Monuments and cobblestones and pastas, oh my!

Buongiorno from Rome, Italy!

How is everyone? I have been doing mighty fine here in Roma. The weather has cooled down considerably, compared to last week. I have to take my jacket when I go out now! It seems absurd for you people in the states to hear us wearing jackets right now, huh? I've been hearing that back in the states it has gone over 100 degrees in some places. That is when I say, "I'm glad I'm here in Roma at the moment!" :) As much as I'm glad to be here, I miss all you friends terribly. I talked to my parents on skype yesterday (God bless skype, that thing is glorious! You all should get it, and we could talk! boram.lee87 add me!), and I hadn't realized how much I missed them. I think yesterday I officially felt "homesick." So yea, like a baby, I cried last night....but it was a good cry. :') I can handle this, no problem.
Rome, again I say, is such a beautiful city. Every day I pass by these ancient buildings, that is older than the United States, and I'm just in awe. Every. Single. Time. I love how these ancient monuments are intertwined with modern buildings, that still look ancient; you don't know where one ends and another starts, they just fuse together. There is so much history here. Everywhere I walk, I'm walking on freaking history! Walking on roads where famous bible characters have walked and roamed through. I am still unable to grasp the fact that, well--I'm in Rome! All these places I pass by everyday, not knowing their significance, and when I read about it later on, I'm just like...Whoa. I was there. Every day I pass by an area where Julius Caesar was murdered, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum (amazing!), San Giovanni Cathedral, and all these other places which I don't even know the names to! The Romans have come back from their vacations, so the city is much more crowded than compared to last week--well if you counted the tourists, then I guess there'd be more. It's funny, I like to relate myself to the Romans rather than the tourists, because I hold on to the fact that I came here to study and live here, rather than coming merely to tour. So everytime I look at a tourist, I'm just like, "Ha, another darn tourist..I, am a Roman." :)

Adjusting to this city has been alright. Overall, I think I adjust to things pretty quickly. Food was not a problem for me to adjust because, really, all they have here are pizza and pasta. Want variety? There are varieties of pizza and pasta. Not much else. But I'm not complaining, except for the fact that I didn't bring with me a tub of red pepper paste and seaweed. Sigh. It's all good, we were told of a Korean market here, I have yet to go to. Sleeping-wise, it has been very hard to adjust to. I don't know, but I get so tired over here. All I want to do is sleep sometimes. :) Language is still very hard to adjust to; I'm always getting my Spanish mixed up with my Italian, not that I was good in Spanish anyway. But my Italian class is all in Italian, so I think the majority of my time there, I'm just staring at the teacher, not knowing what is going on. Hopefully that will get better. I haven't started my core courses yet--that will be in the end of September. Pretty excited for that. I feel that as I'm living here, as an Asian, we are slightly looked down upon--all the old ladies glare at me when I'm on the bus, as if I am an odd specimen in their midst. We get a lot of, "nee-hau-ma" and and occasional, "CHINATOWN!" but I just laugh it off. Oh, those Romans, can't tell the difference between a Chinese and a Korean. :) But I guess I will have to get used to it. It's so hard to communicate with people when I don't even understand what they are trying to say. I think the language and communication barrier will be the biggest problem that I will face throughout my time here in Italy.

I had a lot more in mind, but I forgot as of this moment. So perhaps I'll write it in a later post. I also have some prayer requests, so save some prayer time for me also. :)

-For my health and safety here in Rome
-Time management, balancing study time and traveling time :)
-For me to seek God continually here in this eternal city
-My trust in God and dependence on Him
-To have a great experience while here
-For God to give me a vision*

Grazie!

Now, I know you all want pictures. What's a post without pictures. Jennifer, I loved your pictures of Scotland. But, I think that Rome is still better. I'm biased, of course. ;) Enjoy the pictures!

Let's start with my apartment. I live in a cozy little apartment, with 3 other girls, in Via Sannio, just minutes away from the Colosseum, and couple minutes from the San Giovanni Cathedral. This is my living room.


This is the San Giovanni Cathedral that you could see from our living room window. Isn't it beautiful?? This Cathedral is the official seat of the Pope. It was the first of the basilicas that were built. Constantine built this in 313. And it ranks above all other Catholic Churches. St. Peters got nothing on San Giovanni. ;)




Check out our elevator. How old school is this? I'm always scared that this elevator will break. It's sometimes sad to go on this elevator, because it can't lift us up to our destination. Although the sign said "Max 4 people," I guess they should've said, "Max 4 Italian people," because apparently 4 American people are just too fat for this elevator, and it won't go up. Sigh.


This is inside the San Giovanni Cathedral.


This is where Julius Caesar was killed.


The temple of Saturn. I think that is what is called.


And I forgot what this was called. Eep, but it was magnificent!




The Roman Forum. The columns look transparent!


The Pantheon. Not to get confused with the Parthenon--that is in Greece. :)


Castel Sant' Angelo. One in the day, one in the night.




And of course, you cannot forget the Colosseum. I pass by this awesome monument every single day. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.




Now, what's a Rome picture post without pictures of food?? So here comes the food. Hope you ate before reading this. :)

80 cent Cappuccino and 65 cent croissant filled with creme or marmalade. This is what I eat just about every day in between breaks between my class. It's so good. Doesn't that look appetizing?


Simple ingredients, yet tastes so good! I actually ate the tomatoes in this one. Are you proud of me, or what?


I always buy peaches at the supermarket. It's so fresh and so clean clean!


Spaghetti. Might I add, good spaghetti. Italians like their food a little salty though. I guess it's better than bland! Everything is so colorful too. I love it.


A watermelon Colosseum! Omg, so niiice!


Gelatos are amazing here. I love it. This one place called "Old Bridge" gives you so much. This is a strawberry, pineapple, and nutella gelato, topped off with whipped cream. OMG, amazing!


Okay, I confess, as much as I love italian food, we caved into our Korean roots and had to eat some Korean food. I miss Korean food like crazy. I think Korean food will forever be the best.


Weekends are fun because we have no homework. :) Yay. This past weekend, I spent my friday night with a friend named Ashley at Trestevere, eating and watching a free live jazz band. It was very chillaxing. :)


You can take a sneak peek on what we heard that night.


Saturday, we went to Sperlonga beach, outside of Rome. My, the water was beautiful!!! But might I add, that Italian men love their speedos. Yuck.








Met some Irish man, and a Scottish man on the train ride back to Rome. I think they were slightly drunk.


They were so funny though. They told us some good places to go and eat. We got a picture with them!


This is for you Jennifer. I had to record their accents. I love the Irish guy. Don't you think he's cute??? :) :) :)


And I have so many more pictures, but I think I should stop before it becomes picture overload. Until next time, everyone,

Ciao!