A Sunday on the Mediterranean

Now imagine me with a glass of wine in my hand. This is how I spent yesterday. My friend Francesco has a house right on the Mediterranean right outside of Rome. We went here with his friends Stephano and Massimo and my roommate Yolanda. It was a really relaxing day and we ate a ton of food and drank a lot of wine. After dinner we just chilled a bit on the coast watching the sunset and being lazy. I thought about getting in the water but it was a bit cold and I had no wetsuit to pee into. Oh btw, we also tried to see if the mentos/diet coke thing worked with mentos and coke light. Expect a video soon of that experience. Here are a few more pictures from the afternoon (For all the pictures Click Here):

Champions League Baby!!

So my goal when I got to Italy was to attend at least 3 soccer matches: an Italian International Game (which I already went to 3 weeks ago), a Serie A match, and a Champions League game. Well as you can see I bought my ticket for the Champions League Group Stage Match for AS Roma vs. Olympiakos FC. For those of you who don't know the Champions League is a tournament of all the best club teams in Europe. Italy has 3 teams in it this year, one which happens to be my favorite...AS Roma! Because I now have been to a game I had a good understanding of where the good cheap seats were. So I managed to get really good seats for 15 euro each. My Italian is getting pretty good so I can actually buy tickets speaking mainly Italian. Two of my friends (and native Romans), Antonio and Francesco Alto, are coming along. So I'm pumped. The game is on Halloween night, which is good because November 1st is an Italian holiday.

Tragedy in Rome

I've been learning a lot while I've been in Rome and God has definitely been putting a lot of things on my heart in my new home. Today was definitely no exception. Many of you in the United States may be slowly reading the news about the metro accident here in Rome. For me it is the first time that a world news story has happened so close to home and that I've been in a sense directly affected by it. If you haven't heard the news, during the morning rush hour two trains underground collided killing 1 and injuring another 60, about 10 seriously. For good reason, many people panicked that the occurence was due to terrorism. Although terrorism was not the cause, the exact reason for the accident is still not certain.

I take this specific metro every morning to get to my University. Fortunately, I take the metro south from my closest station. The crash happened at 9:30 am about 4 stops north of my station, in the heart of the center of Rome. I got underground at my station at about 10 am and I noticed a rush of a lot of people. I figured it was just a bunch of tourists that were lost because many people travel north on the metro from a smaller airport. I went to the line where the metro travels in the the direction of Ananigna, the last stop close to my University. Some lady told me the metro for Ananigna was on the other side, which is usually for metro in the direction of Battistini, the last stop on the other side (north). So from my little Italian knowledge, I gathered that due to some malfunction near the center, the metro was only traveling between my stop and Ananigna, which was fortunate for me. It wasn't till I got to my desk at work and turned on the internet that I realized the severity of the malfunction.

In a sense, I was overwhelmed. Because of the generosity of Italians here, I feel like Rome is very much my city as it is theirs. On the metros everyday, you see all kinds of people from the very young to the very old, to the rich to the beggars of the city. My heart ached for the people with whom I usually share part of my day with on the metro. Seeing a very elderly woman being rolled off on a stretcher just made me sad. The event allowed me to understand how people felt in NYC, Madrid, and London. All day, foreigners especially received phone calls from their family and friends to make sure all was OK. I'm very glad that the result wasn't worse. I'm also glad that the time here is ahead of the United States so I was able to e-mail and message friends and family before they would hear of the news on tv or the internet. All in all, I am safe and the only real effect to me is that my travel to my University was a bit delayed as things were being figured out.

Thank You!!!!

My mom and sister arrived safely to Italy this evening but unfortunately I was an idiot when it came to picking them up. I was supposed to meet them at the airport and to get to it I have to take a train for an hour long trip. I left at 6:45 to give me plenty of time to meet them at 8:30. Upon arrival I realized I went an hour in the wrong direction. So I arrived at a random station on the other side of rome at 8 and the next train didn't leave until 9:40. Thankfully my roommate went to pick them up by car. By the time I got back from my side journey my mom and sister had been at my apartment for like 30 minutes.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who sent things through my family or even just took time to sign the card I received. As many of you know, I'm not here as a study abroad student or even on Stint with Crusade. I don't have Americans that I'm constantly around. I'm truly an "internantional student" and I don't get much exposure to English or American culture in general. Sometimes being apart from all of that can be emotionally draining. Days that I'm around Americans, I get an overload of sorts. Just talking to my sister with straight up english while walking around took some getting used to. My language here is pretty much Itanglish now. Reading just even the smallest messages on a card easily made my day even better. I loved how many of you even in a short sentence were even able to share some funny personalized jokes. So thanks again to everyone. For each of you that signed the card, I'll do my best to try to bring you back something from Rome!

And the debate continues...Starbucks or Italian Coffee

OK...so coffee is a huge part of Italian life, but it is quite different than American coffee. I've been around a lot of Americans and a lot of them just simply miss their Starbucks (I've even seen a blog where one person actually wrote Starbucks to request a location in Italy). I have no problem in people missing Starbucks, shoot I wouldn't mind if they had Skittles in Italy. But for some fun, I would like to put my 2 euro cents in on the coffee debate. I'll judge by different categories...

Quality of coffee: One thing Italians don't mess around with is their coffee. Who knows if Starbucks coffee really comes from Asia or the Amazon like they say. And of course add in the debate of whether or not the coffee is fair trade. I like to avoid the political affairs, therefore....ADVANTAGE: ITALIA

Choices of drinks: OK...so in Italy you pretty much choose between a shot of espresso and cappucino. However, you can get your espresso lungo, normale, or macchiato. Starbucks has a bunch of choices, you can get almost any flavor unimaginable....mochas, frappucinos, pumpkin spice, mint lattes, you name it. The one thing I have beef with Starbucks is that they don't even take the time to figure out a lot of their translations. For example, the big size venti literally means 20. Huh? They could at least call it molto grande. And latte simply means milk. I have no idea why they call a drink a macchiato because that is really a shot of espresso with foamed milk on top. Because of the lack of culture I'm taking away the potential point of Starbucks....ADVANTAGE: STALEMATE

Other food options: Coffee is served in Italia in what is called a bar, no not a bar like in America. A typical bar has paninis, candy, soda, pastries, and some even gelato. Starbucks has a nice spread of muffins and cookies and cakes, but the fact I can get a kinder egg or beer in a coffee bar...ADVANTAGE: ITALIA

Price: No brainer. An espresso cost 50 euro cents and a cappucino cost 60 euro cents. Suck on it Starbucks and your corporate stock. :)...ADVANTAGE: ITALIA

Locations: Starbucks is rather impressive on their number of locations in the United States and around the world, but I have 3 coffee bars within 50 m of my apartment...ADVANTAGE: ITALIA

Speed of baristas: Unfortunately since Starbucks has so many drink choices, most starbucks baristas have to think about how to make each drink. Sometimes I wonder what takes them so freakin long. I still love you Amy L., Jeremy, Nate, Rebeka, Wendy, Dominic, and Dan, but Italian baristas are like Schumacher in a Ferrari while starbucks baristas are like kids on a bike with training wheels...ADVANTAGE: ITALIA

Atmosphere: Ok, so Italians don't spend much time in coffee bars. They drink and go. I love that Starbucks gives you a place to sit and chill and study. However, I'm taking away a point because if they offer wireless internet and charge you $3 for a drink that prolly costs 50 cents they could at least make the wireless internet free...ADVANTAGE: STALEMATE


Final Tally: Italia 5, Starbucks 0

This is just my opinion and I totally respect the fact that my opinion is a bit biased and that you can prefer Starbucks coffee. As a disclaimer, I don't mean to dog any of my friends who are starbucks baristas and lovers of the coffee. I'll probably still go to Starbucks when I return to the states. For one last funny quote, I asked Francesco what he would think if Starbucks opened here in Italy. His response, "C'mon starbucks would never last in Italy for the same reason you would never see a Pizza Hut in Italy. Italians would never give up their own coffee and only tourists would buy it."

Buddy Profile #1: Francesco

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Originally uploaded by airicmac.

To give you a better idea of my life here I wanted to share with you a lot of my favorite things about some of my friends here. A friend of mine told me once that any city can be awesome if you have great friends to share it with. I was told this when I was living in Cincinnati one summer. And that statement is so valid. No disrepect to Cincy, but most people wouldn't think of it as the best place to live but having great friends there made me really have good memories of that city. Of course Rome is that nice touristy city in Italy, but without great friends it is just a city.

So today I wanted to talk about Francesco. He is the guy on the right in the picture. The picture also has my co-worker/roommate Yollanda (who is from Spain), and her boyfriend Borca. Francesco is my co-worker in the lab and for all ya'll Materials Engineers, he works on solid oxide fuel cells. We have two Francesco's in our lab so Yollanda and I call him Francesco Alto to designate that he is the taller one. The other Francesco likes to be referred to as Francesco Bello and not Francesco Basso. F. Alto grew up in Rome so he is my insider to Roman life. He speaks very good English and always tries to make me feel comfortable by talking english to me or interpreting things for me that are in Italian. He also happens to be one of the people I'm switching places with as part of my exchange program. He's moving to Gainesville in January. So Gators, look out for him. Ladies especially, watch out! Without a car, I'm really limited in transportation but thankfully Francesco always is willing to drive me around. It's really funny because Francesco dresses very American (including American colllege shirts, Polo, Quiksilver, and Banana Republic). He's one of those that you would guess American when playing the American/European game. Another fun fact is that he perks up when you even just mention the name Rachel McAdams.

Here is another funny story about F. Alto. Last night, He and I went to dinner witih Alberto, another colleague of ours. We were talking in english and all of a sudden this woman walked into the restaurant. I think since we were speaking English he thought that he could say something in Italian without anyone understanding what he was saying, as if we were in America. Even without knowing much Italian, I was able to interpret that he essentially said "Wow, she has a nice set of bombs". Immediately after he said it he realized he said it loud enough for every Italian in our vicinity to hear it. He was very embarassed. Alberto and I proceeded to laugh completely out of our chairs.

Italy is soccer heaven!

So I had to make this post. I'm sitting here in my office at my university and I have a great view of an area where a bunch of the undergrads take breaks in between class. Here in Italy, there isn't much of a concept of a "campus" as we in America have. Buildings are spread out so students essentially hang out at the buildings where they have all their classes. So during this break, a bunch of students are outside just juggling around with a soccer ball. It amazes me that some of these guys look like average joes (with their italian style and aviator sunglasses) but they can juggle with some mad skill. Soccer, or calcio as it's known here in Italy, is not just a sport but it's the life passion of most people here. I've never seen so many soccer balls spread out in one city in my life. I'm trying to find a local sporting club where I can join some kind of rec team. My co-workers are also trying to organize a match for us. Thank god my mom is bringing my soccer boots when she comes this Saturday!

Italy vs. Ukraine

So as you may know, I got my first chance to go to a soccer game with a few of my American friends: Susan (in the Purdue shirt below), Catherine (in the picture with me), and Lisa. On a side note, I like how Catherine and Susan tell anyone they know that they picked me up on the street. At dinner one night I asked them if they wanted to go to the game and they said they were already going. So I went ahead and bought a ticket too. They were able to get tickets for 10 euros since they bought theirs ahead of time. I was forced to buy a 43 euro ticket because all the 10 euro ones were sold out. Not a problem because my ticket was on the 3rd row.

So after an afternoon of doing more sightseeing around Rome and unsuccessfully finding a restaurant to cure our Indian curry fix, we headed to the stadium. The game was nothing like I've experienced before. I'm close to saying that the atmosphere is better than going to a Gator game at the Swamp (don't shoot me though fellow gators). The match was between the Italian National Soccer team versus the Ukrainian National Team. It was part of the qualifying round for Euro 2008 (the European only version of the World Cup). Because it was a national team game and the fact that L'Azzurri (Italian Team Nickname "The Blues") are the world champions, the passion of the fans was incredible. Fun fact, the unofficial anthem of AS Roma and more recently L'Azzurri is "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes. So we did the "Bum, ba bum bum bum bum bummmmm" chant over and over again. After a heated match, L'Azzurri came out victorious. I was very proud to be waving my Italian flag high throughout the game. Here are a few pictures from the game:

Forza Italia (Again)!

I went to my first Italian Soccer Match tonight. It was a Euro 2008 qualifier between Italy and Ukraine. I'll tell more about the game in a future post but for now I made a video of the game so you can see what it's like. Italy won 2-0. Here's the video:
Download the Video Here

Get a Free Buzz in an Italian Bookstore...check

So I have many things on a checklist for me to do during my lifetime. Although the title of this post wasn't necessarily on the list, it became one as it was completed tonight. So I was washing my clothes in my bathroom when my roommate came in and told me he got this e-mail from this bookstore near the Colloseum. The e-mail informed him that they were celebrating the one year anniversary of their renovation and there was free wine, food, and live music. I heard free wine and I was already a go. So we took his scooter because all the metros and buses were shutdown due to a strike today (more on that later). So during the scooter ride we passed the colloseum, the roman forum, and a bunch of other cool buildings/fountains. Here I am just mesmorized by the sights while my roommate is calm and collected since he sees this stuff all the time. Well anyways, when we get to the bookstore there was a station which reminded me of an open wine bar at a wedding. Italian wine is awesome, but free Italian wine is even better. Plus they had a spread of bread, cheese, and sausage. So like the American I am, I decided to splurge on having 3 glasses of wine and loaded my plates with all the cheese and sausage I could get. The bookstore was pretty much all books in Italians so my roommate apologized because he thought maybe I wasn't having fun and then I was like I'm eating and drinking for free, what more can I want?! I was like...there is nothing in America compared to this. Anyways, that was my fun story for the evening. I hope you enjoyed that.

La Lingua Italiana e' bellissima!

One of my favorite things about being in Italy is learning a new language. I'm rapidly learning Italian because a) I'm taking a very intensive course for 3 weeks which lasts about 20 hours a week and b)I'm hardly around people that speak english. So it forces me to speak really fast. It is very gratifying to see progress in oneself whether it be being able introduce yourself or just simply being able to buy food completely in Italian.

Being an "international" student in a new country allows me to really connect with how my parents experienced coming to the United States. Both my dad and mom came to the States at about the same age as I am now. They of course had to deal with having limitations with a new language as well. Being here just over 3 weeks has made me come to grips with how badly Americans in American Universities treat international students. I mean there is a freakin Facebook Group at UF called "People Who Think Professors and TA's Should Speak English Fluently" that has over 2,000 people in it. If you are one of my friends who happen to read this and are in that group, I say "shame on you". Don't you think they are trying their best to learn the language? And trust me...those professors and t.a.'s are probably not fond of teaching students like you. Here in Italy the Italians have the biggest smile on their face when I even attempt to speak italian. When I mess up, they help me through it. Instead of biotchin about how International Students speak, maybe you should sign up to become an ELI partner with one of them and help them out with their English. If they are anything like me, they would love it. I for sure will make a point to do that when I go back to the states. Mad props to those who already do that (right Liz, Jess, and Andrew Lisi?...you guys rock my socks off).

One of my favorite questions other international students here ask me is "why in the world as an american would you come here to do graduate work?" My response: "Why not?! I'm in Rome for a year for cryin out loud". One of my friends in my Italian class is from Sri Lanka and said he had to choose from going to school here in Rome or in Mississippi State. I was like "Good Choice!". I love my Italian class. I'm the only American and only native English speaker. There are people from China, Argentina, Russia, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Spain, Germany, Indonesia, and even the Philippines in my class. We've all bonded really quick. My class today was given entirely in Italian and I actually understood stuff! I'm hoping by the end of the year I'll be able to consider myself fluent!