The Sweet Sound & Taste Of Hard Rock

Who would have thought that Hard Rock Cafe could be so amazing?! Well, it was last night! I know, I know, it's a bit overrated and overpriced and and somewhat cheesy. But going two weeks without protein has been rough, so when we heard that there was a place to get American food in Rome, we went! I'm not a big salad eater, but my grilled chicken salad was incredible. Maybe it tasted so good since my diet in Italy pretty much consists of croissants, bread, pizza, and pasta. My eyes were excited to see some multi-colored food. My body was excited to digest something actually healthy. And my ears were excited to hear something familiar...American music! (even though much of it was 80's). Don't get me wrong, I love Italy, along with the food and the culture. But there's nothing like the familiar and nothing like some good ole American food. Anyway, we decided that a trip to Hard Rock is going to become a bi-monthly activity. Don't worry, I didn't buy the shirt...

When In Rome

Doesn't that saying remind you of "Anchorman?" Many things in Italy remind me of movies. The miniature cars and the electric outlets make me think of "Just Married." Speaking of movies, "Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls" came on TV this weekend. The girls in my hotel room in Cinque Terra turned it on for some back ground noise, I guess, and I actually found it to be quite amusing. Of course I couldn't understand the Italian, but Jim Carrey doesn't need words to be funny. And the random guy speaking Italian for him sounded nothing like him. Anyway, after being in Ariccia for almost a week, I was ready to see Rome. We went on Thursday to see a few of the many sights that the city has to offer. I'd never ridden on a train before so I was excited about that, too. However, it wasn't much different from the tram things that are in big airports. But when we got to the huge station in Rome, I was overwhelmed. There are about 30 tracks with all kinds of trains-ghetto trains, overnight trains, fast trains, etc. And I thought I'd never be able to figure out how European train schedules work, but after hours of riding on a train this weekend to the Italian Riviera and back, I think I've got it down. The Euro Star was amazing; it was much cleaner and faster than other trains. We rode through Tuscany on the way from Florence to Rome, and the scenery was absolutely beautiful! It's what I pictured that area to look like. I sat in my seat listening to some praise music in awe of God's creation. The Lord is so cool. And He sure is creative. I can't begin to imagine how amazing Heaven will be.

Thumbs Up Yours

I know you're wondering what in the world is going on here with such a weird blog title. Well, let me explain it. A few nights ago, one of the nice men who works at our hotel asked me how I was doing. I was doing great, so I responded with "molto bene" (very good) and a thumbs up. He gave me a disgusted look, and I was confused. Then it clicked. We learned about this in our study abroad prep course back in Auburn. A thumbs up in Italy actually means "up yours." Oops. Yeah, I felt like an idiot. So I said "mi scusi" (excuse me) and "mi dispiace" (i'm sorry) over and over again trying to get the guy to realize that I did not mean any harm. I think I cleared things up because he's been nice and friendly to me every time I've seen him around the hotel since this incident. Learn from my mistake and be careful with your hand motions when in Europe; you never know what they might mean!

So Far, So...hmm...interesting

Despite the title of this blog, my first day has been great, and yes, interesting, for several reasons. First of all, it takes a while to adjust and get oriented to a new time zone that's 7 hours ahead of Alabama time. And trying to get a good night sleep from 4:00 in the afternoon till 2:00 in the morning on a jet is pretty much impossible, even after taking a Dramamine. I've never flown overseas before so my body is still a little confused. Once I took a nap and showered, I felt a little better. Better until I blew up my new straightening iron. I knew bringing my CHI would be risky so my mom was nice enough to buy my a chepaer, but decent one at Target. Well, I didn't realize that there are two kinds of converters. The whole converter/adpater thing confused me anyway, so I knew I'd mess up some kind of appliance over the next three months. But the first day? Seriously. I was so mad at myself. Here, there's no running to a nearby Wal-Mart or Target, so I'm now stuck with curly hair till I don't know when. Later, my roomate, Courtney, and I decided to be adventurous and explore this small town of Ariccia and its neighbor, Albano. We stopped at the first gelateria we saw and bought some. Problem: I didn't know how to order in Italian. I saw some blue gelato called "Puffo" and inquired about it, pointing to the blue "puffo" and holding my hands out and shrugging like I'm clueless. The lady says, "Smuff" (meaning Smurf). I thought I'd be even more daring by trying some Smurf gelato. It was pretty good, actually. Then we headed off to find the train station. The language barrier made for some more interesting encounters. I'm working on my Italian but don't know as much as I thought I did. I know "dove" (pronounced do-vay, if you're interested) means "where" but don't know the word for "train." So I stopped some high school boys and said, "Dove Train?" They understood me, which was good, because I just asked "where is train" instead of "where is the train station located." They spoke very fast Italian which I did not understand and pointed us in a direction. Needless to say, we never found it. The last adventure of the night occurred just a few hours ago. As we were walking back from dinner, a car full of Italian guys started whistling at us. All the other girls ignored it since this kind of thing happens a lot (Italian men are brave), but if you know me, I'm gonna mess right back. I gave the guys a little finger-wave and then an "I-yi-yi," and the driver put on his hazard lights and stopped traffic in the middle of the road to watch nine American girls walk by. Cars were honking at these guys and eventually passed them. All of us were laughing in disbelief that a car would actually do something as crazy as that. But then again, you can never underestimated the aggressiveness of Italian men. I'll be back...