the Passport Manuscript: February 2013

Monday marks the start of midterms week on the Temple Roma campus. People are stressing out, staying in to study, and generally panicking about actually having to be studious. I have two midterms; my life is so hard... yeah, not so much.

So much studying, so little time!!

But honestly, I’m panicking about midterms. Midterms. Mid – term. It’s the middle of our term. This horrifies me; we’re literally half way through our semester abroad. Half of our time has passed and we only have two full months left. I’m not sure you understand the panic that strikes my soul when I think about having to leave Italy and go back to Philadelphia. I quite love and miss things from home: pad thai, my family, the 4^th of July, pad thai, my dogs, internet access that actually works, pad thai… but there is nothing like living abroad. One does not simply return home. This place is like wonderland- once you're down the rabbit hole, you don't just walk back out.
Midterms week is a slap of reality that I need to make the most of the very short time I have left in Europe- grazie, I get it, now slow the fuck down.

I can't leave.

Meanwhile, daily life in Roma continues to be a trip! We’ve been enjoying our classes (...) and the weather warming up a bit. My lack of posts is in part due to the loss of my iPhone 5, after Taco Tuesday on February 12^th. RIP, baby. I got into a taxi with it, and got out without it. I went into a deep depression as a result of not having any form of mobile communication, iPod, or camera capabilities. I fully admit to being dependent on Apple Products. Luckily, insurance had my back and exactly one week later I was good to go with a brand new iPhone (special thanks for Katie for taking care of everything in the States, I love you)! The universe is back in order.

What would I do without selfies?

Recently, we’ve been trying to venture away from our usual pub and get out into the city a bit more. In the past two weeks I’ve been to Mood, Club Manhattan, and even the countryside of Viterbo. Rural Italy is simply beautiful. I babysat a little Italian girl and helped improve her English skills last weekend! The family has an adorable dog named Skippy (Skee-pay) that makes me miss my little boy more than anything. Fortunately, Dan has been sending me snapshots of Ozzie being perfect back home to help with the pain of separation.

Last Thursday, we celebrated Brandon’s 21^st birthday by getting on the guest list at Club Manhattan! This place was killer and proved to be one of our favorite clubs so far. Homemade cake and bottle service for the Big B’s special night were some of the highlights.

Ain't nobody fresher than my clique.

Saturday marked State Patty’s Day back home for Penn State University. I don’t even go to PSU (…thankfully), but I’ve LOVED this Irish pseudo-holiday since freshman year. Temple Roma has a pretty big supply of PSU students (and general SPD supporters) so we decided to do a State Patty’s Day 2013: Roma Edition. We bought mini kegs, snacks, and a full breakfast spread to ring in the dayloading holiday. Casey, Brandon, and I woke up at 8am, started cooking by 9am, and did our first shots by 9:30am. Good friends and general shenanigans made it a successful day!

A few highlights include:

- BREAKFEST!

- Fifty-two cup pong: Brian and Joe snagged the victory after it came down to just one cup.

- My star moment came when I decided to call the game like an umpire. SAFE.

- Passed out and completely knackered by 4pm, like any good daylong.

Sweet dreams, Brandon and Casey.

Pretty much everyone is flying away next week for spring break but I’ll be staying back in Rome! I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to do some more exploring, sketching, and eating. The next three weeks are going to be absolutely killer! Spring break, Ireland with Casey, and then a visit from my best girl, Olivia are all in store. Life is sweet, but going by much too fast!

On a side note, if you’re hankering for some more study abroad insight, Arielle has arrived in Australia and is blogging her heart out on http://akabroadabroad.wordpress.com/! International skype sessions with a 9-hour time difference have ensued and that’s pretty cool! As two best friends separated by way too much ocean, we’ll be documenting our long distance love via my “VAS HAPPENIN’ Photos” page.

Keep an eye out for our tank tops highlighting some of the bomb locations we’re fortunate enough to visit! We’ve recently realized it might be a good thing we’re studying abroad without each other: Italy and Oz would probably drown in alcohol (or shame) if we were together.

Here’s the latest visual round up of my too short time in the eternal city:

A soft cookie and pudding sandwich...
best thing in the italian grocery store.

Bitches love cake

Happy Birthday, Big B!

ping pong action

super mirror shot

How do I even begin to describe Carnivale di Venezia? In retrospect, the long weekend seems like a blur of masks, champagne, confetti, and strobe lights. In other words, it was fucking awesome.

All day, all night.

THURSDAY

Casey and I boarded a high-speed train at 5:30pm to head to Venezia and meet up with Tom and Avery. We packed the necessary essentials including sandwiches, crisps, ipads, and wine. Three hours and two liters of vino later, we arrived in Mestre (the mainland across from Venice), only to realize my phone died and we didn’t remember our address. At this point, Casey and I don’t even panic when these situations arise. We quickly charmed a train station employee into letting us charge my iphone in his office and then grabbed a taxi to the apartment we rented for the weekend!

train snapshot

Thursday night in Venice should have been a sleepy one. It was not. We managed to stumble upon the only nightclub in Venezia, a small place called Piccolo Mondo. It was located in a tiny alleyway- the only clue to its existence being the large wooden doors and intercom. Inside was a wonderland of lights, music, and bizarre characters. I befriended the French bouncer Jacques, Casey fell in the middle of the dance floor, and Avery actually approved of the DJ. We danced, we spoke French, and we made it back home by 5am. Piccolo Mondo blew us away.

Piccolo in the daylight...

FRIDAY

I woke up Friday morning and decided to have some tea in our meditation room before rousing the other hounds. The apartment was super cute and right next to a delicious bakery. I’ve never had so many delicious treats! Eventually, Tom and I were able to wake up Avery and Casey, and we headed towards the island to buy masks and explore a bit. On the actual island we spent a few hours looking at the amazing selection of handmade masks offered to carnivale participants. Masks ranged from inexpensive touristy ones to 100-euro handmade pieces of wearable artwork. Stands littered the streets and shops dedicated solely to mask making could be found around every turn. We easily spent the rest of the day exploring the hidden passageways and tiny bakeries!

Venice is incredibly beautiful and picturesque, I can't wait to bring my family back to see it in person. I fell in love with their signature winged lion and gorgeous buildings, there was something beautiful to see around every corner! We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant called Trattoria la Rosa dei Venti and I gave up vegetarianism for their Tagliatelle mari e monte (pasta with shrimp). It was the best decision I’ve made in awhile; the dish was phenomenal. YUM!

Then the sun went down, the masks came on, and Venice got rowdy. The night started off normally, we went in search of some new friends and spent a bit of time at a bar near the main square. As if on cue, Casey and I decided to leave the group and venture towards Piccolo Mondo to do some more dancing. After making more wrong turns than I thought possible, it was two am and my alarm reminding us to go home (so we wouldn’t be dead for the events tomorrow) was blaring. Frustrated at being lost, we were about to head back to Mestre when the distant thud of reggae music began to reach us. Unable to ignore this strange new addition to night, we kept walking until we came face to face with a giant factory holding a free reggae-trance concert! We looked at each other, then the clock, and headed inside.

Once we were in, I pulled Casey through the hundreds of masked people up to the front row. Ever the ambitious one, I decided that we needed to get on stage. I turned to Casey and said, “hold my jacket” before making eye contact with one of the guys on stage. Ten minutes later we were being escorted along the barricades towards backstage. While the DJ was taking a break and had his track on auto-play, our moment came. We walked on stage and looked out at the hundreds of people dancing to the music under strobe lights. I started dancing, held up my arms, and then screamed, “I’M A FEARLESS BASTARD”! It was a minute of pure, reckless fun. Completely relishing in this ridiculous moment, I turned to smile at Casey only to find her literally inches away from the DJ’s equipment. Before I could scream NO, she was messing around and producing her own beats. Within seconds security came up and lead us off the stage, into the crowd, and then out of the factory. In about 90 minutes, we managed to make it into a reggae concert, got invited on stage, and then consequently were kicked out of the venue. Unreal Moment Number 87 of studying abroad, check.

This year's theme was color!

SATURDAY

We traded sleep for redbulls and made it onto Venezia for the biggest day of Carnivale late Saturday morning. The island was packed with thousands of people dressed up in various costumes and masks. Little kids, students, and tourists filled the tiny streets. We bought champagne and confetti and had a blast starting battles with all the little kids we passed. The weather was freezing; we actually saw some snow (and thunder and lightning!) Saturday night, but otherwise the sky was clear and the city looked beautiful. We met up with Brian and Joe for dinner before heading to Club Orange to celebrate into the night. We decided we wanted to dance and heard about a rave happening on the mainland from a girl I met waiting in line for the bathroom. My new Italian skills are continuing to be paramount in this entire experience.

Naturally, the six of us ended up getting lost after hopping off the bus. Skipping ahead, we managed to convince an Italian girl and her boyfriend to drive us in their two cars to the most underground club I have ever seen. This place was unreal; inside there was a dancing penguin, crazy lights, and a huge sign that just read, “POPCORN” covering the wall. We danced until exhaustion kicked in and we were forced to head back to our apartment. Fast forward through two hours of blissful sleep and we were on a train back to Roma. When we finally made it home, we crawled into bed and slept for the rest of the day in a fruitless attempt to feel like real people again. It’s Monday night and I’m still completely knackered from the experience.

club popcorn

Venezia was a complete thrill and I can’t stop smiling when I think about it. This entire semester is starting to spin around me like a dream; it seems too fun or special to even be real. I can physically feel the contentment and life that I’m breathing in over here. I’ve found it in little moments since I arrived in Italy: when I’m leaning against a train window or have my elbows on the beaten up wood of our favorite pub, when I can’t stop laughing in our aged and broken kitchenette, or I’m lying awake at four am. It’s a moment of recognition that things worked out and I’m where I’m supposed to be. It feels right, like home. I can only wish the same for you. Now stop being sappy and check out some of pictures of how it all went down: