Settling into Rome

Sunday afternoon walk along the river

In an attempt to be more consistent about blogging my day-to-day life this semester, I thought I would share a few pictures and brief updates on how things have been going since my first post.

Throughout the rest of last week, I continued exploring sights around Rome, particularly the area around my school. I came across a few more iconic sights (the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon) as well as several open air markets. As I had read/ heard that it is expected to bargain at most outside markets here in Rome, I figured I'd give it a try. It was pretty pathetic considering my Italian language skills are still very poor, however I did manage to get a small discount so I considered it a success.

Trevi fountain

Spanish Steps 

Outside the Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon - temple converted into a church

Outdoor markets

A note on Italian coffee and coffee culture - it's wonderful. But the coffee culture itself is very different. There are small bars/ cafes everywhere that sell inexpensive but delicious coffee (usually in cappuccino, espresso, or latte form), but it is more common to stand at the bar and drink your small coffee very quickly and then leave than to sit down and sip slowly over a drawn out conversation. It's very different from the Starbucks/ cafe culture in the US. You can certainly sit down and enjoy your drink and many places will serve it to go, but that's not as true to the "the Italian way."

Not having coffee the Italian way

This week I did start classes and its certainly nice to go back to lectures and class discussions in English (though I really do miss getting to practice my Spanish 24/7). I am taking one Italian class though, and it's mostly practical phrases and structures meant to help us through our semester abroad. I'll take back what I said in the last post about not catching on to Italian quickly, I think I just needed a few more days to acclimate as well as some structure. It really is very close to Spanish though, so that continues to be helpful. I think I certainly have my work cut out for me with my course load this semester, but so far all of my classes have been very interesting so I'm really looking forward to them.

Aside from all of this, we have had a little time to explore Rome's nightlife, especially in our neighborhood which is full of incredible restaurants, cafes, and bars. The city is beautiful and I feel so fortunate daily that I get to spend an entire semester here! I will be travelling pretty frequently, as I am hoping to see as much of Italy (and Europe) as possible.  That being said, stay tuned for a post to come after this weekend when I will be meeting up with other friends studying abroad throughout Europe in Dublin, Ireland!

I won't tell you how much gelato I've had

Street art around school