December in Rome

Last Thursday was "Immaculate Conception" day for Catholics and therefore, was a national holiday in Italy. I had another "ponte" or "bridge-weekend" and had Thursday and Friday off.  These random holidays are really starting to grow on me, not that they hadn't already!

Anna and I decided to be somewhat productive and go on an adventure Thursday.  We took the metro to Ottaviano and go to Castroni, an International grocery store that I have been encouraged to go to by many people. I was a little under-impressed. Yes, they did have ketchup, mayonnaise, cake and brownie mix, syrup, pancake mix and a few other "American" things, but I guess I was expecting it to be 1. bigger and 2. more options. They had a whole section for pasta and sauces... I can get that in any grocery store!! We were still glad that we went and checked it out though.



It just so happened that there was a Subway restaurant around the corner from the grocery store, so of course we had to go there too on our "American adventure day." It was a delicious piece of home.  Italian food is wonderful and I rarely miss things from the states, but a good Subway sandwich tasted fantastic!

There was a large Christmas fair going on in the street we were at, so we walked up and down looking at trinkets in the many stands and bopping in and out of the stores. This area of town was near to where we stayed as a family when we visited Rome last May.  I always get excited when I find places that I went to last year.

We soon realized that we were very close to St. Peter's and after a short, 10-minute walk, there we were, in front of the Vatican on a random Thursday afternoon. Sometimes we take for granted living in the Eternal City  and forget how lucky we are that we can be in any part of Rome and run into random ruins or the colosseum or on this particular day, St. Peter's. La dolce vita, indeed!

Budapest

After this post, i'll FINALLY be caught up with all of my travels.  Last weekend, Francesco and I braved the cold and went to Budapest. The temperature in Rome these days is around 65, but the highs in Budapest are around 30-35.

On the chain bridge, with Buda Castle in the background

We got in Friday night around 10:15.  We took a shuttle to the hotel, changed our clothes and went out for a beer to a bar called, Alcatraz, recommended to us by the guy at the front desk.  The bar played all old American music...it was fantastic! Budapest uses the forint as their currency.  The exchange rate is 315 forints to 1 euro.  The price for 2 beers was roughly 600-700 forints...2 euros for 2 beers!! You can't get a beer in Rome for cheaper than 5 euros. We knew the first night that we were going to love it.

Elizabeth Bridge (view from Gellert Hill)

Saturday, we walked and walked and walked through the entire city.  We went into the "downtown" area and found a Christmas festival.  There were stands selling linens, ceramics, jewelry, purses, food, etc. We stopped at one hut to get a bowl of goulash to share.  I don't think i've ever had goulash before, but I now love it! We walked to the Buda side across the Elizabeth bridge and went to what we thought was the castle, but turns out is Citadella (or the bunker), then walked over to the funicular that took us up to what we thought was the Parliament building, but was really Buda Castle...we were very mixed-up!!! We walked back to the Pest side across the Chain Bridge.  These bridges were destroyed by the Germans, but have now been re-built. There was "forralt bor" or mulled wine sold throughout the city at outdoor stands.  We were so cold that we searched forever trying to find a cafe where we could sit inside and enjoy our mulled wine. Finally, we found one and enjoyed our second bowl of goulash for the day.

Buda Castle

After a long late-afternoon nap, we were back out on the town.  In one of the tourist magazines we picked up at the airport, we found a buffet restaurant that offered everything hungarian.  It was a great way to taste small bites of many of their famous dishes.  The buffet even included your choice of champagne, beer or wine for a great price! We decided to stop at a local bar for a cocktail before we went dancing and ended up meeting a bartender who had just moved to Budapest 3 weeks before from Newark, NJ. Then, we took a taxi to "Mix Club." The taxi cost us only 2 euros.  As we were in line, the doorman told us we couldn't go in because Francesco had on athletic shoes.  Fra really wanted to go to this club, so I agreed to go back to the hotel with him so he could change his shoes. The taxi back to the hotel was 15euros!! Then, the taxi back to the club was only 7 euros...I swear that the drivers just make up the prices and completely rip you off sometimes.  We danced until 5 in the morning!!

Christmas Festival in the square

Sunday, was my favorite day.  We walked up Andrassy Avenue to Heroes' Square and went to the Szechenyi thermal bath.  It's a giant turkish bath that dates back many centuries.  We also got Thai massages at the spa, again, for a very reasonable price! I must mention that on our walk to Andrassy Avenue, I found a Starbuck's. Francesco, being Italian, is not a fan of Starbuck's and American coffee, but he agreed to go with me because I haven't had it in 4 months!! Sunday night, we went to a quaint restaurant recommended to us by a local.  We had the best meal. We started with some typical meats and cheeses from Hungarian, then shared a duck salad that was fantastic.  I had spiced pork with roasted potatoes...i'm craving it now that i'm remembering how good it was.  Francesco had the venison with a mixed-berry sauce that was also very, very good.  The restaurant had live music with a violinist and a pianist.

Turkish Bath

Monday was the only day we woke up in time for the free breakfast at the hotel.  They had eggs, sausage, cheeses, meats, yogurt, fruit, cereal, toast, etc...I love staying at hotels and having an "American-style breakfast." We took the Millenium Underground Railway, the second oldest in the world, to the Parliament building across town.  This Parliament is the third largest in the world. We were disappointed we couldn't go inside, but admired the beauty from the outside.  We walked across the Chain bridge and went up to Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church.  We also visited Buda Castle labrynth and went back to the castle, now knowing what it actually was. Then, we went back to the Pest side and went to the synagogue, which is the second largest in the world, after the one in NYC. We did a guided tour there and I thought it was very interesting to learn the history of the jews in the Budapest, especially all that died during WWII.

Matthias Church

We left Monday night to come back to Rome.  Being a tourist is very exhausting.  We had such a wonderful trip, but were very tired from all the walking and sightseeing. The views of the city from the top of hills in Buda were spectacular and learning about the history of Budapest was very interesting to me. I'd definitely recommend everyone to visit this city if they ever get the chance!

Sorrento/Capri

The last of the weekend trips while my mom was in town was to Sorrento and Capri with Kathy, Ellen, Patty and my mom. I decided Thursday night that I was going to take the train from Rome-Naples and a train from Naples-Rome on Friday night after my lessons.

view from our hotel balcony 

My mom and friends met me at the train station when I got in and we walked around Sorrento and into some shops before heading to dinner. For dinner, we went to a place recommended by Rick Steve's, called, Inn Bufalito.  Buffalo mozzarella is most famous for coming from the south of Italy. The five of us shared an appetizer with grilled eggplant, pumpkin, swiss chard, tomatoes and bufala mozzarella...sooo good! Then, we all wanted the special which was a typical pasta from Sorrento with pumpkin and sausage, so we ordered "3" dishes of it, but they brought it in a big pot, which worked out perfect.

We stayed at the most beautiful hotel.  Many hotels close during the winter months because it gets quite cold and it's low tourist season. Our hotel room had a small balcony that overlooked the sea.  It was spectacular to wake up in the morning, walk out onto the balcony and listen to the water. Each afternoon, around 5 or 6, the hotel puts out wine, champagne, liquor, water and pop, as well as, small appetizers, free of charge for all guests. I must also mention the breakfast that this hotel offered.  They had everything! Eggs, sausage, meats, cheeses, yogurt, fruit, cereal, granola, toast, and pastries, pastries, pastries.

Mom, Kathy, Patty, me and Ellen

Saturday morning, we took the ferry to Capri.  The water was not very calm and it was high-tide causing the Blue Grotto to be closed this day. A tourguide on the ferry told us about the grotto and talked us into joining his tour of Anacapri (upper-Capri) and Capri. It was well-worth it because he took us on a bus up to Anacapri. We saw the Casa Rosso, St. Michele's Church with the coolest mural on the floor, the gardens and of course, beautiful views of the sea and blue grotto, from a distance. We also tasted limoncello and typical chocolates from Capri.  Sorrento is very famous for their lemons; they're known for limoncello for this reason.

floor mural at St. Michele

Sunday, we walked around the town of Sorrento for a couple hours before I had to get back on the train to Naples. There was even a parade that went through town with motorcycles and "old" cars.  It was very funny to watch because some of the cars were beautiful, old cars and others were total junkers from 15 years ago...definitely not worthy of being in a parade!!

blue grotto view from the top of the garden

This was a very fun, last-minute vacation.  I'd love to go back to Sorrento when it's warmer to enjoy the beautiful sea more and to go to Capri to see the blue grotto. 

sunset on boatride back to Sorrento from Capri

Firenze

The weekend after Pisa, my mom and I took the train to Florence and met our friend, Kathy Schneider there. We took the fast train from Rome, which only takes 1.5 hours, as opposed to the slow train, which takes 3 hours! We arrived early evening and after dropping our bags off at the hotel, we set-out to find a restaurant recommended by their travel agent. We had some difficulties in finding the restaurant, but eventually found our way.  The restaurant was good food, but certainly a tourist trap.  The prices were a lot higher than what i'm used to paying and all of the waiters spoke English and acted like American waiters.  They were very attentive and brought out our food quickly.  This is NOT the way that typical waiters are in Italy. We started out with some burrata...my all-time favorite type of mozzarella in Italy!! We shared a carafe of wine, each had a pasta dish and finished with an apple cake.  Again, all very good, but far too expensive for the quality of food. Since I don't live in the touristy part of Rome, I never find restaurants that are over-priced and touristy.

Saturday, we went on a 7-kilometer hike in the Tuscan countryside in a town called, Fiesole, near Florence.  The weather all week said that it was going to be cold and rainy this weekend. We lucked out and the rain held out while we were on our hike.  We saw the places in the woods where Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo practiced their artwork. We hiked up to the top of a mountain where we saw spectacular views of Florence. We went to Villa Maiano, where the Pazzi and Medici families once lived.  It was there that we had a delicious lunch with different meats, cheeses, vegetables, tomato soup and wine. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Florence!

Saturday afternoon, we went to the Academmia, where I finally saw the statue of "David." Everyone tells you how great it is to see in person and they're absolutely right!! It gives you chills to see the size and beauty of this statue. We went to an aperitivo at a bar that was next to our hotel that was recommended to us by our tour guide, Jessica.  This bar had the best aperitivo buffet i've seen in Italy yet and at the cost of 8.50euros for a drink and unlimited food, it was well worth it!!

Sunday, we were up and out early again as we had a 3-hour walking tour around the city of Florence this day. Again, it was supposed to be cold and rainy, but the rain held off for another day. We walked around the town and learned the history of Florence and where the noble families once lived. We went into a few churches and discovered frescoes from thousands of years ago...absolutely fantastic. We also got to see and walk across the famous, Ponte Vecchio (old bridge), which everyone has to see when they go to Florence.

We had reservations at the Uffizzi for Sunday afternoon, but there was a mis-communication from our travel-agent about the time of our reservation and we ended up missing it by an hour...oops! We changed our plans and visited the Medici palace across the Arno River.  The palace is huge!! We saw all of the artwork inside and got to tour some of the bedrooms/ballroom/sitting rooms/etc. We wanted to visit the gardens, but by this afternoon, the rain had finally come.

Replica of David in Palazzo Vecchia

After our tour at the palace, we went to a rooftop bars in the main piazza and had a drink at the top.  It was neat to see views of the Duomo and Santa Maria Novella from the top of this bar. Sunday evening, we went to a restaurant near our hotel in Piazza San Lorenzo that was recommended to me by a lady I teach. The restaurant was small and quaint and had wonderful food!

Our train for Rome left at 10:40am Monday morning, so we were up and out early. I will definitely be going back to visit Florence again in the future as there are still things I didn't get to see that i'd like to. Florence is a wonderful city, but everywhere you walk you find tourists, mostly English speaking people.  All of the workers in the stores, museums, restaurants, etc. speak English as well.  Everytime I would attempt to speak to people in Italian, they responded to me in English.  Florence is full of history and culture, but I feel that it's too touristy and that it lacks the "true-Italian allure" that i've found in other, smaller Italian cities.

Pisa

It's been far too long since my last update.  Life has been crazy busy lately!!

My mom arrived in Italy on October 28th.  After a few flight delays and an upgrade to first-class, she made it here in one piece sans luggage though. It took the airlines 2 days to find and deliver her luggage.  We were supposed to leave for Pisa the afternoon that she arrived, but due to the lost luggage, we left on Sunday afternoon.

I didn't have to work on Monday the 31st or Tuesday the 1st due to what's called a "ponte" weekend in Italy.  "Ponte" means bridge.  Tuesday November 1st was All-Saints day and is a national holiday celebrated here.  Most companies give their employees the Monday before to make it a long-weekend.

We had hoped to take the semi-fast train to Pisa, but that one was cancelled due to the mud slides in Cinqueterre that caused a few tunnels to collapse.  We had to take the 4-hour train; getting around in Italy is never simple! We got in around dinner time, dropped our bags off at the hotel and set-out to explore the city.  We started walking in one direction and found that there were no people around and that the town was quite dead.  We then walked in the other direction and realized that THIS was where all the action was. We found a street lined with street vendors selling hand-made goods (jewelry, trinkets, clothes, shoes, etc). On this street, we stopped at an Enoteca where we had a glass of wine which came with complimentary gourmet snacks and we got to people-watch. We then went on a hunt for a dinner spot and stumbled upon a great trattoria that was full of locals; my favorite kind of restaurant!

Monday, we visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the duomo, the cemetery and Campo dei Miracoli (the park where all these landmarks set). That afternoon, we visited the Blu Museum which had an extensive Picasso exhibit. There was of course plenty of shopping during this day as well. Monday was halloween night.  Italy started celebrating halloween roughly 5 years ago. Their idea of "dressing up" is painting their face or putting on a witch hat; it's quite funny.  We enjoyed seeing all the students dressed-up and out on the town.  We walked and walked and walked searching for a good restaurant to eat at and again, stumbled upon a very cute restaurant on a quiet street.  We both ordered Pici Senesi con zucca e salsiccia (Pici pasta with pumpkin and sausage).  Pici is a pasta that originates in this part of Italy.  I had no idea until I went home and googled it. We were thrilled that we chose to order a dish that was from this region.

We took our time getting up on Tuesday and caught a 10:40am train back to Rome.  We had seen all of the main sites in Pisa and wanted to do some shopping on Via del Corso in Rome and go to an aperitivo in Trastevere that evening.  We didn't have a place in mind where we wanted to go for an aperitivo, so we wandered around until we found one.  Two minutes after we sat down, I looked around the corner and realized that we were next to Andy's favorite restaurant, Carlo Menta.  He ate there all the time when he lived in Rome last year.  We, of course, had to get dinner there in honor of Andy.  The place was packed!!! It is a huge restaurant and the crowds of people kept pouring in.  The food is dirt cheap and the food is definitely good for the price.

Laurea di Giuseppe

As I mentioned in the last post, Giuseppe graduated last Thursday.  It was a long time coming because he was supposed to graduate back in February, but Italy being Italy, it never happened. We arrived at his school on time for the graduation and waited 1.5 hours for his professor to show up to lead the ceremony...again, that's Italy for you. The ceremony was in a small classroom packed with about 150 people and only 100 chairs.  Luckily, it's nothing like our graduation ceremony in the states.  The whole thing lasted maybe 10 minutes.  Yes, that's right...we waited 1.5 hours for a 10 minute ceremony!! The graduation was only for the economics department and there were only about 15-20 students that graduated in his class.

35 of Giuseppe's relatives came into Rome from Irsina and Milan for the graduation. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, family friends. They travelled all morning in the horrendous rain storm (roughly 6-7 hours), but luckily, everyone made it safely. Giuseppe is the first person in his family to receive his Laurea, so it was a very big deal.

After the ceremony and the 30-minute picture-taking party, we headed to the restaurant that Giuseppe and Francesco work at, for lunch. This was not just any ordinary lunch, but a full-out 6-7 course meal with wine, of course. The appetizers kept coming and coming and coming...there were probably 10-12 appetizers that were brought to the table. Then came the pasta dish, followed by the main seafood course, followed by a lemon sorbet.  Finally, came the cake and champagne. I was SO full and tired by the end of the meal. The lunch lasted for almost 4 hours!!! It felt so surreal to be at a lunch with Giuseppe and 40 of his family members celebrating this special occasion.

Then came Saturday night, which was the real party! We celebrated Giuseppe's graduation with about 25 of his closest friends at the Irish Pub near his house.  We reserved a section of the bar and it worked out great.  There was a DJ and a big dance floor where we danced until 5am! Anna and I bought a cake for Giuseppe, but that was a bad idea because a cake fight ensued when we served it. What a disaster...there was cake EVERYWHERE!! The staff at the bar were not so pleased with our group.

Here is what a mess Giuseppe was after the cake fight: 

Raining Cats & Dogs

Last Thursday, I left my house at 8:15am like I always do.  I heard the rain pounding against the window and dreaded going outside. I stepped outside with my umbrella in hand and witnessed rain like i've never seen before.  It was blowing in every direction and by the time I got to the bus stop, I was completely soaked.  I was unable to get on the first two buses because they were so packed with people. Finally, I made it on the third.  The traffic was horrendous and was moving at snail-pace.  My bus-ride is usually about 20 minutes in the morning.  I had to be to work by 9am, but we were moving inches at a time.  9 o'clock rolled around and I called work to tell them that I was running late, but would be there.  After about 1 hour and 15 minutes of sitting on the bus, the bus driver came on and said, "in dietro" meaning, we're turning the bus around because it couldn't cross the road.  I got off and was going to attempt walking the rest of the way to work, which would've been about a 15-minute walk in the torrential downpour. I walked about 100 meters only to find this:

I suppose that's the reason the bus couldn't cross the road.  The water was almost up to the windows of these 2 cars under the bridge.  It was impossible for me to cross the road to get to work, so I ended up calling and told them I couldn't make it.  They completely understood and as it turned out, the person I had a lesson with called and cancelled as well.  I've never seen such a crazy rain storm in my life!!

It was a blessing in disguise as I was then able to attend Giuseppe's graduation ceremony, which I would've missed since I had to work. I had to brave the 15 minute walk on foot in the pouring rain in the opposite direction from here to get to his apartment though.  I was already completely soaked from head to toe, so I figured I might as well keep going.  I showed up to his apartment and felt like I had just stood in the shower with all of my clothes on for 15 minutes.  What a mess!!!

My Italian Birthday

I celebrated my 25th birthday in Italy this past weekend. Friday night, Anna made me a candlelit dinner for two at her apartment, complete with a bottle of moscato d'asti that we popped...our favorite!! She made veggie quesadillas.  It was the perfect dinner considering we used to make quesadillas ALL the time in Chicago and have not made them since being in Italy together.

We then went out in Trastevere to a bar called, "Bir & Fud"...pronounced, "Beer & Food." They had some very unique beers.  It was more of a restaurant than a bar, so we only stayed for one drink, but we'll definitely be going back again! Next, we went next door to another bar, not sure what the name of it was.  We had a drink there, got hit on by an 18 year-old Italian boy...fantastic night! We took the night-bus home at 2:30am.  While we were waiting for the bus, Anna and I were talking to each other and a young boy, around 19 or 20, who was waiting for the bus as well, asked us where we were from.  As it turns out, he's from Chicago! He's only been in Rome a week, but is here for 3 months, going to Greece for 2 months, then is going to Russia for 6 months. It's always fun to meet other foreigners and find out what has brought them to Rome.

Saturday, Giuseppe, Anna, Francesco and I all went to the mall.  Anna and I were determined to find new outfits for my party that night. After two hours of searching, we were unsuccessful.  That night, we went out to run an errand and walked past a store near my house that looked fairly sketchy.  Anna talked me into going in and we both found dresses for 15euros! It worked out perfect. We had plans to meet up with friends at, "Bar del Fico" in the city center that night. I had been to this place with Giuseppe in August; they make great cocktails! We stayed for a couple drinks, then wanted to go dancing at a club called, La Maison. We went, but it was too busy for us to get in, so we drove to the other side of town to go to the disco that Giuseppe used to work at called, Pure Night Club.  We by-passed the line and didn't have to pay a cover and got to dance until 5:30am!!! It was a great night spent in good company.

Oktoberfest in Rome

I really wanted to go to Oktoberfest in Munich this year, but life got very busy and I started work, so I didn't have the opportunity to go. There's always next year!! The closest I got to Oktoberfest was a festival in Rome.

We went last week when Giuseppe's mom was in town.  There were rides, games, booths with people selling items, live music, German food and, of course, beer tents! We went on a weeknight, so it was not nearly as happening as i'm sure it is on the weekends, but we didn't have to fight any crowds which was nice.

Me, Anna and Giuseppe took turns riding the mechanical bull.  It was my first time.  Anna stayed on 56 seconds and I stayed on 55 seconds...so close!! It was a riot. We also played some of the games and won stuffed animals.  A lot of the rides and games were similar to the ones they had in Irsina last month.

Anzio

Last weekend, Anna and I intended on taking a Saturday morning train to Orvieto for the day.  I looked at the schedule and it said there was a 8:45am train that got in at 10:15am.  We left our apartment at 8am to get to Termini (the main train station), went to the kiosk to buy our ticket, and discovered that the first train to Orvieto doesn't leave until 11am.  I had been looking at the weekday schedule and didn't even think that the Saturday times would be different...oops! We knew that we didn't want to wait, nor did we want to go all the way home to come back in 2.5 hours, so we looked at the list of upcoming departures and picked a random, cheap city to visit: Anzio.

Anzio is a small town one hour south of Rome that lies on the mediterannean sea. We found our way, no problem, from the train station to the center of town. We stopped for a cappuccino and cornetto at a local bar.  There were tons of cute clothing and trinket shops that we went in and out of and were both on our best behavior and didn't buy a thing! We walked up and down the street along the beach. We stopped in the piazza to people watch and soak up the sun by the fountain for a while. Next thing we knew, it was time for lunch.  We checked out all the menus of the restaurants that were on the beach to find a place that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg for lunch and decided on a very cute restaurant that had a patio overlooking the sea.  It was very beautiful!! We split a bottle of wine and had gnocchi with prawns and zucchini.  This is what I call an ideal day!

We loved Anzio so much that we decided to go back again last Sunday.  Giuseppe and Francesco's mom was visiting for a few days and the boys both had to work on Sunday, so she came to the beach with us. A full day of practicing my Italian! We found an 11:07am train to take because we were still a bit exhausted from waking up so early the day before. We got a late start leaving the apartment and were cutting it very close to catch the train.  I was at the kiosk trying to buy my ticket and this particular one didn't accept cash and I tried 3 times to use my credit card, but it didn't work.  We were about to miss the train.  We literally stepped on the train and the doors closed behind us...it was far too close for my liking!!

The water in Anzio is MUCH cleaner than the water near Rome.  At first, there weren't many people on the beach, but by mid-afternoon, it was packed. It's amazing that it's October and it's still 85 and sunny here. It has only rained one day since i've been here...I know that more rain is on the way in the next couple months. We decided we wanted to take the 5:37pm train back to Rome.  We got to the station with 20 minutes to spare this time, but of course, the next train didn't leave until 6:37.  It usually leaves every hour.  Why this day it didn't? No reason. The town was too far to walk back to, so we just hung out at the train station for 1.5 hours. It never fails to be an adventure here!

Anna and I have decided that we want to do things like this more often.  Perhaps on an upcoming Saturday, we'll go back to Termini an pick another city to visit for the day.

Getting Settled

I came back from Irsina earlier than Anna and Giuseppe last week because I started training for a job on Tuesday. I accepted a position at a school called, Inlingua, that is only a 20 minute walk from the boy's apartment. Very convenient that it's in the area! I attended 12 hours worth of training last week with the director and taught my first lesson yesterday. Some students come to the school, but they also teach at a lot of companies, so I may have to travel to different parts of the city in the future. Yesterday's lesson was 4 hours with a business-professional woman looking to improve her English.  She works for Fiserv and the company is doing a huge re-work, with the new head director being either British or American.  This lady lived in Washington DC back in 1990, where she works for a cancer research company. She was very easy to get along with and I thought my first lesson went great! I was very nervous leading up to it, but felt very comfortable once there.  I start teaching IBM professionals from 9am-1pm as a group lesson next Monday for 3 weeks.  I'm much more nervous about teaching a group!

I also accepted a position working for a company called, English 4 Me.  They are also located close to my apartment.  I will be teaching elementary students 3-4 days per week in an after-school program.  I will also be doing private lessons for some of those students, as well as, private lessons for adults. I teach my first private lesson this Friday for a couple who wants to go to the US next year and would like to be able to speak good English.

I have an opportunity for a third job, but at this time, really do not have time for it.  Giuseppe's friend, Adriano is starting a school near the local airport, Ciampino.  He needs two teachers to begin with while he gets the school established to work from 4-9, but that doesn't fit in my schedule.  He wanted to open the school September 15th, but it's now September 28th and there's no sign of the school opening anytime soon.  I couldn't sit around and wait for him to start the school.  If it's a good enough opportunity, I may choose to work for him in the future.  It is a far commute, so the other two jobs that I accepted are much more convenient for me.

I move out of Giuseppe and Francesco's on Friday and into an apartment with 3 Italian girls. The girls are all students and I have yet to meet them, so I hope that they are easy to get along with.  Giuseppe's friends, Adriano and Aurelio, own the apartment and rent it out, so I feel much better knowing the landlords. My room is a double room, meaning it has 2 beds.  I'll be living in the room by myself until the end of December and starting in January, my good friend from highschool, Shelly Ferguson, will be joining me in Italy and we will share the room.  I'm beyond excited for her to get here!!! The apartment is in a great area surrounded by tons of clothes stores, book stores, coffee shops, restaurants, grocery stores, movie theater, etc. I'll be a block away from the bus stop that drops me off right at work; very convenient! I'll post pictures of the apartment as soon as I get settled.

Everything is falling into place for me here.  I'm excited to be out on my own and hopefully make some Italian girlfriends and learn more of the language.  I'm ready to start working and finally make Euros, so I don't have to constantly convert everything I buy into dollars, which is very depressing everytime I think about it. Now is when the vacation-period ends and real life kicks in.

San Eufemia

I got back from Irsina yesterday afternoon.  Giuseppe and Anna drove me to Potenza, which is a 45 minute drive from Irsina, so that I could take the train back to Rome.  The bus is 6 hours 15 minutes, while the train is only 4 1/2 hours. Taking the train was much better than the bus!

Anna and I left last Thursday.  We were going to take a 7:30am bus out of Rome, but that didn't work out so well.  We were there in plenty of time.  Giuseppe took us to the bus station.  A bus came at 7:30 and we asked Giuseppe if that was our bus, but he said no, that bus was going to Bari, so we believed him and waited and waited and waited for our bus to show up.  I'm 99% sure that the bus that came was our bus!! So we had to wait until 9am until the main ticket office opened so that we could change our tickets to later that afternoon. We had to take the metro and come all the way back home, to go back to the bus station to get on a 3:30pm bus.  We didn't get into Gravina until 9:40pm! Giuseppe's dad picked us up that night.  We hit some traffic getting out of Gravina, which is hard to believe because it's a town of maybe 15,000 people, but that's the way our day was going.  We finally got to Irsina around 10:15, changed our clothes, ate a quick dinner and headed into town for the festival. We walked up and down the main street and ran into some friends right away. Giuseppe's parents asked us to be home by 2am and I didn't understand why we had a curfew when in August, Francesco and I stayed out until 5, 6, 7am every night.

Friday morning at 9:30am, I understood. His parents woke us up to go to church with them.  September 16th, Friday, was the main day of the festival.  The church was packed with people, so Anna and I had to stand for the 1.5 hour service.  It was a beautiful service, but we were hot, tired, and had a very hard time understanding everything since it was in Italian. We went home after church and had a HUGE lunch. Lasagna, steak, salad, prosciutto, sausage, mozzarella, nuts, fruit and cake...we were so full!! At 6pm that night was the procession of San Eufemia's arm. Lina (Giuseppe's mom) pushed her way through the crowd to get Anna and I up close so we could see what was going on.  We processed for only a short time after learning that the procession lasts for 3.5 hours!

Saturday afternoon, Giuseppe arrived.  He couldn't come earlier because his co-worker's sister got married and he had to work. We had another huge lunch after Giuseppe arrived, then he and Anna told his parents that they are engaged.  His parents were very happy and immediately started brainstorming wedding details. We popped a bottle of champagne and celebrated the happy moment.

Saturday night, Anna, Giuseppe and I went to a concert in town.  The band was a cover band for a famous Italian "love song" singer. They were very good! Right after the concert, was fireworks. They lasted for an hour...they were some of the best fireworks i've ever seen. The only problem was that they were shot off nearby and some ashes flew into the crowd.  Later that night, we saw a girl at the bar wearing an eye patch because ashes had flown into her eye.

We finally made it to the rides Saturday night.  They are called, giostre, in Italian, but all of our friends called them the "fun machines." Most of the rides were ones that spin and I did not want to get sick, so I didn't ride any.  Anna, Giuseppe and I all played a game where we shot pellets to knock over objects...Anna and I won stuffed Hippos that we can take back to Rome as memorabilia. Anna and Giuseppe rode this ride:

Sunday, the three of us slept in until lunch time since we had stayed out until 5:30am. Day 3 of having a huge lunch.  It never gets old though...Lina is a fantastic cook; I always miss her food when I go back to Rome. Giuseppe played soccer in Gravina that night, so we went to watch him play.  His team won 16-10.  It was my first soccer match that i've watched in person since arriving. The boys will start to play soccer on Monday nights in Rome; i'm excited to start going with Anna to watch them!

Another very fun time in Irsina!! I loved when I walked up and down the main street this time, even though I wasn't with Francesco, people still recognized and talked to me. I love the small town feel of everyone knowing each other. I look forward to returning to Irsina again someday soon :-)