"Dolce Cuore"

I had no time to post yesterday so I have to catch you all up!

Saturday was definitely an eye opening adventure! We started extremely early rising at the crack of dawn and leaving by 7:15. We had breakfast at Bar Daniele where I had a donut filled with nutella and coated in sugar. Exactly what you need in the morning, a sugar rush! One of the things I love most about Italy...nutella is everywhere (make sure to check out my food pictures on my next post!). I also had peach juice that literally tasted like someone squeezed a peach in a glass a few moments before, and my very first cappuccino.

We then walked to the train station, which is sort of a public transportation system like the bus, we can use the same pass we use for the buses. When we got off of the train we walked, and walked, and walked. We walked along country roads with stone walls and many fast cars. It was quite a frightening experience. I felt a little like Madeline as we walked in a single file line down the side of the street. Can you say tourists? There were empty fields and trees lining the road which was absolutely beautiful.

One of the roads on the walk to the catacomb!

We were heading towards the Saint Callisto catacomb, which is one of the underground tombs for Christians in earlier centuries. The pagan followers allowed the Christians to bury their dead because they also had some superstitious beliefs as to care of bodies after death, and they held respect for the dead. So Christians would bury their dead down including two popes in this catacomb. There are 59 in all of Rome, and only 5 have been excavated. It's incredible how much history hasn't even been touched yet! They literally are underneath the city and they can't be excavated because public and private property rests on top of them.

Almost to the catacomb after our like 10 mile walk...ridiculous.

The Saint Callisto catacombs run 30 miles...can you imagine that many bodies?? 50% of all the bodies buried in the catacombs are children due to such a short life span. It was heartbreaking to see small tomb after tomb. We weren't allowed to take any pictures down there because its sacrilegious, but they began digging into the ground and there were rectangular tombs in the walls for the bodies. The bodies have since disintegrated and they used to be covered by a slab of marble but when the barbarians took over Rome they raided the catacombs taking out all the marble so now its just hole after hole in all the walls.

There were many beautiful things associated with such a dark place. Our guide told us that families would place oil candles next to their loved ones to symbolize eternal life. There was also a well preserved marble plaque for a 15 year old girl's grave. It was written from her father to her. He called her his, "dolce cuore", meaning sweetheart.

We then walked to another catacomb that was about a 1 1/2 mile walk. This catacomb was a lot larger on the inside and held the remains of Saint Sebastian. Overground on top of the catacombs was actually a church and within that church were the footprints of Jesus! His footprints were found by St. Peter.

Looks like we had the same shoe size...

Overall it was such a moving experience and I'm so glad I got to see a bit of history such as this. We all were silent as we walked through the tombs out of respect, a little bit of eeriness, and awe.

Later that night we all went out together to hit the town! We ended up signing up for a pub crawl sponsored by a company in Rome. It was such a neat experience and we met other people our age from all over the world! We met people from London, Canada, Nebraska, and even Arlington VA. It really is such a small world!

"Irrational love is blind"

One of the beautiful views of the city on our excursion!

Today was long, exhausting, hot, but mostly beautiful. We started off on a rough start...my roommates and I didn't wake up to our alarm. But we managed to shower and get ready fast and made it down to the courtyard by 11:30 to start our day's adventures.

We followed Max (the owner of the apartment building/our guide) through St. Peter's Square to a street filled with shop after shop calling my name. We eventually stopped at a little bar (which is Italian for cafe) named Da Vito E Dina. They walked us to a back room where tables were set up awaiting us. We were served plate after plate of lasagna, spaghetti, and ravioli. We shared as a table taking bite after bite of real Italian food. Meanwhile our glasses were always full of white wine. Fascinating enough, we were served more wine than water. I don't hate it. For dessert we had an assortment of tiramisu, flan, fruit, and a pudding type dish I never caught the name of.

Never seen Tiramisu like this before!

After this large meal we walked all the way across the Tevere River (Tiber in English). The bus drivers were on strike, which happens often as they feel they deserve some recognition and probably more moolah. Either way, our 4 hour excursion ended up lasting 7 and a half hours. I am actually thankful that this was the case because we got to work off our lunch while admiring all the city has to offer.

Walking through the city we went through different parks stopping to admire different statues and views of the city. One of the statues we saw in a park was 'The Lady of the Lake'.

The lady of the lake! As well as a couple on a canoe

We finally arrived at our first destination the Borghese Galleria. This wasn't a home to the Borghese family but just a place where they kept art and sculptures. Hopefully I'll have the same luxury one day...bah. Our tour guide's name was Fredrica and she gave us all headsets so we could hear her from far away. She was an art history major in college and was born in raised in Rome. I was absolutely taken aback by so many pieces of art. One of my favorites was the 'Venere che benda Amore' by Tiziano Vecellio. This painting shows two cupids, one of which is blindfolded. The blindfolded cupid represents irrational love which is blind whereas the other cupid represents rational love.

Venere che benda Amore, by Tiziano Vecellio

Another one of my favorites is the most popular sculpture by Bernini, who was featured throughout the gallery. This sculpture was called 'Apollo e Dafne'. It shows the god Apollo (who was known to be rather ridiculously good looking) chasing after Dafne, a nymph. He was madly in love with her but she hated him...poor guy. She hated him so much she prayed to the gods to turn her into a tree to get away from him. In the sculpture you can see her toes turning to roots, her hair turning to leaves, and her body turning to bark. It's absolutely magnificent. The detail in the marble was astounding. Fredrica told us that the symbolism behind this sculpture is, "When you chase after beauty you may end up with dead leaves and dust in your hands". I also loved his sculpture called 'Pluto e Proserpina'.

Apollo e Dafne, by Bernini

We then continued walking through multiple piazza's such as de Popolo, de Navona, de Colonna, and de Barberini. Each had different relics and fountains and tons of tourists. My favorite was the Piazza de Navona which was filled with artists selling paintings all through the center. There was also a precious old man attempting to collect some money while lipsyncing to a boombox. I don't think he made much money...

Piazza de Navona

We then went to the Trevi fountain. When you throw one coin in it means you'll come to Rome again, if you throw two it means you'll fall in love with an Italian man (mama mia), if you throw in three it means you'll marry the italian man. Don't worry Adam I only threw in one haha.

The Trevi Fountain!

We then went to the Pantheon which houses the tombs for the only two kings Italy ever had, as well as the tomb of Raphael. There's no roof to the Pantheon so when it rains it goes right into the center of the dome shaped building. There are drains in the center to reduce any flooding.

And last but not least...my favorite stop. Gelato! After this long long long touristy day I ended it with a large gelato. I had Crema Florencia and Baccio. (For you Carly!) I have no idea what was in the first but the second is chocolate and hazelnut. Yummm.

By 5:00 the bus drivers were back in action so we took a bus back home to the Residence San Pietro where we relaxed and grabbed a quick dinner. Tomorrow we begin at 7:30 AM...might I remind you that is 1:30 AM your time. I haven't fully adjusted to the time change but I am definitely on my way.

Ciao for now!

When in Rome!

Prendo la pizza per favore!

I have arrived! It only took an 8 hour flight, a 6 hour time change, a 20 minute cab ride, and we are here! Its been long awaited and it still hasn't fully sunk in that this trip is already here.

I got a bit of a rough start at Dulles Wednesday afternoon. After packing and repacking and weighing my bag, it was still overweight. Luckily I was allowed to move some things around allowing me to bring way too many clothes and shoes for my month's stay. I found myself playing a little game of "European or American?" in the airport. I love people watching and this game provided me with some entertainment while waiting through multiple lines.

The flight itself seemed to go by pretty quickly with the assistance of Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdam's (The Vow was precious). We were served dinner, and two hours later...breakfast. I had 0 hours of sleep on the plane as my knee/head/foot/arm seemed to stick out into the aisle just a little too far allowing many passerbys to bump me awake.

Regardless I am running on pure adrenaline! Our driver from the airport to the Residence San Pietro spoke no English, therefore giving me the perfect opportunity to practice my very little Italian. It started off swell as I asked him what his name was. I forgot how to say what my name is so I responded with a nod and a Buongiorno! Roberto, being the kind man he was, decided to play some American music. He began to play old love ballads from the 50's. While weaving through traffic where lights and rules don't play a factor, I decided to test some more Italiano. Epic fail. As we laughed at my misfortune Roberto responded, "Tuo italiano e perfetto". I'll work on it.

We got settled into our beautiful apartments equipped with four beds, a TV (with 5 Italian channels), a bathroom with a tiny shower and a bidet, a fully supplied kitchen, and a beautiful view of the courtyard. Right across from us we even spotted a dentist's office in one of the apartments. Hope we don't wake up to drilling in the morning!

We then walked around heading towards the Vatican City which is only a block away! We stopped on the way back for lunch where I got the most delicious Caprese pizza. I took a cat nap attempting to catch up on some of my sleep which will have to wait till I get home in a month because there is too much to do and so little time!

I'll keep posting any new adventures and excursions as well as the humorous situations awaiting me in my Kindergarten classroom I start working with on Monday. Ciao for now!

-Alissa

View from our window!

45 Days and Counting!

St Peter's Square! (Right where we'll be living for a month)

And so it begins! We've started our 8 week course preparing for our trip from Harrisonburg, VA to Roma, Italia! It's starting to sink in that in about two months I'll be out of the country for the first time, surrounded by people who don't speak English for the first time, and surrounded by the birthplace of pizza. It's a lot to handle. I'll try to keep the blog updated with all of my adventures, as of now that includes going shopping for European looking clothing, comfy shoes, and Italian to English dictionaries.

We'll be staying at the Residence San Pietro about 100 meters south of St. Peter's Square. Basically smack dab in the middle of the city! We'll walk to Marymount International School in Rome Monday through Thursday where we'll be assisting elementary school classrooms. We have the opportunity to work with students not just from Rome but from all over the world in this school. I have had the opportunity to student teach in Hburg but most of those kids had very southern accents...I can't wait to hear the melting pot of linguistics awaiting me!

I'll try and keep this blog updated but I'll probably be too busy riding the back of a handsome Italian man's vespa...Lizzie McGuire how I envy you.

Ciao bella!

"Hey Now"! Save some room for me!