Mom and Dad Visit Rome

Following the wedding in Spain, my parents flew to Rome for a visit. I had to work during the day so they walked around Rome until I got home. We would reconvene in the early evening where we would either cook dinner or go out. I showed them my favorite haunts including my favorite bakery, market and of course, my favorite gelato shop, which we visited frequently. 

On Tuesday my mom and I ran over to a church near the Barbaríni stop so we could get her and my dad tickets for the Pope’s Blessing. She was worried that they wouldn’t get them but she was elated to find that her tickets were waiting for her after only reserving them that morning (Normally, you need to reserve them a week in advance). My parents got up early Wednesday morning and made their way to St. Peter’s (about a 10 minute walk from my apartment) and spent many hours braving the rain for the blessing to begin. They loved being there and I know it was a highlight of their trip.

On Friday, they rented a car and picked me up from school. They met my students, some of my co-workers and walked around my school. We then drove up to Tuscany and spent the weekend visiting Siena and Montepulciano. Both beautiful and very special places! We enjoyed the churches, architecture, food, wine and scenery.

We spent our last night at my apartment enjoying a home-cooked meal. My dad made chicken and zucchini while my mom prepared a salad. We finished the night with a walk around the corner to Lemongrass Gelato. I miss them already and can’t wait to see them again!  

A Spanish Wedding

      The first weekend in October, I flew to Madrid. The occasion? Pablo and Natalia’s wedding! A year ago, Pablo informed us that he and Natalia were getting married and that he wanted us to be at his wedding. I remember thinking logistically how I would take a week off from work to fly to Spain without getting in trouble. I remember joking that it would be easier to, “just move there.” Funny how at times passing remarks can be remarkably prophetic.

      Greeting me at the airport were my mom and dad who had flown in from California earlier that day. We drove to Salamanca and attended the “preboda” on Friday night. We were served delicious meats, cheeses and drinks and enjoyed our reunion with Pablo’s family.

            The next day we made our way to the beautiful Salamanca Cathedral for the wedding. For the most part, weddings in Spain and weddings in the US are very similar. However, one thing I don’t think you would expect at most weddings are the many tourists walking around listening to their audio-guides pausing to watch the nuptials take place.

            All guests were given confetti made from recycled paper to throw at the newlyweds. We were then escorted by bus to the reception that lasted until11:30 pm. The wedding was beautiful, the food was delicious, the company was fun and I can safely say we all had a great time due to the live Twitter feed that was being projected with positive tweets for most of the night. ;)

My Italian Apartment

Finding a place to live was no easy task. Having only spent 4 days in Rome in the past, I wasn’t sure of the various districts and when choosing a place to live, you kind of want to know the characteristics of each area. However, after talking to teachers and doing a bit of exploring, I decided to look in Prati. The commute from work isn’t that far and has a lot of areas to explore. Prati is also home to St. Peter’s and the Vatican-which I’m only a few blocks from.

            One thing that I was NOT aware of, that would have been good information to know, is that many listings for apartments in Rome are listed by agencies. If you find a place through an agency, it is your responsibility to pay an agency fee. This fee is roughly about one month’s rent.  Furthermore, if you find a furnished apartment, which is what I needed, you need to put down two months deposit. So when all is said and done, you are basically looking at four months rent down in order to move in. Yikes. I didn’t bring over nearly enough money and my first paycheck doesn’t come until the end of September so thank goodness, Laura, the woman I’m renting from gave me an extension for my second deposit.

            Laura and I had met a couple of times prior to my moving in and I liked her immediately. She’s about my age and really sweet. When I finally moved in, she was here to welcome me and took me on a tour around the neighborhood. She showed me the best places to get gelato, pastries, pizza and the best market to do my weekly shopping.

            There are many differences between European apartments and American apartments. One of the main differences is there are no screens on the windows. There are shutters that you need to close at night and when you leave. My first thought was that being on the fifth floor, I wouldn’t have to worry about thefts…but alas, Italian thieves enjoy scaling walls so no such luck. Another difference is most places only have a washer and you dry your clothes on the clothesline. My clothesline is hanging outside my kitchen window so I’m taking bets on how long it will take me to drop something into the courtyard below…

The last major difference is that most bathrooms have a bidet. I don’t even know what to say about my bidet...:)

            My place is quite spacious. It has two bedrooms, one of which will most likely be used as a living room. However, there’s a bed in there and the couch also turns into a bed…so plenty of space for visitors. The kitchen is one of the largest I saw when looking at places. It actually has an oven and refrigerator, which surprisingly isn’t standard in all apartments.