A Day on the Farm

So our schedule has been really crazy the last couple days so i haven't really had time to even stop and breathe let alone take in where I am and that I am going to be here for another 4 months! I just finished orientation with my program today and tomorrow we have orientation for my school, Accademia Italiana until tuesday. I've been so busy that I feel like im on a tour of Rome so I am thinking once we're left to be completely on our own my home sickness is realllllllly going to kick in until im used to the city at least.

Anyway yesterday we went up to school to meet the professors and the staff of Accademia Italiana (which is in the Piazza Navona and then had a lonng orientation with the director of my program. After that we all went to dinner at a place near the Piramide Viale Giotto, the square has a huge old pyramid in the middle which none of us can figure out why it was every built but something to look into I suppose. After dinner a bunch of us went to one the group's apartments and hung out and then went to a bar in Campo de Fiori...The whole square is full of bars and there were a lot of Americans there cuz its the touristy hot spot for bars and clubs.

Today was awesome though. We went to the "Farm Country" aka to a working farm just outside Rome in the same area as where the Pope and his crew live during the Summer! We took a bus out to the farm and the owner gave us a tour of how they make wine and all their other products. The farm is huge and they have stables for people in/near town to keep their horses for free and they let groups use their land for free. The whole idea it to better the land and the community not make millions. Definitely a different mentality than America...something to consider i think. After the tour we sat down at like 12:45pm for lunch and they fed us literally a 5 course meal with plenty of wine and coke! We didnt get up from the table until 3:30. Its just so insane to me how they can a. eat that much food (cuz eat course was a tonnn of food) and b. sit there for so long!! But after than we got to walk around on the farm a little and buy some fresh produce from their market.

The italians and specifically romans live verrry differently than we do i've noticed. For example:
-they eat a tonn of meat with all their foods almost
-instead of eating breakfast everyone goes to the "bar" which is actually a coffee place and they drink a really quick cup of coffee and eat a cresant or bread for a couple euro.
-no one is on any time schedule. Unless they are driving..then they dont stop of anything!
-not many people know english. its very annoying...i use a lot of hand motions to get what i want.
-all the women get their hair done (as in straightened and curled) at the hair dresser and then just leave it for daysss. Which is also why we have a separate toilet looking thing in out bathroom that supposedly cleans your butt and other areas cuz they dont shower as often.

Its all very strange for me at this point but im sure it all something ill get used to in the 125 days im here...

~Shannon