Boh...

I realized I haven't written anything for almost a week now. Bad Natalie. Boh, I just haven't really felt like it. Plus I'm sure the only people still reading are my parents and my aunt Lorie. So just for you three, here's a brief synopsis of the week.

We went out to Scholars Lounge a few more times last week. I think I already told mom about this. I believe Friday night we went to see a Madonna cover band--I never say no to live music. They were alright considering I know all of like 3 Madonna songs. Then we just hung out and talked to people near us in the packed bar. I ended up talking to this guy named Herald and his friends Silvestro and Evis for like 3+ hours. And I'm happy to say it was all in Italian. They were from Albania and studied at one of the universities in Rome, so they spoke English about as well as I spoke high school Spanish, thus necessitating the Italian. I was so proud of my Italian, I now know that I can get by, but how well I speak depends on who I'm talking to.

We went back to look for a friend of ours the next night, and I ran into them again. There was a Yankees-Red Sox game on, so the place was packed full of American guys. My Italian wasn't very good that night.

Friday morning we went on our little Friday field trip as a class, this time to the Roman Forum, Palatine hill and Colosseum. The Forum is incredible, you walk literally the same streets ancient Romans walked everyday past temples and ruins that are thousands of years old. I walked in the ancient Roman Senate building and saw the spot where the Emperor would sit. The floor is still painted, it's incredible! Then I saw the place where Julius Caesar was supposedly burned on the pyre, and over that spot they had built this little hut-like strucutre as a shrine. Inside was a mound of dirt with all these flowers laid on top. Pretty cool.

The Palatine hill was beautiful, it's where the massive imperial palace once was. We then walked down to the Colosseum and went inside. It was pretty cool, but at that point I was hot and tired and was not entirely as awestruck as I should have been. And to top it off, my camera battery had died while in the Forum, so I had this whole 'whatever I'll just see it again when I come back to Rome' attitude. Plus I didn't see any cats, which I was very disappointed about. But otherwise I really did enjoy the morning out.

Saturday we went shopping on the Corso, a major shopping street in Rome. It was packed. Like Disneyland during the summer x 1,000. Never again on a Saturday. I did manage to squeeze my way through into Prada and Gucci because I had the full intention to buy myself a nice Italian designer bag while here (some girls like shoes, I like bags, what can I say?). But nothing caught my eye :( All that work for nothing.

Now Sunday I did something pretty cool. I literally slept the entire day, putting off homework as long as possible (you know me). Then at 5:45 in the evening my roommate Roxanna and I walked up our street 2 blocks to la Piazza di S. Maria in Trastevere, where Daniele from the other night had said there would be a mass Roman pillow fight. We showed up 15 minutes early, as instructed, and there was nearly no one there. We thought we were in the wrong spot. Then right before six, the square started to flood with people with pillows and dressed up as ninjas or with matching t-shirts like they were teams. Roxanna and I weren't planning to take part, more so just wanted to watch from the fountain in the middle of the square, and thus only brought one (my) pillow.

But we coudn't help ourselves! We took turns going into the melee with our one pillow, and the other stayed back and took pictures--so many pictures! More than 200! It really was fun, everyone was so into it. Then I saw Daniele across the crowd and went over and whacked him from behind. From that point on every now and again we'd run into eachother and pause for a few minutes. At one point I told him about how I had spoken entirely in Italian for hours, and they said my Italian was good. To this he responds "who told you your Italian was good?!" Jerkface. But even if the thinks I'm retarded, he really is a sweet guy and I'm glad I met him. If I hadn't I would never have know about the guerra di cuscioni.

Wow I wrote more than I thought I would. Overall I have had a pretty wonderful last week in Rome. We leave for Calabria on Friday morning, where we'll be living with host families and teaching school kids English in addition to our classes. I really hope I live with a good cook, I'm dying for some good food! And I would love a family with pets, but as of right now I think I'm in one without any animals. Ma boh, vedremo!