When in Rome

Classes have begun. I am taking Greek 101, History of Thessaloniki, Greek Art History, English Composition and Stats. All of them have under 20 students, the professors take attendance at the beginning of every class and all the classes are in the same building...definitely not at Brown anymore. I am allowed to miss 6 days of each class, if I miss more I will automatically fail the class. After the first week of school I will already be down to 4 days. To celebrate Brown's 250th anniversary the US ambassador has invited any students studying in Eurpoe to Rome for a dinner reception Thursday night. Anna has decided to stay in Greece and climb Mt Olympus on Saturday and Sunday as part of a planned optional trip through ACT. It was a hard choice, but I am using 2 of my skip days and meeting Carolyn, who is studying in Barcelona, and Chris, who is studying in Scotland, in Rome. Then on Friday we are taking a train to Pisa and staying there for a night. For now, Italy > Mt. Olympus.

I don't know why I bother to arrive at the airport 2 hours early. Just like when we flew to Crete, it took 10 min to go through security and then they don't start boarding the plane until the sceduled depart time. For security, they don't require you to put all your 3 oz liquids in a quart size bag, nor do they even check your liquids. Shoes don't have to come off and computers don't have to be taken out of your bag and put in a separate bin. But I found all that is nothing compared to what they do when you have a full water bottle. I always forget to drink my water or pour it out before I go through security. When they found my full water bottle when we flew to Crete, they held it up and told me to drink it. They stood there watching me at first and then just walked away before I even finished. When they found it in my water bottle holder on the outside of my backpack today, I thought they were going to make me chug it again. Instead, they gestered to pour it out but then just shrugged their shoulders and put it inside my backpack.   

I guess I should expect the unexpected when flying cheap airlines. After waiting to take off for 40 minutes the pilot announces that they have found a broken piece on the plane that needs to be replaced and it will take another 4 hours to do so.  I finally arrive in Rome at 4:45, take a shuttle to the train station to take a bus to our apartment. Walk into the apartment at 8:00, just as the reception is ending. Carolyn walks in 30 minutes later, she got lost on the way to the reception and missed it as well. We meet up with Chris and Alex, who is studying with Chris in Scotland and will be a transfer student at Brown this Spring.  They actually made it and were just getting back! However, the ambassador had already left when they arrived there...meeting him just wasn't meant to be. 

The next day Carolyn and I wake up early to visit the Collosuem. We arrive and find out that I am not allowed to enter with my suitcase, just our luck. We are about to leave but then decide we will just take turns going in, and are we glad we did. 

Next stop, Pisa. We try to make the 10:12 train but of course, after sprinting through the station, we miss it by seconds. Maybe a blessing in disguise though, we were able to relax and have a little more time in Rome and have our first Italian meal...pasta, bread and gelato. Still don't know the real difference between ice cream and gelato, but gelato is 10x better.

We hop on the 12:12 train with Chris, Alex and two of their other friends from Scotland and arrive in Pisa around 4.  Once we drop off our luggage in our apartment we head out to find some Pisa pizza. Chris came down with a bad fever so he stays behind, and to continue with our streak of great luck, the food is terrible. Carolyn's pasta was cold, Megan described her's as "good but tasteless", and for the pizza, one never came and the other two were just plain bad. 

  

leaning on the tower

Arno River

We remain optimistic and decide to walk around.  Other than the leaning tower of Pisa, there really isn't much to see in Pisa.  However, the night we were there marked the 950th anniversary of the day the first stone was laid down to build the tower.  There was a festival to celebrate and an open market too.  The streets were absolutely beautiful, just how I would imagine Italian streets, but better then I could picture in my head.  

gelato round 2

Greek Cuisine

Out to lunch in Vergina after exploring Phillip II tomb:

During orientation we learned how the "Greek dance" and later that night went out to dinner as a group to implement what we learned:

Peter Pan: This is Joe's favorite place. She knows many people here and has taken us a couple of times before we have gone out. Each time we have gotten a couple of appetizers to share.

tigania kotopoulo

horiatiko loukaniko

bougiournti - baked feta

Unique snacks:

The first time I went Jo's mom was when Jo took a couple of us over to her house and she made a Sunday brunch for us.  It reminded me of the Sunday dinner's we used to have at my grandparents house.  Such a homey feel, lots of food served family style and the sweetest mother.  I wasn't feeling well that day but didn't say anything, before we were about to leave Jo's mom said something in Greek, felt my forehead and then insisted I take some airborne.  Missing my family and mom it was so comforting to have a mother figure taking care of me. Although I speak hardly any Greek, and she speaks only a little English we were able to communicate with the few words we knew and facial expressions of warmth and love. A couple of days later Jo's mom came to our apartment building with more home made food! She made a traditional Greek dish called Pastitsio, it was out of this world!!

Pastitsio

Brunch on a lazy Sunday afternoon: Only a couple of blocks away is this local restaurant.  We arrived at around 2, the same time everyone was getting out of church and headed for a meal as well.  Again, we decided to get many dishes and share them all. And of course, it came with free dessert.

El Burrito: We have been trying to find a good Mexican restaurant and recommended by Jo we found just that! It is  down in the center of the city so we had to take the bus to get there but it was well worth it!! The atmosphere combined with the food might put it above and Mexican restaurant in the states.

This restaurant is only a 2 minute walk from our apartment building.  I have been wanting to go since the first day I walked past it.  I thought it was the cutest little place that looked so welcoming with decorative muti-colored lights outside and brightly colored wooden chairs and tables.  Jo finally set up a reservation for us all one night.  We paid 10 euro and got 4 appetizers, a main meal and obviously dessert.  The bougiournti (baked feta) here has been my favorite thus far. 

Famigliano: While Anna was running her half marathon Vanessa, Lauren and I got dinner. We ordered the Mac & Cheese with Cabanossi and "Karamanlidiko" sausage (Miran).

Treehouse:

Wine touring:

Dinner with Anna's parents!