My room... as small as it is.. bed, table and little else!!
The garden out the back.. we have a door to get out through the kitchen but arent allowed into the garden downstairs as it isn't hours.. but nice to look at as you can see.
And the viw from MY window.. more apartments.. well it is Rome you know and there are millions of people living in such a small space.. it's always crowded!!
Me at the forum...
And another one of me at th Forum.. first weekend with Erica.. was nice to have someone to see the sights with.I must confess I am slowly getting the hang of study again. Whenever I get lonely or homesick I think how hard it would be to put the hours into this course if I was at home in New Zealand. School officially starts at 9 but I am usually there at 8 to use the computers to print out my lesson for the day. Teaching (yes we teach real live students already) and lectures go through until 5pm but I need to stay until the school closes at 7.30 to get information for lessons etc off the internet.
Then its home to my ‘apartment’ which leaves a bit to be desired but at Euro500 a month it’s almost half the cost of the average ‘nice’ apartment in Central Rome. Writing up lessons, lesson planning, preparing lessons and doing assignments takes me through till about 11.30 (with a quick break for a salad or soup) when I hit the sack.
My apartment is on the first floor of a very old building only 3 minutes walk from the school. I have my own bedroom with a table for study, and eating, a small single bed, a bookcase (which I use for my clothes) and two ornate hutch dresser type affairs. The bathroom and kitchen I share with two other girls, both very nice, both very young and socialites one of whom speaks no English whatsoever. However that is compensated by the fact the other speaks Italian – to varying degrees – and we are all considerate which makes for a pleasant life. Italian kitchens leave a bit to be desired.. no microwave, no toaster, no jug, no dishwasher, an ancient gas cooker and a very ancient washing machine that only works on very hot!! Still… one can’t complain as the apartments I saw advertised in the local Rome magazine in English ranged in cost between Euro1,500 and 3,000 a month!!! I am counting my blessings!
Sunday afternoon I put aside for exploring. Erica, one of my classmates who is from Chicago and I spent three hours wandering around the Colosseum area which includes the Forum, Palentine Hill and the Vittoria Emanuele Monument. She was a fantastic tour guide having studied Roman Classics and Art history. a great way to see Rome without paying a cent. We didn’t venture inside the Colosseum or Palentine Hill or the museums as you had to pay and we were really just generally exploring or was I just being a poor student?
The Forum is amazing.. to think these five acres were once the heart of the Mediterranean world and have been around since the 3rd Century A.D. In fact parts of it were ‘re-constructed’ in the 2nd Century AD!! Imagine that!
The Vittoria Emanuele Monument however, was only built at the beginning of the 20th Century to commemorate the unification of Italy.. yes Italy has only been a unified state for little more than 100 years.. yet another piece of information I learnt today. The tomb of the unknown soldier was guarded, as they all are, by two guards who, I am happy to report were not in the silly garb we saw in Athens but in traditional soldier like uniforms.
History lesson over folks.. but it is amazing to think you can just walk out the front door of your apartment and within three blocks arrive at some of the most amazing historical sites in the world.
And now its back to my Aprtment to study all those bloody horrid tenses and to do some more work on my first assignment which is, as you can guess, all on grammar!! Why didnt I pay more attention at school?
Then its home to my ‘apartment’ which leaves a bit to be desired but at Euro500 a month it’s almost half the cost of the average ‘nice’ apartment in Central Rome. Writing up lessons, lesson planning, preparing lessons and doing assignments takes me through till about 11.30 (with a quick break for a salad or soup) when I hit the sack.
My apartment is on the first floor of a very old building only 3 minutes walk from the school. I have my own bedroom with a table for study, and eating, a small single bed, a bookcase (which I use for my clothes) and two ornate hutch dresser type affairs. The bathroom and kitchen I share with two other girls, both very nice, both very young and socialites one of whom speaks no English whatsoever. However that is compensated by the fact the other speaks Italian – to varying degrees – and we are all considerate which makes for a pleasant life. Italian kitchens leave a bit to be desired.. no microwave, no toaster, no jug, no dishwasher, an ancient gas cooker and a very ancient washing machine that only works on very hot!! Still… one can’t complain as the apartments I saw advertised in the local Rome magazine in English ranged in cost between Euro1,500 and 3,000 a month!!! I am counting my blessings!
Sunday afternoon I put aside for exploring. Erica, one of my classmates who is from Chicago and I spent three hours wandering around the Colosseum area which includes the Forum, Palentine Hill and the Vittoria Emanuele Monument. She was a fantastic tour guide having studied Roman Classics and Art history. a great way to see Rome without paying a cent. We didn’t venture inside the Colosseum or Palentine Hill or the museums as you had to pay and we were really just generally exploring or was I just being a poor student?
The Forum is amazing.. to think these five acres were once the heart of the Mediterranean world and have been around since the 3rd Century A.D. In fact parts of it were ‘re-constructed’ in the 2nd Century AD!! Imagine that!
The Vittoria Emanuele Monument however, was only built at the beginning of the 20th Century to commemorate the unification of Italy.. yes Italy has only been a unified state for little more than 100 years.. yet another piece of information I learnt today. The tomb of the unknown soldier was guarded, as they all are, by two guards who, I am happy to report were not in the silly garb we saw in Athens but in traditional soldier like uniforms.
History lesson over folks.. but it is amazing to think you can just walk out the front door of your apartment and within three blocks arrive at some of the most amazing historical sites in the world.
And now its back to my Aprtment to study all those bloody horrid tenses and to do some more work on my first assignment which is, as you can guess, all on grammar!! Why didnt I pay more attention at school?
