a few more days around Rome

well it's been a couple days...in part it's the fact that the novelty of blogger has worn off and part the fact that classes and fun stuff have been picking up pace and i haven't wanted to spend time in front of my computer. but i need to go over the past couple of days before it's too late.

thursday was a pretty laid back day. no morning class so everyone got up for lunch. i spent some time reading in the garden before italian class. after class was dinner and then everyone decided what to do for the rest of the evening. i left with one of the early groups, spearheaded by Eli, to go to a bar that does karaoke on thursdays. i mean, after all, what's funnier than a bunch of drunk italians trying to sing along to a bunch of probably american songs? it was a great plan, except we couldn't find the place. we wound up taking a nice long walk down v.le quattro venti and then meandered back thru monte verde semi-lost until we found the Centro again. at that point however, the other groups had already left, so we decided to just chill for a while. they all came back eventually and we had a little party in meg and megans room. they got lucky: they have the only room that's not a tiny little cell. so it lends itself to staying up until 3am talking. at that point we got tired and all headed to bed.

friday was a no class day except for the art history field trip. therefore it was very quiet around when i got up. those who were on the trip had already long since departed and most everyone else was still asleep. gradually people turned out. meg, megan, heather and i had lunch in the garden. once the art history group returned we got a group together and went to the vatican to climb to the top of st. peter's. it was 4 euro to get up into the cupola but it was worth every eurocent. the climbing the 500-odd stairs was a trial but incredibly fun, and definitely rewarding once we reached the top. we couldn't stop taking pictures. the views were simply remarkable.





when we climbed back down into the main part of the church it was late afternoon. mass started at the far end of the church at 5pm. we wondered why we were being herded out of the way by security when suddenly a group of 5 cardinals came walking through. we left before we became engrossed in mass since we had to figure out the return bus system and get back in time for dinner. we wandered out of st. peter's looking for a fermata (bus stop). we didn't find any until we were on the road right along the river. we waited and waited and were just about to give up and have to climb the stairs back up the Gianicolo, but just then one came. we rode back to monte verde, made a quick stop at the enoteca (wine shop) and headed to dinner. a large group went out after dinner to the irish pub (some of them have been there 4 times already i think) but several of us have heard that the expense isn't worth it, so stayed in. party in the Centro, and we're not ashamed.

today was my first Saturday here. the most daunting aspect of that is that i'm not fed by the amazing Centro cooking staff. i slept in and once i got up waited for enough people to congregate to make a pizza run. it turned out to be me, Alicen, Kerry, and Kimberly. i got what turned out to be spinach, broccoli, and sausage. it was quite delicious but spinach is a very tricky pizza topping. the four of us then went into the city to the spanish steps and the trevi fountain area. we waited an eternity at the transfer stop at p.za venezia for a little shortbus, the 119, to take us there. in that time we could have easily walked the short distance over, but we didn't know. there were mobs of people at both the steps and the fountain, including some interesting characters. we spent a little time at each and then decided to wander back to the bus station and grab some gelato on the way. we made a detour to the supermarket in the monte verde area, but were keeping an eye on the clock so we would get back to the Centro in time to watch the Lazio calcio (soccer) match. while i was standing in the juice aisle of Sidis, the grocery store, some elderly italian lady started accosting me. i didn't know what she wanted so i just kinda shrugged. then i realized it looked like she was asking for help getting down this large bottle of water. i went over to help her, but that just made her angrier. totally confused, i just walked away. i did manage to get my juice after she went to another aisle though =)

Prof. Walsh has us all hooked. he's a huge Lazio fan and now about a quarter of the Centro is rooting for them. he's really surprised at how we've taken to it, so he's going to organize a trip for us to go to the next home game. however, i think he's getting pretty pissed at me and Alicen, because we seem to bring them nothing but bad luck. we've watched three games, all of which have been draws. the officiating was very unkind to Lazio today. two players got red cards, one legitimately but one on a horrible call. another got a second yellow card in a two-game span, so Lazio will have three players suspended next sunday. and finally a close but probably improper offisides call negated a go-ahead goal late in the second half. it's so much fun to watch the games with Prof. Walsh though, because we get to see a completely different side of him. i admire the fact that he'll watch with us, his students, and scream "goddammit!" and "fuck!" when the calls don't go Lazio's way.

after the match it was sufficiently late to get dinner. i had spaghetti al carbonara, which was missing the peas that i expected. maybe those were an american addition, but i didn't think so. dinner finished pretty late, so we came back to the Centro and watched the tail end of another soccer match. then the usual evening pow-wow in the hallway. now i'm back in my room, all my photos are uploaded to flickr, and it's quite late. so goodnight.