Yet another great weekend.
Yet another weekend almost over. I tell you, it’s going by quite fast. Sheesh it’s almost March!
It was a great weekend. As I mentioned before I was heading to Napoli on friday. Thus, I woke up at 6:30a to head to the treno stazione. It was a rather quick train, only 2 hours. But immediately upon our arrival, Naples showed her true colors. The colors of trash that is. I learned that the public service sector is more or less run by the Mafia, yes Mafia, thus they clean up whenever they darn well please. We right headed to Pizzeria da Michele (as seen in Eat, Pray, Love) but it was way famous before that movie anyway. Best pizza I’ve had in italy so far. Naples is not very big so we just walked around for a few hours, going into a number of churches and stores. All the while avoiding the trash, that due to the wind was forming trash tornados. Did not get back to Rome until later in the evening and upon arriving at the train station hunger was intense. I’m ashamed to say I got McDonald’s, I did not come to Italy for that. BUT at least got something called a McRoyal which we do not have in the States.
Fast forward to Saturday evening. A few of us decided to go out for dinner instead of mensa again. You really have to be here to understand just how “blah” it can be. Anywho, we headed to the south of Roma, “Trastevere”. There we went to the #1 bar in the world according to some beer website. It’s nicknamed “Ma Che” because the full name is much too long for anyone to remember. It’s fun to try various beer from around the world, it’s much like trying different wines, each has a unique flavor. I’m still adjusting to the whole “It’s perfectly legal to drink here” But I have to say I have been very responsible, I’m in a foreign land and I’d rather have a good time and remember my experiences here. Afterwards we got a table at the restaurant “Bir & Fud” (Pronounced Beer & Food, but burrr ‘n fud as I call it). We had some of the best antipasti I’ve ever had. Suppli (fried riceballs basically) and ham bruschette. For the main course we had pizza that rivaled Neapolitan pizza. However, the 2nd pizza we shared had anchovies on it. I was feeling adventurous so I tried it. IT’S SO SALTY. I’m glad I tried it, but I will probably never be eating it again. Then in typical Roman fashion we wandered the streets and ate gelato. There’s no such thing as too much gelato.
On to sunday. Slept in a little, I love doing that by the way. Amo dormire a lungo! After dragging my lazy butt out of bed, Katie Mac and I ventured to the Porta Portese flea market in Trastevere. This market is HUGE. So many vendors selling, well you name it they have it. Granted a good number of the items were your typical “made in china” trinkets, there was a good deal of legitimate products as well. This was my first real shopping outing while here, I’m not a huge shopper by the way but I figured it was time to get some gifts for the friends & fam. Among my purchases was an authentic soccer jersey for myself. I choose largely on color but also because of the player, Buffon, a goalie and as I am team keeper for our intramural team I figured it was a good choice. Today was also my first taste of the regional trains here in Italy. I’ve been on the “train” trains and metro, but the regional trains are much like Chicagoland’s Metra. Katie and I could not figure out where/how to buy tickets so we just got on. Ended up not having to pay there or back. Train for free equals train for me.
Now I sit here, still needing to do a bit of homework for class tomorrow but I think I’ll go to dinner first. So I should probably leave you now. Thanks again for reading! Ci vediamo! Ciao ciao.