Friday, Sarah, Katherine, and I went shopping since we have all day off until Italian class at 4:00. We were lucky that the rain held off, because Thursday it had rained all day (our first rain here though in two weeks!), and it was supposed to rain Friday as well. But, we got a nice sunny, although a little too hot, day to explore the shopping in Rome. So, we decided to start at Campo de' Fiori, which is a square that’s near the American universities in Italy (our school is north of there). This square has an open air market every morning, so we decided to start our day of shopping there. They had vendors of all kinds, with stands displaying fruits, vegetables, flowers, souvenirs, jewelry, clothes, kitchen gadgets, meats, and more.
After we perused all the market had to offer, we moved on towards Via del Corso, where there are a lot of clothing shops. On our way, we passed a couple of street vendors where we looked at sunglasses, purses, wallets, and souvenirs. A couple of purchases later, we were en route to Via del Corso once again. We walked up Corso, stopping in any shop that looked like it had some cute clothes or shoes. It was fun to see all the Italian styles and fashions; some clothes were very similar to what we might find in the U.S., but some were more uniquely Italian or European. We tried on all sorts of outfits, modeling them for one another, and then ended up buying some reasonably priced items for ourselves. Katherine got a cute pair of dark red pants and a long skirt. Sarah purchased a stylish black dress, a wallet, and a black & silver necklace. I got three pairs of shorts, a fun black dress, and the same necklace as Sarah (we just vowed not to wear the necklaces on the same day, although we both showed up Monday with black shirts and the necklace on oops!). Overall, we were happy with what we’d found and couldn’t wait to do more shopping in other parts of the city in order to continue to build on our Italian wardrobes!

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If you’re ever in Rome at the beginning of September, be sure to check out La Notte Bianca, which is where the whole city stays up all night downtown for food, drinks, entertainment and fun! Literally translated, it means “white night,” but basically means an all-nighter. Many bars, pubs, restaurants, gelato shops, etc. stay open very late on this occasion. And there are performances, musicians, and all sorts of entertainment around the city in the big squares. The one down side, though, is that the city is PACKED! People were all over the place! Romans, tourists, visitors from nearby cities and countries, all come out for this festival. It took forever to move from one place to another.
My Notte Bianca started with dinner in Parioli, which is a neighborhood near mine where some of my friends live. Katherine and I met up with our classmate Dan for dinner before we headed into the city. We found a place called Pastarito, which we discovered was actually a chain restaurant around Italy. We got some pasta, which was good, although the service was super slow. We normally wouldn’t mind the more relaxed Italian pace, but we were anxious to get downtown to meet with our friends for Notte Bianca!
Once we finished dinner, we headed for the metro, but that turned out to be MIA, we decided after waiting for over 30 minutes for a train to arrive. So, we went to the street and caught a bus to get to town. The bus couldn’t even go to the end of its line, in Piazza del Popolo, because there was too much traffic and masses of people blocking the way. So, he stopped a few blocks away, and we walked into the utterly packed square to meet our classmates.
After pushing and squeezing our way through the crowd in La Piazza del Popolo, we finally met up with our friends who had struggled through the streets from La Piazza da Spagna. We found a restaurant in La Piazza del Popolo to get drinks, and then headed up towards La Villa Borghese. We got to the top, overlooking the piazza, where they had music playing, and we talked and hung out for a bit. We tried to go into the park at one point, but the stairs leading up that way were too jam packed for us to get through. So, we headed down into the square and made our way down one of the streets leading off of it to a bar and pub to hang out for awhile. We wandered around the packed streets as well, and eventually headed back home via taxis. As we passed through La Piazza del Popolo on the way home, there was an acrobat performance in the square, which we stopped to watch before catching taxis.

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Saturday morning—I wanted nothing more than to sleep in. But, unfortunately it was my day to go to the police station with two classmates who live near me so that we could obtain our Permesso di Soggiorno, which is a permit required for any non-citizen living in Italy for an extended period of time. So, we woke up a lot earlier than I would have liked, and walked to a local police station to meet Anna, the program assistant, who would guide us through the process. She had collected from us all the documents we would need in the spring, and she gave them back to us that morning. While we waited for an hour and a half on the cold police station floor (which we later got yelled at by a policeman for doing, because we should stand or sit in the chairs (which were all full) at a police station, not sit on the floors b/c it’s not a bar… he said). So, we finally got called in, and went one by one to a woman who filled out our paperwork and created a permesso for each of us. We then went to a man in another room who completely covered both our hands in ink and took our finger and palm prints. After we all did this, we were free to go, as permesso- carrying visitors.
This same morning, most of the students were meeting with Dr. Dawson to go on a tour of the city, beginning at St. Peter’s and the Vatican, but we had missed the first part because we were at the police station. So, we called Dr. D to find out where they were, and met them at the Vatican. They were just finishing the tour of St. Peter’s! While we waited, I wanted to try to get into Vatican City to see the pope, but I was discouraged by Dan and Katherine who insisted that the Swiss Guards would catch me if I tried to run past them. So, we just took pictures of the basilica and outside of the Pope’s residence instead. Since we missed seeing St. Peter’s, we decided we’d go back together later for a tour.
Having joined Dr. Dawson and the other students, we then continued through the area near the Vatican (called the Borgo), and headed for a pizzeria, called Angeli del Borgo. They opened that afternoon just for our group, and made us a bruschetta variety for appetizers, fabulous pizza, and then panna cotta for dessert! And not only was the food amazing, but it was on the program, so we didn’t have to pay for it! I got the Bufala pizza, which was tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil, salt, olive oil, and garlic. Let’s just say I’ve been craving another ever since that lunch! We will definitely be going back whenever we’re in the area.
After lunch, we continued through the city into the Centro Antico of Rome, visiting Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the ancient ruins, and much more. I took tons of pictures! Check them out in my photo albums. My roommate, Katherine, and I were exhausted from the long day and headed back to our apartment around 5:00. We knew we’d need a little rest and rejuvenation before heading out for an all-nighter in the city at La Notte Bianca!

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Friday night we were invited by our professor and head of the program here in Italy, Dr. Dawson, to join him at a wine bar for drinks and snacks. The wine bar, Nuvolari, near his apartment, has a mini buffet of snacks like olives, cheese, veggies, and crackers, that is free with any glass of wine every Friday night. It’s sort of like Italian tapas, and is called “un apertivo.” So, most of the students from the program went together to the wine bar after our Italian classes Friday evening. We chose our wine from the menu, ordered at the bar, and then headed to a back room that had been reserved for our group. It was a great way to start the evening, and we all had a fun time talking in small groups and sharing wine, so that we could all taste different types. I tried a white wine called Pallas Doc Schwanberg, which was pretty good. I recorded that wine as well as a couple others that I tasted in a wine book that my sister gave me before I left. It’s a little pocket-sized green book w/ a pen attached that has spaces for you to record every wine you drink, where it’s from, and your remarks about it. I’ve been actually using the book to record all the restaurants I go to and what dishes I get at each as well! It’s a great way to keep a culinary journal of my time in Rome! We also got to snack on the little buffet, and some of us ordered dinner from the wine bar later in the evening. It was a nice candlelit atmosphere, and a great Italian way to spend our Friday night!

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