Roma, Italia-many things, including the election!

List-style entry!
We went out one night to play in the campo in the pouring rain. Bruce, Sarah, Jeff, Liz, and I were out there running around, splashing in puddles, and just yelling and being the crazy Americans. We got yelled at, videotaped, even had someone try to sell us umbrellas. We just laughed and said “No, grazie!” We came in soaking wet and my towel was wet and smelly for days. Lovely.
After going to Ostia Antica with one of our history professors, Jan, a handful of us went to a gelato place Liz had found online. We’d seen basil gelato in Vicenza, and had just eaten gelato and assumed we’d find more later…we haven’t. So she’s been searching online and found a place on the other side of town that allegedly made basil, honey, and walnut gelato. It was on our way back from class, so we went there (before dinner, freezing in the rain) and although they didn’t have that flavor, they did have some killer ones. Other people sampled baklava, pumpkin, and cinnamon, and I went for rose with black rice (weird texture, good flavor), cream with lavender and chamomile (soooo good, it tasted just like lavender smells!) and pear gorgonzola. I was suspicious of the mix of gorgonzola and gelato but decided to try it anyway, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted!
Also, one night when it looked like it was about to storm, we all raced to the Pantheon, cameras and umbrellas in hand. It didn’t end up raining as much as we wanted it to, and we had to get back for a lecture, but we still had fun doing rain dances under the oculus and watching raindrops gather on the marble.
I’ve subscribed to NPR’s “Wait, wait, don’t tell me” and “Car talk” podcasts and am thoroughly enjoying having both be a part of my routine now :)
We went to an election party for Obama! This is the email I sent out to my family afterwards.
“I too, have a great story.

In Rome, the Democrats Abroad group organized a big event, to be held at a restaurant in the train station. It was packed full of Americans supporting Obama, and my group of friends arrived at 1am, which was 7am EST. We watched the results come in on the hour. Two from our group are from PA, and they were ecstatic when their state was announced blue. One girl is from Virginia, and has been on edge for weeks. For four hours, we watched the numbers go back and forth, back and forth, blue and red, blue and red for her state. Finally, at 5 am they announced that Virginia was blue, and shortly thereafter that Obama would be our next president. I cannot even describe the deafening roar, but I'm sure you all had similar experiences. Everyone is the room was jumping, screaming, crying, and toasting. It was absolutely magnificent.

Being a particularly boisterous crowd of young American students, we were interviewed a number of times. To be able to explain the privilege and excitement of the election was amazing. We all told our stories, and what it meant to us, and how we were feeling, and mostly how freaking proud we finally are to be Americans. I was probably crying for an hour straight, at least.

The walk home was full of calls "Obama" and "Yes we DID" through the Roman streets. Whenever we passed Italians (as we walked back at 6:30 and many people were starting their day), we started chanting "Obama" and they all waved or clapped back in appreciation and excitement. It was (and is) one of the most amazing feelings in the world, to be a part of this.

Also, we bought shirts at the party that say "Roma Ama Obama" (with 'ama's a's intersecting the other names), which means "Rome loves Obama" and are all wearing them to classes and around town today. Congratulations to us all, and especially to Brookie for all of her hard work! Yes we DID!!” Also, we all went out and bought Italian newspapers the day after the election, all of which were full of headlines about Obama’s victory. I can’t wait to show these to my grandchildren many years down the road!

Things in our studio have gotten crazy. After our first professor, Riebe left, we were nowhere near being done with our work for him, which our second professor, D.Bell, wasn’t prepared for. We had to split our time between the two studios, and D.Bell wasn’t pleased. He gave us one week to finish our stuff for Riebe, and after that we would work on his studio and be done with Riebe’s. Because he was losing a week, though, he had to completely change the project we would be working on (for which we had already started case studies). Basically, we all put in a lot of time that eventually wasn’t worth anything, and D.Bell got screwed when he came here. He was even supposed to be on sabbatical this semester and came off of it when he was asked to do part of the Rome program with us...and now he’s not even getting a decent studio out of it. Pretty much it all just sucks. We’re starting our new project this week and it will be cool, but very, very brief.
Last night I went out with Dave and Pat, some friends of my grandparents. I had never met them before (or if I had it had been in a huge wedding crowd), but we had a lot of fun together. They were visiting Rome for a week or so with their granddaughter, Abby. We went out for dinner, then I took them to my favorite gelato place, Della Palma. I got pistachio with chocolate (so good, I’m now a pistachio gelato fan, although I’m not sure I’ll be able to say the same for ice cream once back in the States) and sesame honey. The sesame was full of sesame seeds, and a little weird, but totally delicious! (I think I’ve used that word far too much throughout the course of this journal, but there’s just so much good food here…)
One day in history class, we passed by a huge rally/parade of students. They were protesting the education system in Italy, as many cuts have been made in funding for public schools. Our professor was translating signs and posters for us, and we stood for quite a while on the side of the street just watching as they all marched, danced, and yelled their way by. There were even students from other parts of Italy who had travelled to Roma just for the event.

PICTURES: our “Roma Ama Obama” shirts, and the tv when he won!!