Futball and Valentine's Day

Last Saturday, we went to a soccer (futball) game. It was Roma vs. Palermo. We won 4-1! It was very interesting though...we went to the wrong section but they let us in anyways. It turns out that we were in the season pass section. So where the hardcore fans sit and where they have violence sometimes. No worries, there wasn't any violence but we were just about the only girls and everyone around us was smoking pot. It was still a fun experience though!

Some of us decided to treat ourselves for Valentine's Day by getting dressed up and going to dinner. I've always loved Valentine's Day, even when I don't have a boy to share it with :). My girlfriends and I have always had little get-togethers with desserts and treats. And maybe I like that the colors are pink and red. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day as well!

Fashion Week (Fall2010)

I know this has nothing to do with Italy, but it is my passion. So, I'm going to share some of my favorites from New York Fashion Week which is going on right now! Who knows, maybe I'll be working at it this time next year. :)

Diane von Furstenberg

Lela Rose

Marc Jacobs

Tracy Reese

Saving my favorite for last...Rebecca Taylor. She blew me away with her designs for fall. I love the textures she mixes together, the way she styles her pieces and the overall wearability of her clothing. So cute!

Neve!

I think everyone got snow yesterday but we really weren't expecting any. Maurizio had said something about it in class, but we just didn't think anything of it! So when we woke up yesterday morning we were like kids in a candy shop. We were all so excited! Here a some pictures from us playing in the snow. Enjoy!

Fun Italy Facts

These are some things that I found interesting that I didn't know about Italians. So hopefully you will too!

-Italians marry later than Americans

-Many Italians live with their parents until their 30s (Mom and Dad, I bet you'd love that, right? ha!)

-A lot of Italian women keep their maiden names when they get married

-Many people think of Italy as a Catholic country, which it is, but a lot of Italians do not practice it

-Appearance is everything in Italy. It is called La Bella Figura

-Lunch is not served until after 1 pm and dinner is not served until after 7:30-8 pm

-You don't leave tips unless you leave a few small coins

-Most Italians do not drink cappuccinos after 11 am

-Italians count with using their thumb first

-Italians use a 24 hour clock (still not use to that yet!)

A little story from today... Jessica, Julia and I went to dinner and the weather was awful. It was so windy and rainy, I was having to use my umbrella as a shield in front of my face. Then Julia takes a tumble down the hill (which was a little funny :)). So we get into the restaurant and we're being seated and this man comes up to us and is just talking gibberish and doing strange hand gestures while cracking himself up. Our waiter tells us he drinks for free there if he rolls the silverware in the napkins. Oh, and he also has on a sweater with a button up shirt over it with flames all over it, but its open. So, after dinner I go to the restroom and you have to go through 2 doors to get to the toilet. While I'm using the restroom, the light turns out. I start to freak out because I swear that man has come after me ha! So I hurry and get up and push my back to the door in case he tries to open it. I'm trying to talk myself through it and I'm thinking can Julia and Jessica hear me if I scream? I'm thinking I'm going to have to do some self defense moves and karate chops. And this is all in the dark by the way. So I swing open the door as fast as I can and ready to scream.....and I find nothing. I guess the light was on a timer. Just a little funny story! Silly me!

Here are some pictures from a girl in our group's 21st birthday and others....

Everyone on the trip minus Madelin (who was taking the picture)

Kelly, Brittini (the birthday girl) and I

Back to Ariccia after Genzano

Me and Porchetta because I love it so much...NOT :)

On Friday we walked to Genzano, the other neighboring town besides Albano. It was a lot bigger than Ariccia and very pretty! That night Jessica, Laurel, and Julia went to this restaurant and had pizza for the first time! It was delicious!

Saturday, we rode the train to Rome. We had to go to three different places to buy train tickets and we thought we were going to miss the train because it left at 10. Well it didn't leave until 10:25, so we ran all the way for nothing. Once we got to Rome we shopped - which was wonderful! We were trying to find a store called Zara and I saw a lady with a bag. So I went up to her and said (well probably yelled) "Za-ra...Do... you... know... where... Za-ra... is?", because I just assumed she didn't know English. Not the best assumption...she starts spitting out perfect English. She probably thought I was the retarded one! ha I'm definitely not going to do that again!

That night a girl in the group had organized a pub crawl. So we went and checked into our hostel -my first and maybe last experience in a hostel. Just kidding, tt wasn't too bad...I'm starting to figure out we're pretty spoiled in the U.S. We had 4 girls in our room and a sink. The toilet and shower were community. At least it was only 9 Euros!

The pub crawl was hilarious and definitely an interesting experience. I was expecting maybe 20 people to be going...nope, it was more like 150! People were from everywhere. About 50 of them were from Denmark and they're not kidding when they say Denmark is a happy country. They were singing Denmark songs like it was their job. One of the pubs was really nice and very chill. For the other two...just imagine you're in karma on Jersey Shore. Italian guidos were everywhere. I felt like I should've been fist pumping at all times! But we danced and met some Australians so it was very fun! Oh, and people here like to dress up to go out. So there were bunnies and people from the 70's. It was very interesting! Here's a few pictures...

On our walk to Genzano...

Genzano!

A pretty window...

Roma!

The Spanish Steps...

Even their ceilings have detail!

Friends!

The Coliseum (don't know why this is underlined)

"I'm proud to be from the land of hamburgers"

Today we went to neighboring towns of Ariccia; Castel Gandolfo (my favorite!), Frascati, Montecavo, and Nemi. We had a wonderful day today exploring around these beautiful towns! I took tons of pictures, so I'm going to let those do the explaining...

This is a villa in Frascati...

Frascati is know as the town of the 3 breasted woman, so they have these cookies everywhere. Two breasts are for milk and one is for wine!

Frascati has places where you can bring your own food and sit outside but buy and drink their wine. This is very popular in the summertime.

This is in A Notte Castellino in Grottaferrata, the "Iron City", and we went to a place where Monk's live.

This is church in the middle of where the Monks live.

This is where the Pope spends his summers, Castel Gandolfo

View of Lake Albano...

The town of Castel Gandolfo

The town of Nemi...

Nemi is known for their tiny strawberries.

Cute villas in Nemi...