Ciao amici! ("Hello friends!" By the time I get home, I'll be able to speak a whole 10-word sentence. I should credit that to Justin Miller, since he's the one who has faith in me to do so.) Sorry it's been a while, but I'll paint you a picture of how I get Internet, since my apartment is where the Internet goes to die:
I sit at a table in a bar two streets away from l'apartamento (booyah some more Italian for you), and order a Coke (ok fine, Joel, a Diet Coke). Then I pull out my laptop and pink headphones while crowds of people gather around me drinking and watching sports. Sometimes, I even whip out my landline foot-long magic jack phone. When it gets loud and I'm Skyping, you may find me yelling into the computer. People stare. Then, when my Internet dies, I take out my converter and charger, and plug it into an outlet, while holding it in place with my foot since the converter is too heavy to stay in the outlet on its own. So, sorry Nicole Ciabocci (my number 1, and maybe only, fan) that this took so long to write.
The people in my program are amazing. The girls are chill and the guys are cool. The five guys I hang out with the most are walked-out-of-Jersey-shore Guidos. Ok, only one of them is Italian. But they all act and look like Guidos. Are you surprised? I do own a pair of snakeskin jeggings...
I sit at a table in a bar two streets away from l'apartamento (booyah some more Italian for you), and order a Coke (ok fine, Joel, a Diet Coke). Then I pull out my laptop and pink headphones while crowds of people gather around me drinking and watching sports. Sometimes, I even whip out my landline foot-long magic jack phone. When it gets loud and I'm Skyping, you may find me yelling into the computer. People stare. Then, when my Internet dies, I take out my converter and charger, and plug it into an outlet, while holding it in place with my foot since the converter is too heavy to stay in the outlet on its own. So, sorry Nicole Ciabocci (my number 1, and maybe only, fan) that this took so long to write.
Anyway, life here is incredible. It is so carefree and stress-free. My two-day-per-week class schedule is really working out for me. Abroad, class doesn't get in the way of your education (the hands-on education). And the weather in Rome is finally getting hot. Let me tell you about my day yesterday: I woke up at noon (no class on Wednesdays) and grabbed a panini (I have one every day. I'm over Italian food. Except for supplis. And gelatoes and crepes. And pizza if it's thick-crusted. And lasagna. Ok fine, I'm not over Italian food). I then went to meet my friend at school, so we could lay out in Piazza Navona (a square with famous monuments, statues and fountains). Then I had a mojito in the Square with friends before I went to the salon to get my hair cut - which, let me tell you, is really fun to do in Italy when you're freaking out about your hair and there is a HUGE language barrier that needs to be overcome. The guy kept laughing at me because I made him cut my hair centimeter by centimeter until he reached the length I liked. After that, I went to the school, discovered I got the internship I really wanted and wrote the outline for my research paper. Then I went to dinner, had red wine and a free shot, and went out on the town.
I've been doing a lot of traveling, mostly within Italy. So far, I've been to Florence, London, Sienna, Pisa, Rome, Capri, Naples and Pompeii with my program and Barcelona with a few friends. Tomorrow, I leave for spring break and head to Amsterdam, Barca again, Paris and Budapest. (I dont know why I'm so excited for Budapest. The only thing I know about it is that Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy went there in the movie, "I Spy.")
Capri is my favorite place in Italy by far. It's beautiful, and I went boating on a private boat with my friends. Naples is my least favorite place; it's sketchy and dirty (at least the part we went to). Fun fact: the mafia owns the trash company in Naples and if businesses don't pay them, they don't pick up the trash, which is why the streets are so dirty.
Capri is my favorite place in Italy by far. It's beautiful, and I went boating on a private boat with my friends. Naples is my least favorite place; it's sketchy and dirty (at least the part we went to). Fun fact: the mafia owns the trash company in Naples and if businesses don't pay them, they don't pick up the trash, which is why the streets are so dirty.
In Pompeii, we got to climb Mount Vesuvius which was cool. It was so steep, I literally ran down the volcano - involuntarily. On the bus down the lower half, my friend Drew was trying to sleep on my lap and suddenly sits up and exclaims, "What the hell is going on? He's driving like an asshole." I proceeded to tell him we were driving down the volcano, and he calmed down. "Oh. I was gonna say..."
The people in my program are amazing. The girls are chill and the guys are cool. The five guys I hang out with the most are walked-out-of-Jersey-shore Guidos. Ok, only one of them is Italian. But they all act and look like Guidos. Are you surprised? I do own a pair of snakeskin jeggings...
One of the cooler things I've done is go to the Treve Fountain at 4 a.m. after hanging out at the Irish bar all of the people in my program love for some reason.
A funny thing that happened was getting offered a ride home from an Italian in this bar, asking me if I wanted to drive. Let's think about this...
1. I've been drinking.
2. We're in Italy: there are no rules to the road and I don't even know how to be a pedestrian in this country.
3. The car was stick-shift.
No, thank you.
Alright guys, I have to finish packing for Spring Break. Miss you all. I'll have my BBM ;).
Shoutout: Benny, I love you and your cute BBMs. And I can't wait until you come to New York (I'm holding you to your word this time).
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