bathroom
through the peephole
view from bathroom window
view below bedroom including the woman who is always on her balcony
view from bedroom window
the key to her apartment is amazing
climbin the marble stairs
Hello friends and family! Ciao di Roma! Please excuse my English as it will be continually worsening as the weeks go by, as my italian gets better. Something I noticed from LIam's emails, and find endearing. I have, in the nearly 24 hours I've been here, already picked up the Italian accent even on my English words.
Update is as follows:
The flights were difficult but everything resolved itself. I was very emotional all day. I was feeling sick on the plane and couldn't sleep for the 8 hour flight, as I had a two by two foot space for sleeping and things were very uncomfortable, but I was able to find someone at each airport to let me borrow an Ipod charger (I packed mine in my suitcase instead of carry on accidentally) and listened to Italian tapes the whole way. I did drop my laptop at one point from a height and it is now functioning almost perfectly but is very slow sometimes and makes funny noises.
I arrived in Roma and got through customs and passport checks quickly as I am good at cutting line and was in the middle of questioning an airport exchange booth person for the second time about exchanging enough change only to use the phone to call Ilaria, as my flight was early, when a woman from Philly nudged me and said you can have this calling card if you'll help me use it to call my cousin! So we found her cousin and I kept the calling card. There are fifty minutes on it.
My guide, Ilaria, is a good friend of Liam's and is 29, an actress and singer in Rome. She is very funny and speaks English very well, even when I speak fast!
Ilaria showed up not long after and we hopped in her beautiful new orange car and took off, to the sound of the Cranberries from her cd player. In Europe the drivers are very skilled but follow no road rules as in America other than to flow together. You know when you are turning and you look to see if cars are coming and if one is coming you stop? Same with crossing the street? In Europe no one does that, they just flow together, using every inch of the road and weaving in and out together, within inches of one another. They don't drive fast at all in the city and buses, motos (motorcycles) pedestrians, and bicycles all flow together and nobody honks, it all just works out.
Ilaria took me to my hostel where it was too early to check in, and then we went to a bar for coffee and pastries. there was a film being shot just outside the bar and a woman singing opera in a church. the music flowed outside to where we were sitting in the cool morning air. The sky was clear bright blue all day and it was warm save for the breeze. I saw the colloseum from a distance as well as saint peter's. My phone did not get service as T Mobile said it would, but Ilaria let me use her phone and the calling card to call my parents and I talked to my sister and let her know I was safe.
From there we went to Ilaria's apartamento, and she helped me carry my 50 pound suitcase up three flights of marble stairs.
She said you must be tired and let me take a nap. I took one for apparently two minutes and told her I felt like I should be doing something, and was worried that we should go check in at the hostel now. She said you may stay here, and as I only put down a $7 deposit on the hostel, I of course agreed.
I took a shower and a nap on her bed with the cool breeze rolling in from the quiet street.
I met her two roommates and she made me espresso. WE sat in the kitchen stirring sugar into our cups with tiny silver spoons and listening to local radio which played Animal Collective as well as Fleet Foxes, which I woke up to from my nap.
In her apartment she has a tree just like the palm I had in my bedroom. One of her roommates greeted me with the European cheek brushing.
Also they use a bidet in the bathroom and hang their clothes out the window. Their washer is very small and cute.
From here we took Ilaria's moto (motorcycle. Don't worry Mom, we used thick helmets and go slow and Ilaria is a very skilled driver) to some of her favorite places in the city, where we saw the pantheon (but only from the outside as it was Sunday and they were having church service inside) and a church that held two Boticelli paintings, and picked up pizza from a local stand. Mine had tuna and cilantro on it and was amazing.
The whole time I am snapping shots of the beautiful city and my guide who is beautiful as well on my holga camera, with black and white 120 film.
Ilaria showed me the church where she (almost) got married and led me past soldiers with giant guns intheir jeep to a huge pair of metal doors and pointed to a hole next to the key. "Look" she said and I did.
It was like looking down a long hallway with walls fifty feet high covered in green vine, with an arching ceiling and at the end the light shone through and there was the dome of Saint Peter's far away, all bright and white. I attempted to take photos through the hole with my holga.
We stopped in a bar for a glass of white wine and buffet (aperitivo, they call it here) and while sitting outside chatting, we were approached by three Italian men looking for a light. Ilaria smokes hand-rolled cigarettes, and we all talked for an hour or so, during which time I learned much more italian and practiced it, while intermingling it with Spanish when I didnt know the Italian for a word, and the men were very funny, friendly, and polite. Ilaria told them she was from Kentucky also, and they almost bought it, as many people sometimes don't realize she is from Italia as her hair is so light.
On the way back we stopped at a kind of carnival and listened to a little concert. Ilaria knew all the words to the songs.
Tomorrow Moby plays for free in centro, and Ilaria's roommate has also invited me to come to his play and take photos for the bill of an actress of whom they do not have photos yet. We looked at my website together and he liked my work.
Fabrizzo, one of Ilaria's roommates, sat in the hallway ironing his clothes for tomorrow while I ate the most amazing vanilla yogurt ever and Ilaria showed me ridiculously funny videos of a lemur on youtube. We laughed so hard we cried.
Mario Grasso, an extended family member, has contacted me and we will meet tomorrow while Ilaria is working for an extra guide of Roma.
Ilaria and I are now going to bed.
I will keep you updated!
Love always,
Sarah
