Vistors From Home

Erin's friends came to Italy for a week on their spring break. It was really nice to see people from home and have hot Cheetos and hot sauce. Those are the two things I missed the most from home.

Rome has these shops called Tabbachi. This is where you can buy you're bus tickets, cigarettes, stamps, lottery, etc. It is basically a very small convience store without the junk food. They are everywhere and their logo is a big T. Something I suggest buying here when you first arrive is a Roma Map for 3 euros. The map that's our school provide us is not very good. This map has all the monument enlarge and all the bus stops on it. It is also helpful when asking for direction or when you need to find where you are at because people can just point to it.

We have been here for 2 months and still did not do our sight seeing yet. We decided to learn our way around town first. Since we had visitors we did all the sightseeing then and the map helped tremendously. This is when I really saw how beautiful Rome was. It finally met my expectation after sightseeing.

Something I learned this week is stamps for mailing letters or postcards home is 1.70 euros.
Also you don't need to catch a taxi to the airport. Taxi without traffic is about 50 euros. Instead you can catch a bus to Termini (train station) and on the right side there are buses that can take you to either airports for 8 euros. I don't suggest this if you have many suit cases or an enormous one.

China Town is right next to the Termini and we like to go here because it's cheaper than normal supermarkets. If you don't like to cook or know how to cook this is where you can get ramen noodles. The only bad thing is carrying the bags back to the apartment. So when going grocery shopping carry a book bag or a big bag because they do charge for the bags and you might not make it very far with them.

Until next time.
See you later :-)

Venice Carnival

Venice is beautiful! I did a day trip with bus2alps.com for 89 euro. You must visit here if you are in Rome. The best time is when they have the carnival. It is like a big party and everyone is dressed in costumes. Venice is pretty small so a day is plenty of time to explore. However, some might say it is not because they don't know how to get around but here is my tip; JUST GET LOST. Getting lost has been the best way for me to learn my way around a place and meet new people. Plus I run into things that I wanted to see anyways. There are many little shops so getting lost is perfect because you find a unique store at ever corner.

If you can bargain this is a good skill because Rome and Venice it is all about bargaining. Here is a good tip. When you walk into the entrance there is many booths that sell masks. Masks are only 5 euros if it is not a full mask. If they don't agree to it then walk away. This usually signal a lost of customer so they will wave you back and sell it for 5 euros. If not try it at the next booth.

Ciao

Burrr It's Cold

For the last two weeks Rome has been freezing and snowing. It hasn't snowed for 25 years and the children are going crazy in the snow. Everything is pretty much shut down when it snow, even if it is two inch (that also mean school :-)).

I haven't had a chance to go do tourist things in Rome yet. It is my goal for the next couple of weeks. Traveling around here has been getting a lot easier. Once you've learn how to work the tram and bus, getting anywhere is pretty fast. You can get direction in Rome from www.atac.roma.it and www.tuttocitta.it. They are really helpful because it has step to step guide and if you get lost it is easier to ask people when you know the name of the streets.

Places to go to while in Rome for fun are:
1. On the Rox
2. Drunken Ship
3. Studio 18
4. La Manison
5. Steelers Bar
6. Scholars
7. Sloppy Sam
These are the most popular places American students go to.  I'm pretty sure this list will get longer as my adventure continue.

Everything in Rome open up at 9 am, Lunch is 2-3 (they shut down) and closing is 8 pm. This is Monday thru Saturday. Many people here have small business and they open and close whenever they want. It must be nice to live on your own time schedule. There are not many places that are open 24 hours. However, I have found one pizza place and it has the best pizza around. The place is called VIP Pizza and it is located right in town.

Ciao for now

1st Week in Rome

I have been in Italy for a week now. Classes has started yesterday. Classes here are very similar to home. However, it seem like they do a lot of group work here. Attendance policies are very strict due to past study aboard students.

Things that I realize that are different here are no dryers and microwaves. You have to hang your clothes on drying racks. It may take up to three days to dry. If you want to cook a meal you should cook small proportion because it is really hard to reheat food without a microwave.

Everyone drives smart cars and motorcycles. Gas is really high so they prefer smaller transportation. People are reckless driver here. They do not look when they back up, they speed up when you're crossing the street, and staying in a lane is not realistic. They do not know how to park cars. They will park on sidewalks, in the middle of the street and on top of each other if they could. Public transportation is really nice here and inexpensive. A monthly ticket is 30 euro.

The market are really small. Matter of fact everything here is really small. Smaller proportions, refrigerator, cars, washer, bathroom, stove etc. If you go out to eat there are no dogie bag so you do not want to order everything off the menu. They are also really big on energy conserving and recycling.

If you are preparing to travel aboard I would really suggest you learn Italian because not many people speak English. It is not require for you to learn at Carlow but it would be very helpful. If you know Spanish you could probably get by because most people also speak Spanish.

When packing for Rome I would suggest packing stuff you can layer because it's cold during the morning and get hot during the day. Bring whatever you want because people here do wear a lot of clothes that we have at home. Examples of stores I found here are Gap, Footlocker, and Sephora. Boots and leather jackets are really in. They dress more conservative and professional. However, I have seen some people in sweat pants. I would definitely pack two suit case and a carry on because products here are really expensive. Pack everything you use on a daily base to save money.

Airborne

     At this moment in time I am on a plane heading to Rome. It is about an 8 hours flight from Philadelphia to Rome. I never realize how hard it is to sleep on a plane before. I have four seats to myself to stretch out which is really nice. However, I am just unable to sleep and I don’t know if it is because I’m ready to be in Rome or just uncomfortable.

     Packing for four months was really hard. I brought two suit case (checked-in), one carry on and a book bag. First suitcase I packed is filled with clothes, second suitcase is filled with products, the carry on is filled with things I can use on the plane, and the book bag is filled with school supplies. I am well prepare for the trip in my opinion. 

     Right now I am excited and nervous. I’m excited for a new experience in culture, language, people and history. I’m nervous for when I touch down, picking up my luggage, meeting the roommates and classes. I can’t wait to safely get off the plane and start my adventure. Till then I am going to try to get some rest since it is a six hours time difference.