Aperitivo con Andrea

For this program, we are required to take Italian everyday for two months, each month counting as a semester. There are only seven other students in my class and since we're together everyday for three hours, we're all pretty close to each other and our teacher. My favorite teacher was Andrea, who taught us last month. He's so enthusiastic, caring, and helpful, so he made daunting task of learning Italian enjoyable and not so difficult. Andrea is young, not too much older than us, so we could relate to him, and we all had so much fun in class. Unfortunately, everyone switches teachers after the first month, so while our class stayed the same, we no longer have Andrea. We don't see him that much anymore, but on Thursday we went out to an aperitivo with him. I went with Andrea and a few girls from class to Cafe Pompi, a restaurant, bakery, and gelato shop known for its great aperitivos and tiramisu. The aperitivo was delicious, and there was such a big selection of food. There were pasta salads, rice dishes, different types of quiche, various types of bread, tomato pie, and lots of different varieties of salad. It was a filling and delicious meal for only 6 euro. Cafe Pompi claims to have the best tiramisu in Rome, so of course we all had to try it! It was not only the best in Rome, but the best I've ever had! I think we'll all be frequenting Cafe Pompi from now on. The food was delicious and the company was great. It was so nice to catch up with Andrea and go out to dinner as a class. We're planning on making aperitivo with Andrea a regular occurence!   

Una Bellissima Panorama

On Monday, my friend Joanna and I decided to explore somewhere new, taking advantage of our class-free afternoon and the beautiful warm and sunny Rome weather. We headed to Gianicolo Park, a huge park South of Vatican City that is known for its great view of the entire city. Although the park is pretty close to our school, we got a little bit turned around and it took us three different buses and a lot of walking to get to, but half the fun of going somewhere new is getting lost and exploring new areas. I found a street that is lined with cherry blossoms, which was a surprise reminder of home. We finally found the park, and enjoyed our relaxing passeggiata. We climbed to the top of a hill in the park, and the view was absolutely breathtaking. The entire city was laid out in front of me, like it was there just for me. The view was incredible no matter where I stood. We just stood there for awhile, taking it all in. We could see all of the monuments and basilicas perfectly, and we picked them out like we were playing I Spy Rome. It was so peaceful up there, and it felt like time had stopped. As I sat there eating my Nutella sandwich and staring at the giant mural-like Eternal City in front of me, I fell in love with Rome all over again.   

Would you like some mozzarella with your mozzarella?

Fishing for mozzarella



This Saturday we went on a day trip to a small, family-run buffalo mozzarella farm about three hours from Rome in the beautiful region of Campania. Due to the fact that I consider cheese a food group, I was in heaven! We arrived at the farm around noon and went right to the facility where the family makes the cheese. Dr. Dawson and the owner of the farm gave a brief description of the mozzarella process, explaining that buffalo milk produces exceptional cheese because it is much thicker and richer than both cow's milk and sheep's milk. After the brief lesson, the real fun started...the tasting! I must admit that upon entering the processing building, I was a bit skeptical about trying the mozzarella. I knew that mozzarella was kept in water, but cheese balls floating in large vats full of cloudy water was not pleasing to the senses. I learned right then that ignorance is bliss when it comes to cheese-making, and although it did not look or smell appetizing, but I forced myself to try it. The owner got a strainer and dipped it into one of the vats, fishing out the biggest mountain of cheese I could ever imagine. The mozzarella balls were the size of baseballs! I bit into it, and it was incredibly fresh and delicious. This was the freshest mozzarella I will ever have in my life, as it was made an hour before I ate it. The owner yelled, "Who wants seconds?!" and chaos ensued. When we all scrambled to get seconds and thirds, Dr. Dawson reminded us that we were in fact eating lunch there, and looking back, we all wish we had listened. Little did I know that lunch at the mozzarella farm would be the biggest and best meal I've ever had!

The delicious antipasti course

After petting the buffalo, which were very stinky but surprisingly friendly, we all sat down for a four course meal at the farm's little trattoria, and thus began the marathon eating! The epic lunch started with an antipasti course that consisted of bread, a ball-sized mozzarella, pecorino cheese, salami and prosciutto. It turns out that the antipasti had courses in itself! While we were still working on the meat and cheese, the servers brought out a mashed-potato, quiche-like casserole, and breaded, pan-fried zucchini and gorgonzola. Finally, to top it all off, was the cheese course of the antipasti: a tray of mozzarella balls in olive oil and a mountain of fresh ricotta with honey. The antipasti course alone was amazing, but then came the pasta! The first type was linguine in creamy tomato sauce with lots of parmesan cheese. The next was rotini in a creamy mushroom sauce with peas, both absolutely delicious.

A side of mozzarella

At first, the amount of food was overwhelming, but then it became comical, as the waiters kept bringing out new dishes and we kept preparing ourselves in between courses by stretching, downing lots of water, and doing breathing exercises. The meat course consisted of grilled sausage with potato wedges. Although we thought it was impossible, we decided to give it a shot. I am glad I tried it, because it was delicious. Alas, three large courses and over a liter of water later, the dessert course arrived, and was a large sampling of many different desserts: pieces of pies, brownies, and cookies. It was a tasty and simple end to the largest meal I have ever had in my life. After a brisk walk in an attempt to aid digestion, we boarded the bus and headed for Rome, each of us happily entering into food comas.

Ciao buffalo!

The mozzarella is almost ready

Rome Weekend

This weekend I stayed in Rome, which was great because my favorite thing to do is to just go on a walk and find something new that I've never seen before. What made this weekend even better was that Loyola's Cork, Ireland program visited for a long weekend! It was so much fun to show my Loyola friends around my city. I showed them my school here and my favorite places to shop and eat, but I also got a chance to play tourist and discover new places with them. On Saturday we went to the Pantheon, which I hadn't been in yet, and explored the area surrounding the Colusseum and the Arch of Constantine. On Sunday morning we walked through the Jewish Ghetto of Rome and got pastries for breakfast at one of the area's renowned bakeries. We then headed to St. Maria in Cosmedin, where the famous Bocca della Verita or Mouth of Truth sculpture is located. We had a great weekend, and it was so cool that we were able to just meet up in Italy! We're already planning another reunion, this time in Ireland!

Under the Tuscan Sun

Sunny Piazza del Campo in Siena

This weekend we went on a Tuscan holiday to the gorgeous, ancient towns of Siena, Arezzo, Pienza, and Oriveto, and the Tuscan sun was beaming for us the whole time, accentuating the breathtaking landscape in every town. First thing Saturday, we toured the Medieval town of Siena, where I marveled at the incredible Medieval churches and frescoes and the enormous Piazza del Campo, where the famous Palio horse races take place. For lunch I enjoyed a bowl of a Tuscan classic, ribollita, a hearty vegetable stew with cannellini beans. It was delicious!

Part of the flea market in Arezzo

We then traveled to Arezzo, where we toured several ancient churches and studied some famous frescoes. Dinner at the hotel that night consisted of typical Tuscan cuisine, which was...interesting. The first course was good, penne in a meat sauce with bread on the side. The bread in Tuscany has no salt in it because long ago, the Romans put a tax on salt so the Etruscans decided to do without it. The next course was different, to say the least, as it consisted of two common Truscan game meats: rabbit and duck. The rabbit was a non-starter for me, but despite trying to convince myself that the duck was just like chicken, I just couldn't eat it. One of my adventurous classmates actually enjoyed the rabbit, and asked for seconds. However, his breaking point came when the waiter served him the paw of the rabbit. Studying abroad is all about trying new things, and I have been very flexible and open-minded, but I couldn't be this time. But we all got a good laugh out of the interesting meal, and it prompted a hilarious game of "would you rather."

Grounds of Castel del Trebbio

My favorite part of Arezzo was the huge flea market that commandeered the entire town. I could have spent the entire day browsing all the fascinating antiques. Sunday night was my favorite part of the trip: wine tasting at Castel del Trebbio, an ancient castle and vineyard outside of Florence. There we toured the castle and its enormous wine cellar where the owners make olive oil and internationally award-winning Tuscan chianti rufina wine. We then sampled the different types of wine with some delicious bruschetta and biscotti to complement the taste. My favorite was the vineyard's red wine, it had an incredibly rich and smooth flavor. We enjoyed a delicious and fun group dinner at the vineyard's restaurant, one of the finest vineyard restaurants in the world. I certainly acquired a taste for good wine after this experience!

  

Pienza

On Monday we toured the little towns of Pienza and Orvieto, which had breathtakingly gorgeous views of the beautiful Tuscan landscape, forcing me to ask the cliche question again, "is this real life?!" Orvieto is perched on top of a steep mountain so we had to take a funicular, a little tram that runs on an incline. There we saw the Duomo and the monastery where St. Thomas Aquinas wrote Summa Theologica. By the end of the trip I was ready to return home to Rome, but also sad to leave the beauty of Tuscany. Rome is beautiful in an architectural sense, but there's something overwhelmingly beautiful about the way the sun hits Tuscany's untouched sweeping hills and stone cottages.     

Tomb Raiders

Today I tagged along with Dr. Dawson's Liturgical Art and Architecture class to the Catacomb of Priscilla. Located on the Via Salaria, the oldest road in Rome, this catacomb is a Christian burial site dating back to the second century! Going into the catacomb was creepy and morbid, but actually an amazing site to see. It's basically a cave that goes several stories below the ground and continues for 140 kilometers. Our tour guide led us through portions of the dank cave with a flashlight, pointing out the significant ancient artwork in the tombs and on the walls and ceilings. The catacomb was filled with beautiful frescoes dating back as early as the year 220. These paintings depicting important Biblical events were actually in pristine condition. They have been cleaned over the years, but never retouched, yet the colors are still so vibrant and the details so clear. It was here that we saw the world's oldest image of Mary holding baby Jesus! It's incredible that 1,800 years later, the image is still so colorful and clear!

Seeing these ancient and historical frescoes was amazing, but being in the catacomb was pretty creepy, since the narrow passageways are lined with bodies! Dr. Dawson explained to us that although the catacombs seem morbid to us, early Christians celebrated there because they saw death as a reunion with Christ. The remains of Christians from the second to fourth century are in the thousands of tiny tombs throughout the catacomb. The guide explained that ancient Romans were short in stature, which explained why the tombs were only about four feet long. Most of the tombs were excavated, but some tombs are still closed, with the remains intact and the person's name painted on the front at the time of burial. We all wondered where the remains are, and our tour guide explained that until recently, visitors could view the remains in a gallery, but it has since been closed to the public because tourists would steal bones as souvenirs! So sorry to disappoint any of you who were expecting bones from ancient Romans as souvenirs, because it looks like you'll just have to settle for magnets and keychains!