Fountains, restrictions, and fun times.

With the abundance of fountains in Rome you would think there could possibly be a swimming pool for people to swim in. When I think about it, some of these fountains are like fancy ornate pools. Thus, with the arrival of the intense heat, my Floridian instinct is starting to take over me: when hot, jump into water. The heat in Rome is like Florida, it is hot, but you can live; however, add to that business clothes and getting on a metro cramped with other hot sweaty people and you start to wonder if you are going to make it. When commuting home in the afternoon, I just want to get off of the metro where all of us passengers have created a pool of sweat, and fling myself into the nearest fountain. Too bad I would receive a fine. Restrictions...


On a recent trip outside of Rome to Orvieto with Gina, a fabulous friend from L.A., we ended up on a bus packed with people in the intense heat. I was excited to get a move on it considering the stagnate air and the unusual proximity to the people around us; however, the bus had other plans...it was not starting back up. Thus, Gina and I stared at each other with tired delirious faces while getting entertainment from the French couple sitting next to us. The couple, who even though they knew we were American, continued to engage us in their conversation in French. At one point, I was leaning over laughing and all the sudden got a spray of something in my face. First my reaction was of fear of what was being sprayed at me by this little French lady, then I realized it was something I had never seen before, a can similar to spray on sunscreen, that sprays cooling water. Gina and I started laughing even more as the lady continued to spray us down. Funny memories on a nice trip outside of Rome.

Delirious laughing from heat and tiredness is a common occurrence now. The day after the Orvieto trip, I went on a trip out to Tivoli with two friends from IFAD. There we visited Villa Adriana (Hadrian's villa) and Villa d'Este. Thankfully we had been told to go to Adriana first and then Este. Adriana is an amazing estate that was created by the Emperor Hadrian. Full of ruins and little ponds we spent our time roaming around, taking pictures, and staying out of the sun. It is a huge piece of land that made it so we didn't see anyone else while touring. When we did come upon other tourists we would quickly ask if they could take our picture, because who knew when we would see someone else again.

After Villa Adriana we made our way to Villa d'Este. It is an fabulous villa right in Tivoli with 500 fountains. It was gorgeous! I was in heaven with the cool breeze coming off all the water and the huge trees providing shade. There we had a picnic lunch and took in the fountains and the sound which reminded me of waterfalls in North Carolina. We wandered around the much smaller villa, took pictures, and then decided to do what we saw so many others doing, find a spot in the shade on the lawn and take a nap. Two days of touring had worn out my body. It was time to recharge a bit and then head home to Rome.

After heading home we had to recharge some more because that same night after the day of our self-guided tour in Tivoli, was the World Cup final. Up to this point we had been watching the matches at the FIFA Fan Fest in Villa Borghese, at my friend's apartment with her family, or at restaurants in the center. This time my friend from Jordan (who lives close to my place) and I opted for watching it at a small restaurant close by. She had been on the Tivoli day trip with me, so we wanted to get maximum rest time in between then and the game.

The game proved to be fun despite the lack of scoring. The restaurant was cute, and the people around us were fun. However, soon sleep overtook us and we had to leave at the end of the 90 minutes, thus missing the final goal, but excited to hear from my apartment cheers and excitement that Spain won. After all the other teams we had decided to cheer for during the WC had all lost in their matches, it was nice to finally choose to cheer for what turned out to be the winning team. I guess we should have listened to Paul the Octopus the whole time, ha.

The weekend heat is counteracted by the cool indoors of the IFAD building. Of course I would rather be outside, but from 8:30 till 5 Monday through Friday my time is spent indoors...living out my dream internship. It's still going well, learning is my favorite part. So many of the country programme managers go on missions to Africa, thus every week different people are always missing and different people are coming back. I feel at home in the UN though and I know most people in my division. It makes the work day fun to say hi to everyone and get to talk with different people. Everyone is fabulous.
This past work week flew by. Due to the fact that my friend from Jordan is leaving next week we decided to pack everyday after work with fun. Some of the fun activities that took place: going to Gianicolo hill to picnic and see the sunset over Rome, Musei Capitolini and dinner at my favorite restaurant, and the Colosseo. This is all filled in with errand running, market hopping, random cooking, and visits with other friends. All a lot of fun. I don't know what I am going to do when she leaves.

Now it is time for the weekend. Time to clean the apartment before my roommate returns from Ireland, time to visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill before my ticket expires, and time to just get some rest. It has been a fun and tiring week! Oh, and it is also time to go to the beach where I can jump in the water and not be fined :) Ciao ciao e baciooooooooooooo.