Monday, September 20, 2010

Meeting the Fellow Romans


From Left to Right--Kat, Lauren, Alece,Juliet, Meg, Rachel

After much anticipation I finally got to meet the people who I’d be living with. This brought me back to memory lane freshman year in college. I remember the night before moving being nervous and wondering if I’d get along with the people I’d be living with. But this time I was just anxious to meet my future roommates. I’m happy to report I have met all five of my roommates. We share a four-bedroom two-bathroom apartment in the Trastevere District. Which is approximately a 45 minute walk to school or a 20 minute metro ride. Since the gyms here are expensive, I’ll be walking to school every day.  But if it rains, that will be a different story. I’m sure there are short cuts to be discovered, but until I am comfortable with the city, I’ll stick with the main roads.
Thanks to Kat I had a meal to eat!

The first night together we spent at home and Kat made us dinner. There is a cheap grocery store by our house and has almost everything one could need. In my opinion Kat is talented in the kitchen. She made us pasta and something resembling close to bruschetta. We bought a baguette, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese. It was a very pleasant dinner to say the least, better than what I could ever do. I am going to be utilizing Kat and her cooking skills. Our first dish we plan on making together is vegetarian lasagna. Lets all pray I don’t burn down our apartment.

My bedroom
Each bedroom has a small balcony that overlooks the street. I find myself out there a lot. I seems I’m the only one in the building that utilizes it. I have yet to see anyone else on theirs. On Sundays there is a huge market where hundreds…. Yes I do mean hundreds of vendors who show up and sell everything! I’m sure the experience will be blog worthy!!!

On Friday we went to orientation and the weekend was ours to explore Rome. I have a favorite restaurant already.  Antica Taverna is conveniently located by my school. I don’t know if that’s a good thing for my wallet.  I’ve been there twice, first with Tamara’s family and second with my roommates. My favorite dish is the Lasagne al Forno. Words cannot describe the tastes. All I know is I’ll be packing my own lunches because otherwise I’ll be there everyday for lunch.
Lasagne al Forno
The one thing I’ve learned to appreciate is the passion the Italians have in regards to life, love or even their jobs. Take for example last night at dinner. The waiters seemed to be so humble with their jobs. They smile and I have no idea what they are smiling about but it doesn’t really matter. (And if you’re thinking they are smiling because they want my money, you may be right. BUT it’s the kind of smile that is genuine.) Then a violinist came to play in front of the restaurant. I wish I had taken a photo of his facial expressions. He looked in love and at peace with what he was doing. I couldn’t help to smile. It’s the simple things in life that I have begun to notice. Unfortunately, it took thousands of dollars and thousands of miles away from home for me to understand simplicity of life.

On Saturday two of my roommates and I attempted to go to the beach. In the morning it looked overcast but Rachel was determined to go, and I was determined to get out of the house so it was going to be an adventure nonetheless. Meg and I were the navigators. We had to get from our apartment to the treno stazione. (train station). We walked all the way to Via Nazionale and took a bus to the stazione. However, we had a hiccup in our route and ended up in Foro Romano. Foro Romano is located between the Palatine Hill and the Capitoline in the city of Rome, Italy. Citizens of the ancient city referred to the location as the "Forum Magnum" or just the "Forum". It is part of the centralized area around which the ancient Rome developed.
Meg, Me, Rachel at Foro Romano
Right as we arrived at the treno stazione it started to sprinkle. Luckily I was in jeans but my roommates were in sundresses. Initially we thought we had to take a train to get to the beach and waited in line for a ticket, but 20 minutes later found out we were in the wrong line. We were directed to the tobacco shop to buy a metro pass. It appears the tobacco shop sells EVERYTHING, even stamps. I’m proud to announce with the little Italian I knew I was able to communicate where to go…. or so I thought. We went out to the terminals and couldn’t find Metro B.  The rain started to come down a bit harder, and neither one of us had an umbrella.  Hungry, tired, and a bit frustrated, we were about to give up until we saw an information booth. (thank gosh the lady spoke english, although she looked VERY annoyed when we asked her questions.) Through our small conversation we found that the “metro” was not apart of the metro busses, that the metro was underground. From personal experience I know the“metro” as the busses, however once you get to the treno stanzione, there are certain  metros lines that go under ground. After all the perseverance, we decided the weather would trumped us. Instead we got pizza and went home. All was not lost, at least we are able to confidently navigate ourselves through Rome now.

From your favorite Roamin' Roman



1 comment:

  1. I absolutely love the public transportation in Europe. I know that while in Rome (for a mere 2 days) we got turned around a lot, but we loved all of the sights along the way.

    ReplyDelete