(Written Februrary 3, 2010)
For about five days, I seriously considered transferring.
This startling thought came to me suddenly, almost as a shock.
"I can't go back to Goucher."
This instantly set of a million internal battles that I was not physically or mentally able to fight , and my body told me that quite quickly; about 36 hours later, actually, when I started getting sick. And when I get sick, I know that I'm doing something wrong. And so I worried for a few more days and finally decided that transferring was not the right thing to do. For two days, I was at peace, albeit a bittersweet peace. I had prepared myself for enjoying three-and-a-half more months in Rome then come home. I pacified the part of me screaming, "YOU CAN'T LEAVE ITALY!" by saying that I would return in the summer to work for two months. So, with all my parts in order and all my decisions made, I started to relax and enjoy the little moments that make a foreign country a foreign country; the way the garbage cans are shaped, the quite odd hours when they pick up the trash, the way the sun hits the pine trees in the afternoon; it's the little things that make a place feel like home for you.
And then I got a sign.
I don't know if you guys believe in signs, but if you don't, you will after you hear this. I tried to never underestimate the power of signs, but I had never had one so obviously pointed out to me.
I had told five people that I was thinking about transferring, my parents, Courtney, Allie, and my current roommate Claire. After I decided that I wasn't transferring, I only told Allie and Claire.
Two days after my decision to return to Goucher, I walk into the Student Life office at AUR to speak to my friend Stefano. Stefano is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met. He is kind and generous, (ITALIAN! ROMAN!), knowledgeable, and cares deeply for the people he interacts with. He and I have created a wonderful bond in the time that I've been here, even if I do have to constantly remind him to stop speaking in English and let me practice my Italian.
I walk into Stefano's office to ask him a question that at this point I don't even remember. But it doesn't matter, because I ask my question but Stefano doesn't answer it. He says:
"You should transfer to AUR."
And that's when I knew.
I instantly said no. I said that I had thought about it (and thought to myself 'how in the world did he know to ask this question?') and decided that I needed to go home. Stefano countered:
"When you find someone who loves the language and the culture as much as you do, you want them to stay and get to know it. It's my culture, and I want people who want to be here, to be here. I think this is your place. I think that you'll never get an opportunity like this again. And while it's your decision, ultimately, I think this is the right place for you."
I said I would think about it.
Kathy then joins into the picture. Kathy is the other person who has had a great impact on my life at AUR. As housing coordinator, she deals with all the students who go through AUR housing, but knows the rest of them. A wonderful, kind woman, she has often helped me with things that have absolutely nothing to do with what her job description says, like boy problems or finding a good place to get my hair cut (which I found and was excellent). I love getting to talk to Kathy because somehow I just feel better after talking to her, even if it's talking about the weather.
Kathy walks into Stefano's office. They speak about business stuff when I find the opportunity to say, "Hey Kathy, guess what Stefano is trying to get me to do."
"Stefano is trying to get you to transfer."
In my mind I'm thinking, how in the world does everyone know this but me?
I tell them that I've thought about it for five days and I decided it's not right. Immediately they tell me, think longer. It's a bigger decision than one you can make in five days. So I think. I start thinking a lot. Who knew people could think this much?
I didn't get sick this time because I figured out my mistake from last time. The first time, I thought that I needed to run away from something, namely Goucher, a place I felt was too small and a place where I would have a hard time connecting with the people I was interested in, like Italians. So I wanted to run from, but after my conversation with Stefano, I decided that I wasn't running 'from' something, I was running 'to' something. I was running to the opportunities that were allowed to me by Rome; opportunities that I literally will not be able to have anywhere else in the world. And that's everyone's dream, right? To live abroad? At least at this moment, it has become mine. And that's the dream that I have decided to live.
As of Fall 2010, I will be a transfer student to the American University of Rome. I will be graduating in May 2011 from the American University of Rome. I feel that this is the best possible decision I could have ever made for myself. If I go home, I will forget my Italian. Even today, I have forgotten three new words I learned while having a conversation with my friend Aldo, and I live here now. What's going to happen when I can't have conversations in Italian? What's going to happen when I am not constantly surrounded by this language?
In any case, these are not questions that I want to answer, so I am staying. I am staying to learn more and I am staying to push myself beyond the limits of what I think I can do. The anticipation of going abroad last fall was disconcerting, but only until I stepped off the plane. It was the anticipation of how different things were going to be. Honestly, things are very different, but the difference is what makes this place beautiful. And I'm still a bit disconcerted. Part of me, the part that thinks all my decisions are absolutely mad is going "What. Are. You. Doing." But I know that this is the right thing. I know that Italy is my place, and I know that I will learn more here in the next year and half than I could learn in four at Goucher. While Goucher was the best option for me at the time when I went to college, I know that it is no longer the best choice, and I know that staying here is.
Sometimes, just to make sure I'm making the right decision, I go to Piazza Garibaldi on top of the Janiculum hill where I live and I look out over the city and I gaze at the mountains beyond. When I watch the sun set and the lights of Rome begin to turn on in the purple darkness, I know I am exactly where I need to be.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Another Roman Review
(Written September 17, 2009)
Hello everyone!
Rome is still fantastic as she always is. It's been raining / thunder-storming for about 5 days straight and it's absolutely incredible. It will be perfectly sunny and suddenly off in the distance you'll see these black clouds roll in with the most incredible light show. I love living so close to the ocean!
For those who don't know, my school is on top of the Janiculum hill which is Rome's highest hill. My school has an incredible view of the historic center and today I sat on the terrace and watched a storm roll over the mountains and half of the city. It didn't make it up the hill but I have a feeling it will come back later today or tonight. I really do love the weather here. Even if it is a little crazy and unpredictable, it's so different than anything else I'm used to, and who doesn't enjoy a thunderstorm or 40?
This past weekend I took a trip to visit my friend Evan in Florence. Evan goes to Goucher with me and is studying at NYU. I took my first European train ride and it was beautiful! The Tuscan countryside is so luscious. Besides hanging out in Florence, we went to Cinque Terre which is a group of 5 cities on the coast in the north of Italy, just a little north of Pisa. If you don't have facebook or if you just haven't seen them yet, click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.
Sunday we went out for a great English brunch which was just what I needed because I was beginning to feel a little homesick. I still loved everything about Italy but I realized that the way I feel I can express myself best is through conversation, especially just passing conversations with strangers or vendors, but now I feel like I can't even do that and I feel very isolated. But I have made some great friends here, one in particular named Rose, and when I talked to her about it she gave me some great advice and I began to see things from a different light. Sunday afternoon I came home and began my week anew!
This weekend I'm doing a bunch of different things. My friend Peter, who is also here for a year, is the youngest of 7 and all of his brothers and sisters studied abroad and a couple of them studied in Rome. His older brother told him of a place near the Pantheon, a mom and pop place for dinner, and Peter went by the other day and introduced himself and the lady told him to come by one night with all of his friends, so that's what we're doing tonight! We're meeting at the Pantheon and then spending a couple of hours eating and drinking and enjoying ourselves and then go out to a bar or a club from there. It's my first long sit down dinner experience and I'm really excited. Then tomorrow night one of the people at school is hosting a salsa dancing night, so we're going to learn how to salsa and then go to a club. Saturday, a group of us are going to Tivoli which is an area outside of Rome that hosts Hadrian's estate (Hadrian was an emperor of Rome around 125 CE and rebuilt the Pantheon). Sunday I'm going to a soccer game, Roma vs. Fiorentina, and I'm super excited. It's a great weekend for just hanging around Rome but still full of lots of great things to do.
I love Rome. In Florence I found things so small and touristy, but in Rome they're big and raucous and wild and only touristy when you go to the touristy spots. Rome is so alive and I'm so glad that I get to live in this place. My Italian continues to improve especially because I'm finally beginning to take classes. I understand a lot in conversation but when I try to speak it the words just won't come yet. I know they're in there but it's all a matter of finding the key to unlock them.
My absolute favorite class though is Art of Rome. It's an on site class and the professor is absolutely incredible. He's part history buff, part storyteller and almost every moment of his class is perfect. He's so animated about what he's doing and when you have a professor like that you can never go wrong. The first place we went was the Pantheon and it might be my favorite place in Rome so far even though I really haven't explored other places in depth. I love the area of Trastevere with it's cobblestone streets and amazing night life and I even love the city center with all it's tourists. Every time I think I know at least a part of the city I try to find a new place and get to know it more. It really is the eternal city and I'm so lucky that I get a year to discover it.
Hope everyone is doing well and having their own wonderful adventures from home! I do love hearing from you. I'm going to try to send semi-regular emails but sometimes blogging is tougher than you would expect.
I have class today at 5:15 until 6:40 and then I'm off to enjoy my weekend! Not having Friday classes is absolutely the best.
Baci :)
Liz
My first day in Rome
(Written September 3, 2009)
Buongiorno tutti!
Sono qui. I am here. Today is my 3rd morning in Rome. I think that so far I have adjusted rather well to the time change and don't seem to have much jet lag left but I feel like sometimes my body is saying, 'You're not supposed to be doing this now... but whatever.' I'm very pleased that it didn't take long to adjust to the time because I hear that if you mess it up on the first night by taking too long of a nap or going to bed too early then you're messed up for 4 or 5 more days, and no one wants that.
I'm staying in Monteverde which is a neighborhood southwest of the city center. It's an incredible place. I walked in not expecting much because they told us not to expect much in terms of what housing you got. But I was the first one up (we each had to take the elevator separately with our bags so we didn't break it) and I was the first one in and when I opened the door I gasped. The place is just huge. We have 3 good sized bedrooms, one with an attached bath in the room that I'm staying in, a living room with a dining room table, and a fairly good sized kitchen. All the rooms have marble floors and all the decorations are from Ikea. We have wireless internet, a computer, a phone, a washing machine, and a terrace. There is no dryer but we have a clothes line and a drying rack. We have a ton of storage space. Our refrigerator is also quite large. Everything they told us to expect about Italian living is not what we got with this place because it's just great. Monteverde is very residential so it's not at all like the city center, or even Trastevere, which is a pretty popular hangout for Italians every night. More about that later.
We live 5 minutes from the bus which picks us up in the Piazza Scotti and from there it's about a 10 or 15 minute bus ride to the school. We are also only two stops away from the Tram which can take us directly into the city if we take the Argentina all the way down to the end of the line. From there we are about a 5-10 minute walk from the Piazza Venezia. We explored that area last night, but I promise I'll talk about it as it comes.
I have 5 other roommates. 4 of us got here on Tuesday and then 2 arrived at the apartment yesterday. Everyone is very nice. I think we'll get along really well. The person I'm living with is this girl named Robin who I met at orientation at Towson and also flew over with. We didn't know our housing arrangements until we got there but when we found out that we would be living together we both thought that we'd be good roommates and so far that's true. She's really laid back and really funny and really nice and I enjoy spending time with her.
The first day we arrived we spent the time unpacking until we were starving and ended up going to the grocery store to buy some food. It's right across the street from us. It's not terribly big but it's fully stocked with everything you need, such as pasta, parm, nutella, and wine. I didn't buy nutella yet because they're in enormous jars and I was afraid I'd go through it so fast, but soon, soon I will buy some. We came back and made pasta for lunch, then I took a nap because I couldn't keep my eyes open much longer. I woke up a couple hours later which was good because I was afraid I was going to sleep the whole day, then we all went to school for a walking tour around our school. This was our first experience on the bus and we got lost, of course, but I managed to ask directions from two mounted policemen and vaguely understand them. We left an hour early and finally got there on time after a lot of walking and a lot of patience. We took the walking tour which was okay, learned how to use the tram and the buses, then came back to our apartment but stopped at a trattoria that is right beneath us called Retro. The owner spoke English which is good because in my group I'm the only one who's ever taken more than a semester of basic Italian and most people haven't ever taken Italian, and even my Italian at this point is really rusty because I didn't study it all summer. So we ate at this lovely little restaurant and the owner was very helpful. After dinner I came back and it was about 10:30 and I passed out on the couch by accident, then managed to stumble to my bed and sleep until 9:30 the next morning.
Yesterday we had things to do at school such as our Permit to Stay which registers us with the Police Department, and get cell phones. The phones were optional but I felt that in case of an emergency it would be better to have one than to not. You can all call me if you'd like, either through skype or through your own phones as long as you have international service. If you do have it, or just so that you can laugh at the insanity that is an international number, here it is. When calling from the US, dial 011 39 335 7890777. Isn't that crazy?
After getting our phones yesterday we ate lunch at a place across the street and I had to use my Italian again. I'm getting really good at saying grazie, but not much else. But grazie (thank you) is very polite, so that's better than nothing. After lunch we went back to our apartment and hung out which was when our other two roommates arrived. Three of my roommates went back to school at 4 to finish up their permit to stay and cell phone stuff but Shelby and I stayed behind to go later because there was a walking tour of the city center at 6:30 that we wanted to go on. Our last roommate, Lizz, strained her ankle really badly in July so she has a boot on and is trying to walk as little as possible so she stayed behind in the apartment. The walking tour of Rome was absolutely beautiful. I was starting to be afraid that all of Rome looked like where we lived which really is not the most attractive place in Rome, but it's not! Rome is BEAUTIFUL. The first place they took us was where there was a huge fountain that overlooked the entire city. It was breathtaking. The sun was just setting so there was a beautiful glow on the whole city. We could see Piazza Venezia but the Colosseum and the Vatican were both blocked by trees. We walked down into Trastevere which is the place I mentioned before and came out into the Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere. La chiesa di Santa Maria is also located in this square and is one of the oldest and most famous churches in all of Rome. The Pope sometimes gives mass here.
We walked through Trastevere to get to the tram and stopped outside a little Gelateria that makes the only organic gelato in all of Rome. I went in quickly and got un piccolo di pesca, a little one of peach, and it was like biting into a frozen peach. None of that gross super sugary stuff. This was the real deal. I could eat it forever. We continued on to the tram and took it to the end of the line, walked to Piazza Venezia, walked to the Forum, and ended at the Colosseum. It was night by then and it was beautiful. We hung out around the Colosseum for a while and then a big group of us headed back to Trastevere for dinner. We stopped for Pizza (my first Pizza! yum!) at this take out place right by Piazza di Santa Maria. I got the prosciutto and mozzarella and it was the saltiest, most delicious thing I had ever eaten. Then I had to get more gelato at Blue Ice, a gelato chain in Rome. I got un piccolo di Caffe, but this piccolo was HUGE. It was like getting a small scoop of ice cream at Yum Yums for those who have been there. We began walking back but Shelby, this guy Tyler that we met, and I wanted to stay out and find a bar, so Sarah, Kelly, and Robin went home while Shelby, Tyler and I found a bar in Trastevere. I tried a bit of Limoncello that I sipped because it's soooo gooood. The bar we were in had a screen up and was showing VH1 music videos, so that was cool, but also a bit strange to find in a bar in Italy. We hung out for a little while there just talking, then went back to the Piazza and they got gelato from the same place I did and theirs was absolutely fantastic. Shelby's chocolate tasted as if someone melted 70% cacao and then froze it to the consistency of Ice Cream. We sat in the Piazza for a while, then came back home. I think we got home a little before midnight but I was so wide awake from that coffee gelato that I was bouncing off the walls until about 2.
And now it is the morning of day 3, or almost afternoon. Our plan for the day is to go grocery shopping and hopefully I can duck into a shoe store and get some new shoes. I wish there was a button I could push that would just automatically make me Italian. I don't like sticking out all that much but that seems to be the only thing that I do right about now. The blond hair and blue eyes apparently don't help me either, but as time goes on I get more and more used to it. Everyone is incredibly nice around here, especially when you go into restaurants. They're so helpful and really try to to work with you, especially when we're both working with limited second languages. I've been feel a bit discombobulated in a way, so out of my element and so out of my comfort zone. I'm not one for standing out in a crowd and I'm not one for making mistakes, especially mistakes in such a beautiful language as Italian. I want to do justice to this language and I know the only way to do that is practice and to try. I am practicing, and I am trying, but I'm also telling you that it's really hard. I'll be glad to start classes so that I can get a refresher.
I'm sorry this was such a long update, but I found that there was much more to say than I originally thought! I'm going to be putting some pictures up on facebook eventually that will include my apartment and places I have visited in Rome, but if you don't have a facebook, don't worry, I will email you a link to a photo uploading site where you can get the pictures from there.
I hope everyone is doing well! If anyone you know would like to be updated but I didn't include them, please feel free to forward this email. Or if there's anyone who doesn't want to get these massive emails every week or so, I won't be offended. A couple of email addresses I just didn't have on me when I wrote this, so email me the email address of someone who'd like to be included and I will include them in the next batch.
Ciao tutti! A domani!
Liz
Buongiorno tutti!
Sono qui. I am here. Today is my 3rd morning in Rome. I think that so far I have adjusted rather well to the time change and don't seem to have much jet lag left but I feel like sometimes my body is saying, 'You're not supposed to be doing this now... but whatever.' I'm very pleased that it didn't take long to adjust to the time because I hear that if you mess it up on the first night by taking too long of a nap or going to bed too early then you're messed up for 4 or 5 more days, and no one wants that.
I'm staying in Monteverde which is a neighborhood southwest of the city center. It's an incredible place. I walked in not expecting much because they told us not to expect much in terms of what housing you got. But I was the first one up (we each had to take the elevator separately with our bags so we didn't break it) and I was the first one in and when I opened the door I gasped. The place is just huge. We have 3 good sized bedrooms, one with an attached bath in the room that I'm staying in, a living room with a dining room table, and a fairly good sized kitchen. All the rooms have marble floors and all the decorations are from Ikea. We have wireless internet, a computer, a phone, a washing machine, and a terrace. There is no dryer but we have a clothes line and a drying rack. We have a ton of storage space. Our refrigerator is also quite large. Everything they told us to expect about Italian living is not what we got with this place because it's just great. Monteverde is very residential so it's not at all like the city center, or even Trastevere, which is a pretty popular hangout for Italians every night. More about that later.
We live 5 minutes from the bus which picks us up in the Piazza Scotti and from there it's about a 10 or 15 minute bus ride to the school. We are also only two stops away from the Tram which can take us directly into the city if we take the Argentina all the way down to the end of the line. From there we are about a 5-10 minute walk from the Piazza Venezia. We explored that area last night, but I promise I'll talk about it as it comes.
I have 5 other roommates. 4 of us got here on Tuesday and then 2 arrived at the apartment yesterday. Everyone is very nice. I think we'll get along really well. The person I'm living with is this girl named Robin who I met at orientation at Towson and also flew over with. We didn't know our housing arrangements until we got there but when we found out that we would be living together we both thought that we'd be good roommates and so far that's true. She's really laid back and really funny and really nice and I enjoy spending time with her.
The first day we arrived we spent the time unpacking until we were starving and ended up going to the grocery store to buy some food. It's right across the street from us. It's not terribly big but it's fully stocked with everything you need, such as pasta, parm, nutella, and wine. I didn't buy nutella yet because they're in enormous jars and I was afraid I'd go through it so fast, but soon, soon I will buy some. We came back and made pasta for lunch, then I took a nap because I couldn't keep my eyes open much longer. I woke up a couple hours later which was good because I was afraid I was going to sleep the whole day, then we all went to school for a walking tour around our school. This was our first experience on the bus and we got lost, of course, but I managed to ask directions from two mounted policemen and vaguely understand them. We left an hour early and finally got there on time after a lot of walking and a lot of patience. We took the walking tour which was okay, learned how to use the tram and the buses, then came back to our apartment but stopped at a trattoria that is right beneath us called Retro. The owner spoke English which is good because in my group I'm the only one who's ever taken more than a semester of basic Italian and most people haven't ever taken Italian, and even my Italian at this point is really rusty because I didn't study it all summer. So we ate at this lovely little restaurant and the owner was very helpful. After dinner I came back and it was about 10:30 and I passed out on the couch by accident, then managed to stumble to my bed and sleep until 9:30 the next morning.
Yesterday we had things to do at school such as our Permit to Stay which registers us with the Police Department, and get cell phones. The phones were optional but I felt that in case of an emergency it would be better to have one than to not. You can all call me if you'd like, either through skype or through your own phones as long as you have international service. If you do have it, or just so that you can laugh at the insanity that is an international number, here it is. When calling from the US, dial 011 39 335 7890777. Isn't that crazy?
After getting our phones yesterday we ate lunch at a place across the street and I had to use my Italian again. I'm getting really good at saying grazie, but not much else. But grazie (thank you) is very polite, so that's better than nothing. After lunch we went back to our apartment and hung out which was when our other two roommates arrived. Three of my roommates went back to school at 4 to finish up their permit to stay and cell phone stuff but Shelby and I stayed behind to go later because there was a walking tour of the city center at 6:30 that we wanted to go on. Our last roommate, Lizz, strained her ankle really badly in July so she has a boot on and is trying to walk as little as possible so she stayed behind in the apartment. The walking tour of Rome was absolutely beautiful. I was starting to be afraid that all of Rome looked like where we lived which really is not the most attractive place in Rome, but it's not! Rome is BEAUTIFUL. The first place they took us was where there was a huge fountain that overlooked the entire city. It was breathtaking. The sun was just setting so there was a beautiful glow on the whole city. We could see Piazza Venezia but the Colosseum and the Vatican were both blocked by trees. We walked down into Trastevere which is the place I mentioned before and came out into the Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere. La chiesa di Santa Maria is also located in this square and is one of the oldest and most famous churches in all of Rome. The Pope sometimes gives mass here.
We walked through Trastevere to get to the tram and stopped outside a little Gelateria that makes the only organic gelato in all of Rome. I went in quickly and got un piccolo di pesca, a little one of peach, and it was like biting into a frozen peach. None of that gross super sugary stuff. This was the real deal. I could eat it forever. We continued on to the tram and took it to the end of the line, walked to Piazza Venezia, walked to the Forum, and ended at the Colosseum. It was night by then and it was beautiful. We hung out around the Colosseum for a while and then a big group of us headed back to Trastevere for dinner. We stopped for Pizza (my first Pizza! yum!) at this take out place right by Piazza di Santa Maria. I got the prosciutto and mozzarella and it was the saltiest, most delicious thing I had ever eaten. Then I had to get more gelato at Blue Ice, a gelato chain in Rome. I got un piccolo di Caffe, but this piccolo was HUGE. It was like getting a small scoop of ice cream at Yum Yums for those who have been there. We began walking back but Shelby, this guy Tyler that we met, and I wanted to stay out and find a bar, so Sarah, Kelly, and Robin went home while Shelby, Tyler and I found a bar in Trastevere. I tried a bit of Limoncello that I sipped because it's soooo gooood. The bar we were in had a screen up and was showing VH1 music videos, so that was cool, but also a bit strange to find in a bar in Italy. We hung out for a little while there just talking, then went back to the Piazza and they got gelato from the same place I did and theirs was absolutely fantastic. Shelby's chocolate tasted as if someone melted 70% cacao and then froze it to the consistency of Ice Cream. We sat in the Piazza for a while, then came back home. I think we got home a little before midnight but I was so wide awake from that coffee gelato that I was bouncing off the walls until about 2.
And now it is the morning of day 3, or almost afternoon. Our plan for the day is to go grocery shopping and hopefully I can duck into a shoe store and get some new shoes. I wish there was a button I could push that would just automatically make me Italian. I don't like sticking out all that much but that seems to be the only thing that I do right about now. The blond hair and blue eyes apparently don't help me either, but as time goes on I get more and more used to it. Everyone is incredibly nice around here, especially when you go into restaurants. They're so helpful and really try to to work with you, especially when we're both working with limited second languages. I've been feel a bit discombobulated in a way, so out of my element and so out of my comfort zone. I'm not one for standing out in a crowd and I'm not one for making mistakes, especially mistakes in such a beautiful language as Italian. I want to do justice to this language and I know the only way to do that is practice and to try. I am practicing, and I am trying, but I'm also telling you that it's really hard. I'll be glad to start classes so that I can get a refresher.
I'm sorry this was such a long update, but I found that there was much more to say than I originally thought! I'm going to be putting some pictures up on facebook eventually that will include my apartment and places I have visited in Rome, but if you don't have a facebook, don't worry, I will email you a link to a photo uploading site where you can get the pictures from there.
I hope everyone is doing well! If anyone you know would like to be updated but I didn't include them, please feel free to forward this email. Or if there's anyone who doesn't want to get these massive emails every week or so, I won't be offended. A couple of email addresses I just didn't have on me when I wrote this, so email me the email address of someone who'd like to be included and I will include them in the next batch.
Ciao tutti! A domani!
Liz
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