Europe's Largest Flea Market

Every Sunday, Rome has the pleasure of hosting Europe's largest flea market. Last Sunday, I went to check it out. It was, indeed, rather large. We started in the middle of the tents, and only stopped every few minutes..it still took a few hours to get to one end!

It was a little different than I was expecting. I thought it would have more hand-made items and fresh food stands, but most tents had clothes--some normal, some hippie, some american-esque (with the Italian version of Engrish), some vintage; shoes, socks, underwear, dresses, pants, shirts, winter coats..everything. There was a section with pets: hamsters, birds, turtles, and fish. There were tents with rummage-sale type items (however, I did find a killer harmonica that I bought!)
There were only a few with hand-made items. One tent had African masks that I got yelled at for taking a picture of. There were a few stands selling "burgers" (they use the term loosely here), hot dogs, pizza, and sandwiches. Some stands selling artwork.


The salespeople are a big turn off for me. They're very pushy and demanding and in your face and yell at you if you walk away from them. I personally enjoy shopping in peace.



However, it was a fun Sunday afternoon activity. And now we know where to get absolutely anything we could possibly need!

A Brief Word on Roman Showers

Showering in Rome has been the coldest experience of my life, hands down. If you know me at all, you know that being cold is my least favorite activity. The shower in my apartment stays warm for about five seconds, if it warms up at all; the rest of the time is ice water.

Lucky for my shower, it's still really hot outside. But I hope it knows this won't fly in the winter time.

Weekend Trip #1-The Amalfi Coast: Sorrento, Capri, and Pompeii

This map shows Vesuvius, Pompeii at the base,
and Sorrento, where our hotel was located.

This was our first weekend adventure with API, the study abroad program I'm here with. We met on Friday morning and took a bus partially up Mt. Vesuvius. [One word on the roads in Italy: they weren't built for cars. This means they definitely weren't built for busses, which makes for some interestingly tight squeezes and terrifying moments. The road winding up Vesuvius was no different.] The bus dropped us off at a trail, which lead to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. The hike was about 45 minutes. I don't think it was actually a difficult hike, but between just getting of a bus for a few hours and the altitude change we were getting pretty tired on the way up. However, the view was worth it. We could see part of the way down the middle of the volcano, the clouds, and the surrounding cities.
After the hike, we took the bus down to our hotel in Sorrento. We stayed at Hotel Klein Wien,  [One word on this hotel: the lobby is on the 5th floor. And there is only one key per room. This means that you have to drop your key off on the 5th floor upon leaving, and pick your key up on the 5th floor upon entering. Why this seems to make sense to anyone is beyond me.] which was a ten or fifteen minute drive from the "downtown" of Sorrento. After quick showers, we were driven downtown, where we had a group dinner complete with giant plate of appetizers, gnocchi, and cake for dessert. After dinner we were free to walk around the city. There were lots of little shops that were open fairly late, as well as karaoke bars, limoncello factories, and benches near the water. I bought a Sorrento apron, which I'm super excited to use in my ceramics and painting studios once I return to UC!


Saturday morning we had an early wake up call so that we could take the boat to Capri! When I took a short trip to Italy and Greece in high school, we also went to Capri and I was so excited to go back. It was the most beautiful day for it! First we had a two hour boat tour completely around the island. Then we were free to explore. There are three basic levels of cities on Capri: Marina Grande at the bottom, Capri, and Anacapri towards the top. The first task was getting up to Anacapri. We decided to take a convertible taxi. The roads on the island were no wider or less treacherous. Once we made it to the top alive, my roommates and I went to lunch, then took a chair lift to the very top of the mountain. Here was another beautiful view. Much like on top of Vesuvius, I felt like I could see the entire world stretching out in front of me. I love seeing boats the size of ants and enormous cliffs the size of my pinky finger.
I kept my eyes open for the famous celebs that live in Capri, but I didn't see any. After a lovely day, we went back to town in Sorrento.


We got to Pompeii Sunday morning, and had a tour around the ruins. It's amazing to see how big the excavated area is (although only a third of the entire city has even been excavated). We saw streets that were once full of shops, buildings that were once home to families, and plaster casts that were once real people, suffocated in the thirty feet of ash that covered the city when Vesuvius erupted. We also saw the penises in the streets and the brothels (Pompeii was one of the most openly sexual ancient cities), as well as the forum and the stray dogs that were everywhere!


These trips, and any time we're with our entire API group (about 80 students I believe), it is stressful and a little bit crazy. Sometimes it feels like I've known these people forever, sometimes it seems like I've never met half of them; sometimes it feels like high school, sometimes people don't know how to control themselves. Sometimes it's not fun traveling in packs of American students.
So it was nice to be home*.
*That's the strange phenomenon that this trip brought about: this "weekend away from my Italian vacation," as Peter put it, made me feel relieved to be back in Rome, as if I'm returning home. While I was away from this new place for a few days, it was becoming more like home to me.

Capri

As Capri is the most beautiful place I have ever imagined, I would love to just post some photos. I'd like to say that I haven't edited them one bit (that means the colors are real). Wait till you see the water. I've been dreaming about coming back to this place since I was first here five years ago.

Ps-you can click on the photos to see them bigger. Also, I'm trying to get an online album up and working but I'm confused. But once I have one I'll post the link!

First Impressions

The view from the patio of
the Hotel Tiziano, where we spent
our first few nights.

So let's see. I survived the plane ride over between two Italian men. I almost lost my carry on bag in the airport, but I retrieved it. I made it through customs (they didn't even open our passports), and I found my group!
The first two nights we were in a hotel. We kept busy with group orientation, walking tours, and exploring the city. The third day we moved into our apartment. It is rather large, has nice wood floors, and is completely furnished by Ikea. It is way nicer than what I expected!

The view down my beautiful
street, Giulio Cesare in the
Prati neighborhood.

The first few days of my trip, I was just getting information thrown at me: places, squares, piazzas that I'm constantly getting lost in and discovering and walking in circles around and recognizing landmarks and trying to remember where I live; people that I'm trying to keep track of and remember their names and their schools and if we have much in common; new words and phrases that I'm trying to translate and decipher and remember and pronounce.

Now that it's been almost a week, I feel like I'm starting to settle down.
I'm starting to recognize street names and important buildings, and sometimes I even know where I am. I've been successful enough to get kicked out of St. Peter's Square by the polizia late at night. I've stumbled upon crazy buildings like Castel Sant'Angelo while trying to find my school. I've found the nearest ATM (bancomat) to my apartment, as well as the supermercato, gelateria, and some friendly restaurants in my neighborhood. I've also successfully ridden the metro to a few places.

These are things I now have the
pleasure of seeing every day.

I've fallen into groups of people that I find myself hanging out with more often than not. I know them and already feel comfortable around them. There are other people that I'm still talking to and enjoying getting to know. And then there are a few people that it is harder to get to know for whatever reason.

I've tried, and sometimes failed, to have conversations with the locals. If they know some English, it can go pretty well. If they only speak Italian, I have to rely on their hand gestures. I've learned a few key words and phrases, like "canino" (puppy!), "vorrei..." (I would like..), and "no parlo Italiano," (I don't speak Italian). However, I've found most of the people incredibly friendly and willing to work with us Americans. HOWEVER, I'm still very excited to start taking my most helpful Italian class!

The view from our free portion
of the beach in Sperlonga

When we aren't taking care of paperwork or school documents or permits of stay, we've mostly been walking around and exploring. It's awesome, but it's tiring! Therefore, we rewarded ourselves with the beach. Today we went to Sperlonga, which we heard was the cleanest beach around Rome. It was about a 20 minute metro ride, then an hour long train ride, then a 20 minute bus ride. It was a really nice beach! The water was so clear and a great temperature. We sat in the free part so we didn’t have to pay, but it was a nice way to relax.



Tomorrow is a day of rest and birthday cake for one of my roommates before classes start Monday. I’m excited to get into the groove of a schedule. So far, this trip still feels like a short vacation.