This Italian Life

Rome, Italy — It is just starting to sink in that I leave Europe three weeks from Saturday. That means I have three weeks to squeeze in everything I have not seen or done. Not to mention writing papers or studying for five finals.

And then there are all the small lifestyle differences that I have grown accustomed to.

So, here’s my list of things I will have to see and do between classes and homework:

1. Visit Galleria Borghese. Located within the Villa Borghese, it is best known for its Bernini and Caravaggio sculptures, and all my friends who have gone said it is worth the € 8.50.

2. Take a picture at the Bocca della Verità, or the Mouth of Truth. This marble face, which is displayed outside of the Santa Maria in Cosemedin church, was seen in Audrey Hepburn’s Oscar winning film “Roman Holiday.” Visitors place their hands inside the mouth, and tradition says the Bocca will bite the hand of a person who has lied.

3. Read on the Isola Tiberina, a boat-shaped island on the Tiber River. It is located just a few minutes walk from the John Cabot campus, and many people lounge in the sun on a warm day.

4. Get my fix of gelato. I walk past one of Rome’s most famous gelaterias, Old Bridge, on my way to and from campus everyday. Sure, I have eaten my fair share of the delicious ice cream, but I am pretty sure there is no such thing as too much gelato. Plus, there are still new flavors left to try. My favorite combination so far: pineapple, coconut and strawberry — although pistacchio with nutella and coffee is also pretty amazing.

5. Buy snacks for my family at my favorite Italian bakery. I have been there more times than I care to count, and I still do not know its name, but it is delicious and inexpensive. They sell everything from cannoli to tiramisu and even a few panini. And the bonus? It is open 24 hours a day.

6. Travel to Tuscany for a wine tasting. John Cabot hosted an introductory wine event during the first week of school, but I still need to go to the heart of the wine region before boarding my plane home.

Even after more than three months in Italy, this is the most condensed list I could make of what I still want to do and see. Rome is beautiful, with so much history and art to absorb and I am very fortunate to be able to spend an extended amount of time here. I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends in a few weeks, but I know I will miss walking past ancient sculptures and monuments everyday — not to mention the gelato.

Rome, Italy — A 6.3 magnitude earthquake shuddered through Italy early this morning, and at the time I am writing this, the death toll has risen to 90 people, with nearly 1,500 injured, according to the BBC. Not to mention all the victims who lost their homes.

The quake was centered near L’Aquila, the capital city of Italy’s Abruzzo region, which borders on Lazio, where Rome is located. And despite an approximate 60 miles between the epicenter and Rome, my roommates and I woke up to the shaking around 3:30 a.m. While I did not notice the shaking, I woke up just after the quake happened, and heard my roommates awake in the hallway of the apartment.

One of my roommates, psychology senior Sarah Greenberg, said she woke up to the tremors.

“First I felt myself shake, then I felt my bed shake,” she said. “You could hear the doors rattling.”

I have not heard of any recorded damage in Rome, and I saw no signs of the morning earthquake on my walks to and from class today.

But L’Aquila is another story. There are estimates that between 3,000 and 10,000 of that city’s buildings were damaged, and rescuers are still busy sifting through the rubble.

For now, authorities are searching for unaccounted persons and trying to find shelter for all the displaced. Let’s hope the earthquake’s aftershocks are minimal and L’Aquila’s residents can start piecing their lives back together very soon.

Rome, Italy — What a weekend — a historic NCAA Final Four win by the Spartans, paired with some of Rome’s most beautiful weather this semester. And aside from being noteworthy events, they also led me to discover new aspects of this city all weekend.

First, the basketball tournament. My roommates and I all donned our green and white and headed to Scholars Lounge, an Irish pub that’s open until 4 a.m., and perfect for the late night basketball games. I had not been to Scholars before March Madness because I heard it was too crowded and overrun with American students on study abroad. Both true facts, but both perfectly acceptable qualities for our basketball-watching venue.

Which brings us to the game. When our pack of MSU fans arrived, we quickly learned the majority of the pub’s clients were cheering for UConn. But we cheered as loud as we could and even gained the support of a table of Irish men, who (I am pretty sure) had no idea who or what they were actually cheering for.

I have to admit though, that as fun as the atmosphere was at Scholars, there were a few minutes when I wished I could have been watching the game from Ford Field or East Lansing. Watching MSU from Rome is a totally different experience, since all the celebration is so far away and disconnected.

But then there are days like today when I would not trade my time in Rome for anything. My roommates and I woke up (after sleeping less than four hours thanks to the late game) and took off to find one of Rome’s beaches. It took about an hour and three different metro lines, but we eventually made it to our stop, Stella Polare. There are four stops on the metro with access to the Mediterranean, so I hope to try a new beach every week.

But even once we made it to the beach, there were some clear differences from the shores of Lake Michigan. First of all, Romans do not go to the beach just to sunbathe and swim. In fact, only about half the people on the beach were even wearing swimsuits. There were families having pizza picnics, packs of teenagers playing futbol, and enough people walking around in sweaters to make me wonder if I was on a beach at all.

I am still trying to decide if the range of people was due to the day, with a cool breeze off the water, or if that is just the way Italians use the beach — I will have to find out. Maybe they go to the beach the way Americans might go to a park on a sunny afternoon.

Either way, it was a fun way to see a new part of Rome, and to relax after a late night watching MSU basketball. And I even have the sunburn to prove it.

Rome, Italy — I have heard it said that once you know one European public transportation system, you know them all. And I never really understood what that meant or how that could be true until spending these past few months in Europe.

Last weekend I went to Prague, Czech Republic, and instead of taking a cab between the airport and our hostel, my three travel companions and I were feeling ambitious and decided to take the metro. And despite all the the signs and directions being written in Czech, we made our way from a bus to the subway station and even transferred trains.

The best part was that the whole trip was not even that difficult. But then I think back to how proud I was when I made my first trip on Rome’s metro system, and realize that my public transportation savvy has developed significantly.

I have not only figured out how to take the train, but also how the train lines connect to the tram lines and the bus routes all around the city. And since Rome only has two metro lines (and one under construction) that is a necessary skill.

Much of the city is not connected to the subway, so the maze of buses and tram lines can be confusing. And after two months here, I am certainly no expert of the metro, but I have learned enough to get where I need to go.

And that skill will save me money traveling between neighborhoods in Rome and all around Europe.

Rome, Italy — Between sending e-mails to my family, responding to Facebook wall posts, clearing out missed messages on Skype, updating my travel journal and keeping this blog, I have been a busy woman. And that’s on top of studying for classes and traveling on the weekends.

This whole world of communication can get a little daunting — I often find myself needing to catch up on catching up.

But at least I am not the only person who feels this way. My friends here say they avoid going on Skype because of the ambush of people whenever their statuses switch to online. And there have been times when I waited a week to respond to an e-mail.

I’m not convinced, though, that this is necessarily a bad thing. After all, an important part of studying abroad is learning to be an independent person and to embrace new experiences. While I lagged behind in my travel journal, I mastered the Italian train system between Rome and Florence twice in one week and traveled to Vienna and Salzburg, Austria. I saw Michelangelo’s David in person and ate apple strudel in a small town in the Austrian Alps.

Apparently I also washed my clothes in color-safe bleach for the first two months in Italy, but we all make mistakes, right?

And while I have not written a novel for each of these experiences, they still affect me and help shape my time on study abroad. Yes, maybe I should have learned the word for laundry detergent — detersivo per il bucato — before going to the store, but whenever I smell color safe bleach it will make me laugh and think about my first few months in Italy.

But at the same time I have made a bunch of new friends, and I am learning a little more Italian every day. I have learned to be comfortable trying new metro systems and feeling that I could navigate my way around a foreign country.

And it’s those kinds of lessons and experiences that are hard to capture in a quick e-mail back home or a 20-minute Skype call.

So even if I return home with a few more blank pages in my travel journal, I know this semester will still have been some of the most memorable four months of my life.

With that, I am off to the Villa Borghese to do some reading, and maybe even update that journal.

Rome, Italy — I just got back from the grocery store — for the third time this week.

For a girl who hates grocery shopping, the Italian style of buying food has been quite an adjustment.

I typically do everything in my power to avoid the grocery store. Last semester, I successfully managed to shop for groceries only three times.

But not in Italy.

Italians generally buy food for one or two days at a time, and because of the smaller quantities, most supermarkets have very few carts.

Quantity, however, is not the only difference in shopping habits.

Italians typically buy fresh food, since it will be eaten within a few days. And much of the store’s inventory is preservative-free.

Today I bought fresh garlic, bakery bread, a wedge of Parmesan cheese, fresh sage, white beans and a rotisserie chicken. Just one bag’s worth of food, enough that I can carry it back to my apartment in my nylon tote.

Which brings up another difference: Grocery bags are not free.

At the beginning of the checkout, the supermarket employee asks if I need a “busta” (pronounced “boo-sta“), which literally translates as “envelope” but in Roman dialect it means “bag” as well. Then I pack my groceries, and pay in cash — always cash; Italians rarely, if ever, use credit cards.

Despite repeating this process multiple times every week, I have actually grown to like grocery shopping here. It is less overwhelming to shop for just one or two meals, and it is fun to buy all fresh ingredients and try new recipes.

My menu for tomorrow is a chicken and white bean soup, flavored with sage and garlic. I found the recipe online, and I am hoping it will be an easy alternative to pasta.

And it makes six servings, which means fewer trips to the grocery store.

Rome, Italy — Despite an unfortunate travel incident when my purse and passport were stolen, my first month of study abroad has been a gilded experience. I have taken pictures in front of Rome’s Trevi Fountain, eaten gelato on the Spanish Steps and studied in St. Peter’s Square.

But sometimes it is easy to get caught in routines, however new or different they might be. I have come to expect the aged charm of cobblestone streets and there are times when I hardly blink passing the ruins of the Roman Forum.

Now don’t get me wrong, it is not because these experiences are the least bit mundane, it is just that they have become a part of my daily life. The dome of St. Peter’s Basilica still stands tall overlooking Rome, and the city’s narrow streets will always be home to countless outdoor cafes and pizzerias.

But just because Rome’s sights are becoming a fixture of my time in Italy does not reduce their grandeur. The key to fully appreciating my time here is to take a few steps back and remind myself where I am, and what I have already done.

I am incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity not only to travel in Europe, but to actually live and study here. I can visit new sights on the weekends and find new cafes between classes. (Just this weekend I found a delicious cream and cherry-filled pastry at I Dolci di Checco er Carrettiere, a cafe in the Trastevere area of Rome).

So regardless of what I am doing, I can enjoy the culture and the lifestyle of the Romans. Living here is not just about being a tourist snapping pictures of every statue and cathedral in sight; it is also about seeing the city through my own experiences and opportunities.

And maybe I will make a habit of stopping to pinch myself whenever I pass the Vatican.

Rome, Italy — It was a rainy weekend in Rome, and the perfect opportunity to go see a movie. I was invited to join four other girls who found a theater showing “Revolutionary Road” in English, so we grabbed our umbrellas and headed to the theater.

The movie was a nice break from the constant hum of Italian, but it turns out, movie theaters in Rome have some unique characteristics:

1. Carpet. No, carpet might not seem unique, but this is one thing that never seems to have caught on in Italy. Any apartment or public building has hardwood floors or tile underfoot. (This is also the reason I can hear every footstep in the apartment above mine, and hear most conversations in the building’s stairwell). But in the movie theater — and only inside the theater — there was carpet. It might sound silly, but I was not accustomed, and a little surprised, to see carpet after more than a month of all tile, all the time.

2. A well-developed snack bar. Instead of simply serving popcorn, fountain drinks and jumbo boxes of candy, the theater housed a cafe in its lobby. As is the case with most Italian cafes, this one served pastries, pizza, espresso and beer. That’s another thing about Italy — beer is sold just about anywhere, from a panini cart by the Vatican, to a snack bar at the theater. Of course, this cafe also served movie theater popcorn.

3. An intermission. About halfway through the film, the reel was stopped and the theater’s lights came up. At first I thought something had gone awry in the projection room, but then a theater employee started walking around, selling snacks. It was a bit ballpark-style, but the candy was tempting, nonetheless.

4. Italian subtitles. As an American, I have been to very few movies in the theater that have subtitles. But for movie-goers in Italy, this is probably a fairly common experience, since many movies are imported from the U.S.
This particular theater was showing about four films in Italian, and one in English with subtitles. Until this weekend, I had not realized how many films Italians must watch with subtitles, and that gave me another small reason to appreciate knowing the English language.

Rome, Italy – In many ways, this is a semester of firsts — my first time to Europe, my first wine tasting and, this evening, my first cooking class.

During my John Cabot University orientation week, I stumbled upon a sign-up table for various events throughout these four months. Some of my roommates had signed up for an Italian cooking class, and for ten Euro, I figured I could at least get a decent dinner out of the deal.

I did not, however, expect a traditional four-course meal prepared under the guidance of a local, whose family owns a restaurant in the Trastevere area of Rome.

Fifteen of us piled into a tiny kitchen at school and listened as our instructor, Andrea, described the menu.

We would make three types of bruschetta — one with a tomato and garlic mixture, another with a mushroom pate, and a third with arugula salad, “soft cheese” and olive oil — as the antipasti, or appetizer.

For the primi piatti, or first course, we made homemade ravioli stuffed with fresh spinach and ricotta and topped with a tomato basil sauce. And yes, everything was from scratch, no canned sauce or pre-made pasta.

Our second course, secondi piatti, was prosciutto and cheese folded into a very thin cut of beef, topped with a sage leaf. The meat was put in a little olive oil and heated in the oven until the cheese melted. This dish, called saltimbocca, is a Roman specialty.

As if that was not enough food, we finished dinner with small pastries filled with Nutella, a chocolate hazelnut spread that is very popular throughout Europe, and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

I still have not decided whether the process of making an entire meal from scratch, or eating four delicious courses was more satisfying, but I will certainly be recreating this meal for my friends and family once I get back to the U.S.

Rome, Italy – Nobody carries Starbucks in Rome. But it’s not just Starbucks that’s missing, it’s all portable coffee.

Instead of walking past half a million locations of the same espresso chain, I pass local “snack bars” about every 300 feet.

Every street and every neighborhood has one of these independent, local snack shops. They typically have two, maybe three, tables, a marble-top bar and a number of espresso machines. The glass-paned bakery shelves below the bar hold any number of baked goods and sandwiches. My personal favorite is pane al cioccolato, a croissant-like pastry filled with chocolate.

The way these snack bars work is very different from the American drive-through espresso chain. Instead of placing an order, paying and leaving with a paper travel mug of coffee, Italians enjoy their coffee while standing at the bar.

Also, in most snack bars, customers do not pay until their drinks, pastries or sandwiches are finished. It took a little while to get used to eating my food before I paid for it, but I have come to appreciate the routine.

I never feel rushed while I am eating, because Italians expect people to sit and take their time, whether enjoying a croissant or a four-course meal. (Restaurant servers also will not bring the bill until you ask for it, because it is considered rude to drop it off on the table).

But regardless of how much I enjoy stopping and drinking an espresso on my way to class, I occasionally miss taking my coffee to go. There’s something great about having a steaming drink to keep my hands warm on a rainy day or keep me awake during a two-hour lecture.

For now, I will just have to step into the Roman culture, and leave for campus a few minutes early — that way I can take my time enjoying Italy’s world-famous espresso at a bar instead of on the way to class.