same to me...(plus 10 euros and three hours wait cheaper). ;)

13) Indian food for lunch with everybody! Kate bought me a birthday Ciao Bella shirt! :D (I LOVE HER SO MUCH!) For all y'all who don't speak Italian-creep-lingo: "Ciao bella" means "hello beautiful" -- all the creepy street vendors say it as girls walk by, and I've (less creepily) taken to saying it too! Now it is my catchphrase! No one thinks it's as creepy though! I swear! Really! I think!

13.5) Paid 3 euro for what we thought would be this giant cool church to see! But instead they just let us awkwardly see this great fresco mural about St. Peter that was set up in the corner... Still pretty great, but my favorite part of that adventure was the hot walk there, and little oasis of trees and grass it had in the middle of the building. :)

14) So there is a famous cathedral in Firenze, It was really ornate and really tall (and we could see it from our TERRACE!). I think it had an actual cathedralic name, but everyone called it the Duomo...? So we did too..? Aaand after 414 steps (and a lot of water breaks) we climbed its bell tower. OH YEEEAH! One of those, you know, breathtaking and once in a lifetime moments. ;) Of course the breathtaking moment was made lots better by all the "your momma" and "that's what she said" jokes Erik and Emilio were loudly cracking....thanks guys...). I saved my camera batteries for that view! Check it!

15) Down the stairs and met up with the rest of the overnighters. Went to Trattoria Zaza before we had to catch the train -- it was the sweetest restaurant with the best character and the BEST food! The plates had animal skin patterns! I had DELICIOUS bread tomato soup, and they had FREE BREAD with oil and vinegar! Sydney and Mauna stole the leftover bread for the train...

16) Four and a half hour train ride back. The sun set. There was another incredible purple sunset view as we rode the train across the Tuscan countryside. I wrote in my journal (thanks sister!). Made both David AND Kate cry with laughter. (BAM! and Dramatic Squirrrel!!) ;) Got off the train and (rather stressedly) caught the last bus back to our neighborhood.

17) Best thing about Florence trip? At the end of it, we got to return to Rome. <3

18) Theeeen I slept for 11 hours. Got up SUPER exhausted but made it to the Rome center to blog, email, and enjoy my beautiful Facebook birthday messages! Thanks everyone! Enjoyed a Fourth of July celebration at Kathie and Resat's (GORGEOUS) Rome Center apartment, then out to gelato with everyone!

19) Today visited the old Jewish Ghetto. Hard to imagine 7,000 people living within such a tiny space for so long -- heard terrible stories of the German Occupation. Enjoyed Resat's class (took Mom and Liz's strategy for the class readings... hehe...) and am now waiting for his evening lecture, some crepes for dinner, and an opera tonight! Ciao bella!

20) Miss you!

My Birthday!

All right, y'all ready for some serious blogging? This'll be the last Friday/birthday blog, and then I'll tell you about Florence! (I know you're anxiously waiting.)

[Also, unfortunately I don't have many pictures from the past few days -- a combo of forgetfulness, battery, and "no cameras allowed." Most are stolen from other people -- thanks guys/Facebook! Once I collect more I'll post them.]

1) So because we would be off to Firenze ("Florence" in Italiano) for the actual July 3rd, my amazingly generous program-mates decided we would spend Friday Jul 2 celebrating my birthday too!! :D So amazing! I spent pretty much NO money on food, and because there are so many lovely people on my trip, probably gained 5 birthday pounds from gifts of food! Free cafe freddo latte (iced coffee with milk, way better than S-bucks, sorry sista!), free nutella-pie pastry, free carbonara for dinner (that's spaghetti with egg and ham!!), free tiramisu, free strawberry smoothie, free home-made gelato (I tried ginger and kiwi)... the list goes on. Thank you all so much for my beautiful birthday pounds! :)

2) Speaking academically, for my "birthday" we had Amara Lakhous, the author of one of our course readings (a sweet, cultural mystery novel called "Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vitorrio") come speak to us. He speaks ("only") Italian and Arabic, so via a Rome Center translator, he spoke to us about immigration, his experience as a writer, majoring in anthropology and philosophy, and culture clash in Italy. Unfortunately, slow translation + Friday morning exhaustion = sleepy Molly, but I asked a few questions and he even signed my copy of the book! it says:"A Molly -- A-scribble Lakhous" :)

3) We also visited the Villa Borghese, a glorious combination of complex art, gorgeous palace, green/tree laden parkland, and THE LONGEST/HOTTEST WALK EVER TO GET THERE. Totally worth it though (despite the dehydration). We got more sweet earpieces, and Lisa fearlessly led us through the Villa. My impressions: apparently, newly commissioned sculptures and paintings seemed to be the social events of the time (I guess that's what they did before Netflix?); a lot of women get attacked in mythological stories... this leads to rather traumatic sculptures; Carvaggio is the bombest painter. THEN WE TOOK THE LONGEST/HOTTEST WALK EVER BACK -- stopped on the Spanish steps to see!

4) That free carbonara/tiramisu/smoothie came from a wonderful birthday dinner with roommates (plus honorary roommate Bryan! ) We finally tried actual food at Magnolia Cafe, where we get the cheapest juice on the menu so we can watch the World Cup games. Thanks to Kate and Yuting, we all learned how to sing happy birthday in Chinese! Jew-nee shung-rrr kwai-luh!!

5) There was a bit of panicking over hotels for Florence also. More on that later. :)

6) Then Gelato del Teatro! Then they sang happy birthday! Then we all stayed up really late together, and I snuck a couple of hours sleep before the train to Firenze! Y'all ready for that blog post?

7) Miss you!

We all Crashed!

Don't worry not literally crashed or anything!

1) But first: Tuesday update. I got lost TWICE! Once when coming back from a tasty dinner at Mauna's apartment (thanks girls!) -- I was fine once I found the river, except then I went very far downstream instead of correctly upstream where Ponte Sisto was... But Bennett saved me! I also got everyone slightly lost later that night on a gelato run -- the sweet-looking Piazza that was JUST AROUND THE CORNER is not just around the corner if you go the opposite way... But it was a very nice walk in a circle!

2) BACK TO WEDNESDAY: It's hard to believe we're halfway through the Rome part of the trip! AHH I miss it already! I think this is why everyone crashed hardcore on Wednesday... we were all very grumpy, sleepy, exhausted today! Despite this had many adventures, including walking, walking, seeing a sweet open market at Piazza Vittorio, dehydrated walking, seeing a museum, and seeing a castle!

3) Found the best gelato place in Rome. Hands. Down. It's like the Molly Moon's (for you Seattlites) of gelato, and which by the way, is much better. Definitely going back soon again, hopefully for a birthday gelato run on Friday! :D I got tartufo (which was like 4 types chocolate), lemon pie (YUM), and chocolate orange.

4) Visited the Capitoline hill, and the first museum. Ever. It had some really sweet old things, including the oldest symbol of Rome ever (the She Wolf), and some giant heads.

5) ALSO HAD BEST ROOMMATE DRINKING PARTY EVER. Don't worry, completely non-alcoholic! We had 4 types of fruit juice (apricot, orange-carrot-mango, peach, and pear!) and they were all very sweet'n'tasy. My roommates are the best. Kate dressed us up in headscarves and showed Bollywood movies, Maggie took pictures, and Yuting learned a new word: "Nu-di-ty!"

6) David is making teriyaki beef and we are all watching a movie called The Leopard in the air conditioned UW Rome Center tonight. Yay Thursday!

7) Miss you!

HELLO POPE!

We have the afternoon free here so I am catching up on blogging, eating, and some work! Gotta love study abroad. ;) We visited the Vatican yesterday!!!

1) Our art history teacher Lisa almost got arrested! She snuck us past the giant line waiting to get it (it was hot outside!) and then there were some pretty intense minutes when the scary man in a uniform talked to her... Great impression to make in a new country!

2) It's hard to describe the place -- everything was completely smeared with priceless art, and people were everywhere: smelly, loud, hot, pushing, and eyes open as wide as possible. I kept coming across SUPER famous art pieces that I (rather pathetically) didn't know were in the Vatican! My favorite was walking into a room, and suddenly recognizing the School of Athens on the wall ten inches from me. We wore earbuds and little radio devices to hear Lisa. She had a microphone and was teaching us INSIDE OUR HEADS!

3) I heard the cutest thing at the Sistine Chapel: a mom knelt down next to her daughter and pointed up to the ceiling, "See the Finger of God pointing up there, honey? He's there in white with all the angels. See how his finger is almost touching Adam?" No pictures allowed in the Sistine Chapel... but it was pretty cool.

4) AND WE SAW THE POPE'S HAND! As we left his motorcade drove by and we saw his car and his little old hand waving out at it! I stood behind some nuns and waved. :) David, Daniel and others got pictures but I missed it. :( I said "Hi" to him like Collyn and Jim wanted me to.

5) Got REALLY lost trying to take the picturesque way back -- but came across this gorgeous panorama view as we dehydratedly hiked through the city! I was so tired and hungry...

6) Kathie showed us a really sweet movie in the Rome Center about the Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio -- it is made of musicians from completely different countries playing completely different instruments, from Senegalese drumming to Arab violin to Indian tabla. I had this wicked cool Nutella snack pack: Nutella, cookie sticks, and tea!

7) Then we waited on the Ponte Sisto for fireworks Lisa had tipped us off to! Except they were behind the trees. So we ran after the fireworks, trying to see them behind the trees! No luck... so I went home and used the internet cafe. Got some tasty ginger ale to finish off my happy, exhausting day. :)

8) Miss you!

Best. Saturday. Ever.

Yesterday was best yet, favorite yet, tastiest yet, sunburnedest yet. I cannot get over how many cool things we did in one day! :)

1) Stopped at Cafe Magnolia for cappucino and my first cornetto (a hot, jam filled croissant, only 1.80 eu - jealous yet?). Up for bus and then a 45 minute TRAIN RIDE through Italy! We were all very tired, but I was just so excited to be riding a train in Europe!

2) Ostia Antica: where everyone needs an Indiana Jones hat. We walked through gorgeous little modern countryside neighborhood to Ostia Antica, what was once the main port for Rome and now is partially still standing. It was the most astounding experience -- sort of like the bunkers at Fort Worden, but times 50 for everything. Bigger, older, with more freedom to run around, explore, climb, and touch. We wandered in through the necropolis (dead people!) before crossing through the city walls. Lisa taught us about the bathhouses, and we saw the ancient and still-beautiful mosaics of Poseidon on the floors of them. The ampitheater was incredible (and partially filled with equipment for a modern-day concert there!) and definitely one of my favorite parts -- look at the view! We saw the Forum, and its own bathhouse, and climbed around the heating tunnels below it. Lisa was very excited to show us the public bathrooms, where the little toilets still stand! Found the forno (bakery) of the ancient Ostia Antica people -- do those funny shaped things look like ovens to you? It was incredible. I can hardly comprehend the age of the place.

3) Then we picnicked in some ruins. Yeaaah. FYI: Nutella + PB + Bakery ("forno") bread is delicious served both plain, and when served by the gorgeous Forum bathhouse, and beneath a shady tree.

4) We were very thirsty by the end of our adventuring, and spent a good half hour filling up water bottles at the only drinking fountain we came across. Italian drinking fountains are these little spigots in the ground that constantly run water directly up from the aquafiers down below the ground. ICE cold, 24/7. Very refreshing in my Kleen Kanteen. :)

5) Oh yeah, and then I SWAM IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. Because the ocean line has receded many miles since ancient times, we took another train ride from Ostia Antica to the BEACH! It was PACKED with people, all with tans at least 50 times darker than hours. It must have been our pale, glowing skin that attracted tons of souvenir sellers to our quite-obviously-not-from-around-here group. I actually enjoyed the sun (up to a point) and got a tiny little sun burn! Look mom! :) Best ocean water, waves, and beach experience I've ever had.

6) So much salt! Took train back, walked back, bussed back, and finally made it to the hot (hooray) shower in our little apartment. After nearly bleaching myself trying to get the super salty (and oily) MEDITERRANEAN off me, I ate a mozzarella, pesto, and Saltine dinner! Salty salty salty!

7) So much sun = exhausted Molly. This incredible ended in an incredible thunderstorm (see the big raindrops on my apartment window?), incredible gelato (vanilla and chocolate hazelnut!), and incredibly nearly falling asleep at the very tense USA vs. Ghana world cup match. Don't tell anyone but I was a little happy Ghana won. :) Underdogs all the way.

8) :) :) :) :)

9) I did laundry today! Look, it is air drying! I think Yuting thought I was very silly for taking a picture of my laundry. :)

9) Today is spent reading, eating, sun walking, and some more reading. Probably some gelato too. Gotta catch up on relaxation before the busy week begins! Vatican, here we come!

10) Miss you so much!