Day 30 - February 22nd 2009 Florence, Italy

A bit of cornflakes and coffee for breakfast before checking out of the hotel. Christina pointed us in the wrong direction however, and we ended up missing putting our bags on the bus for storage and had to truck back to the hotel and leave our bags there. Joined up with the big group and split off again to tour Europe’s oldest pharmacy. The pharmacy contains all sorts of old beakers and decanters for muddling and mixing every sort of ingredient thought to cure illness. From the pharmacy we traveled up a steep hill to the Capucci Fashion museum overlooking Florence. The museum exhibits a variety of dresses that were designed and shown by Roberto Capucci for fashion shows around the world. In my opinion these crazy dresses were nice to look at and obviously took a long time to build, but... who cares about dresses that you can’t wear? Maybe its because I don’t wear dresses and lack finer taste in fashion.... The view from the terrace overlooking the city was very cool though. After coming down from the hill I met up once again with Katie to go on a search for a leather shop that does gold letter imprinting on the leather. I got my brother a present stamped with his initials in 18k gold leaf after quite a search around Santa Croce. Back in front of the Duomo a parade was going on for celebration of Carnevale and there were people dressed up in clothes from periods of old and dancers and acrobats. It was quite a spectacle. Said goodbye to Katie and headed to the buses to return back to Roma. Everyone was quite tired and ready for a good nights rest.

Day 29 - February 21st 2009 Florence, Italy

Arose early this mattina to hop over to the front of the Duomo for a trip to the Galleria dell’Accademia to take in the David and other stunning art that surrounds him. Seeing the partially finished Michaelangelo sculptures again was very interesting, the statued figures trying to break free of their Carrara marble cages. After the Galleria I met up with Katie and we jaunted over the San Lorenzo markets to do a little leather browsing. Returned the hotel to rest for a bit and get ready to go over to the cooking school to make a meal of gnocchi, eggplant, and tiramisù from scratch. The chefs teaching us were great and it was so much fun to create a full meal all together. Katie and I then took a stroll over to the lounge called Slowly to sit and enjoy a chilled delight.

Day 28 - February 20th 2009 En route to Florence, Italy

Met the entire cast and crew of the API study abroad group, numbering about 87 strong, at Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere. Boarded one of the two premier buses hired to cart all of us up north. Fiddled with the iPod touch, read some Warren Buffet and just generally passed the time until we made a rest stop at an AutoGrill off of the highway. Ate my brown bag lunch of pita with salame Milano and Emmental cheese and mustard. Back on the bus for the rest of the trip. Our group is too big for one hotel so we split into the Hotel Bigallo where the LdM crew was staying. The hotel looks right out at the Duomo so in terms of location this place has it in spades. Excellent staff and rooms as well. We took off from the hotel to have a guided tour of the main tourist sites of the town. Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, etc. After the tour I met up with Florentine native Katie Suomineno and the crew + us went over to the Mexican eatery Tiauana for a bit of a change of flavors from the pizza and pasta. Dinner was tasty tacos and tortillas with margaritas and having paid the bill, Katie and I went forth the her favorite lounge Loch Ness for a glass of wine and beer with her bartender friend Mark. The lounge is right next to the dance club Twice and we proceeded over there for a bit of lights and music fun. Katie grabbed a cab and I sauntered home to the hotel.

Day 27 - February 19th 2009 Rome, Italy

Restful day at the apartment reading and eating popcorn. Cooked dinner with the crew and packed up my travel backpack to be ready for tomorrow morning’s departure to Firenze.

Day 26 - February 18th 2009 Rome, Italy

Met Guiza today in the Piazza Farnese for a mezzogiorno coffee and croissant. We spoke in alternating Italian/english and she recommended a few museums that I hadn’t been to yet. I am not sure but I think that I may have witnessed part of Angels and Demons being filmed in the Piazza. They had a big film crew with Panavision cameras on dollies in the Piazza and it looked like serious business. I didn’t get to peer more closely at it because I wanted to chat with Guiza. My double header of class from 3pm to 8:30 went smoothly. In the Wine and Cultures class we had our first tasting in class. We sampled a very tasty white wine from northern Italy then a red from central Italy. The white was very good but the red lacked a little bit in complexity and overall satisfaction. I’m learning so much about viniculture its a bit amazing the complexity of the methods and conventions used in the wine business. After class we went cruising around the town for classmate Toni’s 21st birthday.

Day 25 - February 17th 2009 Rome, Italy

Pretty much same as Monday: class, caffè macchiatos, panini’s, some freestyle dinner cooking. Still nodding off in art history but I swear its still not the class, just the time of day.

Day 24 - February 16th 2009 Rome, Italy

Nothing much to report. A good day of class and running a few errands. Picked up some peanut butter at the international food store because Italians do not use it/ make it here apparently. Went to a wine tasting hosted by LdM at a local wine bar. Sampled 2 whites and 2 reds in which one of the reds was a lambrusco. All quite delicious wines. The only thing wrong was that Ryan and I wanted cheese and all the waiters brought out was this measly cheese and prosciutto hamburger looking thing. So after the tasting we took a walk around the block to our Italian friend Francesco’s family’s restaurant and got some delicious cheese sample plates. Back at base I cooked up some real good vegetable stir fry...I’m becoming quite the freestyle cook partly because I don’t know the names of every ingredient so I just throw everything I find and it seems to work out.

Day 23 - February 15th 2009 In treno returning to Rome, Italy

Katie and I were picked up by Martin early this morning to head down to the bus station to grab the 9:30am bus over to the train station to get on the 10:40 treno to Venice Mestre train station. Well all that didn’t happen because apparently there is no 9:30 bus to the train station but only a 11:15am one. So this threw quite a wrench in our well laid plans (which in reality were not well laid out). We found a small albergo nearby and grabbed some scrambled eggs (uova strapazzate) for breakfast. The bus deposited us at the Calalzo train station and we bought tickets to Padova station. Arriving in Padova station we hit our first big problem. The trains heading back to Rome and Florence were almost completely full. Thankfully or not depending on how you look at it, there were tickets available but they were only first class. Here’s the best part: they weren’t guaranteed seats. Nope. Katie and I stood in the first class car for 2/3s of the trip. How about them apples. Needless to say, it was a horrible day of travel back to our respective cities. Sleep was most welcomed.

Double WOW Day 22 - February 14th 2009 Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

Another great night’s rest at the venerable Hotel Villa Alpina. Katie and I packed our things and brought down our bags to store in the back room of the hotel while we went skiing that day. Jumped the bus to the base of Ra Valles/ Tofana cable tram and rode upwards into the great beyond that is the Dolomites. After a second tram lift up again we found ourselves with a most spectacular view of the surrounding mountain range and the small Cortina village below. For some reason yesterday it seemed like all we were doing was riding lifts and not doing much skiing but that changed today and we were skiing 15 minute runs down from the top. The snow had been groomed in most places but you could jet off to the sides to get a bit of deeper stuff but it was mostly heavy powder so turning in it was not easy. We met up with Sarah and her relatives at halfday and took a few good runs with all them. Then Katie and I ascended on high once more to have a bite to eat on the top of the world. Did I mention I was slack jawed with my tongue hanging out the whole time I was skiing? This place is surreal! I can’t believe people ACTUALLY live here. If I could wake up every morning with my cup o’ joe and look out the window and witness the high peaks at every angle, I would consider life pretty damn near perfect. (I have started to draft my “Chris to live in Cortina d’Ampezzo for an extended period of time” 5 year contingency plan)....We’ll see how that works out... So the St. Valentines day skiing was spectacular, then things started to go from amazing to sort of humorously interesting. After returning our skis and boots and heading over to grab a taxi up to the Hotel Argentina (the Villa Alpina only had rooms open for thursday and friday sadly.) OK first things first; the front desk man, ya know the guy who greets you and gives you your key and so on, was, excuse my french, an ASSHOLE! This guy had the lowest hanging jowls I have ever seen and man was he a troubled child or something. Gave us nothing but attitude and indignation! Katie and I agreed it must be because we are the only 20’somethings in Cortina and arn’t arriving in a Maserati with full bearskin jackets. Oh well, everybody else that worked there was nice. So this guy was humorously mean. Next up was the bus ride down from the Argentina back to town. I am very certain the driver was Satan’s personal chauffeur. He was driving this bus at 50mph down the most curvy steep road. We were sure we were on the Highway to Hell express. Thankfully, we arrived safely in town and wandered to La Furla, the pizzeria that Sarah and her relatives were eating at. The restaurant was pretty busy so we got put at the same table as a single older lady who did crosswords and ate her dinner. And for some reason everyone around us kept eyeing Katie and I. I don’t know why we are still not wearing Yankee caps and I heart NY t-shirts. After dinner we hustled over to the Olympic ice rink from 1956 olympics and watched the Cortina Squirrels battle the wolves with #45 Martin Wilde at left defense. Sarah graciously drove us back to up the Argentina for the night’s sleep.

WOW Day 21 - February 13th 2009 Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

Slept in until 9:30 this morning and went out in search of rental skis with Katie. We found the Ski System rental shop which Sarah had recommended to us and the proprietor, Walter, hooked us up with some sweet planks and boots to match. We caught a couple of buses all the way to Socrepes where we took quite a few lifts up to the very top of the mountain. At this point I must pause for a moment and say that words or even pictures do not come close to justice for the magnificence in which we were present for today. WOW is all I can muster. Katie and I are sure that when our Lord Jesus returns for judgement day, his landing is going to take place somewhere on the high rise of the Dolomiti peaks we witnessed today. To continue from my side story; We snapped a couple of breathtaking photographs up on top (illustrated below) and started our descent hooking right because I wanted to head for the Cinque Torri section of the mountain. We made it to the 5 Torri and took a couple of runs through the wide open almost country-esque rolling hills of snow. We were a bit cold so we decided to pack it in and headed for the base lodge of the 5 Torri. The bus wasn’t coming for an hour so we sat down for a quick Bombardino, which is a creme/rum/cinnamon concoction. Arriving back at the hotel Katie and I soon passed out from sheer exhaustion. We wandered towards the center of town looking for a small trattoria or ristorante to replenish our growling bellies. For some very odd reason, the place was a total ghosttown. I mean not a soul to be seen anywhere. It was rather spooky to say the least so we headed back for the hotel and ate at the same place we had been the previous night, the Vienna and sampled a few of their other dishes. Sleep was blissful after the strenuous day of awe inspiring beauty and heavenly righteous skiing.

Dolomiti Chris

Dolomiti Chris
Originally uploaded by RomanPags

I have seen the dolomites...and it was good

Day 20 - February 12th 2009 In Treno a Cortina, Italia

Arose and packed my snowpants and Burton jacket! this morning and headed over to Termini stazione to board the 9470 treno a Cortina! On the train I met a kind older lady who I spoke to for most of the train ride in alternating Italian and English. I am going to call her next week and meet up in Rome somewhere. A Firenze my co-traveler/ partner in criminal intent Katie joined up and we proceeded through central Italia up to mestre Venzia and transferred trains onto the Calalzo di Cortina express. The sights on this train are absolutely astounding to the point of tears of artistic joy and beauty. The high rise mountains and small villas below them are just too cool to see. I feel dwarfed by the ominous mountains hanging over me. Katie and I arrived in the small way station of Calalzo and waited for the shuttle bus to arrive to take us up the mountain to Cortina. We were a bit strung out riding on the bus as we had reached our 11th hour of travelling. But we made it safe and sound to the Villa Alpina albergo and wow is this place so very very very nice. We are most fortunate to be poor study abroad students and get such a sweet place to stay in Cortina. We went to dinner with Mike and Regan Torney as well as Sarah to a small pizzeria right next to the hotel.

Day 19 - February 11th 2009 Rome, Italy

Travelled to school early today to read up for the history class at 3pm. Did a silly thing on the way though and took the 62 bus instead of the 64 bus because I was hurrying and only saw the 6 and not the second number so I got a nice tour of Via del Corso and the Piazza di Spagna area until finally traversing through Piazza Barberini and ending up at my desired destination. After history class came wine and cultures which is going to be interesting and desirable soon, is just dry facts (no pun intended) about grapes and regions right now. I returned to the apartment to fry up some molto gusto hand packed hamburgers then travelled with wingman Ryan and co to the Testaccio district in search of a discoteca. Unsuccessful we made a stop at the Roma Rox to sample their wares and returned home.

Day 18 - February 10th 2009 Rome, Italy

Had an excellent Italian classe questa mattina e posso parlare migliore italiano tutti i giorni. (Speak better italian everyday!) Had lunch at one of our spots near Via XX Settembre juicing a few caffè macchiato for caffeinated attentiveness. If you have been reading my blog from the beginning I mentioned a little earlier the reasons I was taking an Art History class. Well today was one of those good-reason-I’m-taking-art-history-in-Roma-days. We entered the Musei Capitolini to study the ancient works of master sculptors, painters, and architects. One of the niftiest things is the giant bronze statue of Marco Aurelio sul cavallo (on horse), the only existing statue of a leader on horseback from the Roman empire. Although the statue that sits on the piazza between the two sections of the musei is not the original one, it is a copy replaced in 1981 when the original (which is 2000 years old) was deemed to need a stable environment away from pollution. After the musei I jumped on a bus to the Termini stazione to pick up my train tickets to travel to Cortina this Thursday with Katie to visit Sarah and Martin Wilde up in the dolomiti mountains. Made a delicious chicken cordon bleu for dinner, a little french invention in a land of pizza. I accompanied a few girls from the apartment building to the colesseo where we looked for and found the toted “Ice Club” which is a bar inside an industrial freezer with the walls, seats and bar made totally out of blocks of ice. Even the drink glass is a conical creation of ice which I most definitely ate after drinking the contents.

Day 17- February 9th 2009 Rome, Italy

Arose this morning late because the blackout pulldown wooden barrier of a shade just makes the room so darn dark! Dressed myself in good business attire and headed into the city before my class at 3. Went looking for a textbook that I need for my Masters of Italian Cinema: Federico Fellini class but the bookstore reported to me that they did not have any copies so I had to attend class without it. We watched Roma, Citta Aperta, by director Roberto Rossilini which is the classic neo-realism film of Nazi occupied Rome. I love the run and gun gritty style of neo-realism, which often uses non-professional actors in lead roles to give the film more common citizen authenticity. After class let out I joined up with the group of LdM students going on a walking tour of Giancolo Hill above Trastevere. The view from the hill at night is amazing and I got a few of slow exposure pictures that are quite nice. After walking down the hill we found our way to a bar by the Tevere to participate in l’apertivo. A glass of vino rosso and all the tapas style food you can eat. Cous cous, verdure vegetables with amazing dipping salsas and so many other good eats. The only problem is there isn’t much seating so most people eat everything standing up, which doesn’t sit well in my stomache. Oh well the food was deliciously cheap. Back to the Trastevere apartment for reading work and bed.

Day 16 - February 8th 2009 North Rome, Italy

Went to breakfast today with Katie at a swank little ristorante and had cheese omelets and succo d’arancia and a few crumpets. Parted with Katie to head back to Camp Trastevere to take a shower and prepare to head to an event of sheer epic-ness: AS Roma vs Genoa on the luscious green pitch of soccer/futbol/calcio depending on where you are in the world. We had to take a pretty long bus ride up to the Stadio Olimpico where the match or partita, was being held. After arriving at the threshold of the spectacular, we waited an extra 30 mins before going into the stadium because a couple of our compatriots did not ::ahem:: get off the tram with everybody else and therefore ended up getting very hopelessly lost. But we made it in and the game had just commenced. Man, this was just too cool. A sea of people on both side of the stadium just going out of their minds for the AS Roma team. Every shot, pass, slide tackle; everything that happened on the field elicited a hiss or cheer from the crowd. And OH the chants. Everyone but us knew them and they erupted out of the top of the stadium like the battle cries of old. Lazio lazio VAFFANCULO! Wow. After the game ended and the 40,000+ people streamed out of the stadium, we smashed ourselves into a public bus and headed back to basecamp. Worked on a few things and skyped mio padre, and for all the readers out there hit me up my skype name is: frozentimestudios or c paganelli.

Days 11-15 February 4th - February 7th Rome, Italy

I am going to employ a childhood pneumonic here and say “One two, skip a few, 99, 100”. During this small period of day skipping we started our Wednesday evening ritual of eating at La MonteCarlo and trying to woo the staff to put our picture up on the wall with all the other dignitaries smiling out from the white plaster. Have I mentioned we love La MonteCarlo? We’ll we do. Thursday I am off from class so I ran some errands getting required textbooks and so forth. We frequented the nightspot AnimA again but I have come to dislike this place as it is too narrow in width for its own good and needs more breathing room. Friday I awoke debating with myself whether to go on the school trip to Lake Bracciano and decided against on the grounds that it was cold and rainy and I’d rather go there and swim when it gets hotter. Katie also arrived with her Firenze travel group to tour Rome. We hitched onto another group of API students going to the Scholar’s Irish Lounge and Pub that evening for a bit of spiritual and mentality enhancing entertainment. The place was extremely packed wall to wall but we found our way around eventually ending up in the back at a nice table. We quaffed our elixers and then left to pursue a good night’s rest. Spent a lazy Saturday reading a bit and hanging out with my comrades in arms at the appartamento. Katie and I met up with the API crew that evening and jaunted over to the Jazzclub for a smooth beverage and smooth jazz once again.

Day 10 - February 3rd 2009 Rome, Italy

Arose at a very early 7:30am (comparatively) for my 9am class of Italian language and headed out on the tram to travel the 25mins to the Lorenzo de’Medici school across the Tevere on the north side of historic Rome. The Italian class consists of only me and another girl so the one on one attention of the professoressa is great. After class I spent some time wandering near the Piazza di Spagna then met up with the troops for lunch and returned to the school for my afternoon class of Art History of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. I may or may not have fallen asleep in this class not because it is that boring,... just because I get generally tired in the afternoon around the hours of 3-5pm. Explanations aside we touched on a few famous works residing in Rome and the general syllabus for the class. Now a side note here: I am not much of an artistic enthusiast but I have to fulfill an art history class for Arts and Sciences at UVM, so, I figured there is no place better to do it than right here in a classic art and architecture city. Here’s the kicker that got me: almost 1/2 of my classes are held outside and inside the museums containing the works themselves! We don’t have to sit in a classroom looking at endless slides contemplating the mystery of why Macaroni and Cheese is just so good and yet so easy to make!

Day 9 - February 2nd 2009 Rome, Italy

Awoke this morning early to prepare myself for class. My lecture was not until early afternoon but I wanted to travel into the city to meet up the group after they got out of their classes to walk around a little bit. I did a stupid thing and took the bus all the way into Piazza Repubblica when I really needed to take it to the Wedding Cake/ Vittorio Emanuele II Monumento. So this mistake allowed me to walk for about 30 mins backtracking to Via del Corso to meet up with the crew. I did find some very cool new places on my walk though so that was a positive. Ate a spectacular spaghetti lunch and then strolled into my first class at Lorenzo de’Medici, Masters of Italian Cinema: Frederico Fellini. The 2 1/2 hr classes can be a little long but it really helps cover everything in a continuous stream of consciousness.

Day 8 - February 1st 2009 Rome, Italy

Katie and I spent a good 3 hours at the Termini tren stazione awaiting her scheduled departure back to Firenze. After I saw her safely off, I made my way back to the Trastevere appartamento to read and engage in some peaceful time. That evening a detachment of our API group went off in search of the Steelers’ bar we had heard existed somewhere in the historic district. We found it around 11:30pm and joined the bubbly crowd of Pittsburgh fans even though none in our group were really Steelers’ football fans. The mood was joyous and that’s all that mattered. We met some cool people from the States and the pub was filled with collegiate banners from every major university. The owner was an American from Pittsburgh, hence the Steelers’/ USA lean. By the end of the 1st quarter though we had had enough of the packed little rectangular bar and left to return to camp Trastevere.

Day 7 - January 31st 2009 Rome, Italy

Spent today lazily walking around historic Rome with Katie. At dinner time Katie and I set off in search of a piccolo trattoria to get some delicious cibo. It was 8:30pm on a Saturday night but we didn’t see very many people at all in any of the eateries on Via Nazionale. We kept up our search and were rewarded for our tenacity when we stumbled upon la bottega del caffe, where many Italians were sitting outside enjoying caffe, wine and such. I was slightly intimidated but eventually found the host and requested un tavolo per due. The vino bianco was eccellente, and we ordered the traditional Roman dish which included pork, fried zucchini, e patate. Before that came we let our senses feast upon a plate of assorted cheeses with honey and walnuts dip, an appetizer that all restaurants the world over should serve. Dinner was the highlight of the night and we returned for rest thereafter.

Day 6 - January 30th 2009 Rome, Italy

So the next few blog posts are going to be shorter than previous ones because frankly I haven’t been keeping up with my journaling and cannot remember every minute detail about each day...(not like you wanted to hear them anyway :-P). So today we went back to the LdM school to turn over our documents for our Permesso di Soggiorno, or permit to stay in Italy for an extended period of time. The went smoothly enough. I signed up for the Italian club at LdM so I will be doing a few more Italiano things with the fabulous director Davide Garzia. We took a quick walking tour of the area around the school and Via XX Settembre, checking out spots we get discounts. Then our group went back to the discount pizza shop to grab a bite. I had to jet out of lunch early to go pick up my visitor from Firenze Katie! We went back to the hotel Katie was staying at, dropped her stuff off and grabbed a bus over to the Castel Sant’Angelo to get a in depth tour of the magnificent Papal stronghold. There seem to be a lot of sponsored exhibits in the Castel, which ruined it’s supposed antiquity a smidgen. They had laser light shows inside stone rooms for goodness sake! Oh well the view from the top was fantastic and there was an ice skating rink on the Tiber below so that was a nice touch. From the Castel we wandered towards Piazza S. Pietro and entered the holy ground that is St. Peter’s. Inside is always amazing and having been in twice before I got to look at pieces more closely that I had not done before. St. Peter’s was great and after our guided tour ended and we made our way to Piazza di Spagna to check out the stores on Via del Corso. This shopping excursion was much more successful than the last and the Mastercard took a solid beating. I made my way out of David Hamilton with a black giacca, a few cravatte, and shiny black spat shoes. We cruised back to Katie’s hotel to relax before dinner. We met the crew at Pizzeria Monte Carlo which most of us have fallen slightly in love with for their epic-ly thin crust pizza and tasty cheap red wine. After being kindly asked to leave as we had overstayed by about 2 1/2 hrs we processed forth to the jazz club JazzCafe for a evening of smooth jazz and even smoother dessert vino. We called it a night after the jazz and headed back to base for military issue 8 hours rest.

Day 5 - January 29th 2009 Rome, Italy

Arose this morning at 8:30am to travel with Audra for our introduction to the tram and bus system getting to the Lorenzo de’Medici school. It is about a 15 minute tram ride then a 15 minute bus ride with minimal traffic to get to Via XX Settembre where our school is located. It is right near the Presidential palace and quattro Fontane intersection. We arrived at the school after about 40 mins because traffic was bad and walked up the stairs to the 3rd floor. Lorenzo de’Medici or LdM for short is a recently renovated school that takes up only one floor of the building with 4 classrooms, a small library, computer lab and a few administrative offices. I finally got to see the other students attending LdM this semester, a few coming from Mexico, and the others mostly like where we are from, eastern United States. We heard presentations from the administrators then a woman came in to speak from the US Embassy in Rome. She told us about all the stupid things abroad students have done in the past like get drunk and try to go swimming in the Tiber River. She noted that this was behavior we would want to avoid if trying to have a safe and successful study abroad. The consulate official finished her presentation and we had lunch, and a delicious one at that. Some veal cutlets, potatoes, and a few other things I cannot name at the moment but were scrumptious just the same. Lunch was followed by a walking tour of a few spots around our school that the administrators wanted to show us, a great pizzeria, hair salon, the quattro Fontane again, the direction of the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, statue of Vittorio Emmanuele etc. They also gave us this red card that gets sconti or discounts at most of the places they showed us. Finishing the walking tour we were back on our own so Ryan and I decided to check out the menswear on Via Nazionale. We cruised and window shopped for a bit then ducked into a store named Big and Kids. The owner and a woman were inside and I asked the woman about looking at shoes and overcoat jackets. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. A whirlwind of clothes started flying at me and in no time I was wearing black leather spats, a sweatervest, and a wool cappotto overcoat. I was not used to the slightly feminine way of masculine dress even though I knew it beforehand and had already seen it all over, but when the woman brought out the purple argyle sweater, I tried it on and immediately looked over at the owner and asked “Come si dice....gay?” He had quite a laugh over this. I ended up walking out of the store with nothing bought while Ryan got a shirt and a better looking sweater than the purple one I tried on. We went back to the apartment, had some dinner and tucked it in for some rest.

Day 4 - January 28th 2009 Rome, Italy

We moved out of the hotel today and into our luxury apartments located on Via Trastevere, in Trastevere Rome. The building has great terraces overlooking the street below and is mostly made up of API students. There are 8 of us in the Lorenzo de’Medici program and the other 80 or so are all John Cabot university students. My roommate is Nick from Pittsburgh. The first thing you notice upon sitting on the twin bed is you are not in the land of squishy sleep anymore. I’d give this thing about 1 1/2 inches of padding max. I seem to sleep fine on it so not really a problem but I imagine some would find it a little too stiff? The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, we made pasta dinner down in the girls apartment below and sat around shooting the breeze. We took a short cruise around Trastevere to see what it was like at night, nothing special was the conclusion. I grabbed a media card reader from the Chinese store across the way (it’s really just a dollar store but its unofficially referred to as the Chinese store because thats the nationality of the man who owns it) So I was able to upload pictures finally and get them onto Flickr so all you wonderful people reading this can visually follow along too! Hurray for pictures! Everyone was very tired from the move in so I watched a flick on the computer and promptly went to bed.