Last day.

It's my last day in Roma tomorrow and i'm surprised to say that i'm really sad i'm leaving because i have literally only just got used to it.. all the Australiani are leaving early Saturday morning and coaching it up to Venezia where we'll spend two nights and then next onto Firenze for two nights where we'll do yet more walking tours and then back to Roma on Wednesday so we can fly out later that day to get home Friday morning!!

I've had a really busy last couple of days, pretty much just hanging around in Roma trying to make the most of the time i have left.. we had another two walking tours this week, which were alright only because it gave all of us a chance to spend more time together. I've lost track of days (which most would say was a completely normal thing for me to do), but in the last few days i've revisited the Fontana di Trevi, San Pietro, the vaticant, several other churchs, the Pantheon... and probably spent another 10 hours just walking around the city. Yesterday we visited this horrible curch, the cappucini, that is decorated by the bones of the nuns and monks. It's such a weird feeling being in there because it really is beautiful but then you realise what it's all made of and feel really really sick..

Last night Andrew, Hayden and I went to Ebony's host family's house for dinner. It really made me see that in comparison my host family are really modern.. not too sure if that makes sense, but it made me see that i was really lucky to be staying with a family that is so much more like my own.

Had the best gelato ever yesterday too. Just absolutely amazing. The place is near the Pantheon and has like a billion flavours, it's impossible to choose so in the end the guy had to choose for me. There are also some really awesome shops in that area and the markets are good there too. I think i spent more yesterday than i have the whole trip.. even though that's not really saying all that much because i'm spending a lot less than i thought i woud, it's really just paying for coffee and drinks at the moment which is pretty awesome.

Like i said i've done so much in the last few days i can't remember a lot of it, but anyway i'l add heaps of photos and hopefully that will give some idea of all the busyness!! Not sure if i'll have time to get to a computer while i'm away but hopefully i'll get a chance.

Colosseo.

Had my first official walking tour of Rome yesterday and i have to say i much prefer just being able to wander around checking out the cafes then i do trekking it over the city and looking at ancient ruins. It was interesting though and was great to be able to catch up with the friends i made on the plane and the Australians going to the other schools over here. First we visited the Roman Forum, which wasn't so great, but looks amazing from above. After that we went to the Colosseo which is absolutely amazing, but i'm sad to say that Lily let me down because i only saw one cat, as opposed to the eight that she had in the background of her photo. The statues and different artworks they have on the top level are pretty great though.

Circo Massima is a complete waste of time and as interesting as i'm sure it would have been, it pretty much just looks like an old park now. I'd have to say the best part of the day.. other than when we got to hang out at the bar later, would of had to have been when they took us to a park that looked over the whole of Roma and looked like it was out of a movie.. it also had cats running around everywhere which was awesome.

It took me the whole of today to recover and, though i was supposed to be going out tonight for Ebony's 17th, i could only muster up enough energy to take my new shoes, which are absolutely awesome, for a walk to try and buy stamps so i can send everyone postcards.. i forgot about the whole problem of me not speaking italian so after going into 2 tobbaceria i finally found one that had a customer who could translate for us.

So to make up for not going out tonight i promised Ebony i'd go to Romics with her tomorrow.. Romics- the Roman Comic Book Convention. I can't help but laugh..

Friends and such.

Finally ran into the rest of the 'Australiani', all three of them, at school the other day and after telling my family that i'd talked to Andrew once they were in a frenzy to organise for us to meet up in the centre so that we could have a break from the constant Italian and our hosts would get a chance to study. So i've spent the last few afternoons with Andrew, Hayden and Ebony wondering around Roma and visiting all the bars and cafes, which made me feel a bit more at home. We've also gotten into the habbit of saying 'oh yeah that's our cafe' or 'oh look there's our park'.. which at the rate we're going the whole of Roma will be ours by early next week.

I love walking around the streets and seeing all the touristi because compared to them the four of us look like we actually know where we're going, and get asked for directions in a mix of Japanese, Italiano and English.

One thing i thought was going to be a really big problem was being a vegetarian over here but it's really not hard at all.. which could have something to do with the fact that my family have turned temporarily vegetarian too, but i'd still like to think that it would be this easy normally. Also Sydney really needs to start having cafes that sell cakes like they do here because the Roman cakes are amazing.

Tomorrow we are going on some sort of tour around Roma with another group of Australians.. which means more monuments, but what i find the best about touring Roma is all the graffiti in the back streets, fluro giraffes are posted everywhere, and all the different street stalls, especially in the arty parts of town.

Anyway this post has been mostly random little things i've noticed, because i haven't really been up to anything in particular in the last few days and it feels as though it's been a while.. oh yeah and the photo above is just another one from the other day ago when i went out with Caterina and her friends.

Oh and btw Mel, i did open your letter but it wasn't the morning because i got the dates all mixed up and had to wait until i got home to open it, know it was days ago though.. scusa!!

More tours of Rome.

In the last two days i've spent around 11 hours walking around Rome and all its piazzi. Firstly yesterday after school we all caught the bus in so they could show me the main shopping strip of Rome, though we also visited the Pantheon and about 5 other squares around the city. Today Maria, Massimo and Caterina spent 7 hours showing me everywhere from the Colluseum to the ancient ruins and all the different piazzi in between. One of my favourite places was a sort of park thing that has ruins of ancient buildings and is sectioned off from the rest of the city, but the main attraction were all the stray cats that live there, which is apparently over 350 all up. What's even more awesome is that cats are so protected here and part of this place was called the Cat Sanctuary.

Also, last night Martina, Caterina's friend, invited us all over for dinner and to teach me how to make traditional Italian pizza. Dinner consisted of us comparing the Italian Harry Potter with the English one and most of the girls laughing histerically at all the british names. Afterwards they insisted that we watched Harry Potter in english so they could hear what it was like first-hand. The thing that always catches me off-guard and that i can't help but laugh at is when they sing American songs, like last night at dinner Federica repeated 'i kissed a girl and i liked it' over and over again and Caterina and Julia were both singing American Boy non-stop... but don't even get me started about High school Musical.

San Pietro.

Went to the city centre yesterday afternoon, and it made me realise how weird it is to visit places that should seem amzing to you but are just everyday places to those who live there. Saint Peters Square is truely amazing.. but its hard to take in and even harder when you're not with anybody else who will find it as amazing as you do.

All i thought about when i was there was how much effort would have gone in to building all the monuments in Rome... along with thinking about how much Nana would love to see the church.. so i took lots of photos especially for her. Can't say they're very good and they can't possibly give you any idea of just how huge the place is but some of them get close to showing how beautiful it is.

Oh yeah and i remembered a few months ago in an Italian lesson my teacher was telling us how great the roasted chestnuts (la castagna) were and how i might be lucky enough to try some. Well they were my first impression of the city centre.. as soon as i got out of the car i could smell something amazing, it was like a mixture of maple syrup and well.. roasted nuts. Can't say they tasted amazing, but apparently these ones weren't cooked enough, but the smell was enough for me to love them.

As for the other food i've had pasta 9 times in the last 4 or 5 days, all with tomato sauce except once. All Caterina's friends mothers are inviting me over for lunch and dinner and are all shocked when i say im full after the first serving.

Don't think i'll want to travel like this again any time soon.. some parts are good but it's so hard because you don't get to choose what you do and going to school over seas for more than 2 days is a waste of time unless you speak the language well. Sounds silly but i've found i've been getting worse headaches because the language here is so intense and everyone is so loud with everything they say and do. I've also found, through talking to people in Australia, that even from just being here 5 days my english has changed so much and i'm saying things the long way around just to make sure my point gets through.

Anyway photo's will be up soon, as soon as i work out how to do it.

Ciao!!

Just arrived in Roma last night and met my host family. I have two host sisters Caterina, 14, and Margherita, 17. They all speak english really well, Maria(thier mum) especially, and so do all Caterina's friends at school. They live in a large apartment 5km from the centre of Rome and from the balcony other than the large park all you can see are apartment buildings everywhere. Because everyone lives in apartments there are parked cars everywhere and everywhere is always really busy no matter what time it is. There is also graffiti everywhere, which i love.

We went to school today, which was really weird because it's a lot more different than i thought it would be. All Caterina's friends were really eager to meet me, and to try out their english on me which was really good because it turns out im the only Australian student going there which sort of sucks. The school is an eight story building with really small classrooms and like the rest of the city is covered with graffiti. The grounds of the school is pretty much an empty car park, which is really awesome but the thing i found weirdest is that there are no teachers anywhere and everyone smokes in school.

Really missing everyone and surprisingly i'm actually missing school quite a bit. I have to keep reminding myself that it's only four weeks.. and hopefully soon enough i'll be able to have better conversations with everyone. One thing that did make me feel at home was when i went to bed last night i looked up at the wall and it was covered with Jonny Depp posters, all the people at school are also asking me about different movies and books that i know.. they all love Harry Potter and were upset when they found out i didn't read Twilight.

For the next three weeks i'll be staying here and going to school with Caterina, so hopefully i'll learn a lot more italian. Then after that i'll be going to Venezia where i'll visit the islands of Murano and Burano and then onto Firenze before i go back to Roma so i can catch the plane home.

Anyway we're about to go out for the afternoon so i can get to know the area a bit better, because i just looked at a map and realised i though i was on the opposite side of the city from where i actually am.

I'll have photos up soon. Miss everyone so much!!
x.