Venti Uno. Happy 21st Birthday.

So we arrived back late on Sunday, and at midnight on Sunday it would be my 21st birthday. We all came back, ate dinner, got settled in, took a nap so we could have at least a mini celebration when the clock struck 12. Lauren got home a couple hours earlier than our group because she and a few others took a cab. So on our commute back she had run to the store, picked up a mini cake and a bottle of champagne. Absolutely adorable and incredibly generous of her. I mean we have only known eachother for 3 weeks, and she made sure I had a cake and everything. We hung out down in Renaldo's till about 11:45 and while everyone else went for a cigarette I came back up to my room. Right at midnight everyone came in, popped the bottle of champagne, sang happy birthday 3 times, and made me blow out the candles more than once as well. It was really really adorable actually. I was really touched by the efforts made by those who I have only known for such a short period of time. Inspired by Arthur's video, they all sang "My Girl" to me, but replaced the lyrics with "Talkin' about Nora...." and danced along for the entire song. Wonderful way to begin my 21st birthday. I have also never received so many birthday wishes in my entire life. I got over 80 happy birthdays on facebook, and over 30 emails. So for those of you who are reading this, and I didn't respond to you via facebook or email. Thank you. I am truly grateful. It meant the world to me.

Anyways, the rest of the day went by fairly normal. Went to class, ate lunch, did some homework, hung out, went to dinner etc etc. Then it was time to go get the alcohol everyone was busy trying to get their homework done to prepare themselves to spend the rest of their monday night out. So I went to get the wine and booze myself. This ended up being a wonderful decision. First, I got a better feel for the neighborhood I live in, as well as developing a close relationship with the guy who owns the Inoteca-the wine shop. The wine shop has been in their family for over 55 years, and has been passed down through 3 generations. Anyways, I told him it was my 21st birthday so he generously shared an $80 dollar bottle of wine with me. He proceeded to give me an extensive wine tasting lesson. It was an absolute blast. I got try sweet and dry wine, swirl it, smell it, taste it, and even examine it under the light. It was such a unexpected and pleasant birthday treat. While I was there another older man came in to purchase a bottle of wine, he seemed to be a regular. I started talking to him and explaining why I was in Rome and what I was studying. When I told him I was studying Italian film he was overjoyed and mentioned that he was an actor. After he left, the store owner bragged by showing me that this man was who did the voice dubbing for all of George Clooney's movies! He also does Tom Hanks voice-over for Forest Gump. All in all the trip to the liquor store was much more than originally expected and quite the pleasant surprise.

I got back, told my story, and began getting ready. Sorry to family for putting some explicit details in here, but it was my 21st birthday. I was fortunate enough to get to take a shot with a few important people via Skype before going out to celebrate my 21st birthday! It was really comforting and sweet to be able to experience it from a few from home, even if they were forced to take a shot at 3 in the afternoon. Thank you. Anyways, we had a crew of about 10 people who were going out on a Monday night, just to celebrate my birthday. I was seriously honored, and had such little expectations of this day that I was blown away each time something really wonderful worked out. We got slightly lost on the way to the Ice Bar, but eventually found it in a hidden alley right by the Colosseum. It was mandatory to wear these huge metallic shawls that velcroed shut, as well as gloves, both of which they provided before entering the igloo. You went through 2 sets of glass doors and all of the sudden it was 23 degrees and everything was made out of ice. The bar, the fancy martini glasses, the floor, the benches, the separated rooms. On top of that, there were lights behind the ice which rotated through a spectrum of colors. Every color you could imagine. I had a rainbow filled 21st birthday, and again for those of you who know me, know how much I love rainbows! Such a colorful night!

We got a couple rounds of free drinks, danced around, and took a million photos. I think I got a drink of every color and I was done for. Heels and ice don't mix very well, especially on one's 21st birthday. I fell on my knees about 10 times which were unfortunately bruised for about 3 days after. Because its so cold, people usually only last about an hour inside this massive igloo, so I was ready to leave after exactly one hour. They had even popped a bottle of champagne for me but I was already on my way out the door. In fact I ran towards the door, somehow forgot that the glass doors were still there and literally ran straight into it. HARD. I had a bump on my head for the following 3 days as well. Needless to say it was a wonderful, colorful, and somewhat painful birthday. Much better than I expected.

Tuesday was a boring day, not much happened aside from watching one of the most depressing movies of my life. It's called Children are Watching Us, by Vittorio De Sicca. We just watched another tonight (Tuesday February 3rd) which was just as depressing if not more so. Kids either die, or get abandoned by their parents, or are exposed to things they should never be exposed to. Although the films are good, I would never recommend De Sicca because they put us all in a very solemn mood.

Wednesday was a good day! Lauren and I finally acquainted ourselves with the Balduina neighborhood. We walked down to Upim and got ourselves a vibrant rug to warm up our room. We also got some groceries, juice and crackers, and she got a bottle of Nutella which was gone by the end of the day. She really screwed us over on that one. We are all now addicted. One of the most rich and delicious treats I have ever experienced. Anyways, then we walked down to the Balduina piazza and saw all the little stores and hip shops. There are a lot of intimate stores where they only sell female underwear. Its like a bunch of Victoria Secret's everywhere. We are all a little bit weirded out by the concept.

Lauren's favorite food is pizza, so we HAD to stop for pizza on the way back. This ended up being the best decision of our adventure. First of all, most delicious Italian pizza either of us have had yet. Incredibly fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzerella cheese. I wasn't a huge fan of the cheese, but the vegetables were filled with potent flavor. As we were sitting there, the guy who worked behind the counter started talking with us in english. I guess he had lived in London for 2 months so he could communicate with us a bit. Best young Italian I have met so far. He was incredibly sweet, helpful, genuine, and not a creep at all. He also dressed like a normal person, rather than flaunting all the highest brand names on his shirt, pants, or shoes. We talked with him about the limited night life and he gave us options of where we could go and what we could do. He grew up here and said that he has never found Rome to be the most fun place to live. I feel as though I keep hearing the same thing over and over again. I thought that it might just be because we are in this bubble of American students out in a rich suburb, but I think no matter how hard you try its gonna be a major struggle. There is even a girl here fluent in Italian and she is genuinely upset because she can't find anyone to speak Italian with. They either want to go home with you or are not interested (sorry to be blunt).

Anyways, we found out his name was Walter (though its pronounced 100% differently in Italian) and that he works everyday from 12-10pm except Mondays. So we figure we will go visit our new friend and maybe he can help us with our Italian as well as take rely on him to take us out out and show us what this city is really about! As we were headed back, I bought a neon limegreen scarf. It seemed highly appropriate and it was only 4 euro! We had to make it back in time for Lauren's class at 5 so we hurried back, had dinner and hung out until Calcio!!!

First of all, I am on the PINK team!! I am more than thrilled for this simple fact. We got ourselves prepared to work out for the first time in ages and make a complete fool of ourselves. We were running late per usual so we had to run half way there, we laughed as we did so because we were utterly confused as to what our lives were coming to? Running down the streets of Rome to play Calcio? I hate running. Anyways, our games started at 8:30 while others had started at 7:30 so we got to see the last few minutes of the prior games. We were Rosa, and we played against Rosso (the red team). Their team is STACKED. They have at least 3 players on their team who play soccer for the Loyola Club soccer team, as well as Todd Whaller who I am sure has played ever since he started working here. It was somewhat unfair, but we held our own and only lost 5 to 4. Despite the imbalance in talent I had a BLAST. I hadn't played soccer in years, aside from the brief game in Jamaica and I couldn't have enjoyed myself more. I got an incredible work out because I was on the field about 85% of the game. We were missing some players, plus we had one or two team members who refused to play against such a good team. Again, despite all that I had a wonderful wonderful time. (Every muscle in my body felt like daggers were being stabbed through them for the next 5 days).

Afterwards is the weekly tradition of Beer and Pizza. Its about a 10 minute walk, and it is 10 euros for a stein of beer as well as your own massive pizza. Everyone attends to celebrate, socialize, and gorge themselves with pizza and beer after a strenuous work out. Somewhat of a complex course of events, but fun despite it all. Lauren and I weren't drinking or eating, and got cold after about an hour of sitting outside so we decided to walk home on our own. This was a BAD idea. We got lost in the northern part of Monte Mario for about 45 minutes. Following the 990 bus stops hoping to eventually arrive back at Via Massimi. We walked and walked and walked, realizing if we had just waited for the others we probably would have made it home already. Neither Lauren nor I really minded the walk. One of the goals is to get lost while traveling, so we got lost, found a wonderful view of Rome, and saw more of the rich neighborhood and finally made it back by 12:30.

Thursday was another calm day; class, lunch, and that night was the dinner for the Mass of the Holy Spirit. Nika and I skipped out on the mass and went for the delicious dinner. Best Italian meal I have had yet. We had delicious bread that looked Matza-ish. Unlimited wine. Delicious breaded red peppers. These famous Italian things called Suppli, its a round fried ball of rice and cheese, people here love it! Once again I unfortunately don't like cheese. There were several other courses considering it was a 4 course meal, but there was so much food I can't remember what all was eaten. I do know that it was topped off with a wonderful lime gelato. It was a fabulous dinner for everyone at the JFRC to participate in. We bussed home and it was FREEZING, though I probably shouldn't complain since there are those of you who are in below zero degree weather.

Anyways, this brings me all the way up to friday, so I think I will stop here and work on the weekend slash the beginning of this week (it is 4 am on wednesday morning here) tomorrow. Glad to be finally catching up with you all.

Much love from raining Rome.
Nora

OOOooooh. PS. Lauren just informed me that our wednesday adventure actually occurred on Friday. Too much work to rework the whole blog, but just know after class we lazed, went to dinner, then calcio. The Balduina excursion starts 'technically' in tomorrows blog. I hope this makes sense. Ciao e Buona Notte!