A Casa Mia

Since I am a bit behind on my blogging I have been keeping track of things in a word document... hence the dates.

January 15, 2010

 

So, I am moved into my new home. This place is biiiig, a lot bigger than I thought it would be and I guess it gets a lot of sun, we have a few balconies off the bedrooms and a wonderful view but it is pretty white and cold. We aren’t allowed to tape things on the wall so our colorful personalities will have to do. I’m so happy I can actually unpack now and no longer have to live out of my suitcase. I was actually surprised that I was able to repack everything, It was like I was leaving the hostel with more clothes than I came with, don’t ask.

 

Yesterday we had another tour of the city and then again today, it seems big but I’m starting to recognize some places and know where others are. Last night we went to this little tretorria (I’m not sure how to spell that) run by an old couple. It was wonderful; fresh made pasta, unlimited vino, homemade tiramisu. Also I tried some anise liquor in my espresso… no comment. It was super fun though. After that we all went out to a bar that was hosting a small concert, that’s when we found out that going out is pretty expensive. The big style here right now is these strange, shinny, puffy coats with a fur trimmed hood. They look pretty ridiculous but I’m sure you will all be wearing them when I get back. And we all thought that we would stick right in with our peacoats, what were we thinking. Next on the agenda was to go to a discotheque but I don’t think it opened until probably around 1 or 2 and we had to wake up early this morning, so we walked to the tail end of the walled in city, whatever it’s called, the old part, I don’t know, and two of the girls and I had to go to the bathroom, but you can’t really use a bathroom if you don’t pay for something. So we bought a bottle of wine and shared it in secret on a bench next to this bar called Bar King (say it out loud real quick). I know lots of people are reading this, don’t judge me, we recycled the bottle.

 

So yes, it has been fun. But school starts soon, we got our schedules today so I will need to start getting serious.

 

January 16, 2010

 

Today we met again with our group for a walking tour, Filiberto seems to like those, and then hopped on a bus to the “mall”. Grace (one of my roommates) and I brought backpacks so we could steal stuff… just kidding, there is a supermarket in the mall so we brought them as our “bags” so we wouldn’t have to pay for plastic ones. I bought a few essentials but I need to go out again today to get some fresh fruit, bread and eggs.

 

Everything shuts down here from about 2 to 4 I think? Well I know things reopen at 4 so in about 10 minutes I’m going to go out and hopefully buy a guitar… I’ll let you know how that journey goes.

 

So… I bought a guitar but I have been wanting one so bad that I really didn’t take the time I needed to to buy it. I should have actually sat down and played it before committing. The thing is, I can’t really afford to buy a better guitar than this because the price jumped from 44 to about 80 or 90 I think, but now I’m wondering if that would have been worth it. It’s a classical guitar so It’s a little different, and I’m not used to Nylon strings so I’m wondering if I should just buy new strings, but can you put steel strings on a Classic guitar? Help please; I know some of you are music people. I don’t really know what the return policy is here, so I’m thinking I’ll talk to Filiberto and see what he thinks, maybe I’ll just have to pay an extra 20 or more euros because I feel like I’m playing a toy guitar. Lots to think about. The guy who sold it to me was a very cute old man and he was very nice, he said that his son was in Seattle and then said (in Italian) it’s a small world.

 

That was a bit of a rant, sorry, anywho, after I came back to the apartment Carly (my other roommate) and I went out to get some fresh fruit and veggies and whatnot. We made polenta with a tomato sauce with no help from recipes and it turned out pretty good, I was proud. Then two girls (Molly and the other Grace) came over and we went to the other Grace’s apartment (I know a little confusing) there, we met up with some other girls and went to the Cinema Italia to see this Beatles cover band play. They were pretty good, I mean, who doesn’t like the Beatles, but one guy sounded like he was Japanese or something and we were surrounded by old people. After that we tried to find a bar or something where we could maybe meet people but we didn’t have much luck, I guess the big days to got here are Wednesday and Thursday, strange.

 

So, you are all semi-updated

 

In Italy you are only supposed to have your heat on for 12 hours in the winter and we accidentally left ours on this morning when we left for the Mall so when we got back we had to turn it off and we can’t use it until tomorrow. Also, I need to wash clothes… and take pictures… sorry guys, I’ve been a bad picture blogger but it’s been pretty gray here so once the sun comes out I will do Macerata justice, and once I have a better internet connection I will upload pictures of my apartment.