No, I’m not in China

I have found myself a nice rhythm here in Rome. No longer does it feel like I am in a completely foreign place; it’s amazing how quickly St. Peter’s Dome has become a regular sight to my eyes (though at night it still takes my breath away), I find myself, when I am not late for class, meandering along the sidewalks along with the lazy flow of Romans, and I have even made myself a friend with the cheese guy at the fresh market! Last weekend I spent all but one day here in Rome, just enjoying being with my apartment mates and wandering the streets of Rome. We wandered down to the Jewish Ghetto on Friday night, hoping to get their famous fried artichoke and were disappointed to find out that they had closed down at sunset for Shabbat (how I didn’t see that one coming, I don’t know! You would think I’d spent no time trying to travel on Shabbat in Israel!). In our despair over the artichokes, we wandered around Trastevere a little bit and came upon this amazing little bakery and I got to eat my first fresh cannoli!! In Italy, they make the shells early in the day, and when you ordered a cannoli they get the cream out of the refrigerator and fix it up right in front of your eyes! Since that bakery is only a stone’s throw away from school, I foresee many midday breaks and study sessions occurring at the little tables outside the bakery!

On Saturday, I ended up taking a last minute trip with some new friends to the little medieval town of Bracciano. What is Braccianno known for, you may ask? Why, hosting Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding in their Castle, of course.  Despite that little blip in their history, Bracciano was an absolutely charming city. My first visit to a Medieval castle was every little girls dream (though as it turns out most princesses aren’t as nice as they are in fairy tales- one of the ladies of this castle was so bad, I’d rather not write about it), we had so much fun wandering around the narrow maze of cobblestone streets that wound around the hill beneath the castle, taking pictures of the lake that it over looked, and eating gelato in the main piazza while watching a group of boys play soccer (oops, I mean football). By far my favorite part of the day was the 2 ½ hours I spent waiting and then eating in this tiny little restaurant called Trattoria di Regina. We had been told by the information lady that it was the best and cheapest place in town, and were therefore disappointed when we arrived to find a small line out in front, as we were about to leave to find somewhere else to eat, we were persuaded by the Italians waiting there (only one of whom spoke English) that this restaurant was well worth waiting for. Unfortunatley in Italy, many restaurants close down mid-afternoon and reopen later in the evening for dinner, and this tavern was closing at 2:00 (we arrived about 12:30). We began to get anxious as 2:00 drew closer, and almost no one was leaving the restaurant (Italians take FOREVER to eat), and since there were 4 of us, when a table opened up it usually didn’t seat four people. Luckily, thanks to the encouragement of our newfound Italian friends, we were the last ones seated, and we enjoyed a wonderful, cheap lunch, topped off with a slice of tiramisu!

This week has been memorable because of 3 things which occurred:

1)      1) A midnight run to one of the best gelato places in town! We live right down the street from Old Bridge Gelataria, an absolutely delicious and cheap ice cream place which also happens to be open till 1:00Am- perfect isn’t it! My roommates and I were up late on Tuesday night studying (I had my first test and quiz the next day), and what a better way to encourage studying than with a mix of crema, pistachio and nutella?

2)       

      2) I saw some of THE terracotta warriors! They are on display right now in the Julia Curia (the senate house in Julius Ceasar’s forum) as an east meets west in the 1^st c. BCE, comparing the two great empires.

3)    

             3) I got sick. Getting sick is never fun, but when your in a foreign country it is really not fun! I experienced my first real bout of homesickness, worsened by the fact that our internet gave out so I couldn’t use skype, so I finally gave in and called my family from my cell phone, amazingly parents can make you feel a little bit better thousands of miles away!