Officially ONE Week Left in ROMA...

   WOW. I really cannot believe I only have one week left in Roma. What a month it has been. I am so thankful for this experience.
    Yesterday our attempt at going to the Colosseum for a tour was a fail. Just our luck! The Colosseum was closed due to the recent snow storm. Despite being bummed we could not go inside... we still got some beautiful pictures of the Colosseum during the day and the Ancient Roman ruins.

       We are going to go back and get an indoor tour this weekend when the Colosseum is open. On the way back while walking by the National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II we walked by a horse and carriage. They are everywhere in Rome, but this horse was so cute and caught my attention. I really wanted to pet him (I have never pet a horse before!), but I was nervous to ask the owner. After awhile of annoying Adrian, repeating myself over and over about how much I wanted to pet the horse, he ran over to the carriage owner and asked him. Surprisingly, the man nodded his head yes. Well lets just say...I proceeded to fall in love with the horse from there. Not to toot my own horn...but he loved me too! I don't think the horses get much positive attention here which saddens me. I am not sure how well they are treated by their owners either. I started by petting in-between his eyes and then he began nuzzling me back. I swear he was trying to bury his head in my jacket. I started petting him all over after that. He was so sweet. I loved his eyes too...Horses eyes are so much like human eyes. I felt like I was looking into his soul. The horse reminded me so much of Luke and I finally understood his love for horses. Adrian, Nora and Anthony slowly pulled me away and I spent the rest of the day thinking about that beautiful horse and how desperate for attention he seemed.

     For Lunch that day we had a very negative experience at a Kebab and Pizza place called Duzgun. Not only did Nora, Adrian, and myself think we were going to throw up after we ate there, but what we witnessed there was pretty gross too. Adrian. Ricardo, Anthony, Nora and myself wanted something different then pizza for lunch. Someone suggested this Kebab place down the street from campus before we ventured to the Colosseum. What a horrible decision that was. Not only did I witness the same person who was preparing our food cleaning the floor, but also taking my money and then preparing my food all without gloves on. Besides the fact he was cleaning the floor and touching my food without stopping to even bother washing his hands....I am really not even sure the contents of my Kebab was. I asked the man what the meat was that he was shaving off which was hanging from the ceiling and he said chicken. It most definitely was not chicken. Usually I wouldn't even considering trying food at a place like this but I did not want to be dramatic in front of everyone else so I tried to ignore what was going on. I took two bites...could not stop thinking about how it was prepared...and felt like I was going to get sick. I decided I would rather waste this food then get food poisoning. Later on Adrian and Nora informed me they felt similarly at this place. 

        Despite this negative experience I did learn a lot. I am SO thankful for the food regulations in the United States. Rarely in the United States do you find a restaurant with that little regulation. If a place served food without gloves on, nothing covering their hair and in such filthy conditions the FDA would be in there and it would be all over the news. I rarely see a restaurant or food production worker using gloves here EVER. A major issue we have had since we got here is finding hair in our food. At three different pizza parlors and in two different pasta dishes I have found hair that was NOT mine in my food. Today, Nora found a clump of hair in her pizza. It is a very upsetting experience to say the least and very frustrating not being able to trust where your food is coming from. I am so thankful the United States has much better regulations and requirements for food preparation. 

     On a more positive note we did a little shopping after the Colosseum visit. We walked the streets by Piazza Di Popolo. Anthony bought some dress clothes and I bought a belt. Its fun looking around the boutiques and shops. 

    Last night was one of the last nights we knew we could go "out" in the city. With finals, projects and lengthy assignments closing out this five week class... things are finishing up quick. We got a flier while at the Colosseum from a promoter and decided to do a Pub Crawl that some other of our friends have done before. We really had a blast. It was just Nora, Anthony, Adrian and myself. Though, on the bus on the way to the bar a man was screaming at us in Italian for no reason. We think he must have known we are Americans and was screaming things such as, "Animals!" and curse words I should probably leave out, use your imagination. It made us so uncomfortable and at one point Nora and I were sort of scared. Someone told us they think he was drunk and probably just hates Americans. 

    We met a French couple at the Colosseum event last night that were around their mid-twenties. They told us a lot about Paris (where they live) and about the French culture in general. They were visiting Rome for the last five days. They explained a lot of Europeans haven't been to as many European countries as Americans and Australians. The club promoter particularly said she runs into Americans all the time that ask her the countries she has been to in Europe. The Americans usually rant on about the ten or so they have been too. She gets embarrassed when she replies, "Just Italy, Germany and Sweden." 

    Adrian had a really interesting conversation with the French man and made notes of it so I could write about it in this post. Adrian asked him why we notice SOOOO many people that smoke cigarettes here. He explained that in France the men in general do not really smoke cigarettes and instead the women do. He explained that this started several years ago when women were fighting for equal rights to men. Only men smoked back then and in return a majority of women started smoking to make a point they could smoke too. As the health risks of smoking became more and more part of the norm...the men stopped smoking. The women continued though. Now in France nearly every woman smokes cigarettes, its a major part of their culture. The majority of men do not smoke. I found this so interesting and so did Adrian.

     The French also dislike Americans because of how little English they understand. He explained Germans usually like Americans because they understand English and the culture. Germans on average while in High School and Middle School take six to eight hours of English a week. The French take on average two to three hours of English a week. Therefore the French become very resentful and hostile towards American tourists because they do not understand them. 

    The French man we met (Jordan) said he learned English from watching American Television shows such as Lost, Prison Break and Newport Beach. His girlfriend (Anne) learned English from studying abroad in Ireland. 

     Adrian asked Anne her favorite place in all of Paris and she said Notre Dame Cathedral. She gave us her Facebook information so that we could get more information from her regarding what to do and see in Paris. 

    The last place we ended up last night was a Bar/Club called Coyote which was a rooftop bar. We got a free shirt that says "Colosseum" on it and with a picture of Rome on it. Through the night we also met three boys from Wisconsin that are in the United States Army, a girl from Sweden, two girls from Chile, and a guy from New Hampshire. Its so crazy to meet people from all over the world. 

     Tonight we had one of our last Moral Theology of the Marketplace classes. We are now reviewing for the final. Tonight a majority of the dorm is going out, but we are all staying in. I have a lot of online class homework and studying to do for our final. Cross you fingers it doesn't snow this weekend....we are really looking forward to seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Assisi! Our Vatican tour is tomorrow morning :) I cannot believe it is our last weekend in Rome. TIME FLIES!!!!! 

      We went to dinner at a new restaurant tonight called Pastarito. It took our meal tickets and some people from school recommended it. Because of our negative experiences at some restaurants we take any advice we can get! Nora, Anthony, Adrian, Mary and myself all went. It was fairly Americanized Italian food. So delicious! It reminded me of home. I was able to get shell pasta with just plain tomato sauce and garlic. YUM YUM YUM!  

    

We all also got desert. I was thrilled to get my chocolate fix!

     Now it is time for my online homework. YUCK. Someone tell me how I am supposed to do a group project over the internet with people in different countries!? UH OH! haha

   These last few days have really reminded me about how blessed I am. Rome has been so much fun...I don't know if I am ready to leave!!! Its scary to think this might be the last time I am in Italy for the rest of my life. 

    Thanks for reading :) feel free to comment on here or my Facebook page! I love getting feedback :)

XOXO Shann