Rome sweet Rome: Week Two and I'm fluent!

Ciao regazzi (look at me, I’m practically fluent),

Well, I can officially say that I have been in Rome a week now, but oddly enough it feels like I have been here for months! It has been an extremely crazy week, but nonetheless, a blast getting to know the Eternal City.

I have been continuing to settle into my home stay and get to know my host better. She is a great resource as my friends and I are preparing to figure out where we want to travel. We’ve made a tentative schedule, but so far the only trip booked is to Florence this weekend. I’ve heard that it is absolutely stunning (and pictures will be on the way once we return), but I’m excited for my first Italian adventure!

So now for the question everyone seems to want to know:

Q. What is the coolest part about being in Rome?

A. The classes. Yes, the food is good, the views are downright amazing, and I know it is somewhat of a nerdy response, but the classes are extremely cool. I’m taking four classes: Intensive Italian, Art and Architecture of Ancient Rome, Business Ethics, and International Marketing. Okay, up until this semester I would say that I liked most of my classes throughout my time in college, but I think that this semester is the first time that I can say I am thoroughly excited for all of my classes. I’ll explain why…

Italian Class

For Italian, we are learning the language in a way I’ve never experienced before. Instead of conquering grammar and then learning to speak it, we are doing the inverse. This past week, I’ve been in Italian class for fifteen hours and have learned how to introduce myself, order food (extremely important for me), count numbers, and many other tasks. Along the way we have learned how to conjugate verbs for the first, second, and third singular persons, but have yet to conquer plural and other tenses. The kicker: we get a coffee/gelato break during class. Welcome to Rome? I think so.

[Me with my first Gelato in Rome on my break]

Art and Architecture of Ancient Rome

Close your eyes and imagine Dori from Finding Nemo. This is my professor for Art and Architecture of Ancient Rome. I kid you not, she is just as energetic as her, but the coolest part is that I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so passionate about what she does. She was so excited about Ancient Roman Wall Paintings in Ostia, Italy that it made me excited to go see them. Wait a minute…What is an Ancient Wall Painting? This similar situation occurred multiple times throughout the class, so even though it isn’t the most interesting of topics, I feel like this will be the perfect example of a class being awesome because of the teacher. The kicker: We only meet in the classroom two more times, for the midterm and the final.

Business Ethics and International Marketing

As a business minor, I was very excited when I heard that business classes were going to be taught in Italy, let alone the fact that they were going to be taught by Dr. Abela. Both classes are smaller than five students and are very much steered in whatever topics we are interested in. For the Business Ethics class we are analyzing Ethics from the philosophical standpoint but are the also applying it to fictional case studies. The International Marketing class is built solely on case studies but is extremely interesting because they all have to do with business conducted in Italy.

The kicker: Since the Business Ethics is so small, we are meeting in a café. So legit.

Despite how interesting all of the classes sound, I am willingly stating that it might be one of the most academically challenging semesters as well. Most of the classes are heavily weighted toward the midterm and final. On top of this, there is a massive amount of reading involved, but when you can do your reading in Campo di Fiori or in front of the Vatican, I realize there is not much room to complain.

Highs and Lows

Highs:

Just walking through rome. I know that it is so cliché, but you can literally get lost in the alleys of Rome for hours and not be bored. The streets are so pretty and the stores are so interesting that it sparks your imagination for hours.

My Classes: Refer above.

My Italian: Because I love food, I base every example I am able to off of it. Last Monday when I went out into the city, I attempted to order a mozzarella e prosciutto Panini in Italian. I can safely say that I completely butchered it. How do I know? The shop owner answered me back in broken English: “This one you want?” I begrudgingly said yes, paid, and walked out. When they answer you in English, it means that they don’t even want to attempt to converse with you in Italian because they know you won’t understand. Tonight though, I went into a store to buy a sandwich and dessert. People on the streets most likely thought that I was a loon, because for the five minutes walking to the shop, I took myself through the conversation to reassure myself that I knew the words, but sure enough I walked in, found what I wanted, pointed to it, and asked “Vorrei questo?” (which means “May I have that?”) Sure I am not ordering a four-course meal with an aged bottle of red wine, but at least I can survive.

Lows:

Everything here closes on Sunday: When I say that everything is shut down, I mean everything is shut down. I live in a pretty hopping part of town and after walking for thirty minutes around lunchtime today; I found one pizza shop open. Not even their equivalent to Safeway was open. It’s just frustrating, especially to a man with an empty stomach.

The Italian Language: I know that I said this in the last entry, but one of the most frustrating things is walking down the street and hearing no English. It sounds extremely menial and obvious, but it is something you take for granted in the States. Passing by people and not understanding a word anyone says is extremely isolating, but it’s starting to slowly get better as I ascertain more of the language. I’ve come to realize that it will never result in a big victory, but the small victories build up. Example: On day one of Italian I found a coffee shop somewhat close to school, but was unable to understand anything the shop owner said to me while I ordered my coffee. After playing an awkward game of charades and blurting out the three Italian words I knew, I ordered my coffee. A week later though, I was able to actually introduce myself and have a small conversation with her.

I guess I am actually learning something after all.

Goal for next week: Be able to drink an espresso without cringing

Funniest Moment of the Week: After a long day of walking around Rome on Saturday, my friend Erin and I had to go to the ATM to withdrawal money. It was around nine at night, so the bank was closed, but you had to insert your debit card outside of the building in order to enter the building to access the ATM. She puts her card in, we go inside, withdrawal money and go to exit the building. Neither her nor I can read any Italian and so we come to the conclusion that the only way out is to press this button. But we don’t know if it is actually a button to open/unlick the door, or an alarm. We took our chances and figured out that it was to open the door, but we laughed the whole way home.