well it proves to be a little harder than i thought to keep a daily blog! i'm sure you're on the edge of your seat waiting for my next post! so let me see if i can catch you up! in the past few days i have become best friends with my three wonderful roomies! (Catarina, Madison and Kiersten!!) they couldn't have paired us together any better! we've become friends with Bruno who helps us at the market every day! (only a 30 second walk from our house, with the most delicious fruits and veggies!) Our first night the entire study abroad group was treated to a wonderful welcome meal complete with mozzarella, bread, prosciutto, fried zucchini, fried fish, chicken, grilled peppers, pasta and for dessert "mille fiori" (which means a thousand flowers!) afterwards we walked the length of a summer fair that runs along the tiber river! (which we get to cross every day to go to school!)
i am really enjoying my independent study with Gianfranco! it's a little over an hour where we have the opportunity to speak only italian without judgement. he is amazingly passionate about his language and it shows in his patience with his students. (especially me!) at one point when i was frustrated with the pronunciation of a word and i said "mi dispiace!" (I'm sorry!), he simply said "no, don't be sorry, cause as soon as you start being sorry it stops being fun." that really stuck with me! anyways, we've seen ancient ruins of temples to hercules, jupiter, etc. some of which have remained fantastically preserved. just walking the streets of rome i'm constantly in awe. there's so much history here! we've seen augustus' first ever permanent theatre! the romans' engineering and architectural capabilities are just breath taking! i've seen the Colosseum light up at night, and i watched the world cup USA game in the streets at the Piazza Venezia! This is where the famous Alter of the Fatherland museum is located! (it's nickname (sopranome) is the typewriter or the wedding cake from the way that it looks!) we cooked out first meal together yesterday night, which i have to say turned out amazing!! today we did what the program calls the "Roman Holiday" tour, where we are guided around the area and are shown different historical sites which debuted in the movie "Roman Holiday". i stuck my hand in the Bocca della Verita (The mouth of the truth), which legend has it that if it chomps down on you you're not a truthful person. I can officially say I've thrown the frisbee at Circus Maximus (where chariot horse races were held and believe it or not help up to 300,000 people!)
funny thing is, i'm mainly going by jaime here; isabella not as much! my small independent class does but everyone else for the most part calls me jaime!
today i asked my professor, Gianfranco, how would you say "hakuna matata" in italian? his answer: "va tutto bene." What a beautiful quote to live by!