All roads lead to Roma

So I've been waiting a while to write this one (which probably means it will take a while for the next one)!  Apologies for it being super long.  And just an FYI, the expression "all roads lead to Rome" really is true...the road system of ancient Rome was actually built so that everything would lead to Rome.  Anyway, we went to Rome this past weekend.  I absolutely fell in love with the "eternal city".  There is so much to do and see, and now I'm completely exhausted and my feet are still hurting but it was worth it.  I'd have to say my favorites were the Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) and La Cappella Sistina (the Sistine Chapel).  But there really wasn't anything in Rome that I didn't like though!

So we got in Friday night to a youth hostel (my first hostel experience).  We were super anxious about staying at a hostel, but it turned out to be great.  The staff was really nice and we met some cool people from Spain and France.  Rome has a much different feel than Sicily...for one thing, since it's so touristy, everyone speaks English!  And I know it sounds really spoiled and maybe arrogant to say, but it was definitely a relief after being in non-English speaking Palermo.  Rome also just has so much incredible history and culture...really anywhere you walk you'll run into something historic and significant.

Saturday morning we started off walking to the Colosseo...and ran into la Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano (Basilica of St. John Lateran)! (told you you'll just run into cool things!) Just a beautiful church.

Next up was the Colosseo...it is HUGE.  Absolutely will take your breath away.  It actually originally was 4 floors, but the top floor no longer exists.  (We ended doing a guided tour of the Colosseum and then Palatine Hill.)  So I was informed that the Colosseum floor was originally covered with sand in order to better hide and soak up blood during the fights.  The Latin word for sand is "arena", and that's how we got the word arena!  The walls of the Colosseum are also covered with these holes (they actually really creeped me out), which are due to the Romans putting in these bronze bars in the walls in order to support the structure.  Later on, the bars were removed in order to use the material to make weapons.  There is now a cross that was put in the Colosseum some time ago by a Pope (it's the first thing you see when you enter) that honors all of the Christian martyrs killed in the arena.  After the Colosseo, we walked over and up Palatine Hill.  Palatine Hill is also incredibly enormous.  Palatine Hill consists of the ruins of Domitian's palace, the House of Livia, and the fire which the Vestal Virgins would have taken care of. There was also the remains of a chariot track near where Domitian's palace was (the palace was insanely big).

Sunday we did a tour of Vatican City...it really is incredible that the Vatican is its own country.  They have their own newspaper, radio station, and is apparently one of the safest places to be in the world (it has its own city walls).  On the last Sunday of every month people are allowed to go into the Vatican for free, so it was really crowded.  The Pope was also due to appear to the public and give a greeting of some sort, but we didn't get to see that.  The Vatican was beautiful, and there seems to be no expense spared (maybe ironic?). Currently, the Vatican is under the protection of the Swiss Guard.  All recruits have to be Catholic and unmarried, and it is a HUGE honor to be recruited.  (All workers for the Vatican also get huge discount on Apple products too! AND all your family members get to be baptized in the Sistine Chapel!!) 

We first toured the Vatican Museum, which houses so many paintings, tapestries, and sculptures.  Every inch of every room is decorated in some way, and there is usually art on the ceilings in most rooms.  The first picture below is one of the ceiling, and the painting looks as if it's 3D b/c of the shadows right?  It actually is completely flat! What an awesome illusion.  After the museum, there was my favorite: La Cappella Sistina.  Every inch of the Chapel is covered in art.  You're not allowed to take photos (there are guards who will straight up yell at you or you may get kicked out), but I did manage to sneak one w/ no flash.  So Michelangelo was commissioned by the Pope to paint the Sistine Chapel, even though he was previously only a sculptor and did not paint.  It took about 4 years to complete his paintings, and he actually slowly went blind in one eye throughout the process, which he symbolized in his painting of 'The Last Judgement'.  This painting is the main focus of the walls of the Sistine Chapel, and there is so much to see just within one painting.  His other famous painting 'The Creation of Adam' is on the ceiling, and actually is smaller than you'd expect.  It is no bigger than many of the other paintings surrounding it, but one fun fact for you: in the painting, God is sitting on what appears to be a red cloud.  At the time, Michelangelo and da Vinci were friends and were studying human anatomy together.  So what appears to be a red cloud is actually a red brain! Kinda neat.  And the hands of Adam and God touching are in the shape of a spinal cord.

 

After the Sistine Chapel, we entered La Basilica di San Pietro (St. Peter's Basilica).  Again, SO INCREDIBLY ornate and surreal.  I accidentally went down these stairs that led me to the crypts underneath of the basilica...now THAT was interesting.  All I can say is there was a lot of white marble.  There are also not just popes buried down there, but also a queen and a countess!  The dome of the basilica is the highest point in Rome, and it is illegal to build anything higher than it.  There was a line to climb to the top, but it was really long so we didn't go (I believe it's about 300 steps).  

Of course, we saw the Spanish Steps (which were not as impressive as everything else...it was mostly just a lot of people sitting around on the steps so it's not like I could get a picture of just the steps).  I got to see the Trevi during the day AND at night too (I had to go back at night b/c the fountain really is just gorgeous).  The Trevi is also very crowded all day long, but I got to make my way to the front and make a wish! The Pantheon was also really awesome...The big hole in the dome is there because it symbolizes an opening to the heavens, built as a temple to all of the Roman gods.  I was wondering what happens when it rains since the hole doesn't get covered or anything, but there are actually little gutter holes in the ground directly beneath the "oculus".  

And obviously, I had to have my Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday moment, and I got to stick my hand in la Bocca della Verità (the Hand of Truth).  No worries, I still have my hand!

Foodwise, the gelato in Roma is better than in Palermo.  There is also a lot more food options, and I FINALLY got to eat some non-seafood containing risotto (I got risotto with asparagus and radicchio, which I was told is green chicory, and I still have no idea what a chicory is, but the risotto was amazing.)  Oh and one more thing about Rome...the public transportation is pretty great.  We bought Roma passes (totally recommended) which gave us free public transportation and 2 free museum passes for 3 days.  The metro in Rome will take you basically anywhere, and it's really convenient and comes every few minutes.  There are currently only 2 metro lines (which I found very surprising b/c I thought there'd be more), and they are currently in the process of building a 3rd line...however, the problem is that they keep running into historic artifacts and structures underground! 

One of the last things I saw was La Scala Santa (the Sacred Steps).  My dad wanted me to see this, so this part is especially for him.  It actually is located next to la Basilica di San Giovanni (the first place we got to see), but I had to come back later b/c it was closed when we went to the basilica.  It's a very small chapel.  The Sacred Steps are said to be the steps leading to Pontious Pilate that Jesus stood on during his trial.  The main steps are all white marble, with other steps on both sides of it.  Martin Luther apparently once climbed these steps as well.  The catch though?  You have to climb the steps with your knees.  Since I am not Catholic, I didn't want to disrespect anybody so I didn't want to climb the steps w/ my knees.  There were many people who did though, and it was incredible to see how devoted people are to their faith.  I did talk to a priest though, and I wanted to see if it was ok to climb the steps on either side of it by walking up.  He told me I could, if I could recite the rosary to him.  I thought he was being serious, and I was like oh I'm so sorry, I'm not Catholic, and I thought I just disrespected him big time.  However, he then kind of smiled and said I didn't actually have to do that to walk up the stairs...so that's good to know that priests can have a sense of humor.

Overall, Roma was just incredible...the richness of its history amazes me and I also am amazed at how much religion is such an influence even today.  You have pagan, Roman, and Christian/Catholic traditions and history all combined in one city, and it's pretty awesome.  It was a pretty fabulous Roman Holiday! =) More pics on fbook!

Sunday at the Beach

 Today my roommate and I took a taxi to the house of ISMETT's director of nursing (she's American) in Mondello.  She had offered to show us around and take us to the beach.  (Mondello is one of the public beaches in Palermo in Northern Sicily.)  Her and her husband live a few blocks from the beach.  We started the day out with mimosas...can't really go wrong with mimosas!  The oranges here in Palermo are fabulous.  My personal favorite has been these blood red oranges (arancia rossa), and "arancia rossa" juice is always available.  If you get orange juice, there are multiple options for which kind of orange juice you want.  (There's also apricot, peach, and pear juices!)  Anyway, mimosas typically here consist of red orange juice and prosecco, and it's so good.

After mimosas, we walked to the beach.  Sicilia is particularly unique I think because you have these huge mountainsides set against a Mediterranean Sea backdrop, and it's absolutely unreal.  The water is beautiful, and I'm glad we got to go see it during the tourist off season, b/c I'm told during the summers it gets unbelievably crowded.

We did a late lunch at a restaurant that sat right on the water.  Once again, my options were limited due to the menu being mostly seafood, but I did manage to find a pork dish!  Of course, more wine came with lunch and we found some gelato from one of the street stands after lunch.  I got fragola e nocciola gelato (strawberry and hazelnut...Sicilians are big on hazlenuts too), and it was fabulous.  The guy even gave me an extra cookie b/c he loves Americans and I told him I liked his cardigan haha!

 Weekends in Mondello seem like a lot of fun, a lot of people walk outside with their dogs and today there was some sort of festival going on.  All the kids were dressed up in costumes and they were adorable.  I saw a few dressed up as Native Americans, which I thought was really funny.  Mount Pellegrino is also situated right next to Mondello, so we might try to take a trip all the way up to the top one of these days. 

One more thing about Palermo, and I guess Italy in general...the drivers are INSANE.  Drivers will go as fast as they want, and people pass each other all of the time even though  there are no passing lanes.  Drivers will also turn down a street even if they see you crossing and they will come within inches of you.  Roads are usually not marked and there is no indication of whether it's supposed to be a one or two lane road...drivers will just make it into whatever they want, so if they want to get ahead of the car in front of them they will just create another lane to drive in.  I haven't seen a single car without a dent or scratch on it.  Motorcylists are even worse, they will just weave in and out of traffic and might even drive on the sidewalk.  Cars actually will just park on the sidewalks too if they feel like it.  It's actually really terrifying to ride in anything that goes on the road, and even stressful to walk outside sometimes, but at least I haven't gotten hit yet!  Def a few close calls though. 

A few more pictures of Mondello to leave you with, b/c the view is absolutely breathtaking.  Ciao!

Ciao ciao ciao!

So I guess I should have set up a blog beforehand, but at least I'm doing one now!  I usually don't do blog stuff at all, but I figured I should make an exception for Italia.  In case anyone was unsure, I am in Palermo, Sicily for 5 weeks for a pharmacy rotation at ISMETT, which is a transplant hospital partnered with UPMC (Univ of Pittsburgh Medical Center).  I got here a week ago and it's definitely been an adventure.

Palermo is a very old town.  A lot of history, but not very clean.  The hours that businesses are open here is also very strange...they usually close from 1-3:30 or 4 and then reopen till about 8.  Dinner is eaten very late here, usually not until 8.  There is no such thing as your typical American Starbucks coffee to go either.  All you get here is a teeny tiny cup with an expresso shot.  It is ridiculously strong too.  They started making "caffe americano" for us at our hotel in the morning, but really all it is is adding more water to the expresso shot.  Def not your 8 oz cup of coffee...it's still incredibly strong and I end up adding lots of sugar and a little milk so that it doesn't kill my stomach.  People also don't understand you when you say to go, so you have to say "take away" (even better if you do it in an italian accent).

Not many people speak english outside of the hospital in Palermo either, so that's been difficult.  However, Sicilians are very nice people and I've been exchanging a lot of "grazie" and "ciao".  Fortunately, Italian is very similar to French and Spanish, so I've been getting by.  It definitely was very overwhelming at first though, not made any better by the fact that I lost my wallet!! Yup, driver license, debit card, and discover card gone.  And the ridiculous part is that I didn't even get it stolen, I really just cannot find it.  Also, I am 99% certain that I'm the only Asian American here in Sicily, so I've been getting a lot of stares b/c I think they get confused when I start speaking english.  There are a few Asians here, but they're all from ACTUAL Asia.  Anyway, despite Palermo being a bit dirty (there are a lot of stray dogs and they just poop all over the street), the architecture is beautiful.  There are a lot of "teatros" and "cattedrales".  At night the decorative lights come on, and I absolutely love it.

Anyway, onto Italian food.  So far I've had some of their pastas and lots of dessert.  Pasta here is insanely fresh, and doesn't seem as starchy and overfilling as it seems in the U.S.  Sicily is all about fresh food.  There's food markets all over the place, which offer fruits, fish, meat, veggies, and even nuts.  There are no such things as big supermarkets like we have, but Sicily does have its own "supermercato" version.  One thing I haven't been able to find? Peanut butter!! BUT there's tons of nutella in any size you could imagine.  Eggs aren't refrigerated here, and wines can be very cheap.  You usually have to buy water here, it's not recommended to drink tap water.  Water either comes in "naturale" or "frizzante"...I actually really like the "frizzante" water, which is just carbonated water.  You also get to choose which kind of water you get when you go to restaurants, but you always get charged for water.  Most dishes here have seafood in them, which is kind of sucky for me since I'm super allergic.  I'd eat chicken, but they don't seem to eat much chicken here either.  So I haven't been getting much protein in my diet.  As for desserts, THEY ARE AMAZING.  I was trying to cut back on sugar, but being here is just game over for me.  Any desserts here are so good...they really like pistachios and hazelnuts over here.  Chocolate syrups aren't as thick and sweet as they are in the States, so I don't feel as guilty eating it.  Of course, there's gelato stands everywhere, and yes it is as amazing as everyone says it is.  Crepe stands are also available along the street, and they're made w/ just nutella and a little bit of powdered sugar on top.

Today I got to go to Catania, which is where Mount Etna is. Apparently it just erupted last week, and I had no idea.  We got to see the lava trails from when it erupted multiple times in the past, and got to climb some of the mountain.  It's insane how ridiculously large Mt. Etna is, and how much its eruptions have impacted Catania.  There actually is a shop on the mountain that's part of the ski resort that's built there, and it actually is completely surrounded by lava except for the door entrance!  I also got to see craters on the Mt. Etna, but they're currently covered in snow. You can also still see the smoke from the current active cone, and the smoke has been blowing across the town for about a week.

More pictures and more descriptions of Palermo to come!