So I sucessfully survived my first week of classes.

It's hard to put in words everything that had happened within this week! I just tried my best to make sure I'll be comfortable in my new classes and understand all the materials. The professors are very nice and accommodating. I'm especially liking my art history professor because she's soooooo great about everything and easy to understand. Funny how my most-disliked class ended up being probably my favorite class here! Finanicial accounting, management and philosophy will be my most difficult classes...... I have a lot of tests/quizzes, debates and papers. It looks like the classes I have require a lot of work and outside work... compared to some who I know that has barely any homework. Lucky them! So I'll be working on my time management if I want to travel or go somewhere on weekends.

Remember when I mentioned that Italians are reeeally bad drivers? Here's an example:

They park on the sidewalks.

That was when I was walking to Tiber campus for lunch and of course... they park literally ANYWHERE. Anywhere there's space. There's a lot of those smart/compact cars and they'd park vertically between two horizontally parked cars. Yeah. That happens more often then you'd think!

After my class on Wednesday, I needed to get art supplies for my drawing classes. The sketchbooks I brought won't work for this class. Ugh, more space I could've saved!!! And more spaced wasted for when I get back. As usual, I walked. I walked for more than an hour to get back to my apartment! It seems so simple when I'm just walking along the river... but it's so far! I walked past Piazza del Popolo, Castel Sant'Angelo and a bunch of pretty sights.  

 I indulged in a selfie while taking a break. My back had hurt because of my backpack and my legsss. That's the Tiber River and one of the bridges I passed back there.

Thursday I didn't do much except went to do more grocery shopping. I tagged with Brittany who wanted to go to this different store and ended up getting stuff. We live near a really cheap store (but not good options) and an expensive store, so we went to a moderate one that was under a mini-shopping mall. Kinda looked like a Macy's.

Heineken three-pack! I never seen that before. All this for 10 euros.

Today I went on an API (study abroad program) trip, to the Forum and the inside the Colleseum. :)

 

Happened across the Circus Maximus while walking to a cartoleria (paper/supply store)!

At the cartoleria, I finally got some folders and notepads! It was difficult using my sketchbook. I needed to be more organized or I would've gone crazy. Italian notebooks aren't like ours back home. They use grid formats in various sizes (notebook types apparently depend on your grade/level). And folders! There's no normal folders like we're used to, instead, they "fold" on one side to make a (undependable) pouch and uses an elastic to keep it closed. It's so weird. Also, I might have to go back to the cartoleria to get a CALCULATOR. Oy. It's for my financial accounting class and I need it for my classes and tests. It's so maddening! I'm not allowed to use my calculator on my phone so I have to find a really cheap calculator... and in English, hopefully.

Taylor and I talked again tonight. And he got his final packet!!! He found out where he will be living and as it turns out, we're practically neighbors! It's about a 5 minute walk between our apartments. He'll be arriving in less than 10 days! ♡ ♡ ♡ We're both so excited that we can hardly stand it.

I have no real plans this weekend but instead I'll be doing my homework which involves a lot of reading. And sleep a lot. And maybe actually visit the Vatican City. And actually get up early on Sunday to go to the Porta Portese flea market! I won't forget to set my alarm this time. Nevermind, I do have plans! :)

Buonanotte! ♡

Saturday, I didn't go to the Vatican City after my art studio tour. Instead I ended up going to get my textbooks in Rome's center with Brittany. We ended up walking from Trastevere then picking a random direction until we see something familiar with the bookshop in our mind. We walked through random streets passed the Pantheon, and saw the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps! Because it was the weekend, it was pretty busy.

Admittedly, I didn't realize it was the Pantheon until much later. But it's one thing reading about it and another to see it!

This is called the Cat Cemetery. It's basically cat haven and all the city cats live here. There's a volunteer group to care for these cats and even get them adopted! My school is connected to this group and I hope to volunteer my time with them soon.

 The Pantheon!

Of course.

 

Since we didn't 100% depend on map, we didn't really know where we were going (as part of the adventure). As we were exiting a street, we could hear the water rushing and it got louder and louder as we got closer. And lo and behold: the Trevi Fountain!

Bad selfie, but I didn't want any strangers taking my phone or camera as much as many had offered!

 

The Spanish Steps!

 

Brittany and I sidetracked and realized the reason why we went to the center was to get our textbooks! So we were hoping the bookstore wasn't closed (most stores close around 5pm). And luckily, it wasn't! We went in and the lady found our books surprisingly quick - we were both done within 10 minutes. 

We wanted to eat but it was still relatively early (since most Italians eat around 7-9pm) so we went to the Via Del Corso, which is a major street for high-end shopping for stores like Dolce&Gabbana, Prada, Gucci, Bvgalria, H&M, Zara, etc. etc. Brittany and I windowed shopped and browsed. The H&M store was mind-boggling huge and so crowded. It was Saturday after all. 

I passed by one of these. Apparently they used to be dead priests' coffins before they converted it to these larger water fountains. I'm not sure if that's 100% true, but I still drank out of it anyway.

We walked towards home, and found an osteria to eat at still nearby the Via del Corso. 

The maitre'd gave us free drinks because we were from Boston.
Apparently he went to Boston and loved it.

Bruschetta al Pomodoro. The first bruscetta I tried was when Brittany gave me half of hers. Since then, my life was changed. I know I never really liked eating raw tomatoes but simply placing it on a hot olive oil-drizzled bread REALLY changes it. I'm probably ordering one of these before every meal. SO GOOD.

We trekked home by walking still. Even though we spent 4 hours walking around, it felt much longer than that. Here are my books:

Art history and management/financial accounting. Can't get any more opposite than that.

Sunday, Brittany and I made plans to visit the Porta Portese (Rome's biggest flea market) but I forgot to set my alarm and we both slept in really late. Oops! We ended up doing absolutely nothing that day.

Today (1/13) was the first day of classes. I only had one: financial accounting, over at the Guarini campus. I woke up 2 hours earlier than I had to so I could get mentally prepared and make sure I get there okay. I ended up taking a really weird way to get there, so next time I'm taking the longer more familiar way. My financial accounting class is in the auditorium (called Aula Magna) and since it's all tiled, voice gets bounced everywhere and on top of that, my professor has an Italian accent. I spoke with her beforehand and made sure that she was aware that I was deaf, all the usual hi-nice-to-meet-ya-i'm-deaf-by-the-way. It was alright. She taught pretty well, even using a whiteboard. Financial accounting is a whole different language compared to art, so it's going to be something to get used to.

Afterwards I wanted to make sure my accommodations are in order so I went all the way back to Tiber Campus to talk to student services (Valentina is my go-to person because she's super nice and speaks clearly) and she called Pamela who I was in contact with about my accommodations. She asked to meet me so I ended up walking aaall the way back to Guarini campus to her office. She was really excited to meet me and she shared the office with the Dean, who I briefly met when she was finished teaching the class before my class, and we all chatted for a while to get to know each other. They talked about an opportunity to teach English (or English sign language??? I forget now) and revved up an interest about Italian sign language. They were super nice. My accommodations won't be in order until like next week or so (about the usual even at home university). I'm set.

PS: somewhere between walking the two campuses, I looked down for ONE BRIEF SECOND to adjust my scarf and all the sudden I heard a squeal and an miffed shout - I looked up and saw a motorcyclist only an inch in front of me. Geez! I was even on the side of the road! But roads are small. And lesson learned, keep eyes on road at all times.

Now I'm back at my apartment attempting to do my first homework which is a bit of reading in the textbook and watching some TV on my laptop. Eventually I was bored/hungry and I went to the grocery store to get "junk" food - some kind of chocolate chip cookies and wafers.

I'm sorely missing familiar people who I can talk to without a problem and see them. (Peoplesick, not homesick! There's a difference! Really.) Like all my family and my best friend, Taylor. I got to skype with him last night for two hours and it was so good to see his face. I'm really excited for him to arrive in two weeks! ♡

It's after 3pm now, so buonasera. :)

Orientation Week is (nearly) Over

Yesterday was a day of sorting out final forms, pay for the Permesso di Soggiorno (permit to stay), getting our ID photo taken, and had our first (free) lunch in the school cafeteria, which is two or three times the size of Charlie's (my main campus fast-food cafeteria back at home).

 

We actually a huge coffee/espresso bar. In the cafeteria. I tried some cappuccino and it wasn't spectacular. I can't complain though because I'm not a coffee person in the first place!

We then got to go on a little tour. API has a set of RD (resident directors?) and one of them came with me on the tour to help me understand the tour because they knew I was deaf and wanted to make sure I was well accommodated. The RD who came with me was a cute lady named Naike and she has a thick Italian accent but was good at speaking English, though she needed to ask me to spell certain stuff. She wrote down all the important stuff for me like names of places I didn't hear and phone numbers.

The tour was meant to help us understand Rome's transportation, the "metro" which consists of the bus, the tram, and the subway. We took a bus to Termini Station (which has like three stories to underground and has a HUGE mall within it and from there, we took the subway to the Colosseum! As soon as you exit the Colesseo stop, you see the Colosseum! (Parts of it is under construction) And then we walked all the way back to Trastevere.

When I got back and met up with Brittany back at our apartment, we decided to do a tiny bit of grocery shopping. We found a specialty section for American food! And candy. Don't worry, the only thing American I got was some Twix. And I was craving kiwis so I got some of those too.

The cashier was the only one there and didn't speak a word of English but we got by with gestures. And I'm 90000% percent she didn't ring up all my items because I ended spending only 3 euros for all the stuff I got above. The twix alone was 3 euros! Either I was a smart shopper and unconsciously found deals or she didn't ring them all up. I'm not complaining though. We made dinner for ourselves - Brittany was skyping with her family so I made dinner. Using a gas stove with two pots was so difficult! Because I had to light the gas and hold the button down. I need three hands for this and I am terrible at using a cigarette lighter (got it from Dakota the other roommate). But it came out good. Even the pasta was pretty good even though I chose the cheapest one!

And today wasn't busy; just got my JCU ID, met the Dean (who made a Mean Girls reference, obviously she's cool in my book) and ate more lunch and toured the Guarini campus.

The last photo is a view from one of the school's terraces. :) Perfect place to study!

I wanted to take a video of our apartment's outside door to show you all how we open it to get inside (and then we have to walk through the garden then then walk up two flights of stairs!) It's pretty cool. To see the video, CLICK HERE.

Brittany and I went to dinner just a while ago and ended up going to this place where we saw they had Napoletana pizza. We knew they'd have anchovies on it, but didn't think the taste would take up the entire pizza... I have to be honest, it was gross. But the bruschetta was reeeally good. Basically warm bread with chopped tomatoes on top. I know I know I don't like tomatoes too much - but I'm trying! I really liked it, so that's a success. (And I even tried anchovies, you gotta give me credit here for trying)

We went to find some better cannoli but ended up at this chocolate shop owned by an old man who spoke really good English (hurrah!) One kind of chocolate I got had brandy in it (bottom pic). Next trip I'll try the one with rum. But the rest are mostly milk chocolate with rice, which I really like.

Tomorrow (1/11) is the first day I can totally sleep in without rushing off to somewhere. I'm neeeever gonna wake up! I am going to a tour at 3 so I can learn to get to the art studios (which is closer to the Vatican City and on the other side of the river). And maybe after that tour I can check out the Vatican City! I'll be bringing my camera this time - sorry about all the phone photos!

Buonanotte!