Stories that Don't Involve Food

So apparently, some people are concerned that all my blog entries are about food. In an effort to please these people, I provide you with the first part of a series entitled: My Roommates. In an effort to protect their privacy, I will refer to them as Sophie and Natalie. This is a quintessential Sophie story.

Sophie Gets Lost
Roommate Sophie is an artist with rather strange hours. She can run on two hours of sleep, which she tends to get at around two in the afternoon. One evening, Sophie decided to take a "short" walk with our friend Dave (fake name). They walked and talked and suddenly they had no idea where they were and it was two o'clock in the morning. As Sophie tells it, Dave became overcome and began crying on a bench. He was sure that they wouldn't survive. Sophie pointed out some lemons which they could eat for survival. Dave picked them and put them in his back pocket. After some more walking and some more crying, Sophie and Dave finally got a cab back to our apartment where they proceeded to make lemonade out of the survival lemons. Literally, the seeds are still in my sink.

Also, yesterday when I was on the Metro a short Asian man pinched my butt and then ran away before I could hit him.

Bad Things

I did something bad.

Really bad.

I went to Burger King in ROME.
But in case you're wondering, the chicken fries are better here than at home.

xoxoxo

I'm Basically Six

So last night, all of my friends were exhausted. They had walked approximately 13 miles around Rome (literally around the city) and were having trouble sitting. So we turned on the television and made some pasta.
All of a sudden I hear "Buongiorno Charlie". Charlie's Angels:Full Throttle was on in Italian. The movie is even worse when you can't understand the dialogue and the awful acting was even more apparent. But during the movie there were Italian commercials. Italian commercials are awesome because they make very little sense, except for the car commercials. Anyway, this peppy music came on and there was an ad for Tresor, a chocolate filled cereal. I looked at it and said that sounds disgusting AND delicious.
About an hour ago, I went to the store and bought a box. It's amazing.

6 year olds have more self-control than I do.

Thursday Afternoons

This is extremely random, but aren't Thursday afternoons wonderful? You look up and think "Tomorrow's FRIDAY..." There's such anticipation on a Thursday afternoon-the actual weekend hasn't arrived yet, but it's close enough to make legitimate plans. In the States there is also such excellent Thursday night television, such as The Office and Private Practice.

I now really feel like I live in Rome. I'll ride the Metro listening to my iPod, grateful that nobody can hear my music (do the Italians like Taylor Swift? Something tells me no). There's a 24 bakery about 10 minutes on foot from my apartment and I like to walk there for fresh pastries. I have two pizza places that are both far superior to anything I've eaten before. I get hit on at least 5 times a day, and if I don't, then I know I must really look like a rat, because the Italian men will hit on anyone. Still, it's nice to be told that you're a beautiful American when buying gelato.

But I really know that I live in a place when I can sit in it comfortably and not be rearranging my lotions and potions are alphabetizing my textbooks. I was just staring out from my balcony, drinking some blood orange juice and feeling incredibly grateful and optimistic. That might also have had something to do with the Nutella I was eating.

1st Week

As of today, I've officially been in Rome for a week. Truth is, it already seems like forever. I have a favorite pizza place, a favorite gelateria, several routes to school, even my own 24 hour bakery. I am s-l-o-w-l-y learning to speak Italian and I've been the recipient of both the Italian stink-eye and the Italian hairy eye. I really like Rome.
But today, I wish I was home. I wish I could sit in front of my TV watching Barack Obama. Between President Bush and the Lewinsky scandal of the Clinton administration, I honestly don't think that I've been proud of my president in a decade. But today when Obama takes the oath of office, I will be proud. I'll probably eat some Nutella to celebrate.
;)

Be Jealous

So obviously one of the best parts of Italy is the food. Yesterday we drove into Umbria, a gorgeous area where St. Francis of Assisi spent a lot of time. Yes, it was pretty, but the real highlight was this incredible meal. It was a traditional Italian lunch-long with lots of wine. The food was just amazing. Here's the menu:
Red pepper pizza appetizers
Cheese Pie
Asparagus risotto
Pasta with wild boar sauce
Roast Chicken
Salad
Sauteed Spinach
Tiramisu

Suffice it to say, I was very, very happy.

Photos of My Apartment

Hehehe

My right ankle is killing me. Despite eating Nutella at least twice a day, my clothes and my jewelry are all looser. I walk and walk and walk and walk. And you know what? I love it.
So far I’ve seen the Vatican (where two priests had me take their picture and I spoke a little Italian with them), the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and many other beautiful buildings. I’ve had foul fish pizza and delicious pizza margherita, located about two shops apart. Classes start Monday and while I am excited for that, I’ve loved the sightseeing.
I live on a little hill and every morning I walk to school, passing by about three delicious smelling bakeries, as well as an incredible open-air market. Speaking of the market, last night some of us (not me, don’t worry) were inspired to cook dinner. 13 people worked together to create bruschetta, salad, pasta, panetone, and of course wine. Mid-way through our preparations, we realized that we didn’t have enough tomatoes for the sauce. The shops were all closed and disaster (or at least sauce-less pasta) looked inevitable. And yet…I threw on a coat and a couple of other people and I ran down to the pizza place next door to visit Amadeus, my Italian boyfriend (he’s probably in his 40s). I walked in and he smiled and said “Ciao bella”. My friend explained that we needed tomatoes and Amadeus was good enough to sell us some for 2 Euro and a little bit of my dignity.
Tomorrow we go to Umbria. Should be awesome, especially since the day includes a 4-hour, 15 course meal.

Fish Pizza=Eww

So today was our walking tour of Rome. We went to a bakery where we got donuts filled with NUTELLA, and then we walked all of the city. For lunch we stopped at a pizzeria with about 12 different kinds of pizza and I pointed at one that I thought was mozzarella and tomato.

It was mozzarella and tomato with fish paste. Apparently my face as I discovered this fact was epic.

To recover from this trauma, we walked over to the Vatican and had gelato. My personal favorite is fragula, aka strawberry. On our way we discovered an old castle and were peering over into the old moat. Unfortunately for us, instead of a nice piece of history, we saw a guy crapping.
For the rest of the day every other sentence involved a joke about fish pizza or seeing strangers go to the bathroom.

This is my Roma.

Italian Impressions.

Gelato for lunch.
Siesta.
Hot guys.

I love this country.

1st Night in Rome

We landed at the airport and navigated our way to our shuttle, where we proceeded to watch 5 Italian men get into a fight about who got to take us to our apartment. Interestingly enough, "bastardo" is the same in English. The apartment is nice, small, but nice. I have two roommates, and everyone else who lives on my hall is also in the program. We trudged over, in the rain, to the Temple Villa. The pizza they gave us was awesome and there's nothing like getting soaked with a bunch of people to bring you together. Towards the end of the evening we got a cheap bottle of red wine and toasted Italy. To "la dolce vita" and not getting hit by a scooter!
Ciao.

Miso Soup and Frozen Yogurt

I'm in London. British food is notoriously yucky, so instead I'm eating miso soup and frozen yogurt, which are excellent. I'm also waiting for them to announce my gate so I can skeedaddle over there. Where does the word "skeedaddle" come from, I wonder? In any case, I'm on my way to Rome. Stay tuned for quality stories. When I was little, one of my favorite books was called Look Alive, Libby. It was a story of taking chances, and adventure. I also like to say the phrase when something dramatic is about to happen. Plus, my name is Elizabeth, although if anyone called me Libby, I be totally nonplussed.
Over and out.