Roman gelati

I visited some gelateri while visiting Rome. Here's little summary of them though I have no idea of their names.

The first one I visited, and the first gelato ever, was somewhere between Piazza del Risorgimento and the river... or near Pantheon... actually I've got no idea, except that it was on a corner of some square. The problem was that we were taken there by om´ne of the guys, and like every one who's familiar in a city, he took us through shortcuts impossible to trace. All I remember was going from Villa Giulia on a tram to Risorgimento and from there to some student restaurant and from there to gelati. And it was good, I guess stracciatella and something else.


Lante up the uppity uppity hill

The nice one was on the Viale de Trastevere. I liked it because we could buy a small (cheap) with lots of tastes, on a cup (easy to eat). I took chocolate, which was really dark, and lemon. The combination was interesting. Not my favourite but definitelly worth to remember.
Then there was the naturally flavoured gelateria near Piazza Navona. I didn't eat there because 1. my throat was in pain, and 2. it was expensive. But apparently amazing!
Then the one on the corner of Largo Argentina. I didn't eat there, because one girl got tummy ache after eating there, no one else got it though... It might have been her biiig appetite in the restaurant before.

But, in the end, the absolute favourite was the one at Vatican. The largests gelati in Rome! The taste, ok, but the boys selling it, wow! Little too tired looking though. First time I had something and something and amarillo. It was nice, except too big for me, amarillo all over my hand. But the next time, :DDDDD! I hate smiley faces, but this deserves it. I got smth and smth and stracciatella, all right except I dropped half into my bag and lap. But that was okay, because it was free! Ok, so he was not the best looking in that gelateria, and at most 18 years old, but so cute with all that blushing. I'm not the prittoest one, but perhaps my hair was the guilty party. I fought the whole summer against the want to dye my hair red, but the blonde hair surely took it's time to work with italian men...


Smiley for little girls who drink hot chocolate instead of cappuchino in the mornings

Some more ice cream talk. Gelato is amazing, but totally diffrent than Finnish ice cream. That's why It's no use comparing them. Finnish one is very good. But I must admit that when comparing "hard" ice creams, the best is Tom and Jerry's Cookie dough. Maybe it's a good thing, that it's so expensive.

My days as a classical archeologian

If the four weeks in Rome taught me one thing, it was that I'm never going to be full time researcher of classical archaeology. It's quite forbitten to tell this to people studying it, but it's ruines, ruines and again ruines, sculpture of Venus, and another, and another. After 3rd week my cup was already full, and I bet everyone knew it or sensed it with my huffing and puffing. The last but in no way least was the trip to Campania. Uuu best for the last! Oh not again, ruines. "But they are the great cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum!" "What ever." Our guide wanted to show us the icing of the trip, underground Naples! Oh good, never seen ruines before...


The cannon every (sun)day at Gianicolo at noon

Well, I grand that the wall paintings were quite beautiful, although there were paintings in the houses of Augustus and Livia in Palatinus as well...
Now you see how my head losed the plot. I just had to find something non-ancien activity! One of the best places in Rome was the Galleria Borghese, into which I almost didn't go. Good that I did.


Vesuvius roaring at Herculaneum. The smell of sulfur was true.

It's the case of friends and different friend groups, which do different things and act differently. Well, I cold like to belong to the group of grazy acting, laughing, drinking and behaving badly, but not of course criminanly. But, because people are always more wise than the person herself, othe people decide what group you belong. For me, because of my outer appearance and nature, the group has almost always been the clever quiet group, who speak about school, drink only wine and go to bed by 10pm. It's awful to be made to to what you don't want to do, and to get away from that group you need an accident, or really hard work. For me, I made it on the last week of Italy; thanks to my going to Borghese with the ring leader of the "other group". I even got to show my alcoholism level, when the boys had bought some whisky in the infamous Villa of Mysteries in Pompeii. It was night, we had drunk 4 bottles fo wine and one of very, very good Limoncello (why not, it was free!) and we didn't want to go to bed (like our head of the institute says, you can sleep in Finland). So we went to the swimming pool. We girls paddled in the water while boys smoke and sipped the whiskey. Then they offered one to the other girl (the one that talks), who was horrified and grinned. Then the offer came to me, I was more than happy to apply, and an astonishment! She didn't even grin! Well, why not? It was like water had been mixed into it, not really my cup of tea. Boys commented, well she's been in Scotland... Not actually the reason, I had whiskey there only once. Thanks to our classical philologies!


Wall paintings at Pompeii, the house of some man no doubt...

I might have done a small error of jugement with the water, for I saw Naples and got a cold. There went my farewell dinner and last italian pizza. I wanted to be brave, but perhaps I have to admit, I may have had quite a fever. But if somebody younger tells me to stay home when others go out, the hell I am! Luckily it didn't last long, I was quite alright coming home.


The non-catholic cemetery at dawn. Quite exciting hanging around the graves of artists died of tuberculosis while having a respitory illness...

Amentes illi romani

The final week in Italy: not happy at all!
I haven't written the whole time I've been here, not this blog, not reports, not essays, nothing. This really is hard work! First we go around town and its museums until 2pm, after which we, news in town, go round churches and galleries by ourselves, of course, we only have four weeks to understand the whole of Rome. Then we sit in the kitchen until it's time to go to sleep... Only thing I've found time to do is my presentations, which in truth I did already in Finland. Now, finally they are ready to print (well, not really, but I'm sick and tired of them). Onlything left is Pompeii and my final presentation on the subject I know nothing about but my audience sure does, and final exam.

Forst impressions of Rome were something like this: hot, soo hot! Coming from +5c of Finland, I really wanted to be in my bikinis (or bras in the absense of bikinis). +34c at 4pm! Gosh! But now of course it's freeking freezing, two pairs of wollen shirts and socks on. Apparently they haven't heard of triple or even double windows in here, btw Scotland has the same problem... The next remark, ok so the hostel's luggage safe is bar lounge's back behind a tree. So maybe I'll take my computer with me to town. And yes, I finally got myself a hostel, apparently I had been putting the wrong security number.

What I also found out the first day was the lack of logic with the streets. I bet there wasn't a single turn where I missed the wrong one. Well, at least I found my premier object, Borghese park, and in the search of a grocery store on my way to the hostel I found the Spanish steps (awfully slippery, marble is pretty but not very convenient, and Trevi fountains, the only fresh place in Rome. So I sat there for ages and appeared in hundreds of tourist pictures!

In spite warmings I didn't find bed bugs, meno male. And an other good thing, I was able to come to Rome on a train, altough it was the tourist overexpensive Leonardo express. On the next day it took me two hours to get to Villa Lante. First hour was a search of the right bus and the ticket mashine in Termini. Then I went into a panic when the bus went pass the Vittorio Emmanuelle monument and I left the bus at Largo Argentini, which I couldn't find in my map, altough it was there, and wen't to the nest bus and continues to the river. The change of the bus was strangely easy and, finally, I was on Gianicolo and Villa Lante. Obviously I got the northern window without the view and probably the coldest room in the whole of Rome!!!!! I need a 3rd pair of socks!!!

I'll continue maybe tomorrow my story here, now I'll return my new bought book Il Terrore Viene per Posto, aka. The Moving Finger by A. Christie. I must finnish it this week, because next, when I return, I have some catching up to do with French and Spanish. I have taken average 200 pictures per day, so in the future I'll download some of them here. Not now, for this has a shitty internet connection.

Hurricane Katia's prisonnier

I'm booored. No, I'm just sort of flowing. I haven't written in a long time. Frist reason was that at work, week before end, happenesd the worst accident, my greatest nightmare, and not to me, I was just there, it was pure accident, awful, awful... I'll never go there again. It was so horrible I couldn't write.

Then school started, and in 10 days I'll be going to Italy. Busy, busy... And once more, my friend stood me up. Luckily the new exchange student from Croatia seems nice. So I'm not as depressed as last year. I mean she hasn't gone out with me, but at least she wanted, before it started raining...
And the Italy, I really yelled to my mother today, and the week before, and before, because I'm really stressed. It messes out everything! We have one holiday week, and it's the week after I come back, so no help. And my computer is shit as always, today I finally ordered a shitty new one, I hope my logic of waiting worse, result better is still on...

And final breaking point was when they reminded today, remember to take your ISIC cards with almoust a smily face at the end. FUCK OFF! You order us to go to museums, it sure is your job to get us discounts. Why the fuck couldn't they've told that like 2 weeks before?... Cunts. So, it's not even a big problem, I've never needed it, but for some reason I went completely crazy. Like my whole life broke down because I don't have international student card. Oh my god, wow!



Now I'm supposed to write a letter in French. I was listening to Jacques Dutroc's Les Playboys and wrote a letter in that sense, but now I have a hard time to sent it to my teacher... God I'm an idiot.

Yesterday we went, my and my sister, to watch Midnight in Paris. It almoust didn't happen, we had again a fight about sematics, entertaining for the bookstore audience. But I had waited it for 5 hours and she ovbiously wanted to see something so we went. Oh my wet knickers! I fell in love with the trailer but it tells you nothing of the movie. The movie was straight from my heart, (except the dating of Pari's Golden Age...). It was full of cliché, but so fucking what? And the whole theatre almost shared my view, it was brilliant, Adrian Brody is a vision!
Go see it if you love Paris, go see it if you just want to see something, go see it even if you hate Woody Allen, like I do, but like Vicky Christine Barcelona, which was also amaizing. Only thing bad about it was the once more american view and american accent, but luckily it was so full of surprises that I forgot it. And of course the Golden age is Belle Époque, thank you.



Now I'm listening Angel in the Night on repeat, thank you and good night, except pictures I have to add here...

Crossroads

Things aren't going well at present, work sucks, it's boring, almost unpaid, and most of all not what I was promised. More over, I was given some extra work for the last week and I had to cancel almost all Erasmus students, even the french boy! More over, because of the Italy thing I had to cancel one course which now may be cancelled all together, and the courses that have the lectures at the time of Italy cannot be replaced. So things really blow. My mother just think God wants to test my want for Italy and that I must go there, even if every problem would be solved in staying here. I mean I can't even get work because I'm here only 3 weeks before Italy, and I only have like 500€ left...


Rauma Museum paperdoll exhibition, almost anatomical iron age hunter

And still my computer is at a breaking point and the DVD player doesn't like to work either. On a plus side, I saw the girl who has wanted to go to Rome a long time, and I had the pleasre to see her mad face when announcing my news!... But anyway, it has been so long since I've seen anyone that I'm quite happy now. I hope that she will get to museology so that I could have one friend more. She made a very brave decision to take a year off of journalist school. I envy her courage, even if she's quite depressed about it. I read her blog in which she complains how everything is going bad, how she's so depressed and goes to see therapist and how she meets everyday at least two diffrent groups of friends and have fun (and try to forget the bad things) and travel around Finland to see other friends... FUCK YOU! How dare anyone complain about bad things if one has friends as much as she does? My best friend is my sister with whom I meet once every 3 weeks and usually we fight. This girl is possibly my second best friend with whom I meet every 6 months when both are holding a little back, because our history...


Nice uniform for a little girl... Note, it's not a swastika, it's got "shorter arms"

Actually I was meant to write only good things today but it seems I failed... But at least that's over and done with. It seems that now I'm in a crossroads, I have no idea what will happen next, what ever decision I make there is nothing to show what the outcome might be, no idea... But all in all, it's quite relaxing, I can't predict the future, so I have no reason to be scared. Life will change, but who's to say it's a bad thing?

Good night!

Antoni Cepi, in Elisa di Rivombrosa. Performing a role of mysterious English captain Christian Grey. Couldn't find a picture with the pretty uniform... But found out he's actually Canadian, with italian parentage. First thought when he shoved hinself in camera was, that he looks more like Sicilian than English, he's so dark, oh god he's dark.........
The funniest thing about him is that when he looks surprised or smiles (or over acts) he looks exactly like, dare I say it, Russell Brand. That's a guy that really doesn't do it for me...



...What more can I say...

First week of museuming

Now I've been working for a week, (or 6 days). Every day I've messed something up, except today, scares to think what's happened there... At the moment my work is just to sit there and wait for people to come in, and say what it'll cost and what they can do there. I must say, boring as hell! I would rather have made profit account or what ever my senior was doing in her cave. I got no problem when there re people there, it's quite cool when they don't dismiss my authority and take me seriously. I can even use the card paying machine! But when the people are gone, I get absolute panic! Oh my god I can't do this, I have never been as bored as I am now! ou can't read, or listen to music, or do anything else because for me I think it is soo disrespectful for the clients- At least I don't like when somebody does it to me. It is little better when I'm alone, first of all, I am trusted with the keys and security and stuff, secondly I can hover aroung and sing and stuff. I only wish that after the lace week when I'm supposed to do the work with somebody else they will think me a better job. Because there's no work for two. And it's boring.



There seems to be some kind of festival friday today. Balconies full of people, loud beating cars... I just had wednesday and thursday off so it's hard to remember it's friday. And the rock festival RuisRock started today. My friends (younger) are talking in FB how they don't bother going there any more, because they have grown into adults and have abandoned drunken orgies in isolated islands. Well, forgime me but I'm too old to go there only when I've been there so many times it've gotten bored to it. I might be 26 but I'm soo not too old yet! I tried to win a ticket, but failed... Darned!

I don't have much more to write. I could do some crying about a mean girl who just walked by, but that's been done to death. Final remarks, I could feel better, but at present I'm feeling ok, with real work and my own hammock in the balcony. I think I'll try to get new colours to this blog. I think it's really cute as white, but I think I'm bored with it now.