A Day in the life of… An American girl trying to live like a Roman (plus some other pics)

The plan:  I wanted to spend my free weekend in Rome enjoying the slow pace that the Romans are famous for approaching life with (except when driving, of course).

Goal 1: wander around the streets of Rome, possibly entering one of the several Rome’s more obscure sites, which I will be less likely to convince others to go with me to.

Goal 2: Sit at a café and read, preferably finishing some homework in the process

Goal 3: Eat a real Roman meal, preferably not Pizza or Pasta, and ideally the famous Roman oxtail

Goal 4: Finish writing postcards

The execution:  wake up, 1^st load of laundry, go for a run, fold other peoples clothes, hang up my clothes, load #2 of laundry, shower, hang out load #2, realize I can either spend 5 euro at a café or buy fresh food from the market, go to the market, make myself a cup of coffee, sit down for attempt #1 of homework, get distracted by recently awoken roommate, make food, attempt #2 at homework, get distracted by facebook and skyping with Hillary, resume attempt #2 at doing homework, decide to attempt becoming politically aware, get frustrated and become distracted by facebook again,

get ready to go out for my Roman meal, appreciate my mother’s amazing foresight as I dress myself entirely in clothes from the package she sent me, make my way to the Jewish Ghetto with friends for said Roman meal, order the Roman delicacy-fior di zucca with Shaily, decide not to order oxtail because it is 20 euros, ponder being adventurous and ordering the “Lamb XXXX” which is fairly cheap, decide to ask the waiter what the “lamb XXX” dish is, let out a sigh of relief that I decided to ask because I almost just ordered lamb heart, make a quick last minute decision and order a PASTA dish, “Saltimbocca alla Romana,” let out a sigh of joy at the end of my delicious meal, only to find out the bread we ordered was 2 euro/person, not 2 euro/table,

Sit at a trendy little café, drink an espresso (note: only non-Italians EVER order a drink with milk in it after noon), talk with friends, walk to bus stop in Rain, stand at the bus stop in the Rain for 35 minutes, arrive home, load #3 of laundry, one last attempt at being Politically aware, BED.

Wake up the next morning and realize that I stink at being Roman and decide to start the attempt all over again.

Goals accomplished- 1/2 of #3

Despite my lack luster attempt at completing my goals this past Friday, I was slightly more successful on Saturday and Sunday- On Saturday I decided to check out this awesome museum called the Crypta Balbi, which my friend from Ashkelon, Robyn told me about and I also tried a different artichoke dish at dinner, the artichoke alla Romana. On Sunday, I decided to wander through Prati (the neighborhood on the other side of the Vatican from where I live) on my way back from church only to find that now that it is March, tourists have decided to descend on Rome in legions, making me fear for my life more than once as I crossed the street and confronted a mob of people trying to walk the opposite way from me!

Here are some random pictures of old stuff that I have neglected to post, mostly from my on-site class adventures around Rome- enjoy!

The circus Maximus! I had this wonderful little moment last week when I was running late for my on-site, which was meeting at the entrance to the Palatine Hill, and I realized it would save me a couple minutes to cut through the middle! Who would-a-thunk that this ancient stadium would one day become the perfect shortcut?

Me in the colluseum!

Trajan's column

Temple of Julius Divius (the temple Augustus built for his deceased adopted father)

A small scale reconstruction of the Ara Pacis (I couldn't seem to get the whole large one in a camera frame)

Arch of Titus

the booty from the temple of Jerusalem depicted on the Arch of Titus

Shaily and I were wandering around the city center one day and stumbled upon a little treasure of a paper/card store! The man was very nice, helped us with our Italian, and even gave us a demonstration of how he colored all the paper! So cool!!! Surprisningly, I walked out of the store without buying anything...I may have to change that very soon!

The finished product!

So I forgot to tell you that I went to the Vatican Museum on my weekly Thursday Museum excursion with Shaily! Unfortunately, I am really bad at remembering to take pics of myself, and not just things, so I thought I'd throw this one in to break up the monotany of all the old stuff I've been seeing! Unfortunately, I need to work a little on my self portraits! To prove that I am at the Vatican, look in the upper right corner and you can see St. Peter's dome barely sticking out from behind my big head!

One of my favorite parts of the Vatican was its extremely large collection of maps (go figure), besides the hall lined with large maps on the way to the Sistine Chapel,  there was this smaller collection of maps which showed the discovery of the Americas, and the continual of updating of its coastlines!

The Etruscan part of the museum had the most amazing views of the city! I liked this one because it has a tennis court, or I did anyways until I realized that the Vatican had taken very little care of it and was in dire need of replacing the net (I guess that means that our current Pope isn't very fond of tennis?)