Howdy!
It's been raining here this afternoon - quite the storm rolled in complete with lightening and thunder for about 2 hours. Some of the lightening was RIGHT above our house! I do love storms :-).
We have a 4 day weekend this week (I think All Saint's day might play into it??? Maybe? I'm not sure), so I'm going to head to Naples to visit some friends of my sister's. I'm looking forward to meeting them in person and hanging out for a bit.
This past week has been comfortably laid back. Wednesday evening I hosted a crepe party - inviting a bunch of friends and having my roommates invite people. Our guests trickled in for a couple hours, and I made countless crepes. We had a study group going on my bedroom at the same time for Clara and some of her fellow Italian students, so it was a busy evening, but it was also a blast to have an open house and just let people come and hang out. It also was a great excuse to buy some peanut butter and nutella for filling the crepes!
Thursday evening I babysat for little Evie again. We read a lot of books and went hunting for some monsters and watched some "Dora the Explorer." Friday I chilled with my roomies all afternoon, then met two of the folks from the N. Ireland team that lived with Bri and me for a week this summer for dinner. They were here in Rome on a school trip, so they made a point of calling me and treating me to dinner. Saturday night I went to a movie with Clara and Ellen and my friends David and Esther. We saw "Ratatouille" (in English!). Great movie!
Sunday I had church, of course, and it was the African fellowship's 6 year anniversary, so they fixed a meal for the whole church. I wasn't sure what most of the food was, but it was incredibly tasty! I met three girls - one who lives here in Rome and two that were visiting here for the weekend from N. Ireland where they are doing a study abroad - and REALLY enjoyed visiting with them. We made plans to meet up and go to dinner at a pub that another gal who attends the church and we'd been chatting with works. It ended up being a terrific evening of getting to know each other, with some DELCIOUS Italian food!
I've been wanting to start a college-age Bible Study sometime during the week to allow for fellowship, some accountability, and something to look forward to during the week. It's been challenging to figure out where and when to hold the study, but I finally decided on McDonalds near the Spanish steps because it's a pretty central location. I wasn't quite sure what to study, but then I realized I have a folder of notes from my church at home on their study through Ephesians, and I've read some of them, but I'd like to go back and do them a little more indepth... So I printed off a couple copies of the first couple weeks of the study and took them with me last week. It ended up only being Esther (a Swiss Au Pair living and working not too far from my house) and me last week, but it was still really good to open our Bibles together and go over Pastor Evert's notes. Tonight we gained an extra person - Christina, one of the gals who went to Perugia with me - and we had another great evening of fellowship (despite that we were all soaked from GETTING there in the storm!). McDonalds isn't the MOST ideal place for a Bible Study, but it does work! AND, coolly enough, after we finished tonight and we throwing away our rubbish, one of the workers came up to us and asked us if we were Evangelical Christians (in Italian). We said yes we were and her face just lit up! Her name sounded something like "Matteeah," so if you think of it, pray that she'll be working next week as well! I wish we'd taken more of an opportunity to try to connect with her, but Christina had to get to the metro by 9PM and we only had about 5 minutes. Matteeah also introduced us to several other people - I think they were workers there, but I don't remember for sure, and I think they were also evangelical believers. I was a little lost on the Italian during that part... But I'd love to get to know them more!
Lastly, I signed up for classes for next semester. It's looking like I'll have another 4 lit classes (Gengre of Fiction, Genre of Poetry, Survey of English Lit II, the Victorian Novel) and a Classics class (Classical Mythology) on my plate. I'm also going to try to work with the community college back at home and see if I can take an arranged class for American Lit and transfer those credits in. I can't transfer any credits in of my last 30 for my degree, and after this semester I'll be sitting right at 87, I think. Since I only need 120, I'll need to get the three credits from the American Lit class BEFORE I finish spring semester... We'll see if it works... And I'll be SWAMPED while I'm trying to do all of them! But it would be a lot cheaper than being here an extra semester or doing a summer class.
I'm going to head to bed since I need to get up in the morning and tackle some homework. Hope all is well in your corner of the world!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
21 October 2007 - Life's little details
Hello!
I feel like I'm learning stuff in school, but it's also true what people say: Living overseas is like LIVING in a classroom of cultural understanding.
Here are some things I've been learning OUT of the classroom:
- Italians like their hot chocolate thick! I went with four other ladies to a chocolate festival this weekend in Perugia, and it was FREEZING... So, seeing as it was the only LOGICAL thing to do, we bought a couple cups of hot cocoa throughout the day. We had the choice of buying either chocolate with milk, or just dark chocolate. Either way, it was thick like pudding! And quite tasty...
- High heels sound differently on cobblestones versus being on blacktop. And there is a certain kind of blacktop they use here that absorbs sound. I think if tested, I could probably identify each type just by audio prompting.
- At bars and certain BIG gelaterias, you pay at the cash register for whatever you're ordering, and then you take your receipt with you to the bar to order your cornetto and capuccino or gelato.
- Pizza is usually eaten folded over because the crust is really thin. When you order pizza at a restaurant, you get a whole, personal pizza that is at least 12 inches in diameter... But it's not terribly difficult to eat the whole thing because (a) it's tasty! And (b) the lack of thick crust means you aren't filled up on bread.
- Water from the tap is never done in restaurants.
- Cheese and honey makes a tasty combo. I like fresh Asiago or mozzerella.
- Italian apartments are designed nicely for hot weather... But not so much for when it gets really cold!
- It's possible to run on Via del Corso (one of the main drags of shopping in Rome), but it's gotta be early in the morning, otherwise the pace is more of slugs pace with all the tourists.
- Pasta should not be overcooked. It should retain it's shape and ALMOST have a crunch to it. And sauce is not the main part of the pasta (sad! Tomato sauce with meat is the main reason I eat pasta!), the sauce is just a light dressing.
I'm sure this list will have many more additions, but that's all I've thought of at the moment!
Here's some pictures from the last little while. Enjoy!
Ellen excited about dinner at the architect student's apartment
Brian grating cheese for dinner
Ben and John hang out and try to look cool while dinner's being fixed
Everett, the little guy I got to babysit last week, with his BIG boy "Finding Nemo" puzzle
Evie and me
Day trip to Perugia! L-R: Christina, Tammy, Jackie, and Makenna
Overlooking Perugia
Some chocolate on a stick that I bought. It turned out to be really disappointing... they had some weird flavoring in them. :-(
Jackie and I with hot cocoa and chocolate-dipped bananas
Christina and me with the Nesquik bunny!
This is where I go to church... right next to the Louis Vuitton store
Inside the sanctuary at church
Pizza Margherita!
Friends from church L-r: David-the-Australian, the girl from Finland (her name sounds a bit like "Tina," but I'm sure I'd slaughter the spelling!), and Melissa from Chicago
I feel like I'm learning stuff in school, but it's also true what people say: Living overseas is like LIVING in a classroom of cultural understanding.
Here are some things I've been learning OUT of the classroom:
- Italians like their hot chocolate thick! I went with four other ladies to a chocolate festival this weekend in Perugia, and it was FREEZING... So, seeing as it was the only LOGICAL thing to do, we bought a couple cups of hot cocoa throughout the day. We had the choice of buying either chocolate with milk, or just dark chocolate. Either way, it was thick like pudding! And quite tasty...
- High heels sound differently on cobblestones versus being on blacktop. And there is a certain kind of blacktop they use here that absorbs sound. I think if tested, I could probably identify each type just by audio prompting.
- At bars and certain BIG gelaterias, you pay at the cash register for whatever you're ordering, and then you take your receipt with you to the bar to order your cornetto and capuccino or gelato.
- Pizza is usually eaten folded over because the crust is really thin. When you order pizza at a restaurant, you get a whole, personal pizza that is at least 12 inches in diameter... But it's not terribly difficult to eat the whole thing because (a) it's tasty! And (b) the lack of thick crust means you aren't filled up on bread.
- Water from the tap is never done in restaurants.
- Cheese and honey makes a tasty combo. I like fresh Asiago or mozzerella.
- Italian apartments are designed nicely for hot weather... But not so much for when it gets really cold!
- It's possible to run on Via del Corso (one of the main drags of shopping in Rome), but it's gotta be early in the morning, otherwise the pace is more of slugs pace with all the tourists.
- Pasta should not be overcooked. It should retain it's shape and ALMOST have a crunch to it. And sauce is not the main part of the pasta (sad! Tomato sauce with meat is the main reason I eat pasta!), the sauce is just a light dressing.
I'm sure this list will have many more additions, but that's all I've thought of at the moment!
Here's some pictures from the last little while. Enjoy!
Ellen excited about dinner at the architect student's apartment
Brian grating cheese for dinner
Ben and John hang out and try to look cool while dinner's being fixed
Everett, the little guy I got to babysit last week, with his BIG boy "Finding Nemo" puzzle
Evie and me
Day trip to Perugia! L-R: Christina, Tammy, Jackie, and Makenna
Overlooking Perugia
Some chocolate on a stick that I bought. It turned out to be really disappointing... they had some weird flavoring in them. :-(
Jackie and I with hot cocoa and chocolate-dipped bananas
Christina and me with the Nesquik bunny!
This is where I go to church... right next to the Louis Vuitton store
Inside the sanctuary at church
Pizza Margherita!
Friends from church L-r: David-the-Australian, the girl from Finland (her name sounds a bit like "Tina," but I'm sure I'd slaughter the spelling!), and Melissa from Chicago
Thursday, October 18, 2007
18 October - Gelato discounts and midterms
So, midterm #1 happened today. It was my Survey of English Lit class. I think it actually went OK. We had a paper with 9 quotes from different literature that we've read, and we had to pick 5, identify them, and write about them - basically anything we could think of that went with them - theme, content, structure, social/historial significance, etc. We only had 75 minutes to complete it, though, which was barely enough time for me. I don't know exactly how hard she'll grade things either, because we turned in our first paper last week and she hasn't got them back to us yet.. I guess we'll see! I liked the structure of the test, though, it was pretty low-stress in terms of studying for it.
Last night I went running with a couple of my architect friends, and then met some other people in my Survey class to study back at school. On my way home I was walking past my favorite gelateria and I decided I'd get some gelato. There were two girls inside who were debating what kind of gelato they were going to buy. They were American tourists. I said, "I highly recommend the canella. It's my favorite, I don't think you'd regret it." And they said, "OK, sure, we'll try the canella." So they got their ice cream, left, and I greeted and exchanged pleasantries with the guy who was working (not the older gentleman who is usually there - I think it's is son). Anyhow, I paid him with a 5 Euro bill for the 2 Euro cone, and he gave me 4 Euros back and said that it was only 1 Euro for me that day. I was excited because a) I understood what he said to me IN ITALIAN! b) I got gelato for cheap! and c) because I feel like I'm officially part of the neighborhood! :-)
Last night I went running with a couple of my architect friends, and then met some other people in my Survey class to study back at school. On my way home I was walking past my favorite gelateria and I decided I'd get some gelato. There were two girls inside who were debating what kind of gelato they were going to buy. They were American tourists. I said, "I highly recommend the canella. It's my favorite, I don't think you'd regret it." And they said, "OK, sure, we'll try the canella." So they got their ice cream, left, and I greeted and exchanged pleasantries with the guy who was working (not the older gentleman who is usually there - I think it's is son). Anyhow, I paid him with a 5 Euro bill for the 2 Euro cone, and he gave me 4 Euros back and said that it was only 1 Euro for me that day. I was excited because a) I understood what he said to me IN ITALIAN! b) I got gelato for cheap! and c) because I feel like I'm officially part of the neighborhood! :-)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
October 16 - putting off a paper... :-)
Hi All!
I have happy news! I just purchased a local area (from the 360 area code of WA, at least) phone number through my skypeIn account... SO, help me use it and get my money's worth! I have it for 3 months, and if it's worth it, I'll subscribe for another 3 months. The number is 360-312-7632. AND, perhaps the best part, is that I have voice messaging, which means even if I don't answer (like if I'm sleeping or at class or my computer is dead), you can leave me a message and I can listen to it later and it'll just MAKE MY DAY! :-)
I dropped out of my Italian class today. It was a little sad to know I won't get to spend 2 hours twice a week with my Italian teacher (a very sweet Italian lady), but it has relieved a little stress to just be able to focus on the 4 lit classes. And yes, I know, I'm a whimp - only 12 credits. But... I know there are aspects like finances and stuff like that, but I kind of want to ENJOY college, and feel like I'm actually getting something out of my education. Other than just cramming information into my brain, that is!
I made EXCELLENT chocolate cookies to fuel the apartment's midterm studying session tonight. It's amazing what you can do with good ol' Nesquik, butter, flour, soda, salt, eggs, and milk. Practically everything I make is trial and error, so it's always an adventure, but that is what makes it so fun. I'm not sure I'll ever go back to using a recipe book! :-)
Oooooh-kay... I've been putting off an analysis for a Wordsworth poem all day. Actually all weekend... but it's due tomorrow so I'm GOING to get it done before I go to bed! And since It's 9:27PM, I should hop on it!
Love,
Dani
I have happy news! I just purchased a local area (from the 360 area code of WA, at least) phone number through my skypeIn account... SO, help me use it and get my money's worth! I have it for 3 months, and if it's worth it, I'll subscribe for another 3 months. The number is 360-312-7632. AND, perhaps the best part, is that I have voice messaging, which means even if I don't answer (like if I'm sleeping or at class or my computer is dead), you can leave me a message and I can listen to it later and it'll just MAKE MY DAY! :-)
I dropped out of my Italian class today. It was a little sad to know I won't get to spend 2 hours twice a week with my Italian teacher (a very sweet Italian lady), but it has relieved a little stress to just be able to focus on the 4 lit classes. And yes, I know, I'm a whimp - only 12 credits.
I made EXCELLENT chocolate cookies to fuel the apartment's midterm studying session tonight. It's amazing what you can do with good ol' Nesquik, butter, flour, soda, salt, eggs, and milk. Practically everything I make is trial and error, so it's always an adventure, but that is what makes it so fun. I'm not sure I'll ever go back to using a recipe book! :-)
Oooooh-kay... I've been putting off an analysis for a Wordsworth poem all day. Actually all weekend... but it's due tomorrow so I'm GOING to get it done before I go to bed! And since It's 9:27PM, I should hop on it!
Love,
Dani
Thursday, October 11, 2007
11 October - Class cancelled!
Hi All!
My Italian class got cancelled this morning - well, it was more like our teacher didn't show up - so rather than taking the test I was stressing about last night, I find myself sitting in the computer lab waiting for my next class... PERFECT time to FINALLY get a new blog post up!
I had a draft from a couple weeks ago that never got published... sorry about that! I'll try to catch you up.
School is going OK. I'm still enjoying my classes - good thing about studying in my major, although honestly, I've always been able to find SOMETHING I like about ANY class I'm taking, I think. Along with enjoying the content of the classes, I also like picking up teaching techniques from the teacher I really enjoy. It's great to have new examples to observe and learn from for my future teaching endeavors. There are some things I want to definitely NOT do too... :-)
I've been developing social circles around here too. I spend a lot of time with my roommates Ellen and Clara. Church has also been great for meeting people - there's a group of Architect students in Rome this semester from Arkansas State, and a handful of them live in the Trestevere area right near my school. Several of them go to church - which is how we all met - and they're great about letting me hang out and tag along with them. I've roped Ellen into the crowd too, now, after last weekend in Cinque Terre with them.
There are two couples at church I always enjoy chatting with too - Toy and Doug are newlyweds who are here for a semester while Doug teaches. Toy was a Creative Writing major and always asks about what I've been reading and learning in my Lit classes. Laura and Jason (and their little guy, Everett) work with Campus Crusade for Christ here in Rome and last Sunday they invited all the university students to their home for a chili feed. It was amazingly good to have chili and cheese and fritos :-).
I haven't done much traveling locally because several weeks ago I flew home to the states for a long weekend to attend my Gpa's memorial service. I was able to get out of my Wed and Thur classes, and we had a makeup Friday class but I got out of that too, and flew home on Wednesday. I was in WA by midnight Wednesday night. I had all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before getting on a plane Sunday morning to arrive in Rome on Monday morning JUST in time to make it to my three afternoon classes. It was GREAT to be home, but it was hard to readjust once I got back, and being gone took a toll on my school performance. I had a paper and a test Tuesday and Wednesday after getting back, and I wasn't terribly happy with my results on either! These next two weeks are "mid-term weeks," so I'm feeling a bit of pressure to get my grades back up.
Other than that, life here has settled into a routine. I have classes Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Sundays are usually spent at church and lunch afterwards. Friday and Saturday are my homework days, although Ellen and I want to get a couple more day trips in. Probably not this weekend, though, because I've got two papers due next week!
I'm REALLY going to try to get pictures up on here this afternoon... I also need to go grocery shopping, pick up the keys from church, and start the homework efforts, though, so we'll see! Soon, though, I promise!
Love and Hugs!
Dani
My cousin Scott. He came through Rome with some of his family. We all went to the beach one day!
My sand castle in Nettuna
With Val and Heather while I was home
The girl cousins
Meg and I both flew in for the weekend
.JPG)
The five of us at Max and Liv's soccer games
Back in Rome - gelato with friends (L-R): Andrew, Jasmine, Kyle, Callie, me, Ellen, Ben, and John
With Gladiator Mickey at the Disney Store on Via del Corso
With a WA State Senator, Val Stevens, in the Lemon Tree Courtyard at school
Ellen and me on our way to the Cinque Terre with my favorite guide book!
At the beach on Monterosso
Taking a break on a cute little bridge
The beautiful hike between the villages
After a couple hours on the train - sweaty and tired!
The real side of Ellen and Clara :-)
My Italian class got cancelled this morning - well, it was more like our teacher didn't show up - so rather than taking the test I was stressing about last night, I find myself sitting in the computer lab waiting for my next class... PERFECT time to FINALLY get a new blog post up!
I had a draft from a couple weeks ago that never got published... sorry about that! I'll try to catch you up.
School is going OK. I'm still enjoying my classes - good thing about studying in my major, although honestly, I've always been able to find SOMETHING I like about ANY class I'm taking, I think. Along with enjoying the content of the classes, I also like picking up teaching techniques from the teacher I really enjoy. It's great to have new examples to observe and learn from for my future teaching endeavors. There are some things I want to definitely NOT do too... :-)
I've been developing social circles around here too. I spend a lot of time with my roommates Ellen and Clara. Church has also been great for meeting people - there's a group of Architect students in Rome this semester from Arkansas State, and a handful of them live in the Trestevere area right near my school. Several of them go to church - which is how we all met - and they're great about letting me hang out and tag along with them. I've roped Ellen into the crowd too, now, after last weekend in Cinque Terre with them.
There are two couples at church I always enjoy chatting with too - Toy and Doug are newlyweds who are here for a semester while Doug teaches. Toy was a Creative Writing major and always asks about what I've been reading and learning in my Lit classes. Laura and Jason (and their little guy, Everett) work with Campus Crusade for Christ here in Rome and last Sunday they invited all the university students to their home for a chili feed. It was amazingly good to have chili and cheese and fritos :-).
I haven't done much traveling locally because several weeks ago I flew home to the states for a long weekend to attend my Gpa's memorial service. I was able to get out of my Wed and Thur classes, and we had a makeup Friday class but I got out of that too, and flew home on Wednesday. I was in WA by midnight Wednesday night. I had all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before getting on a plane Sunday morning to arrive in Rome on Monday morning JUST in time to make it to my three afternoon classes. It was GREAT to be home, but it was hard to readjust once I got back, and being gone took a toll on my school performance. I had a paper and a test Tuesday and Wednesday after getting back, and I wasn't terribly happy with my results on either! These next two weeks are "mid-term weeks," so I'm feeling a bit of pressure to get my grades back up.
Other than that, life here has settled into a routine. I have classes Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Sundays are usually spent at church and lunch afterwards. Friday and Saturday are my homework days, although Ellen and I want to get a couple more day trips in. Probably not this weekend, though, because I've got two papers due next week!
I'm REALLY going to try to get pictures up on here this afternoon... I also need to go grocery shopping, pick up the keys from church, and start the homework efforts, though, so we'll see! Soon, though, I promise!
Love and Hugs!
Dani
My cousin Scott. He came through Rome with some of his family. We all went to the beach one day!
My sand castle in Nettuna
With Val and Heather while I was home
The girl cousins
Meg and I both flew in for the weekend.JPG)
The five of us at Max and Liv's soccer games
Back in Rome - gelato with friends (L-R): Andrew, Jasmine, Kyle, Callie, me, Ellen, Ben, and John
With Gladiator Mickey at the Disney Store on Via del Corso
With a WA State Senator, Val Stevens, in the Lemon Tree Courtyard at school
Ellen and me on our way to the Cinque Terre with my favorite guide book!
At the beach on Monterosso
Taking a break on a cute little bridge
The beautiful hike between the villages
After a couple hours on the train - sweaty and tired!
The real side of Ellen and Clara :-)
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