Roaming in Roma

Hey this a post about last week...it was done last week so it will be in present tense (well for most of it..cause i suck at finding weird tenses in my writing)

so enjoy!

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So this past week, I was able to go to Rome with friends, WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION! Sounds like fun?

Hell yeah it was.

 Lindsay, Share, Diana and I set off at 8:45 a.m. to the train and carried off to Rome.

When we got off at Valle Aurelia, we headed to the metro to the Piazza di Spagna, and bam! The Spanish Steps were full of people (mostly tourists) crowding to take a picture with Rome’s famous steps.



Group pic davanti a Piazza di Spagna
Picture by Maya Mariner (with Share's camera)

Since my camera malfunctioned, I needed to buy a disposable camera. I went to the nearest vender, and I tried to speak Italian.

“Vorrei una macchina fotografia, per favore”

“Oh, Good try. Now, what do you want?” he asked me in English.

What? I thought Good Try??? I have been learning Italian for almost two months now and all I get is a ‘good try’ from a guy who’s probably first language is Hindu?

I knew this was going to happen…its Rome. EVERYONE speaks English in Rome (and literally EVERYONE. If someone says they do not they are lying to you---unless that person is a tourist).

I spoke to him in English and got my camera---paid too much for it--- and the crew headed up the stairs eagerly trying to blend in with the Italians that were chillin’ (and not the Americans taking up lots of space to take a picture).

However, we did act like tourist and did get a picture (disposable camera and hello kitty camera intact!)

“Rome, the only place you can be a tourist and nobody cares,” Diana said.

After walking in a square around the Spanish Steps, I decided to take the crew to the most infamous places of tourism…Fontana di Trevi.

We head down to the bottom to take a picture, with the full fountain in sight, but it was hard because EVERYONE is taking a picture…and its funny, I feel like I will be in everybody’s photo album more than once in my life.  (So will a couple who took a picture there in full bridal and groom outfits)

Group pic davanti a Fontana di Trevi
Picture by Share Chen

I also tried to find an English movie theater, and in my Roma book,  it said there was one near the Trevi, so when we went on the street…found out it was closed…and I checked the date when the book was published….2003 (GAH!)

After Fontana di Trevi, I lead the group to the Pantheon (also in Angels and Demons). We also made a pit stop in Piazza Navona to find a place to eat, and we actually saw Lena, Emily, Reed, Michael, and Eric chilling out….

After lunch, I decided to take everyone a stroll down the Tiber River….well we weren’t suppose to be there exactly….I took a wrong turn at one of the streets and ended up farther than we need to go for the Colosseo. There were a lot of “Check points!” and “Where the heck are we’s?”

So instead of walking through the Roman Forum…we walked around it….but fortunately we got to see Italians role-play Roman Empire soldiers and citizens in a field near the Roman Forum…all gearing up for battle.

COMMUNISTS!!!!

We also saw the Communist Party protest (the one Amelia’s host mom warned her about) and we marched beside them (not with them mind you)…

“Hey, they’re gonna take us to the Colosseo, follow them!” I said and we headed around the Roman Forum and BAM Arch of Constantine was in my face, with the Colosseo behind it (thanks Communists!)
 

Che bella!
Picture by: Lindsay Hong



 We took more pictures and got some crappy gelato, but I tried my Italian one more time, to see If it would finally work.

“Vorrei gelato... Um…piccolo”

The guy looked confused “In a cone or cup?’ he said with an Italian accent.

“Coppo”

“Ah, where are you from?”

“America”

“Oh where in America?”

“Indiana”

“Oh, Indiana….Indianapolis?”

My eyes widened with delight. He knew Indianapolis! He actually knew where I was from and did not hesitate!

“Sí!!!!!!” I said with excitement.

Lindsay and I paid for our gelato and said “ciao” to the guy and he smiled and said “ciao bella” (which made me even feel more special :D)

At that point, Share had to go home so we made it back to Valle Aurelia, where Lindsay and Share stayed for the next bus…since Diana and I had some time to kill, we decided to go out of the country... (Haha Vatican joke!)

The place was packed (San Pietro that is) and chairs covered the square for the early morning mass for the next day.

Diana and I walked to Castel’ Sant’ Angelo (also in Angels and Demons) to go tourist shopping…but it was delayed because we needed to go to the bathroom.

We saw a sign that said “Burger King 5 mins.” Pointing to the right from where we were standing. Excited for the possibilities of finding a Burger King we headed in the direction it told us…and kept going…and going…5 minutes later…no Burger King.

“Why do you lie Burger King? Don’t confuse the Americans!” Diana said.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a McDonalds sign…saying five minutes away from where we were standing…

Even though we thought it might be a trick, we decided to go, desperate for a bathroom.

More signs called out for the McDonalds…300 meters, 200, 100…but where was it?

“Where are we?” I looked around. We had no idea.

Finally, in the back corner (of what we presume is now Rome) was the McDonalds, but….there was No bathroom.

“There is always a bathroom in a McDonalds, how can that be?” Diana said.

“Ah, crap we gotta go. Its 6:30 and we need to catch the train!” I informed her.

We shoved fries down our throats and I fast walked to find the Metro, Diana trying to keep up.

“Oh god, which way did we turn?” I asked to nobody, looking around.

Dark was approaching fast and I looked around and saw a familiar street we were down before.  We walked down it and eventually found the Metro.

We fast walked down the flight of stairs and down to the tracks…the clock just clicked to 6:45…

“Crap, Crap, when does the train come?” I tapped my foot impatiently waiting for the Metro.

The metro finally came and thank goodness, our stop was not far from Valle Aurelia.

“When we get off Diana, we are going to walk with ultra purpose”

She nodded.

The doors opened and I literally sprint out (feet never leaving the ground).

It started to rain again, but I didn’t care, I ran straight through it and up stairs to the train. I looked at my clock again 6:55…

The whole time I was doing this, others were springing to the top of the train place, going to the Viterbo train.

We finally made it up the stairs and the train came at 7:06pm…we were 10 minutes early.

“Oh thank god,” I said out of breath.

“I am never going that far for a McDonalds ever again.” Diana said.

“You got that right.”

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Thank you Share and Lindsay for letting me use your pictures!
Ciao for now,

Maya

Orientation Trip! (finally!)

Omg, I am so sorry for not posting sooner, things got really busy here...its like the honeymoon ended and now I have real work...(no!!!) so these few weeks have been very rockety, but I promise to post earlier...its been almost 3 weeks?

Yeah, I will be better, I promise :) anyway, what you been waiting for.
This will be more of a picture blog than actual writing, but hopefully you enjoy it!
Extra Pics below!!!!

photo by Lindsay Hong

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9/25

This past week, I went on an orientation trip to Terracina with the school and got to explore the towns of Sperlonga, Gaeta and Terracina.

It is so amazing how different each town is comapred to others in Italy. The different inflences of culture, language, and people influence their style and architecture.

In Gaeta, it was a small coastal town that had a big navy pier and naval sea school. The town sat on a side of a mountain, shining in on the naval forces below.

look how blue the sea is!

In what I learned from this town, is that they have 2 different dialects in the town (one derived from the mountains, another from the sea ports). But the twist is that their dialects are so different that even words mean totally different meanings in the language. Che strano, no?

We also got to go see the La montagna spaccata, (aka Jesus Cave), which is suppose to have a myth that when J.C. died, the mountain split in two because of saddness (or something like that)---

JESUS CAVE!
photo by Olivia Gillingham


It was goregous, and I was able to do some mini rock climbing as I moved around and jumped from rock to rock, but when I had to go back up the stiars (we were 10 floors from the top), I think I lost about 10 pounds...it was UNBEARABLE.

this is where the biggest loser should do their next challenge

I also got to see the Turkish hand...which is about a story of a Turkish man who didn't believe in the story that it was because of J.C's death (or something along the lines of that) and he stuck his hand in disbelief, and it has been there ever since...

look at those man hands...

After spending half the day there, we headed to Terracina. We got to live basically on the beach and in bungalow huts! I shared a room with Lindsay, Jamie, Kendall and Helen. Everyone went swimming because the weather was great. I saw the bobbing heads of people swimming as I watched from the beach.

The Next day the class headed to Sperlong in rain-weather (pissed as hell), but the beauty of Sperlonga did not hold us back. It was absolutely goregous. Sperlonga is another coastal town but with a Greek facade. Especially if you walk through the top of the town. The city sat on top of a hill, and it spiraled toward the centre near the beach. It was a heck of a walk, but the white buildings and crystal color blues made me feel like I was in a Greek calender: I would totally live here in the future.

so cute

After the lunch break, we headed up the beach on a "beach hike" to the Archeology musem. The rain picked up and my umbrella broke, while my hair became frazzled...my mood flattened.

We finally got to the mseum and talked about the cave of Prometheous (Grotto di Tiberio) and got to explore it.

pimp my cave

Its actually really funny how all these myths are made up to explain events in the world, and natural happenings...it seem the Greeks and Romans had a story for everything!

After rain-escavating (sp?), some of the group headed into Terracina and explored the actual town. The place looked almost American...especially when I saw this guy with an ironic hood and a thin mustache...just like a hipster!

That night in Terracina was also filled with fun, as we bumped up the volumes on our speakers, bothered Mr. Chen and hysterically at Amelia's "BITCHES!!" outbust during a game of BS. That night ended with a late bed time, voices in the night and a footprint stain on my sheets and wall....

Finally on Saturday, we headed to our last adventure at a temple on top of the mountains overlooking the town of Terracina. The bus driver made his way ( barely but fiercely) to the top as we "open our minds to the Gods"

the oracles had such a fabulous view!

Everyone was in awe over the goregeous view and more in awe because it finally stopped raining.

All in all, the orientation trip was a success and everyone became closer as we embarked on our first trip (of many more) discovering the land we call home.


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Extra Pictures!!!

Olivia posing with our ginormous Nutella

Group Pic!!! Thalia is totally ruining this BTW (jk thalia)

This photographer asked us to be in this couple's wedding pictures "Awwing" at them and looking engaged...
haha isn't that awesome?

Terracina on the beachside

My signature...if you wanted to know...

there were these little kids coming from school and like half of them were jumping up and down
like it was five monkeys jumping on the bed...like WTF are their seatbealts?

group pic!!!
(from left to right: Sally, Maggie S, Taylor K, Chance, EJ)

Group pic!!! (this was for the blog guys)
(left to right: Allegra, Taylor  H, Alice, Lauren, Bridgette)

so nice....

the empty halls of the temple

Titantic pose
(left to right: Maggie S, Jill)

funny picture when Alice was obsessed with Max

not from the trip, but Gabi wanted to be in the blog SO BADLY
so here ya go!!  (sabrina on the right)
Picture from Gabi's facebook album

Italian Youth

i wrote this last sunday on the 19th, sorry it took forever to load up, but here it is. Recent one from Orientation coming up as soon as I load up pics and organize them!

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9/19/10

Yesterday was another exciting Saturday in Viterbo.

Last Saturday, I stayed home and was really bored and wanted to do something, but everyone was busy hanging out with their host families i felt alone.(stayed home since 6pm-12am by myself).

So my mom suggested I met up with some italian friends I met during Santa Rosa and ask to hang out.
So i did and (Ilaria and Cristina) said yes!

I asked my friends, to stay later and we all met up at the Piazza del comune (or the one before the post office, took us 2 couples later to figure that out!).

We walked around shopping, and Ilaria kept us laughing with her mannerisms and her made up English words, she kept apolgizing, but we loved every single minute of it. (they were both spoke really well in English!)

We were also impressed by Madi's italian skills as she was to get her point across to the italians.

from left to right: Francesco, Cristina, Luigi M. and Ilaria

Around 7pm,  Cristina and Ilaria met up with more friends and everyone was introduced ( I was re-introduced)  to Francesco, Luigi M., Elisa, Luigi B., Eduardo, Daniele, and Michi.

It felt great being able to hang out with Italian people and in all honesty I felt like we actually belong in Italy (with exception of not knowing Italian!)

As the night went on, I noticed how affectionate and caring the Italian teenagers (and people in general). Hugs last longer than 2 minutes, boys were able to hug it out and kiss both cheeks, everyone seemed like family and their closeness is something I vied for everytime I am with my friends back home (without the kissing...haha).

At first, coming to Viterbo the teenagers here looked so intimidating, all of them fashion-awared and trendy. They took a breath of smoke from their cigarettes non chalantly, grab wine, and just chill.

It's like these kids are 21 instead of 16!

I guess the difference is that they are given more responsiblity and independence, especially living in a small town where everyone knows you. It seems really cool to be apart of the same culture as them.

but we aren't that different.American teenagers and italian teenagers are very similar: we like to hang out, watch movies (they saw the Hangover before meeting us), like the same music, televison shows...etc.

Hopefully in the year fews months those new friendly faces of italian friends will become like family to me in the end.

haha group pic! Ilaria taking the pic!

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sorry it was short and not detailed like my other ones
but another one might pop out as this year comes!

a presto,

Maya

Guest Starring Alice

Hi this is Alice on Maya's blog, GET JEALOUS. Maya and I just had dinner with our host families and now we are facebook stalking a lot of people. Who's excited for our class trip this week?? If you want to have fun come to my hut cause its going to be awesome. And now I would like to give people a few shoutouts.
First to Taylor Kendrick---you are nice and then mean all at once, i love it
Justin Beauber/Chad Dylan Cooper---if you do not respond to to these names, you will be shot
Michaeljam---you are from England
Sheridan---I LOVE YOU
EJ---we are breaking up
Max--- get scared, i'm obsessed
Okay that's all for now, I will be posting again soon. Ciao!


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yep, alice really loves this  blog
Ciao for now

Maya

The Great Ol' USA

On behalf of some concerns that I am being very "anti-american" in my posts (the little posts I have) Taylor Kendrick said I should write a very "pro-american" post because america is "the best freakin' country ever!"

So here's to you Taylor, I may not be able to fully cover your love for america, but i will express the desire on what I have been thinking about for along time

The USA...and the rest of the world.

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If my other blog posts make me appear to be "anti-USA", then I apologize. It is not my intention to be like this. I am just simply pointing out the flaws I have found America to have since I have been aware of America's influence on the world.

I feel that America could learn from several countries about being healther, more knowledgable and more accepting of our lives and our history and our people like Italy.

I like the USA, we have the best of everything (and even then some), the best cities, and the diversity of its people is something other countries could envy. We have an abudance of wealth and are the leading nation in the entertainment industries.

And that is all great, in a sense

But I feel that, as Americans (and America in general), we are missing some critical links that ultimately Americans need to regain.

1) We need to be more relaxed.

America is in such a frenzy these days, always racing back and forth, to and fro that we never stop and actually stop and ponder about our lives.

America is one of the leading nations (developed nations) with less vacation time and more work hours, and as much as that helps out the economy, and our well beings in an economic sense, we, as human beings are still in a mess, disarrayed.

In Viterbo, during the Festivale di Santa Rosa, everyone, including people who work full-time, are still able to take a breather and relax on the beautiful days that they have here. Everyone is out on the streets, communicating and catching up with community activities, gossip, stories. Heck, even on regular days workers have a moment of  siesta during the hours of 1-4 (or 13:00-16:00), to eat lunch, sleep and recharge for the evening hours to come.

Yes, these siesta times can sometimes be a bit obnoxious and frustrating for the curious tourist or american student who are on the move and want to buy stuff at a certain time, but when one is walking around the streets, the silence that fill them makes that single moment of a day seem a little less stressful.

2) We focus less on the family unit.

The family unit (which can consist of good friends, and others one considers family) appears to be severly lacking with many Americans. And the social structure of families, which includes being together, eating at dinner, discussing family events, seems to disappear in front of us.

As I noticed  here in Viterbo, la famiglia is very strong, as everyone here tries to make it home to dinner by eight o'clock (scusa, 20:00), and during siesta 1-2 for lunch. Special weekend days are reserved for family outings and visits, and special holidays are, for the most part, a tradition that is also apart of the family. Even sitting around for hours watching television is an Italian bonding moment!

Now I could go on and on about how Italy is better than America and blah blah blah, but as I said before, that is not my intention. The main point I want to make is that even though America has everything materialistic and wealthy, we should remind ourselves of where we came from, the identity that forms who we are: the family and the community. I think that we need to find our stronger values of support, trust, family bonds and relaxation so we can actually take a step back and enjoy what we have in front of us.

And I know that America has extreme pressure to be always on top. That America is looked upon by a huge telescope (called the World) and that we have big influence on policies, ideas, predictions, solutions,money, fame, music, movies, books, techologies that we have to set up and be the "model country" for everyone.

Not only do we have to be to be leading role model for the rest of the world, we should be a leading role model for ourselves, and become a single identity that lives under common values and morality that America, seems, yet to find.

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hopefully, this is okay for my explanation for my "anti-america" speech in the previous posts....so Taylor, can you take down my facebook pictures from the school computers? its kind of creepy to see me all the time :)

Ciao,

Maya

Verduras: Green Zone

My taste buds seem to change suddenly in this whirlwind of the first week being here in Viterbo (really? only a week?).

Now, I  did tell myself I would be open in trying new foods and categories of the food pyramid that I have never tried before, but I didn't know that my taste buds would expand SO much in the category of....

Vegetables.
Verduras.

It is amazing how one month ago, I despised things like zucchini and green beans, but now I can tell you that I am eating them casually (and with second helpings!). A month ago, I was never into tomatoes, and now I am slowly getting used to their taste...

Who knew that at dinner last night, I ate a good amount of what looked like to be a vegetable omelet.

hm....

This is a sentence I thought I would never say...

I think vegetables are good.

*GASP!* I think I heard Mom and Dad and my doctor pass out right now...but its true, I am not joking with you

Vegetables are pretty good.

Now, I am not talking about the crap we have in the US, where the green beans are canned, and sloppy, and the vegetables are not even healthy----either stale or fried.

I am talking about the healthy, farmer's market vegetables that aren't chemicalized, the ones that are sauteed with some extra virgin olive oil and a dash of salt for flavor. The vegetables that enhance the food we eat instead of cringing the next bite.

Those are the vegetables that I want to eat...

But still in a perfect world I would like all vegetables, but there are still some vegetables that I will never taste nor want to taste. There are still vegetables that I hate, and others that I have to get use to, but this step into the green zone of healthy eating is a bullet train forward into a good, healthy future.

Terzo notte: Festivale di Santa Rosa

here is from last night (well technically two days ago from the time I am looking at) enjoy!!!
Update: new pictures courtesy of Alice! thanks!

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wow.WoW. WOW WEE.

Best night of my life.

One thing that I would like to say is "Grazie Giovanna, per sei amica bene con Alessandra!" (hopefully that is a good italian sentence) Alice and I had a blast!

First, we went up and had drinks with Michi (Alice's host brother and good drinks mind you) and his friends Enrico and Tommas (Accent over a).

aw, best friends forever!

We watched and listened to music and finally around 9:30-10:00 pm we saw the grande macchina, which was eye-striking. I can't believe all those men carry it over their shoulders...they must be crazy! Actually, friends we met (written about later in this post) said it reminded them of Christmas and Santa Claus (and it kind of did...).

Grande Macchina!

the men that carried it

me, Matteo, Alice
(where am I looking at?)

   Then, Enrico's brother Matteo comes in sits in and chats. Virginia's friend (Alice host sister) had her mouth open when she saw him...he looked like a model, by the way. Then around 11:00 we headed for the fireworks.

"We look so cool right now" Alice whispered to me.

I totally agreed. I almost wanted to shout out "That's right be jealous!" but refrained from that embarassment.

We walked around and finally got to the "hill" (well its actually a hill...huge hill) which faced a GINORMOUS castle. Alice and I also met up with nuoi amici americani.

Chance and Taylor K. tried to figure out ways to get Italian girls to fall for them, but Lauren (who has made many many Italian friends) said that most Italian girls/women don't like American guys. Taylor and Chance still tried to come up with tatics like playing innocent and tiger crawling...

The fireworks finally came and went and  Alice and I finally met up with Michi and everyone who were talking to some friends. Alice already knew them, but I finally was able to meet her newly acquainted italian friends...(it was SO COOL...unbelievable!).  Right now, I know 2 Cristinas, A Francesco, a Georgia and many more names that whipped by me in a blur.

They spoke to us in English (and it was even more awesome because accents rock!) and they were really good.  Which got me thinking...

I guess the difference is between European and US schools is that in US you don't really keep a language for more than 4 years...maybe more, and the usual case for learning another language for a long time is either A) you are going to an international school where you become bilingual. B)or you go to a bordering school or private school that teachers a language from elementary to middle school. It is hard to find that in public school settings.

On the Other hand, in Italy, you can be with on language (most occasion is English) for several years even in a public school setting, or in any setting really. So most kids who act like they don't know English tend to know since they were like 10 or so!

Anyway, Michi's friends were super friendly and molti simpaciti and I wish I was able to talk to them longer, and speak to them in Italian! But we headed back to Alice's house (so the boys can chill out and eat) and 15 mins. later we parted ways.

This terzo notte di Santa Rosa e (with accent) molto bene and epic! I am keeping that night in my memory forever! Especially the added Italian mix

Ciao bello,

Maya