Talk Like You're in the Rome Program!

As we're 23 moderately extroverted and obnoxious individuals, the Rome program has developed it's own particular vernacular. A few (update, I can't believe I forgot the last two) examples follow:

• Fas: Benke taught us this one. Ancient Greek for 'speakable' but really means more that the auguries favor something. A day can be 'fas' or 'nefas', and if it's 'nefas' business should not be conducted. Our usage: 'Woa that pasta was pretty fas.' or ' Benkster's final was nefas'
• In the Mix: To get something going or involved. I think this may be partially a Psi-U thing but whatever. We use it WAY too often. Usage 'Lets get those girls in the mix!' or 'You gotta get in the mix!'
• P-Dubs: The professor we had, P eter White.
• NOSD: Stands for 'Not Our Sort, Dear'. Benke told us a story about her high society Boston friends who would use that as code (clever!) if they thought someone was below them.
• Big things: Doesn't really need explanation.
• Foreshortening: Not so much slang as an art history term that our current professor uses constantly, to describe every damn piece of art. We use it out of hatred and fear.
• Jackal: One who steals something, especially food, especially in the salla.
• Va bene, allora, whatever: Francesca says this phrase a fair bit. Literally its 'OK, well, whatever'. We use it whenever something goes poorly, or you know, when there's any sort of lull in conversation.

Happy Thanksgiving or Something!

Went out to dinner with my parents, sister, Norm, his friends Leslie and Lou, Crys, her roommate Jill, and Joanna. It was an unconventional Thanksgiving but who the hell wants turkey anyway (me, but that's besides the point).
I wish I could post more but I really can't. The computers here are in high demand, or I have to pay for using them. I have a whole list in my notebook of things I'd like to post about, generated during the boring and horrible classes all ready mentioned. But yeah, no computer time. Wish I'd brought mine.

Scooter

Amy, Thomas, Jane, Anita and I rented scooters today. Well really, Thomas and I did, and the girls road with us. It was awesome, possibly the best experience I've had in Rome. Very Roman Holiday, though it's sort of cold now, and I look very little like Gregory Peck. It was pretty incredible. It turns out you don't have to obey traffic laws (like, at all) if you're on a scooter in Rome. And this isn't a small, crappy scooter, it's 125cc, comfortably seats two people, and perhaps best of all, it's dark blue. Evidently it's socially acceptable when on a scooter to weave in between cars stopped at a traffic light, cut off cars, zoom between pedestrians, and generally have more fun than a civilized person on a motorized vehicle really should be allowed to. We drove all the city, ended up in the suburbs a few times, and generally saw parts of Rome we hadn't seen before. Scooters are definitely the way to see Rome, my only regret is that we didn't do it earlier, when it was, you know, not cold as hell.

Oh yeah. My parents and sister are here. We had dinner at this great restaurant that Jane (as well as some Air Force guys Norm had met) recommended. The restaurant follows a great format where Paula, the owner, makes you, and everyone else in the restaurant, whatever she damn well pleases, comes out and insists you eat more, and is generally a cute old Italian woman. I'm still full. It was great. And then I went and rode my scooter some more.

Glass

Crys's birthday was last Wednesday, and man did we make a night of it, food-wise that is. We went to Glass, a trendy restaurant in Trastevere, with Patrick, Snaeha, Alex, Ashley, Jill, Sarah, Amy, and of course, (Uncle) Norm. I'd been there once before, and it´s one of those ultra-modern places where they give you very little food for very much money, so based on my experience last time, a lot of us opted for the Tasting Menu (or as the menu read, the Tastefull menu). Six courses. Incredible. To make Laura, and the other foodies happy, I'll actually list the courses. Skip to the end if a Parmesan Reggiano deconstruction doesn't make you smile.
First, a red pepper stuffed with excellent buffalo mozzarella and anchovies. Second, the Parmesan Reggiano deconstruction. It was a piece of Parmesan , fried and crispy, leaning against scoop of Parmesan ice cream, with a dollop of Parmesan whip cream to the side, all covered in a Parmesan cream sauce. I'm considering eating only deconstructed things from now on. Next was a pesto dish which was the only part of the meal we didn't adore. Forth was a couple large ravioli, covered in really good bacon (side note: I pretty much eat more pork products in here, in a single week, than I'd previously eaten in my entire life before getting here) and filled with a sweet and sour tomato goodness that I can barely describe. Fifth was a tiny pork tenderloin and a little biscuit of some sort which were both fantastic, and finally there was orange-apple-amaretto crepes for desert. They were pretty good, but the pear deconstruction (!) we had last time was on par with the cheese one.
It only took us three hours to eat dinner, and I think everyone who did the tasting menu enjoyed it as much as I did.

Barcelona

I'm tired and cold and sitting in an internet cafe/Subway (the fast food place) in Barcelona. Awesome. Actually Barcelona is pretty good, a nice change from Rome, and a city with a club scene that doesn't even begin until 1AM and goes till around 6 can't be all bad. Basically, I realized all my previous posts have been filled with happy, almost unrealistic ravings about what I'm up to. Well I'm putting an end to this. Sometimes Europe isn't fun. Sometimes your hotel (though extremely nice) is a 20 Euro taxi ride from the city and your return flight is at 9AM and 80km from the city. Anyway, just thought I'd bring everyone down a little.

Barcelona really is great though. We got in late last night and ended up only going to one club, Razzmatazz, but there was no reason to leave. There where three floors, with four huge dance floors, punk, pop, house and whatever the main one was. The music was far better than in american clubs, and included stuff I actually like, such as Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, and a spanish DJ freestyle rapping over a remix of Seven Nation Army with Scarface playing on huge big screen tv's in the background. There were literally thousands of people there.

Today we got up, walked around the city, and went to the Picasso Museum. Now we're in an internet cafe. It took coming here, where I speak virtually no Spanish and certainly no Catalan, to realize how good my Italian is (not very, but still).

Florence (or for the more pretentious among us, Firenza)

After Orvieto, a fair number of us went to Florence. Patrick and I were the only guys, and we split a hotel room at a random hotel I found called Natzioni. I later found out it was actually called 'Natzioni - Internet Hotel', and for good reason. We somehow got an apartment-suite which had a computer with broadband in our room, a kitchenette, and both queen and twin beds. We met up with the girls later and ate at a place Jane's friend had recommended called Quatro Trattori. It was incredible. Ravioli in asparagus cream sauce, filled with with asparagus, cheese (maybe my recent favorite, pecorino) and pear. It was so good that I ditched the (also very good) cheese and avocado salad I was having, and ordered the pasta.. (Happy Belated Birthday Laura).


Ashley had found out about this horseback tour of Tuscany, which ended in a wine and olive oil tasting as well as dinner, so after seeing the obligatory museums in Florence, six of so of us went on this tour. The scenery was, needless to say, breathtaking, and riding horseback up and down those very steep and tiny little trails was fun. I'm no riding expert, but I have been enough times to be moderately proficient, or so I thought.

Like other places, they started us in a small enclosed field to give us a quick lesson, where I had a ridiculous amount of trouble. I tried to follow there directions for controlling the horse, but it just wasn't working. Eventually I (we) figured out that this was western (American) style, while I had only rode English style. After I learned you controlled these horses by how the reins were touching their neck (not directly where you were pulling), Amadeo and I got along fine.

Orvieto

Orvieto

Sorry for the lack of posting. I had a final/not much that was all that interesting happened in my life. If you were concerned, sorry. Everything is A OK, tutte bene, and such.

This past weekend we had a class trip to Orvieto. It's a small picturesque town about an hour from Rome, built on top of a small mountain. We saw the cathedral there, with the Signorelli frescoes, which were more interesting than any I'd seen yet. As you can imagine, at this point we're pretty tired of anything that involves Jesus, a crucifix, a saint, or the italian service industry. Signorelli's frescoes were good because he depicts scenes like the coming of the anti-christ and the damned, which are needless to say, bad-ass.