ROMA - ORIENTATION

Wow...

I live a rough life. I'm living in arguably the most beautiful city in the world, I'm traveling to amazing destinations, and I'm befriending incredible people! Life is GOOD. 

My new home

Move-in

Move-in was crazy...the heat and humidity were very intense, and it was hard to grasp the concept that we would be living here for 4 months, but now that everyone is settled (and it's cooled off a bit) we are all very happy. I love my roommate, Samantha!! She is from Loyola and is here on scholarship because she is doing a major research project along with her abroad experience. After this semester she heads to Bejing for another semester abroad! Impressive.

First dinner out with our program! (Sam and Courtney)

The first really memorable thing we did as a whole program was the second night. We all went out to a beautiful dinner in the Balduina area near school. Benissimo! Afterwards, we tried out the metro system for the first time...we took our chances with what stop to get off on, and after a lot of wandering ended up finding Il Campo di Fiori. It's a great little piazza with a wonderful nightlife. We definitely felt like Americans not locals, but hopefully that will change as we get more knowledgeable of the area. It ended up being a successful night, but we decided not to push our luck with the night bus and took a taxi home. It was the first time my Italian was tested as I had to explain where we needed to go to the driver. Success!

Il ristorante! 

My friends and I took a walking tour of the area one afternoon, and discovered where all the necessities of life were located - including the travel agency, gelato stand - you get the picture. Two of us also ventured out running to see how we would fare in the humidity. Downhill was great…coming back up the hill was rough.  My goal by the end of my time here is to be able to run down to the Vatican and back effortlessly. We’ll see how that goes…

Our orientation trip took us to some spectacular places: Assisi, Ravenna, and San Marino.

Assisi - view of Umbria countryside

We left for Assisi around 7:00 in the morning. I grabbed banana and macchiato at Rinaldo’s caffe (the caffe run by this adorable Italian couple) since Mensa (our cafeteria) doesn’t serve us breakfast - just lunch and dinner. Then we hit the road. We stopped at the base of the Assisi hill to see Saint Mary of the Angels Cathedral. 

St. Mary of the Angels 

View from Cathedral of St. Francis

Santa Chiara

Inside of it is the original structure where Saint Francis of Assisi did his first work. It was very moving to see this site. Then, we continued up to Assisi. Spectacular views - wow! The Cathedral on the hill is huge!!! The town had such a great feel - just what I would picture the perfect, ideal Italian village to look like with amazing views of Umbria. We had a tour guide who took us around most of the town…starting with the Cathedral of Saint Francis and ending with Saint Clare’s (Ciara)! It was incredible we even got to see the preserved body of Santa Ciara…the saint our school all the way back in California is named after! Too cool! Then we did a little shopping. I got a beautiful olive wood bracelet with the sign of Saint Francis on it, and we also made a gelato pit stop. Then we loaded back on the bus and headed for Ravenna!

My bracelet

Gelato!

The bus ride to Ravenna was very windy and the driver was taking the turns rather quick. But we made it to the Holiday Inn (I felt right at home) just outside of Ravenna. After a fabulous four course meal and some fun free time outside, we headed to bed. The next morning, we went into an overcast Ravenna and saw the famous mosaics. We went into various cathedrals and an empress’s mausoleum! Later that day we drove to the Adriatic Sea but it was pouring rain so we didn’t end up swimming. My friends and I decided to explore Ravenna – yes, in our swimsuits. We decided that WE were what give Americans a bad name…oops! After returning to the hotel we met in the conference room for a program meeting then dug into yet another multiple course meal! The long meals here are great though because they really have allowed me to get to know lots of people in my program!   

One of the group dinners

Dante's Tomb in Ravenna

Mosaic work in a cathedral in Ravenna

The next day we headed out to San Marino! It’s the third smallest independent state in Europe after the Vatican and Monaco! I had no idea the treat I was in for!! It was definitely my favorite stop. San Marino is literally on top of a mountain. It is so high up! There is a cable car that takes you from the base on the mountain all the way up to the castles up top (the cable is completely suspended the whole way up, no poles). 

Cable Car

View - see the Adriatic Sea?

Side of the first castle

Trap door up to the top

A little queesy

We climbed to the tip-top of that one

Castle courtyard

To my relief, the buses drove us up and we had a few hours of free time at our disposal before lunch. We booked it up to the top (we were very short of breath from the altitude believe it or not), and then bought our tickets to see two of the three castles. The views were the best I’d ever seen. I could see all the way out to the Adriatic Sea!!! After climbing through trap doors, up a latter, and squeezing through tight spaces, we made it to the top of the first tower. I was a little cloister phobic, and the sheer drop off (I liken it to the wall of the Grand Canyon) made me somewhat anxious, but I conquered my fears and made it all the way up! Then we began our descent and headed to the next castle. The walkway there was on ridge with drop offs on either side…great…Before most of our photo ops we had to remind each other not to lean too far back…yikes! The view from the second castle was so cool though because we could see the last castle we had visited. It put its size and cliff-top location in perspective for sure. 

View of first castle and drop-off

After buying a few postcards we headed to lunch where I was ostracized from my main group to the vegetarian table.  It ended up being great though. The food was to die for and it gave me the opportunity to meet more people! The bus ride home of course took longer then expected (the DGs: Courtney, Jessica and I) have decided we have TERRIBLE luck with buses. One of our caravans broke down so we were off the road for around 3 hours. Ugh. But regardless the trip was amazing, and I feel like it really allowed the members of the program to click. As of now I have a great group of girl and guy friends who all get along really well and look out for each other! I’m so happy and excited for what is to come – especially travel!

I had my first day of classes yesterday and so far so good! It sounds like I’m in for a good semester all around! More to come on those later…especially after my first on-site class meets.

I'm staying in Roma this weekend to tour the Forum and get to know the real Rome – hopefully I’ll get to practice my Italian too. The IES Rome girls got in this week so the whole group is here now!

Stayed tuned because we booked a Pisa and Cinque Terra trip for next weekend!!!

Xxoo,

Bri