Day 42 - March 6th 2009 Rome, Italy

A typical lazy Friday, traveled over to the Capuchin crypt to view the hundreds of bones of those buried beneath the monastery over 300 years. The bones are patterned into elaborate designs all over the walls and ceilings to form church symbology and motifs. It’s a bit creepy but a totally different and new form of museum.

Day 41 - March 5th 2009 Rome, Italy

Had to get up today earlier than I would have liked to on my first day of the weekend (Thursday) as today our group was meeting the PosteItaliane officials to exchange our precious Permesso di Soggiorno documents (copy of every page in our passport? + copy of visa etc). And we happily sauntered off with a little receipt that said we were good visitors and are now currently deep within the dark machine that is the Italian bureaucratic system. Katie’s appointment to get the actual Permit to Stay is scheduled for September 2009 so I’m thinking I’m going to be, say...Christmas 2009? I may miss this appointment... A little homework at the LdM school then back to base command to suit up for the night. First a quick foray to a local Trastevere osteria that serves delicious gnocchi, but only one day a week! Once this delicious dish of gnocchi arrabiata spicy sauce was done and gone we went to a spot that some of the crew had already frequented called the Bartelli Bar which is tended by Luigi and his friend. We shared talk and spirits with these fine gentleman then proceeded on to the Zarbar for flashing lights and 90’s american music which Italians think is still new stuff for some reason.

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.

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.

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 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.

Day 3 - January 27th 2009 Rome, Italy

Ryan and I woke up a tad late but we quickly got our act together and got downstairs for the walking tour i monumenti di Roma. We saw all the classic structures and works and they still hold great appeal even though I had seen them twice before, once on a high school trip and then again on a family trip. There was a Nike+ cross country race of some sort going on inside the circo massimo, which is fun to see the old track used for race again. Our guide through all the sites, Paola, was excellent and had great knowledge of the more intricate stories and details that I’d never heard before on other tours. We finished our tour and returned to the hotel Tiziano to spend some downtime before la cena. Our group walked a few blocks up Via Vittorio Emmanuel II and turned a destra onto Via Savelli, where the acclaimed Monte Carlo pizzeria resided. This ristorante was spectacular, the pizza crust was so thin and everything was just damn delicious. We also sipped a few litre di vino rosso. We returned to the hotel base camp to change and prepare for a night out on the city. Our group broke up into two groups, one headed to the bar straightaway and the other going to see the Pantheon at night before meeting up with Team 1. It was therapeutic to sit by the fontana and take in the magnificence of the Pantheon. After we had finished with our tranquil historic fix, we headed in search of club AnimA which was recommended by our cameriere. It was myself, Ryan and Samantha who had already gotten lost looking for the Pantheon who now had to ask for directions twice to find the place. Once inside we were gawked at by the italians, which I am not sure why because we looked pretty plain and not some gaudy american tourists taking pictures at the bar with I heart NY shirts on. So we looked for Team 1 who were supposed to have met us at AnimA. They had already left the place but we ordered our Peroni birra and sat and watched the stream of people in and out. There were four middle aged italian men who definitely were greasing us, Sam in particular of course. We played it cool and stayed for awhile longer, then departed in search of another watering hole as well as Team 1. We met them in la Piazza Navona and found our way to the bulldog inn, where Gabriella was drawing most of the italian men in to where we were sitting. We met a new friend Francesco who had drinks with us then led us to the Scholars Irish pub, which stays open later than all the other places. This pub was a madhouse and we didn’t even get in the door it was just 30 people all clamoring to get inside but a giant russian looking bouncer was throwing people out by their neck meat and solidly refusing entry into the venerable late night establishment. We canned the effort and headed back to go to sleep at the last night in the hotel.

Day 2 - January 26th 2009 Dublin, Ireland

Overall the flight was marvelous although I didn’t sleep a wink. After touching down in Dublin I had to walk over to the transfers terminal where I didn’t have my second boarding pass so I had to walk all the way back down to the front desk and grab the pass as it was sitting right on the desk waiting for me. After passing through security a second time I immediately noticed the Guinness factory store and had to have a peek at all the draught inspired merchandise. I then proceeded onto my gate for the flight to Rome, where I recognized Ryan Cicciu, who I had spoken to previously and knew he was taking the same Aer Lingus flight I was on from Dublin to Rome. I walked over to sit and he noticed me and we introduced ourselves. I told him my travel mission to arrive in Dublin, have a Guinness at 5am and continue onto Rome. He approved so we both went up to the small pub and asked the barkeep if he was serving Guinness at the moment. He said of course their serving Guinness, where do you think you are?! We agreed wholeheartedly and asked for two delicious frothy pints. The barkeep also said he serves thousands of Guinness pints for breakfast and we were not surprised in the least. After sitting and chatting over the delicious thickness that is Guinness stout, we went back to the gate and got ready to board. This flight was very different from the flight from the US. It was totally packed full, no space to move, and during the flight we had some serious up and down rollercoaster turbulence. It was also the most culturally diverse flight I’ve been on in awhile. Heard no less than 5 languages being spoken around me. Ryan and I arrived safely in Rome and passed through customs without my fanfare, I don’t think the officer even looked hard at my passport. Much to our dismay, we learned that the chartered API bus meant to take us to rome had already left at 11am, we being about 30 mins late. But Ryan and I are still certain the papers say 12 noon. Regardless, we thought about taking il treno but instead bargained with a shuttle driver and got a ride for 15euro to the hotel. After meeting Christina the resident director we promptly went up to the hotel room, unpacking nothing and passed out. We awoke around 5pm to get ready to go to our first meeting. I walked downstairs with Ryan and met the other API students who were from the Rome program, as well as Toscania and 3 cities students. We had the meeting in another hotel down the street then went to Pomodoro rosso for an API sponsored meal and our first taste of fine italian ristorante cooking. Everything was delicious, obviously, and we left feeling satisfied and full. Our group split from our fearless resident directors to pursue a vino quest. We scored quickly at a nearby bar & pub where I was told to order first because I speak a bit more of the language. Everyone had their glass of vino rosso and we cin cin’d the safe travel and first night in our new city. That night I could not sleep well because I had already napped twice during the flight and later in the day so it was a bit of a rough sleep.

Day 1 - January 25th 2009 Boston Logan Airport

Upon entering the Boston Logan Airport I sat down to wait for my mother to park the car and come up. I struck up a conversation with the old Irish fellow sitting next to me who had round and yellow front teeth. He was headed to Cork, Ireland and I said I was going to Dublin to transfer to Rome. He remarked that there was a piss drunk man outside the terminal who had peed his pants and probably was not going to be allowed to flight the because he was just incoherently wasted. We had a chuckle over this and then my mom arrived so we checked my bag at the desk and proceeded forth, but I didn’t see the piss drunk fellow anywhere, oh well. After eating a bite for lunch with my mom, (I had clam chowder) I kissed her farewell and passed through security into the international terminal of BOS. Nobody seemed to be near gate E4 which which was the gate my Aer Lingus flight to Dublin was departing from. After perusing through a few of the electronics boutiques I grabbed a big bottle of water and snacks for the plane and went and sat until my flight opened for boarding. I boarded and was sitting in the exit row right where the cabin door entered so I had unlimited leg room and space to stand up and stretch whenever. I started chatting with the stewardess and do love a good Irish accent. The flight staff were wearing complete pale mint green skirts and blouses. I watched a movie on the iPod touch and ate in the in-flight meal, which I do not mind at all and think are rather decent in fact.