Days 2 and 3

The past few days have been so busy, I don't even know where to start!

We moved into the apartments Monday. I was really lucky and was placed into an apartment right on the Campo de' Fiori, about 2 minutes away from where class is! (some people are a 10-15 minute walk away, by the Colosseum.. which would also be pretty awesome, I guess). Anyway, I LOVE THE CAMPO and our apartment! view from my bedroom window:

The Campo has a market every morning, from 5 am to 2 pm. They sell all kinds of stuff, especially fruits, veggies, pasta, and wine, and also some fish, jewelry, clothing, etc. I LOVE the energy of it! The market is always loud and chattery, everything is bright and colorful, and wherever you are you can hear street musicians playing. All the different restaurants and bakeries and food shops keep their doors open so it smells delicious (except by the fish stands, which just smell fishy!)


If you want a bit of history (or what I can remember from what Lisa said about it yesterday), the name Campo de' Fiori means "field of flowers" in Italian: it used to be a meadow. The piazza was built on the ruins of the Pompey Theatre, and some of the buildings still follow the curve of its walls. It's been a marketplace area for centuries, and the surrounding streets are named for different trades. It was also a common site for public executions, and the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned alive by the Inquisition because they felt his ideas were too dangerous. There is a big statue of him right in the middle of the square, where he was burned. Here it is in the evening when the market is gone..


Still trying out some of the many cafes and bakeries. There is just so much good food! One bakery right on the Campo makes really simple but AMAZING sandwiches. It's all in the bread.. thin, salty, crusty, olive oil-y...it's fantastic. And this morning we went to a cafe that had wonderful cappucinos for only 1.10 euro. The pastries look scrumptious as well. Will definitely be back.

I am slowly learning a few Italian words, but not really putting too much effort into it yet. It's too easy to just speak English! Most people who work at shops and restaurants generally know some English, so I tend to just fall back on it. At the same time, though, I do want to move beyond the "American tourist" stereotype; I'm going to be here for a whole month, after all!

On Tuesday, Lisa and Mona took us out to a delicious 4-course Italian dinner. We had a variety of appetizers, then a pasta dish, meat dish, and dessert (tirimisu). For the pasta dish, I ordered a spinach-mozzarella ravioli...it was exquisite:


third course: veal, prosciutto, and the best potatoes ever
The wine was apparently pretty good but it was way too strong for me. However we got some good wine tasting in the next night! There will be an official wine tasting at the same wine shop next week along with a kind of "Wine 101" class. Hoorah!

Classes look like they're going to be pretty interesting despite the fact that we have to do a TON of reading. Our art history class has just been presentations so far. Yesterday we went to the Roman Forum and the Arch of Titus and listened to 45-ish minute presentations about them.

Some photos of the forum:









and a couple more at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Again, there are more photos of these two days on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/alinamarie?ref=profile#/album.php?aid=2017732&id=1577370028&ref=mf

This blog will probably always be a couple days late...I already have tons more pictures to post and things to write about! Oh, and we're going to the beach this Sunday...pretty excited for that :)