At the beginning of this week I had decided to take on the week a little differently… completely full speed ahead. After a week of settling in, it was time to venture out after work every day. Despite my tired self after work (waking up at 6:30 and getting home to cook dinner at 6), I know I have to force myself to go out and explore. I can always sleep and bum around back home in the states. When in Rome, get a move on it!
Thus, on Tuesday night I went out on a long walk. I took the metro to the center and decided to slowly make my way back; slowly meaning taking every tiny street and wandering in a different direction. Ultimate goal was to get to Piazza Navona and enjoy a gelato. I wandered and found the cutest restaurants filled with Italians (because by this time the tourists had all already eaten) and the cutest Forno (Italian Oven/ bakery). I tried to remember where I had wandered to get back to these locations, but really all you can do is wander another time and hope to possibly find it again.
After continued wandering I did walk straight into Piazza Navona. Thus, I got a gelato and sat down to people watch. It was perfect people watching conditions: great weather, a week night, still with lots of people, but not crowded. After Piazza Navona I strolled back to Piazza Venezia (in front of the Victor Emmanuel Monument), took some pictures, and then walked past the Roman Forum and the Coliseum to get home.
Wednesday night proved to be a fun spontaneous adventure with going out to see Robin Hood (in English) with friends from work. Robin Hood was a great way to relax after a frustrating work day. After the movie we walked up tons of stairs to Villa Borghese to see the view of Rome at night from the hill. It was gorgeous and relaxing; too bad I didn’t have my camera seeing as we had just come from work. After the park, I walked all the way home. The longest walk ever…and won’t be happening again unless I am over ambitious again. Although, I must say the walk home at night is also a prime people watching time. ALL the people walking hand in hand to see the ruins lit up at night; almost a little too cute.
Thursday like Wednesday was a long work day, with a great lunch break surprise. As it turns out, there is a tiny market by our work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. THUS, we walked there, bought fresh local produce AND the biggest hunk of mozzarella ever. It was the buffalo mozzarella kind. Stretchy, light, and comes in a bag of water. Riding home on the metro I felt like I was bringing a fish home from the pet store, yet I knew I was about to eat some AMAZING cheese. Sure enough, the mozzarella was heaven.
Friday was a fun work day. Simply knowing it was Friday was a great feeling, then adding onto the fact that I got to sit into two PSR (Portfolio status report) meetings made it even better. Each meeting had two countries under review, so by the end I learned a lot more about Eritrea, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. After sitting at my desk for most of the past week, I loved the meetings more than ever!
Friday night was another long adventure walk, this time with a new intern from the states. So far we are the only two from the states, while the other interns come from all sorts of different places and (I think) mainly Italy. Luckily she was into wandering down all the cute streets as well. On our wandering adventure we came across the gelateria that I had gone to six years ago on the family’s trip to Europe. Who would have guessed I would have ever gone back?! Thus we bought gelato there, walked around the city some more, and eventually split paths to go home.
I would say it was Friday night that did me in, the straw that broke the camel’s back…but in my case my feet. On Saturday my feet said, no no, not again. Thus, Saturday’s long walking day had plenty of breaks in between; thank goodness my friend I spent Saturday with (from IFAD) was having a tired day as well.
Saturday was quite the wild goose chase. The first goose was Testaccio market. If it weren’t for a kind lady to point us in the right direction, we would have never found it. Testaccio market is the ROMAN market. There are some other good food markets, but this one as of now seems to be untouched by the tourists. My friend and I clearly figured that one out because even with a map and directions, we had the hardest time finding it. Once we found the market when it was about to close up. We still got to see a lot of the vendors, but it wasn’t as great of a picture opportunity. Now that I have a better understanding on how to find it, I will have to venture out there on another Saturday morning.
At the market were lots of fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese, and everything else. When spotting a meat vendor we would just look away, because it is known for the odd things that Romans eat and I didn’t want to see too much of that. After the market and buying some bread from a local oven we went off to my apartment to split a chunk of watermelon we purchased and then head off on the rest of our day’s adventure.
We had our next wild goose chase with getting on the right bus. We accidentally got on the bus going the wrong direction. We were exhausted and didn’t mind sitting on the bus, so we stayed on and got a tour of some of Rome we had never seen. By the end of the bus ride we finally made our way to Campo di Fiori where we shopped around and eventually grabbed some food for dinner. We both were just so exhausted and out of it we couldn’t wait to go home. Once I made it home I cleaned up and went to sleep immediately and oh how amazing the sleep was.
Today was a nice Sunday by myself, after being around friends (SO thankful for friends) and being around people at work all the time, it was nice to take a day by myself. The weather wasn’t too bad, so I knew I had to go out and enjoy it while it lasts. Once again I went to the center for some good walking down the gorgeous Roman streets. This time I was able to wander in and out of the stores since they were open during the day. I brought a snack to eat when I got hungry, but next time I plan to have a picnic lunch in Villa Borghese. It’s most definitely the next thing on the list to do, Villa Borghese picnic.
The walk home had perfect weather, with the sun setting and a nice breeze coming in. On my way home I stopped at the Coliseum to rest on the ledge there (my feet were dying in pain) and took in the beautiful day.
Perfect Sunday and the perfect start to a new work week. Now I cut my blog off because it is late and I am tired. CIAO CIAO!
(Sorry if it was boring! So much to catch up on...hopefully next time will be more entertaining!!)
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Boungiorno! Bonjour! Good Morning!
The title comes straight from my mornings at work. No lie…I mean, I know, it’s kinda ridic. This is how the story goes:
I am the only American in my open space at work, and of course the people who walk by know. So…first they say good day to the Italian girls, then hi to the French lady, then good morning to me. It’s funny to note that the people who say good morning could then carry on a completely fluent conversation in any of those languages. Here begins my lamenting of not taking French. I feel like I hear more French at work than English. Why didn’t I learn French?!
It’s a new week and a new beginning for more adventures. This past weekend was lovely fun. Saturday another intern (who has been here for 5 months) took me around the center of Rome (the SUPER historic district). It’s all relatively close to me, thus we met up by my place and walked. We walked and walked and walked. It was fun to finally have someone else to go on an adventure with. The girl who took me around is super sweet too and we had a fun day. It ended with thunder and lightning so we both ran off at the end to get back to our apartments as soon as possible.
Rome is like…Florida?! Not really, just the weather lately has been reminiscent of the times I walk to campus with it super sunny and gorgeous outside and then come out of class to a thunderstorm. It’s been like that here the past few days. Sometimes it only threatens to rain, and then other times it does. Today was one of the latter days. Luckily, despite the cold and clear weather I had this morning during my walk to the metro, I had packed my umbrella.
The cold mornings are an interesting topic which surprisingly I have forgotten to mention. With all the talk of sweltering Rome summers I had hear prior to leaving the states, I hardly packed any warm clothes. However, the mornings and nights have been cold! It’s funny, because really it’s not that bad. It’s cool on the walk in the morning and I look forward to getting on the metro; however, to the Italians it is super cold. They walk around in coats and scarves!! Oh my have I seen so many scarves. Some people at work mentioned how I was not bundled up, we all just laughed. It’s worth it though to be dressed for warm weather when it comes to the lovely weather at lunch time!
Lunch time is a time I look forward to everyday. The food isn’t that good, it’s the company. All of us interns and young workers meet up for lunch. Part of it is generally spent outside and oh has the weather been fabulous. The others are all so sweet and it’s always fun to talk with them. Hopefully we can all hang out some more soon. Since everything is still all so new for me I’m still trying to get into a routine of things and I haven’t had the time to try and organize something. Hopefully this week things will swing into action.
Although I am still trying to get into a groove, I already feel homey here and LOVE it here. I love night time walks. One time I went to walk around 10:30 thinking that would be late, but no! That is when I saw ALL the Italians. All the tourists were mostly gone and all the Italians were out. Here it was like a secret I have been missing the whole time. There were more people out during my 10:30 walk than my 8:30 walk!! I saw bunches of friends meeting up for dinner and super cute old couples; cute old people walking around Rome late at night! It’s the whole late night dinner thing that I need to get into. One of the higher up people at work today said he didn’t get to sleep till 1 last night. I was shocked (early work mornings). He said it was because he went out to dinner with friends. My boss had even said one day that she didn’t get home from dinner till midnight!
Thus that is something I need to get on!! Late night gatherings! Hopefully some of the interns will want to get together one night.
Speaking of people at work, work has been nice. I love the people there. Everyone is so great. Today I got to sit in on the Kenya portfolio review meeting. The meeting lasted 3 hours, but it was definitely my favorite part of the day. It was interesting to hear about Kenya, the projects going on there, and especially the finance and economics side of it all. None of these projects could happen without the finance and economic side of things. Too bad I think I like the project “planning planning” part of it better. It’s all still interesting.
Other than meetings, I still have been reading a lot to learn about everything. I also have been told about what I will be doing. I will be helping with the portfolio reviews with the equations, and surprise finance side of it (not a surprise at all, obviously my boss is the Financial Management Officer). I’ve started to work on it; however, it is a slow start because the meetings are still taking place and such.
Well, it’s “late” for me now since I am working and have to get to bed early for my long work day (wake up at 6:30, get home at 6). My roommate just got home and says “hi” to everyone. (The whole housing thing is still working out fabulously!)
Special note to all my Gainesvillians (is that what we are called?): MISS YOU ALL and hope you are all having fun! Thanks for all the support and love. Ciao e buonanotte!
I am the only American in my open space at work, and of course the people who walk by know. So…first they say good day to the Italian girls, then hi to the French lady, then good morning to me. It’s funny to note that the people who say good morning could then carry on a completely fluent conversation in any of those languages. Here begins my lamenting of not taking French. I feel like I hear more French at work than English. Why didn’t I learn French?!
It’s a new week and a new beginning for more adventures. This past weekend was lovely fun. Saturday another intern (who has been here for 5 months) took me around the center of Rome (the SUPER historic district). It’s all relatively close to me, thus we met up by my place and walked. We walked and walked and walked. It was fun to finally have someone else to go on an adventure with. The girl who took me around is super sweet too and we had a fun day. It ended with thunder and lightning so we both ran off at the end to get back to our apartments as soon as possible.
Rome is like…Florida?! Not really, just the weather lately has been reminiscent of the times I walk to campus with it super sunny and gorgeous outside and then come out of class to a thunderstorm. It’s been like that here the past few days. Sometimes it only threatens to rain, and then other times it does. Today was one of the latter days. Luckily, despite the cold and clear weather I had this morning during my walk to the metro, I had packed my umbrella.
The cold mornings are an interesting topic which surprisingly I have forgotten to mention. With all the talk of sweltering Rome summers I had hear prior to leaving the states, I hardly packed any warm clothes. However, the mornings and nights have been cold! It’s funny, because really it’s not that bad. It’s cool on the walk in the morning and I look forward to getting on the metro; however, to the Italians it is super cold. They walk around in coats and scarves!! Oh my have I seen so many scarves. Some people at work mentioned how I was not bundled up, we all just laughed. It’s worth it though to be dressed for warm weather when it comes to the lovely weather at lunch time!
Lunch time is a time I look forward to everyday. The food isn’t that good, it’s the company. All of us interns and young workers meet up for lunch. Part of it is generally spent outside and oh has the weather been fabulous. The others are all so sweet and it’s always fun to talk with them. Hopefully we can all hang out some more soon. Since everything is still all so new for me I’m still trying to get into a routine of things and I haven’t had the time to try and organize something. Hopefully this week things will swing into action.
Although I am still trying to get into a groove, I already feel homey here and LOVE it here. I love night time walks. One time I went to walk around 10:30 thinking that would be late, but no! That is when I saw ALL the Italians. All the tourists were mostly gone and all the Italians were out. Here it was like a secret I have been missing the whole time. There were more people out during my 10:30 walk than my 8:30 walk!! I saw bunches of friends meeting up for dinner and super cute old couples; cute old people walking around Rome late at night! It’s the whole late night dinner thing that I need to get into. One of the higher up people at work today said he didn’t get to sleep till 1 last night. I was shocked (early work mornings). He said it was because he went out to dinner with friends. My boss had even said one day that she didn’t get home from dinner till midnight!
Thus that is something I need to get on!! Late night gatherings! Hopefully some of the interns will want to get together one night.
Speaking of people at work, work has been nice. I love the people there. Everyone is so great. Today I got to sit in on the Kenya portfolio review meeting. The meeting lasted 3 hours, but it was definitely my favorite part of the day. It was interesting to hear about Kenya, the projects going on there, and especially the finance and economics side of it all. None of these projects could happen without the finance and economic side of things. Too bad I think I like the project “planning planning” part of it better. It’s all still interesting.
Other than meetings, I still have been reading a lot to learn about everything. I also have been told about what I will be doing. I will be helping with the portfolio reviews with the equations, and surprise finance side of it (not a surprise at all, obviously my boss is the Financial Management Officer). I’ve started to work on it; however, it is a slow start because the meetings are still taking place and such.
Well, it’s “late” for me now since I am working and have to get to bed early for my long work day (wake up at 6:30, get home at 6). My roommate just got home and says “hi” to everyone. (The whole housing thing is still working out fabulously!)
Special note to all my Gainesvillians (is that what we are called?): MISS YOU ALL and hope you are all having fun! Thanks for all the support and love. Ciao e buonanotte!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Sono Stanca
Today I woke up tired and the sleepiness never stopped. All the mini coffees of the day weren’t even going to be able to take care of it. Thus, I’m about to hit the hay and wake up for FRIDAY. It’s probably not good how much I am looking forward to tomorrow being Friday considering that I did not work on Monday. Anywho…a short summary of the day and then it’s time for the hay:
This morning I woke up to a cold sunny day; this was exciting after the rain that hit on my walk home from work. Despite the lovely sun, my body just wanted to stay in bed. I suppose I exhausted myself after a long day of work (wake up at 6:25 and get home at 6:10) and a night walk around the area (when I took the night time pictures of the coliseum). Oh well, it was time for work. Off to my morning 25 minute walk to the metro and then my ride to work.
Work was lots of learning again today, lots and lots of reading. I started to have a hard time staying awake to read so I headed downstairs to the bar with the portfolio review in tow. I was in desperate need for a cappuccino. Thus, no matter the fear that had been instilled in me at the bar the other day, I needed coffee so much that I managed to order by myself without too much confusion. All I know is that Italians are rapid at their coffee serving, and that makes me very happy.
After coffee and completing plenty of reading it had already progressed to lunch time. Today I hadn’t had plans in place for lunch (like I had the previous two days) so I was getting a bit nervous. Lunch by myself, not sure I can navigate that quite yet. Luckily after some prayer, a lady who works in my open area asked if I would care to join her. I was thoroughly delighted and off we went to my first lunch at the cafeteria.
Thank goodness I had someone to go with, because there was no explanation or reason behind the cafeteria. Not what I was expecting. After picking out cold pasta with vegetables and a bowl of fruit we sat down for lunch. My third lunch at IFAD and my third lunch with someone from a different country (yesterday I had lunch with three different people than the first day, all from three different countries). The lady I had lunch with today is from France. She actually doesn’t speak much English, so the fact that she still invited me to lunch was quite nice.
After lunch it was back to reading. I read up on Ethiopia and then went to the Ethiopia portfolio meeting (yesterday was the Madagascar meeting). Ethiopia was much different than my experience yesterday with Madagascar. It is all so interesting, all so different, and all so confusing. These people know their stuff.
After the meeting, more reading, and then HOME!! I was so happy to return, rest, cook dinner, and get ready for bed. Tomorrow is Friday, but it has the potential of being a crazy day…because I am supposed to have a talk with one of the people who in charge of me. I feel like some actual work might be coming my way. I look forward to this, but at the same time it is intimidating. They had me do something yesterday, and they say it so fast and expect me to get it all the first time. Hopefully I will prevail!
CIAO!
This morning I woke up to a cold sunny day; this was exciting after the rain that hit on my walk home from work. Despite the lovely sun, my body just wanted to stay in bed. I suppose I exhausted myself after a long day of work (wake up at 6:25 and get home at 6:10) and a night walk around the area (when I took the night time pictures of the coliseum). Oh well, it was time for work. Off to my morning 25 minute walk to the metro and then my ride to work.
Work was lots of learning again today, lots and lots of reading. I started to have a hard time staying awake to read so I headed downstairs to the bar with the portfolio review in tow. I was in desperate need for a cappuccino. Thus, no matter the fear that had been instilled in me at the bar the other day, I needed coffee so much that I managed to order by myself without too much confusion. All I know is that Italians are rapid at their coffee serving, and that makes me very happy.
After coffee and completing plenty of reading it had already progressed to lunch time. Today I hadn’t had plans in place for lunch (like I had the previous two days) so I was getting a bit nervous. Lunch by myself, not sure I can navigate that quite yet. Luckily after some prayer, a lady who works in my open area asked if I would care to join her. I was thoroughly delighted and off we went to my first lunch at the cafeteria.
Thank goodness I had someone to go with, because there was no explanation or reason behind the cafeteria. Not what I was expecting. After picking out cold pasta with vegetables and a bowl of fruit we sat down for lunch. My third lunch at IFAD and my third lunch with someone from a different country (yesterday I had lunch with three different people than the first day, all from three different countries). The lady I had lunch with today is from France. She actually doesn’t speak much English, so the fact that she still invited me to lunch was quite nice.
After lunch it was back to reading. I read up on Ethiopia and then went to the Ethiopia portfolio meeting (yesterday was the Madagascar meeting). Ethiopia was much different than my experience yesterday with Madagascar. It is all so interesting, all so different, and all so confusing. These people know their stuff.
After the meeting, more reading, and then HOME!! I was so happy to return, rest, cook dinner, and get ready for bed. Tomorrow is Friday, but it has the potential of being a crazy day…because I am supposed to have a talk with one of the people who in charge of me. I feel like some actual work might be coming my way. I look forward to this, but at the same time it is intimidating. They had me do something yesterday, and they say it so fast and expect me to get it all the first time. Hopefully I will prevail!
CIAO!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Let's take a Coffee!
My first day of work is DONE! I don’t know if I have ever been so intimidated by a day before. While taking my 20 minute walk to the metro this morning (and passing by the Coloseo In all of its glory) I was just thinking to myself how I just wanted the day to be over and how I knew I had no idea what was about to happen.
Well here is what happened:
When I arrived at the beautiful building of IFAD I was quickly whisked away by human resources to sign forms and then taken to my floor. While walking around with the human resources officer I quickly realized that my middle school dream had come true…to work in a big fancy building where a whole bunch of important work goes down (don’t care so much about it now, but it made me laugh…and I mean, it does make me feel important). After going up to my floor the HR officer passed me off to an English worker named Alex. He works in the same “open space” as me. He then introduced me to a couple of people, including Ruth (my boss and a lot of other people’s boss as well) and then passed me off to another lady. The next lady took me to my desk. Then Ruth walked by and said “let’s take a coffee.” Those words sounded lovely to my ears…even though I wasn’t even sure what that meant and why we were able to do such a thing when we just arrived at work. Back downstairs we went and off to my first encounter with THE bar.
It is an Italian way of life and the fact I have the chance to work at such a place for part of my life is a huge excitement. It is a coffee bar right in our building; a fully fledged fancy coffee bar. Who knows if I will ever be able to take it on by myself, and this is why: In the mad rush of everyone ordering Ruth ordered a short coffee regular for me (saying this all quickly in Italian with questions and answers going back and forth), then we went down to the bar and told them what we ordered and all this crazy Italian talk went down so fast with all these other orders going on at the same time, then somehow I ended up with this tablespoon sized coffee cup with coffee. Smallest coffee I had ever seen. The end.
We then sat down and talked. She talked about Africa and all the projects and project evaluations that are about to take place, all the audits and financial reports and soooo much information. She has a serious job. Somewhere along the lines I heard about Gianluca, my predecessor, the one they all love. Of course it is easier to love a young Italian with a lovely smile. I am going to have to work so hard to work as hard as him and then to make them love me like they love him. He now works full time for IFAD and he comes in on the adventure soon enough.
After coffee and learning so much about Africa I felt like we were in Africa, we went back up to our floor. There I met the amazingly sweet Rahel. Rahel and I had been in contact about the internship the whole past semester; thus, meeting her was like meeting a long lost aunt or something. We had been in contact, but just hadn’t met yet, and turns out…she is super sweet.
She then proceeded to take me around to everyone’s office in the eastern and southern Africa division. Yes, I still felt like I was in Africa and yes I kept thinking about all the Theta Alpha Africa lovers out there. After the 20 meetings and remembering no one’s name we returned to my desk in the open area and came in contact with Gianluca. Rahel then said, “Let’s take a coffee.” WHAT?! I was thinking. Another?! Yes it is true that they hadn’t had one yet, but still. People have time for this! (They then said I should cherish this time because soon I will be flooded with work. )
We then when on my second adventure to the bar! This time was even crazier with more people ordering and more odd things being ordered. Rahel said there are so many different kinds of coffee orders she gets confused. Well…what about me?! I don’t know anything and there isn’t even a menu. (This time around Gianluca bought me some juice since I said no to another coffee.)
After another coffee break and another learning by listening session it was off to the desk where I spent the rest of my day reading project management reports on the whole Southern and Eastern Africa division. Wow do I know more about Africa now, and it is only the tip of the iceberg.
For lunch Gianluca was kind enough to invite me out with some of his friends (2 other young lady workers, both from different countries). We had a lovely Italian lunch out of the building. It was interesting to have a meal while speaking in English while knowing everyone at the table was from a different country. Too bad I only speak English fluently.
After lunch it was time for more reading and getting confused with the 200 acronyms they use. (I was warned about the crazy acronyms). Seeing so many acronyms makes for slow reading. Once 5 o’clock came around it was time to pack up and head home.
I skyped with mom, got confused with my weird Italian internet, got upset with my internet (hope my internet still works all day tomorrow and doesn’t end on me), made dinner, talked with Rossella (in Italian and English) about my internet, we both were confused with my internet, talked about my day with Rossella in Italian (I said no English this time) and then typed this blog into word to post online.
It’s late and most definitely time for bed now. I just knew posting this would cap off the day and sort of relieve me from this pressure cooker of information. So much newness for one day is quite unbelievable. Tomorrow is sure to be exciting. (Madagascar meeting I get to sit in and the rain that is sure to come.)
Well here is what happened:
When I arrived at the beautiful building of IFAD I was quickly whisked away by human resources to sign forms and then taken to my floor. While walking around with the human resources officer I quickly realized that my middle school dream had come true…to work in a big fancy building where a whole bunch of important work goes down (don’t care so much about it now, but it made me laugh…and I mean, it does make me feel important). After going up to my floor the HR officer passed me off to an English worker named Alex. He works in the same “open space” as me. He then introduced me to a couple of people, including Ruth (my boss and a lot of other people’s boss as well) and then passed me off to another lady. The next lady took me to my desk. Then Ruth walked by and said “let’s take a coffee.” Those words sounded lovely to my ears…even though I wasn’t even sure what that meant and why we were able to do such a thing when we just arrived at work. Back downstairs we went and off to my first encounter with THE bar.
It is an Italian way of life and the fact I have the chance to work at such a place for part of my life is a huge excitement. It is a coffee bar right in our building; a fully fledged fancy coffee bar. Who knows if I will ever be able to take it on by myself, and this is why: In the mad rush of everyone ordering Ruth ordered a short coffee regular for me (saying this all quickly in Italian with questions and answers going back and forth), then we went down to the bar and told them what we ordered and all this crazy Italian talk went down so fast with all these other orders going on at the same time, then somehow I ended up with this tablespoon sized coffee cup with coffee. Smallest coffee I had ever seen. The end.
We then sat down and talked. She talked about Africa and all the projects and project evaluations that are about to take place, all the audits and financial reports and soooo much information. She has a serious job. Somewhere along the lines I heard about Gianluca, my predecessor, the one they all love. Of course it is easier to love a young Italian with a lovely smile. I am going to have to work so hard to work as hard as him and then to make them love me like they love him. He now works full time for IFAD and he comes in on the adventure soon enough.
After coffee and learning so much about Africa I felt like we were in Africa, we went back up to our floor. There I met the amazingly sweet Rahel. Rahel and I had been in contact about the internship the whole past semester; thus, meeting her was like meeting a long lost aunt or something. We had been in contact, but just hadn’t met yet, and turns out…she is super sweet.
She then proceeded to take me around to everyone’s office in the eastern and southern Africa division. Yes, I still felt like I was in Africa and yes I kept thinking about all the Theta Alpha Africa lovers out there. After the 20 meetings and remembering no one’s name we returned to my desk in the open area and came in contact with Gianluca. Rahel then said, “Let’s take a coffee.” WHAT?! I was thinking. Another?! Yes it is true that they hadn’t had one yet, but still. People have time for this! (They then said I should cherish this time because soon I will be flooded with work. )
We then when on my second adventure to the bar! This time was even crazier with more people ordering and more odd things being ordered. Rahel said there are so many different kinds of coffee orders she gets confused. Well…what about me?! I don’t know anything and there isn’t even a menu. (This time around Gianluca bought me some juice since I said no to another coffee.)
After another coffee break and another learning by listening session it was off to the desk where I spent the rest of my day reading project management reports on the whole Southern and Eastern Africa division. Wow do I know more about Africa now, and it is only the tip of the iceberg.
For lunch Gianluca was kind enough to invite me out with some of his friends (2 other young lady workers, both from different countries). We had a lovely Italian lunch out of the building. It was interesting to have a meal while speaking in English while knowing everyone at the table was from a different country. Too bad I only speak English fluently.
After lunch it was time for more reading and getting confused with the 200 acronyms they use. (I was warned about the crazy acronyms). Seeing so many acronyms makes for slow reading. Once 5 o’clock came around it was time to pack up and head home.
I skyped with mom, got confused with my weird Italian internet, got upset with my internet (hope my internet still works all day tomorrow and doesn’t end on me), made dinner, talked with Rossella (in Italian and English) about my internet, we both were confused with my internet, talked about my day with Rossella in Italian (I said no English this time) and then typed this blog into word to post online.
It’s late and most definitely time for bed now. I just knew posting this would cap off the day and sort of relieve me from this pressure cooker of information. So much newness for one day is quite unbelievable. Tomorrow is sure to be exciting. (Madagascar meeting I get to sit in and the rain that is sure to come.)
Monday, May 17, 2010
BELLA CITTA!
It is my third day here and no internet on my own computer yet, so I am resorting to typing my blog into word and I will put it on my blog when I get internet. I use Rossella’s internet for email and such, but it is difficult to type on so I rather not use up her internet time trying to update my blog.
Yesterday was adventure day. I woke up late, got ready, read my Rick Steves’ book, and then set out on my adventure to walk around Rome and get the feel for where everything is. Thus, I was able to do A LOT of sightseeing because I just wanted to see it all and then on another day go back and see each place more in depth. Therefore, yesterday I saw: the Coliseum, (walked by) the Roman Forum, the Victor Emmanuel Monument, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, walked through the Jewish Ghetto, crossed the river to Trastevere, explored the random streets in Trastevere, happened upon a pretty church garden, crossed the river again by the Boca della Verita (mouth of truth), had a panino at a small place packed with Italians watching the soccer match, walked by Circo Massimo and sat there for a bit, made my way back to the Coliseum and walked home.
It was so perfect to be able to walk everywhere. Although getting around the Roman Forum does take awhile. Once past the Forum it is easy to stroll everywhere. I can understand how Lauren told me that she was in super shape while living in Rome!
The day was nice because the sun did come out after raining in the morning so it turned out to be a PERFECT cooler day. I wore jeans and a light sweater for most of the day. I definitely didn’t ecpect this type of weather in Rome! It was so nice to finally see the sun and make everything seem happier. It was a bit depressing though to see all the families and couples at the sites; I just wanted to join their families! When I would hear English my ears would perk up, but no one ever talked to me. Oh well…I can’t wait to hopefully make friends at work!!
The day was nice to just walk around all the places and take pictures. Now I also have plenty of pictures of only my face from sticking my camera out in front of me, ha. One unexpected adventure of the day came after I returned to my apartment around 6. I came back, and then decided to go out and see if I could go to an internet point and tabacchi for a calling card. Thus, I didn’t take my camera. It is nice to just walk out of my apartment (which is REALLY quiet) and then be right in the “center” of Rome. Right outside my apartment is San Giovanni in Laterano (a really big church with a piazza in front of it). Both of the stores I had set out to go to were already closed, BUT I saw this huge event going on in front of the church. I made my way across the street and saw this huge Festa della Mundo (Festival of the World). There were tents set up representing different countries, many from South America and Africa, and then there was a stage with the different groups doing their traditional dances. There were hundreds of people at the event and they were not tourists!! I sat down on some steps and watched for about an hour. It was fabulous fun. It was also nice to try and figure out what the emcees where saying. Rome is a huge Italian class EVERY MOMENT OF THE DAY!
I was then able to return to the apartment, have dinner, talk to Mom and Dad, and then use Rossella’s internet. It is so exciting to be able to talk to people after being stuck inside of my head ALL DAY LONG! It is ridiculous how weird it is to experience so many fun things and make random decisions on what to do by yourself. No one to discuss things with makes me go partially stir crazy in my head. Thus, it is so nice to talk to people online! THANK you so much to all of you who have helped support me by checking in on me!! After chatting online, I skyped for the FIRST TIME!! Kelly made my day I could see her perfectly (even though she couldn’t see me) and hear her perfectly; all for the simple price of internet! It was so much fun, oh how easily it makes me happy to talk to other people. Can’t wait for more skyping when I get internet on my computer!
Today I have been staying inside so far. It’s funny because I LOVE my apartment; so cute and Italian. I have a lot of things to get done inside so it is good to take the time for that. Plus, it stormed earlier in the day. Now the sun is out and it is 3:30. After the rain I opened my shutters on my window and leaned out. One of my neighbors was doing the same thing and it startled me a bit to see how close we were! Rossella is out of the apartment; she had gotten up early to go to the doctor and I she hasn’t come back yet. Yesterday night I had stayed up later and she came home around 11:30 after dinner with her Aunt. We talked a lot in Italian about our day. She was happy and said my Italian was much better and that I was looking better. I sure was a mess the previous day from no sleep and huge amount of jet lag.
Now I am just preparing for work tomorrow and waiting for when Rossella returns so we can hopefully go buy internet. Luckily she is so nice and helps me.
I am SO excited to start work tomorrow. I arrived in Rome the perfect number of days before work to get slightly accustomed and then get excited for work. I pray to meet friends. It is so boring to do things by myself, I want someone to go exploring with. I imagine there must be a couple of other interns there. They must be interesting, because in order to apply for such a crazy internship is a huge step. I still can’t believe the craziness I got myself into. How did I ever think I could do this?!
Yesterday was adventure day. I woke up late, got ready, read my Rick Steves’ book, and then set out on my adventure to walk around Rome and get the feel for where everything is. Thus, I was able to do A LOT of sightseeing because I just wanted to see it all and then on another day go back and see each place more in depth. Therefore, yesterday I saw: the Coliseum, (walked by) the Roman Forum, the Victor Emmanuel Monument, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, walked through the Jewish Ghetto, crossed the river to Trastevere, explored the random streets in Trastevere, happened upon a pretty church garden, crossed the river again by the Boca della Verita (mouth of truth), had a panino at a small place packed with Italians watching the soccer match, walked by Circo Massimo and sat there for a bit, made my way back to the Coliseum and walked home.
It was so perfect to be able to walk everywhere. Although getting around the Roman Forum does take awhile. Once past the Forum it is easy to stroll everywhere. I can understand how Lauren told me that she was in super shape while living in Rome!
The day was nice because the sun did come out after raining in the morning so it turned out to be a PERFECT cooler day. I wore jeans and a light sweater for most of the day. I definitely didn’t ecpect this type of weather in Rome! It was so nice to finally see the sun and make everything seem happier. It was a bit depressing though to see all the families and couples at the sites; I just wanted to join their families! When I would hear English my ears would perk up, but no one ever talked to me. Oh well…I can’t wait to hopefully make friends at work!!
The day was nice to just walk around all the places and take pictures. Now I also have plenty of pictures of only my face from sticking my camera out in front of me, ha. One unexpected adventure of the day came after I returned to my apartment around 6. I came back, and then decided to go out and see if I could go to an internet point and tabacchi for a calling card. Thus, I didn’t take my camera. It is nice to just walk out of my apartment (which is REALLY quiet) and then be right in the “center” of Rome. Right outside my apartment is San Giovanni in Laterano (a really big church with a piazza in front of it). Both of the stores I had set out to go to were already closed, BUT I saw this huge event going on in front of the church. I made my way across the street and saw this huge Festa della Mundo (Festival of the World). There were tents set up representing different countries, many from South America and Africa, and then there was a stage with the different groups doing their traditional dances. There were hundreds of people at the event and they were not tourists!! I sat down on some steps and watched for about an hour. It was fabulous fun. It was also nice to try and figure out what the emcees where saying. Rome is a huge Italian class EVERY MOMENT OF THE DAY!
I was then able to return to the apartment, have dinner, talk to Mom and Dad, and then use Rossella’s internet. It is so exciting to be able to talk to people after being stuck inside of my head ALL DAY LONG! It is ridiculous how weird it is to experience so many fun things and make random decisions on what to do by yourself. No one to discuss things with makes me go partially stir crazy in my head. Thus, it is so nice to talk to people online! THANK you so much to all of you who have helped support me by checking in on me!! After chatting online, I skyped for the FIRST TIME!! Kelly made my day I could see her perfectly (even though she couldn’t see me) and hear her perfectly; all for the simple price of internet! It was so much fun, oh how easily it makes me happy to talk to other people. Can’t wait for more skyping when I get internet on my computer!
Today I have been staying inside so far. It’s funny because I LOVE my apartment; so cute and Italian. I have a lot of things to get done inside so it is good to take the time for that. Plus, it stormed earlier in the day. Now the sun is out and it is 3:30. After the rain I opened my shutters on my window and leaned out. One of my neighbors was doing the same thing and it startled me a bit to see how close we were! Rossella is out of the apartment; she had gotten up early to go to the doctor and I she hasn’t come back yet. Yesterday night I had stayed up later and she came home around 11:30 after dinner with her Aunt. We talked a lot in Italian about our day. She was happy and said my Italian was much better and that I was looking better. I sure was a mess the previous day from no sleep and huge amount of jet lag.
Now I am just preparing for work tomorrow and waiting for when Rossella returns so we can hopefully go buy internet. Luckily she is so nice and helps me.
I am SO excited to start work tomorrow. I arrived in Rome the perfect number of days before work to get slightly accustomed and then get excited for work. I pray to meet friends. It is so boring to do things by myself, I want someone to go exploring with. I imagine there must be a couple of other interns there. They must be interesting, because in order to apply for such a crazy internship is a huge step. I still can’t believe the craziness I got myself into. How did I ever think I could do this?!
CIAO ROMA!
I’m finally here! The past two days have been a blur. To fly for so long and then to arrive in a different country in the morning is quite tiring; however, I was able to brush it off for a few hours when getting off the plane…because it was time to enter into the Eternal City and my two first daunting tasks: taking a taxi by myself, and finally, after so much time of looking at pictures of it, arriving at il mio appartamento.
The drive into the city went fast. I just couldn’t believe it was all happening. The city seemed sleepy with the constant light rain making the Italian buildings look sad and sleepy. Not many people were out on the streets yet so I felt like I wasn’t really here. As we drove into the city I knew we were getting closer when we reached the ancient city wall. YES to be living inside of the historic center! THEN I saw it, the coliseum. EEEE! We just drove right past it. Not many tourists were there yet. It just seemed like another building at the moment, BUT it IS the coliseum and it IS my neighbor.
Then we drove right down my street, my street which I have stared at so many times on google street view. Then I saw my huge gorgeous door! How can I not feel fabulous opening that! I rang for Marco Villa (our renter) and I heard the huge door unlock. I lugged in my luggage and then my roommate Rossella came down. She had a huge smile and immediately gave me a hug. We had to then lug the bags up a couple flights of stairs and then were able to take a lift the rest of the way up.
Rossella is a very sweet Italian lady. She speaks English well and if I speak slowly in English she can understand. However, I told her it would be fine to speak in Italian. Thus, it has already been a learning experience. I don’t know everything she says, but we work it out and she is patient. Using your hands to speak helps a lot. It’s only the first day though!! Here comes the learning!
Once I got in the apartment I began setting up and unpacking. It’s crazy how much stuff I have here. I suppose I will be here for quite some time though and that is why I have all these everyday things. It’s not vacation!
After unpacking I rested because the time change is deathly and it was raining quite a bit. Rossella was also napping and told me that later we will go for a walk to see the supermarket and such that I will need in the area.
After waking up we talked a bit, I asked her lots of questions, and she showed me everything in the apartment. It is a TINY apartment, but very well kept. Everything is clean and in its place. She is so kind and generous. When I arrived she made me a café, so delicious and Italian. Then I had to learn to use her little coffee contraption that goes on the stove, gas stove that is. Oh the adventures to be had in the kitchen.
Hopefully I can get my own internet soon. She is kind to lend me hers, but I pray that my internet and phone situation can be figured out. In regards to wanting internet, I miss everyone already, but I’m doing well. I put up pictures and know that everyone is so supportive of me and I am thankful for that! I think of my crazy and supportive family, my lovely Roomie in the ville who always has a smile when I am sad, the fabulous four ladies who kept me company in Gainesville while I packed for both Panama and Rome, Lindsay who kept up with Rome details the whole spring semester, and of course the amazing duo of Vana and Shea who are so fabulous and I feel like you both should be here to share in food adventures.
Psalm 143:8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go for to you I lift up my soul.
The drive into the city went fast. I just couldn’t believe it was all happening. The city seemed sleepy with the constant light rain making the Italian buildings look sad and sleepy. Not many people were out on the streets yet so I felt like I wasn’t really here. As we drove into the city I knew we were getting closer when we reached the ancient city wall. YES to be living inside of the historic center! THEN I saw it, the coliseum. EEEE! We just drove right past it. Not many tourists were there yet. It just seemed like another building at the moment, BUT it IS the coliseum and it IS my neighbor.
Then we drove right down my street, my street which I have stared at so many times on google street view. Then I saw my huge gorgeous door! How can I not feel fabulous opening that! I rang for Marco Villa (our renter) and I heard the huge door unlock. I lugged in my luggage and then my roommate Rossella came down. She had a huge smile and immediately gave me a hug. We had to then lug the bags up a couple flights of stairs and then were able to take a lift the rest of the way up.
Rossella is a very sweet Italian lady. She speaks English well and if I speak slowly in English she can understand. However, I told her it would be fine to speak in Italian. Thus, it has already been a learning experience. I don’t know everything she says, but we work it out and she is patient. Using your hands to speak helps a lot. It’s only the first day though!! Here comes the learning!
Once I got in the apartment I began setting up and unpacking. It’s crazy how much stuff I have here. I suppose I will be here for quite some time though and that is why I have all these everyday things. It’s not vacation!
After unpacking I rested because the time change is deathly and it was raining quite a bit. Rossella was also napping and told me that later we will go for a walk to see the supermarket and such that I will need in the area.
After waking up we talked a bit, I asked her lots of questions, and she showed me everything in the apartment. It is a TINY apartment, but very well kept. Everything is clean and in its place. She is so kind and generous. When I arrived she made me a café, so delicious and Italian. Then I had to learn to use her little coffee contraption that goes on the stove, gas stove that is. Oh the adventures to be had in the kitchen.
Hopefully I can get my own internet soon. She is kind to lend me hers, but I pray that my internet and phone situation can be figured out. In regards to wanting internet, I miss everyone already, but I’m doing well. I put up pictures and know that everyone is so supportive of me and I am thankful for that! I think of my crazy and supportive family, my lovely Roomie in the ville who always has a smile when I am sad, the fabulous four ladies who kept me company in Gainesville while I packed for both Panama and Rome, Lindsay who kept up with Rome details the whole spring semester, and of course the amazing duo of Vana and Shea who are so fabulous and I feel like you both should be here to share in food adventures.
Psalm 143:8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go for to you I lift up my soul.
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