Roma, Italia.

So.

Laura, Georgie, and I have recenly returned from a week-long trip to Italy during our half-term break. (It was really a 'pause pedagogique' meant for studying, but...)


Our first stop? Rome:

Upon arrival, it was drizzley but mild. we set off from the Termini train station to find out hostel. It was a bizarre experience: we found my name on a note taped to the door of the address on the directions from the hostel's info. print out. The note told us to go to the nearby laundromat. Once there, a guy took us to another building and up some stairs to a tiny little apartment called "Rosa's B&B". Funny, considering our hostel was the "Korean Rome" or "Rome Korean" or something. All was well, and the hostel/B&B was fine, really, just... a bit odd to get that sorted.

We got settled and decided to find the tourist information center to acquire a map, but as we were then mapless, we went to the bookstore inside Termini and I studied the map in the back of a tourist guide. We set off and quickly became lost. after some grumpy confusion and walking around, we decided to return to Termini for a snack (McDonald's for the first time in Europe for me) and a map from a Tabacchi. Afterwards, we headed out for a wander, stopped at the Theatre Cafe for a drink, sat at the Trevi Fountain, and stopped in for pizza slices on the way to the Byron Cafe. We shared a bottle of wine and had a good chat before returning to the hostel for sleep.
Trevi Fountain.

Georgie, me, Laura.No idea why I look so displeased. I really enjoyed the fountain. And I really enjoy Georgie's company, too! ;)
With Georgie, this time looking much happier. As it should be..





On our second day, we learned it would be great and sunny, so we immediately walked to the Villa Borghese. It's an old estate that now houses art galleries, but is also a huge, green-y park. It was beautiful, just as Georgie had predicted, and we spent a long time basking in the warm sunshine...

Ferns make me think of dinosaurs...


Following the Villa Borghese, we traversed the city to the Pantheon. On our way, we passed through the Piazza del Popolo where Georgie found a wallet on the ground. After turning it in to the police (and waiting a good 20 minutes for them to finish looking through Laura's passport) we continued on our way, stopping off at the Spanish Steps and finally reaching the Pantheon, which is really an architecturally fascinating building. Grabbed a yummy panino at a small, busy shop run by one man and walked on to the Piazza Navona to see Bernini's Fonata Dei Quattro Fiumi and then to the Vittorio Emanuele II monument, which is huge, starkly clean-looking, and quite impressive. It happens to be located just at the edge of the Roman Forum and Coliseum, but, unluckily, both were closing just at our arrival. We spent time in before going out to dinner again that night.

With Georgie in front of the Pantheon, in our matching outfits.
One of Laura's great panoramic shots. From the Villa Borghese, looking down to Piazza del Popolo.
Spanish Steps.
Piazza Navona: Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi
Vittorio Emanuele II monument


Saturday morning, Laura, Georgie and I set off for the Vatican. we queued for more than a halfhour before entering the museums where we saw some great sculptures, very ornate ceilings, and, of course, the overcrowded Sistine Chapel. We moved on to St. Peter's Basilica, a building which I love for being so overwhelmingly huge and for containing such stunning sculpture, painting, and architecture on the inside.
Vatican Museums.Beautiful ceilings in the museums.
Really awesome lion.
Can't remember who this waaaaas...St. Peter's Basilica.
AHahahahahahahahahaha.
Outside in the Piazza, we then met up with two of Laura's close friends from home: Cara and Ruth. Both are also spending a year abroad, albeit in other countries. We had lunch while listening to some awful 12 year old learning her first song on the violin (or at least that's what it sounded like...) and then split off after agreeing to meet for dinner. Laura, Georgie, and I strolled along the Tiber after a stop off at Castel Sant'Angelo in order to return to the Villa Borghese for the afternoon. Dinner with Ruth and Cara was really great, and we wandered back to the Trevi Fountain.


On our last morning and early afternoon, we went to the Coliseum and Roman Forum together and enjoyed more beautiful weather and the end of our time in Rome!
Roman Forum
Gladiatorrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssssssssss.




So, there you have it. A brief recounting of our adventures in Rome. I've used several photos from Laura, and she's a brilliant photographer, so if any of them seem particularly excellent.... they're hers.

As this is a small selection of the numerous photos of our trip, feel free to check my facebook albums to see the rest!


Next update, coming very soon:
Florence.

Behh, oui, trop longtemps...

Il faisait trop longtemps..

It’s been a while, really. A month, almost.

My b.

So, anyway, as a general update about my schooling here (since my parents are worried that I partypartyparty and traveltraveltravel instead of actually attending classes….)

I’ve changed my schedule around a bit, as two of the courses I’d signed on to take were going to be impossibly difficult. As it stands, I’m taking Persian, a masters course in linguistics, a masters course in literature that focuses on racism in Britain in the 20^th century, and linguistic theory.

Persian is still pretty boring as far as actual class time is concerned, but I’m trying desperately to stay motivated in case I somehow receive a CLS scholarship for this summer. (I’m supposed to find out by “mid-February” which is, in fact, very soon..) Effort, effort. Must find effort!

Language and Space is taught in English by this really great professor. His style of teaching is much, much more American than anyone else I’ve encountered here at Lille III and it’s not only comforting, but very effective for my learning. We get to talk about really interesting things. Posture verbs, motion and manner verbs, and grammatical constraints on them. :D Loads of other things too, I’m sure, but we’re only a few weeks into the semester.

My course about race relations in Britain is potentially my favorite. It’s at 8:30 in the morning on Tuesdays, but the professor is amazing. He’s completely awake, full of energy, and likes to make sly comments. He’s very knowledgeable and the course itself is fascinating. I’ve never learned much of anything about Britain and I know only vaguely about race relations in the US, so it’s really wonderful.

Linguistic Theory is a final year course for French majors who are specializing in linguistics. My professor is compleeeeeeetely boring and lectures the entire 3 hours 9:30-12:30 and then again another hour 2-3. Straight lecturing and reading from a paper, basically. Luckily, it’s been mainly about historical linguistics and language evolution/families/typology which is what I love. It’s not been too difficult, though last week, my professor said a few words in French that I had never heard previously (so I pretended to write them down in my notes while panicking.)

In any case, my courses are really going just fine and I still have loads of free time here.

Well, I mean, not course-time. I mainly waste all my free time, and I’ve been much more social this semester.

But being social updates will have to wait until later, as I am about to go be social again.

Hopefully, à demain!