Ciao, Italia

So I know I rarely update my blog,  but I felt it was 100% appropriate to conclude my journey with a list of the things that I will most profusely. I just landed at O’Hare, and it is unfortunately sinking in the worst how sad I am to have left an area where I had no inhibitions, complete liberation and the best days and nights with amazing people. There are so many awesome things that I wanted to blog about, for example, my trip to London, Tuscany, Florence, etc, and although those were all such INCREDIBLE experiences,  I came to realize it was the little things that made this trip so special and authentic. (plus, I didn’t ever have the time to update about all of the things going on).  Here’s a list of the things I will miss the most about Rome:

1.     Cheap Wine/Simply Market- ok, you just cant find a 1.5 liter bottle of decent pinot grigio for 2.99 in the states. I think we legitimately drank more wine than water. And by that, I mean we literally poured out our Evian water bottles and filled them with wine.

2.     THE FOOD- Okay, im not going to lie, ive solely consumed pizza and pasta alone for the past two months, but theres nothing that compares to walking a block away from school in between classes, grabbing a square of pizza with buffalo mozzerela, fresh greens and tomato made with the best ingredients. Even just typing this puts a smile to my face. Like I said, the little things…those are what count.

3.     Roaming- no pun intended. In the states, things move so fast-pased. I walk like im on a mission to go somewhere everyday here, most people do. In Italy, the people stroll casually. I was allowed to wander and get lost, and enjoy myself exploring a city without feeling scared. Another thing so comforting about Italy- the lack of crime. I never felt unsafe or in danger….not like I do in Chicago, but there is a certain element of safety that reassures you the gentle nature of the city and people are always protecting you.

4.     MY ROOMATES!- There isn’t much more to say other than that. I couldn’t have asked for better girls to get to share an apartment with. This sounds so SO corny, but we shared so many laughs that I seriously think I developed a six pack from laughing so hard every day. One thing I wont miss is MY bedroom and our ikea furniture, my dinky little twin bed and our room that looked more like an orphanage than an actual room…but I will miss cassie, abby and amys room, where I would naturally spend the majority of my time wandering around anyway.

5.     Every single person on the trip –each person contributed something different (…..ask me more details in person) that made the trip hilarious, fun and always entertaining. By the end of our trip, it became pretty evident that we all have  a bond from this experience that will keep us friends beyond the trip itself.

6.     The Italian language- So it really frustrated me at first, but I grew to love it. The rhythm and flow of the words, when spoken organically, is so beautiful. I will also miss the beautiful Italian culture and people that came with the language as well.

In case any of you want to watch, here is our final project. It kicks Italian ass.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddmupf0DHKU&feature=youtu.be

Until my next adventure,

Ciao, Arrevederci, Buongiorno (wait no),

Bae Bae with Love.

A Cinematic 4th of July!

For our 4th of July (last wednesday), we started the day with Italian class (which we made as American as possible) and then went to Cinecitta Studios in Rome. Cinecitta is an area where movies and television sets are located, and it is truly an incredible place. When we first got there, we went through an exibit/musem that had the coolest things. They had a costume section that had the gowns worn by Liz Taylor in Cleopatra and Cameron Diaz in Gangs of New York, segments from Leonardo DiCaprio's interview about Rome/Hollywood sets, helmets from Passion of the Christ, and really cool, authentic aspects from different films. We went through the actual movie sets from where  Gangs of New York was filmed in Rome and where the HBO series 'Rome' is filmed. It was UNREAL to see how the industry can replicate historical areas out of wood and styrofoam to look identical to the actual sets! It wasnt until we physically touched the actual sets until we could understand how they were replicated. There was also a TV show being filmed while we were there....the whole tour was so cool necause it felt so genuine and exclusive. Cittecinna was just opened to the public this year, and we were the only group of people there. Here are a few pictures from the sets:

MUCH needed update!

WOW! It's been awhile since i've updated my 'blog'....the past few weeks have been incomparable to anything ive ever experienced. i'll try and re-cap chronologically what has been going on. this has pretty much been my class schedule the past couple weeks:

Mondays/wednesdays: Private Italian classes with one of the interns, Elena, at Italia Idea from 2-3:30. During our sessions, we basically just talk in italian, do a few readings, etc...our sessions were really laid back. Since i had already taken italian, i was given the option to have one-on-one sessions with her instead of go to italian class with the rest of the group. Our sessions ended last week, but the rest of the group still has class this week (hence why i finally have alone/down time to update my blog!)

Tuesdays: Spaces/places of Cinema in Film class with our program director, Michael. We meet at ItaliaIdea (right by the spanish steps), watch a film and then go to see the set where it was filmed and re-enact one of the scenes from the movies we watch. Two weeks ago, we watched Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, which I loved! Last week, we watched a really strange movie that I cant remember the name of because it was so weird. It was set in the Cold War period and was filmed in 'real time''.....then we went to the set in the EUR!

Thursdays: Another film class with one of the instructors at ItaliaIdea, Carolina. This class is pretty similar to the other one, we just watch films and then discuss them. Last thursday, we watched Gomorra. It was a really interesting film about the mafia in Naples, and it won several awards at the Cannes film festival.


Our weekends are always crazy, so ill make a separate post with pictures after I upload them to facebook. If anyone wants to see any of my pictures from the trip, go to my facebook and they are under the rome-related albums!


Its so hard to find the time to actually write down the amazing things we do or convey in words how incredible this experience has truly been, but im doing my best!


.....one awkward entry down, one more to go......