More Exploring

August 28, 2011
Today was an insanely busy day! Lily and I finally got a chance to see the Trevi Fountain – and wow!!! Gushing water fueled by a still-intact aqueduct, gorgeous Baroque statues … the perfect picture spot! We also checked out Trajan’s column – somehow bigger in real life than in my Art History textbook or on lecture slides. We sat for a while on the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna to soak up some sun and read up on what Rick Steves had to say about everything in Rome. Our “Ancient Rome” walk was a nice follow-up to yesterday’s “Baroque Walk” and took us to the Colosseum, Arch of Constantine, some ruins and more.

After staring at it every day, tonight we got a chance to try to Chinese/Japanese/Thai place across the street from our house!! They have quite an extensive menu at insanely low prices! It's literally so close that, from our table, I could see into my bedroom window. Creepy.... It was funny that everyone else there was speaking Italian while in so many restaurants there are tons of foreigners. But, of course, why would Italians go out and order gnocchi or pasta when they could cook it perfectly well at home? But Pan-Asian cuisine? Ok, they’re in. I found this also to be true in Paris: my favorite restaurant was actually a little Thai place next to the Louvre and every time I went the group I was with would be the sole group not speaking French.

I’ve certainly been racking up the Roman experiences -- flavorful pastas and pizzas, boiling hot afternoons, ancient ruins amid bustling city life, getting used to ordering and buying things in Italian, waiters asking me out (alright, that was only today lol), waiting who-knows-how-long for the buses, and having small cups of coffee with no milk (I only sometimes concede to this but it is certainly the norm for Italians). Can’t wait to keep exploring and to start classes tomorrow morning!