Lesson #56 Let's go see the Pope!

     Being in Italy, especially Rome, it seems only right to visit the Vatican. Whether you are religious or not, the Vatican is amazing and has the best postal service in Italy! Well, every Wednesday and Sunday the pope greets people at the Vatican with a special audience. On Wednesdays you need to reserve a free ticket for a seat and get to see the pope up close and personal from his pope-mobile! Yes, it is actually called that.
     And it looks like this:

     But, if you decide to just show up on Sunday, you get to see the Pope from his papal apartments. He just gives a short speech in Italian and then speaks to the crowd in a bunch of different languages. He starts with Italian, then French, then English, then German, and so on . . . In all, it takes about 45 mins to get to the Vatican, and 15 mins for the Papal audience. Even though it is only 15 mins, just the atmosphere of the crowd is fun! People come from all over the world with fliers and banners that show their love of the Pope and where they are from. On the occasional Sunday, he will even address the specific people there!
     I dunno if you can see the Pope in the picture below, but he is the size of a pin from the square as well, soooooo bring a camera with a really good zoom!

   
     Lesson #56: Spend a Sunday visiting the Pope! And try to recognize as many languages you can!

Lesson #55 Personal Space? What's that?

     Oh personal space, how I miss thee! Having been in Italy for a few months, you tend to realize that NO ONE GIVES ANYONE ANY SPACE!!!! If you are in line for something, you have Italians pressed against you on all sides. If you are on the bus, you have Italians pushing you. If you are randomly walking down the street, you have Italians bumping you.
     I need a personal bubble like this kid!

     So, Lesson #55: Personal space does not exist in Italy.

Lesson #54 Cars . . .

     Italians like their cars like they like their coffee: SMALL! Whereas Americans like their SUV's. I honestly think you might thrown out of Italy if you tried to drive and SUV here . . .

     Italian Car:

     American Car:

     Lesson #54:  Italy likes their small cars . . .

Lesson #53 Coffee . . .

     Has anyone ever noticed that the coffee sizes in America are ridiculous! We seriously make the largest cups for beverages out of anywhere in the world. If you don't believe me, walk into a 7-Eleven and look at a "Big Gulp" . . . its kinda ridiculous! Well, since we have been here a while, we have heard the Americans complaining non-stop about how it is impossible to get a large coffee. Everyone misses their "Venti Starbucks Frappuccinos", which is bizarre because we are in the land of coffee!
     Well, Italians like their coffee small and very strong. They never get coffee to-go and if you ask for it in a to-go cup they know your a foreigner!

     You see how small that is?!?!?! If you ever see an Italian with one of these (below), you be sure to let me know!

 
     Lesson #53: Italian coffee is small. Do not expect anything larger than 6oz or less . . .

Lesson #52 Photography Professor vs. Bartok faceoff

     An interesting aspect of being here in Rome is my classes. Now, of course I took some classes that would complete my study abroad experience as being more abroad than study, hence my Photography class. Now you think that a photography class would be loads of fun, especially in a place like Rome, right? But what you wouldn't expect is the fact that we spend most of our time in a dark classroom talking about other people's work for hours at a time! 

     Well, when you are taking a class that is so focused on talking and less on the actual learning process, you tend to find things to distract you, like your professor's voice. Which is good because that means you are actually listening to him, right?? 

     So, my photography professor has a slight Boston accent and a slight lisp, so when he gets excited, he tends to sound like Bartok from Anastasia. 

     Is it bad that all I wanna do is ask him to say that line? Probably . . . 

     

     So, Lesson #52: Bartok wins.

Lesson #51 Postage stamps

     This is a Rome postage stamp. Not that I have ever seen one, but apparently, this is what they look like. I have been in Italy for 2 months and have visited 2 post offices and multiple Tabacci shops to search for this elusive stamp.
     You may ask, "What city requires this much effort to find stamps?" The answer is simple: ROME, ITALY!
     Yes, that's right. Rome has run out of stamps. One of the post offices I visited managed to convey this in Italian to me by just looking at me like I was crazy. Granted, I was asking for 20 stamps, but they didn't even have one! The other post office just kept saying finished. And all the tabacci stores that supposedly sell stamps actually don't.

     Instead, all of my postcards have stamps like this! YAY for Vatican City and their postal services. The Vatican is renowned around all of Rome for saving Italian's from their own mail service. Although PosteItaliane, the Italian postal service is ALWAYS crazy busy, no one is actually sending mail from it. The Italians pay their bills direct to the post office, so clearly mail and stamps is not a priority.
     I would just like everyone to appreciate how much of an effort was spent in sending those darn postcards. It took several horrible attempts in Italian, lots of snooty looks, a special trip to Vatican City to buy the stamps and another to send them. So, to all of you who recieved post cards, your welcome!

     So, Lesson #51: Never trust an Italian post office!

Lesson #50 Fashion Suicide

     Yep, that's right. The ultimate form of fashion suicide in Italy, I have committed. It all happened because of that darn rain! Well, if you are wondering what fashion suicide in Italy is, it's wearing yoga pants. Yep. I love my yoga pants, so actually I'm surprised it took me this long to crack! Well, Rome is notorious for torrential downpours, and after you walk through one once, you will never be tempted to wear jeans again, hence the yoga pants.
     Well, I thought that this was just fine and dandy, until I got to my Italian class. My Italian teacher is this cute little Italian woman who is always wearing AMAZING shoes and cute clothes. She was also wearing yoga pants accompanied by sneakers. When I showed up, she asked me if the rain had destroyed my shoes and outfit too and if I didn't have time to go home and change . . . Her outfit was her workout apparel, which no Italian in their right mind would wear in normal circumstances, so clearly I am not Italian. I like my yoga pants too much!

So, Lesson #50: A love of yoga pants is the death of fashion.

Lesson #49 Singing in the Rain!

     RAIN! I feel like whenever you see umbrellas and rain, you immediately start singing! Or at least I do! So in honor of that, here is Gene Kelly singing in the rain!

   
     So, Lesson #49: No matter where you are in the world, be it Italy or the U.S., SING IN THE RAIN!

Lesson #48 Designer fanny packs . . .

     What is it with men and fanny packs? I had previously thought before I came to Italy that fanny packs were left back in the 80's. Unfortunately, it seems they are still with us. Yay for fanny packs! Although they are occassionally useful to help fend off the pickpockets, there really is no reason for a fanny pack without a water bottle holder for hiking! That is the one and ONLY time a fanny pack should be used. Also, if you are using it for that purpose, it should generally be a neutral color and made out of sporty fabric. Not 80's neon . . .

     In Italy, they have a different view of what is acceptable in the fashion realm of life. For example, designer fanny packs. Yes, that's right. DESIGNER FANNY PACKS!!!!!!!! Crazy right?? But they are everywhere here!!!!!!!!!! It's really as bad as a man purse . . .

     Lesson #48: Beware the return of the fanny pack!

Lesson #47 Opera . . .

     Oh opera. It is a beautiful art form. Well on our recent adventure to Perugia, we had massive amounts of chocolate consumption and lucky for us, and opera midterm to study for! Well, here in Rome, our opera midterm and finals consist of listening to opera and naming the composer and his dates, the aria and opera, and the voice types. This meant non-stop opera listening for us and we were even dreaming of our opera music. Luckily some of the music is bearable, but for those songs that aren't, you have to find a way to make it bearable.
     For me, that consists of singing! And for those of you who know me, singing is never a good thing, especially when it comes to opera. Unfortunately for my roommates, I was attempting to sing Rossini's very high soprano from the Barber of Seville. One of my roommates actually barged into my room because she thought someone was hurt or dying or something.

     So, Lesson #47: My singing opera sounds like a dying person . . . good to know . . .

Lesson #46 Karma

     You would think that stepping in doggie poopies once would be enough, but apparently in Rome, you can never step in it enough! Perhaps this fallacy that stepping in dog poo is lucky is why no Italian has ever picked up any of their dog's business. Ever. Our daily walk to school is a hop, skip, and a jump. Literally. You hop around the doggie poo, then start skipping when you see someone else has kindly stepped in it first and created poopie footprints, and if all else fails, you JUMP and hope that you miss most of it and land on the other side of the poo trail.

     So, Lesson #46: Stepping in dog poo is lucky when you are in Italy. When you are in Rome, you are always VERY lucky.