Friday was the day of the Talent Show! After reviewing our corrected exams, we practiced our skits a little more before gathering with the other classes for the event. Outgoing Jim, one of the students from the program, narrated the Talent Show, announcing each group or individual before they performed.

The performances ranged from a recitation of an excerpt of Dante’s Inferno, a cooking show, a sing-along, a version of Cinderella, and of course, my class’s comedic skit—and everything was in Italian for the most part. I liked the cooking show, which compared a typical American snack of PB&J to an Italian snack of baguette and Nutella. The girls passed out plates of samples to the audience, which I especially enjoyed! The students who performed Cinderella also did an impressive job. They translated a shortened version of Cinderella into Italian and tinkered with the ending a little, incorporating some inside jokes that all of us students from the program understood. It was really cute and a lot of fun!

After the Talent Show concluded, we played a game of charades for the remaining class time. If you haven’t seen my latest episode, “La Lingua Italiana,” be sure to check it out, because it has clips of this not-so-typical final day of Italian class!

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The end of October marked the end of our 8 weeks of intensive Italian classes. The first course we took throughout September, and then throughout October, we completed a second course. I took the final exam Thursday, Oct. 26th. It was the last language exam I will ever have to take! The exam wasn’t too difficult, and after we completed it (and following a coffee break), we came back to class to practice for a talent show the next day.

Friday was our last day of class, and we were having an Italian talent show to celebrate. The various levels of Italian classes we participating, which included most of the students in my study abroad program. My class only has 7 students in it, and due to traveling plans, 3 of them weren’t able to make it to class Friday! So, the remaining 4 of us, were working together to produce a comedic skit.

Thanks to the creativity and effort of Jeff, we had a script in Italian with which to work Thursday afternoon. The skit involved a ditzy American girl who is visiting Italy and eager to try to use her meager knowledge of the Italian language by striking up a conversation with a reserved Italian man reading a newspaper on a park bench. After butchering a greeting (calling him “Signora” instead of “Signore”), she continues to try to talk to him, despite his efforts to brush her off. I was the narrator for the skit, and the other three students played the American girl, her friend, and the Italian man.

The skit contained some nice plays-on-words and made fun of the cultural & language misunderstandings that can take place when Americans come to Europe. The skit was targeted for an audience who knows both Italian and English, and was therefore well-appreciated by many of the students and Italian teachers. It was a lot of fun to do, and I enjoyed the acting of my classmates, Christine, Kimmy, and Jeff, who pulled off the skit quite nicely.

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After our theology midterm exam, our professor took us to the Vatican museums, which I had wanted to see. Before we left the classroom, though, we learned a little more pope and church history as well as info about the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s work on it. Pope Innocent VIII is who began the collections of art that would later become the Vatican museums.

There are about 12 museums, I believe, but we only went through a couple of them. There was a lot of nice religious paintings, tapestries, frescoes, even altar pieces, as well as statues. Our professor took us through and talked about some of the paintings and works of art that we saw, including ones by DaVinci and Raphael. Then he let us continue on by ourselves to wait in line to see the Sistine Chapel and explore the other parts of the museums. I went to the Egyptian rooms and saw some really interesting art, artifacts, and tombs.

I got pictures of a lot of the things there (the only place photography was strictly forbidden was the Sistine Chapel); be sure to check out my album and see all the art!

In one open section of the museums, we could look out over a quiet little courtyard, that’s part of the Vatican and wasn’t open to the public. The museums are technically part of Vatican City too, but public space, so we could go in without our passports or special permission.

Vatican City is an interesting little entity; it’s a sovereign city-state, and therefore the smallest independent nation in the world! It houses the Apostolic Palace, which is the Pope’s official residence. To get into Vatican City, you can’t just come up with your passport and ask to visit, but you have to be invited or have some sort of business there (a meeting, need to use the Vatican library). And to even use the library, you have to have documented scholastic proof that you’re working on something that requires your use of articles in the library. It’s very exclusive and rather difficult to get in! The Swiss guards live in the city as well as protect it. They are the smallest and oldest army in the world, having been founded in 1506. The Guard consists of about 100 men, and they function as the personal body guards of the pope as well as restrict entry to Vatican City. And, did you know, recruitment to the Swiss Guard is restricted to Catholic, male, Swiss citizens? Interesting. The whole Vatican thing is interesting and weird. I mean it’s a whole other nation right in the middle of Rome! I’d like to try to get in and see what’s its like, with all the priests and cardinals walking about inside. I’ll work on it, and let you know if I make any progress…

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I just had the best Roman morning. Just when I was thinking I’d had a boring week of studying and a quiet weekend with nothing to blog about, I had a great experience in my neighborhood as I went in search for breakfast. I was just going to go the usual pasticerria (pastry shop) one block over that I have gone to for breakfast on weekends a couple of times, when I realized I needed to find a bancomat (ATM) since I was down to 2 Euro in my change purse (although 2 Euro can often suffice for an Italian breakfast, I never like to be limited monetarily when pastry shopping!).

As I walked down Guido Reni to find a bank (I was two blocks away from my apartment), I noticed down a side street this little bakery that I had heard about called “Dolce Forno.” Based on someone’s description of its location, I didn’t think it was located this close to my house. I also noticed what looked like a bank down this same side street, so I headed that way and found a bancomat to get some cash.

Then, I went over to Dolce Forno to check it out. It has pizza, breads, and all sorts of delicious looking pastries! They also have bags of cookies, breads, and other treats, as well as a refrigerator of cakes. As soon as I stepped in, I knew I would become a regular in no time. It seemed like a popular place as it was packed with locals, and I had to take a number and wait to be served. When #53 was called, I ordered a crepe-like pastry with chocolate and ricotta in it, a couple of chocolate chip biscotti, and two other little round sandwich shortbread cookies (one w/ nutella and the other with orange in the center).

As I left the little dolci heaven I’d just discovered, I was facing the “Mercato” (market) building, which I had seen from the other side a couple of weekends, but had never gone in. From what I could tell from seeing it before, it looked like an open air market, but in a building, and I believe it’s only open on weekends. I had told myself before that I’d go in someday, and this morning I made the decision to make today the day. And am I ever glad I did!

I must have looked funny walking around in awe if anyone in the busy crowd even noticed. There were all sorts of stands, some with fresh fruits and vegetables, others with eggs and dairy products, one with wines, some with used books and movies, one with jewelry and cosmetics. A number of the shops against the walls were like mini grocery stores, with packaged items as well as display cases of some fresh stuff. At these places you waited in line, then ordered at the counter and the workers would get you everything you wanted off the shelves and bag it for you. Each stand was individually owned and so you paid at each one as you went along and bought stuff. There was even a little coffee bar with bins of little candies inside. There was also a cheese shop with meats, cheeses, and fresh homemade pasta that you can take home and cook (which I plan to do!). Then there was a shoe and bag repair guy sitting in one corner hammering a pair of shoes. There was so much to see and so much going on! It was busy but a lot of fun. I plan to go back to buy fresh food and cook dinner on weekends sometimes. My roommate’s excited about it as well because we both like to cook. This time I only bought a couple of things because I was mostly just taking it all in. But it was really exciting for me; I love things like this! I would much rather shop at this place than the supermercato for groceries. And this market is just a block from my apartment; I think I will definitely be returning every weekend I am here in Rome.

After being thoroughly filled with excitement from the indoor marketplace, I went back outside, where there were more vendors along the sidewalk, mostly selling clothing (all sorts of sweaters and jackets for winter), underwear, shoes, bags, DVDs and other items. I glanced at everything as I walked back towards my house. I then stopped in at a coffee bar three buildings down from my apartment for a cappuccino and pastry to eat at the bar. I got a delicious cappuccino, complete with two hearts drawn on top in chocolate syrup by the barista, paid the 1.60 Euro for the Italian breakfast (where in the US could you get your morning coffee and a pastry for $2??), and headed back to my apartment.

It’s little discoveries and experiences like these that make me glad I get out of bed and just walk around this beautiful city!

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