Hello, My Name Is: Welcome Week

Ciao Stranger,

Did you miss me? It's okay, I know you did. It's been almost a week since my last post and I'm truly sorry about that. No I did not get abducted by strangers. I was simply too busy with the Erasmus (exchange students) Welcome Week. There's an event planned everyday of the week so you never get a moment of silence. Here's an itinerary to prove that I'm not lying about what I've been up to.

And since school started this Monday, it's been a handful. Where do I even begin...this is why you should never wait too long to do something, I now have too much information to unload and have absolutely no idea where I should begin. Let's just follow the welcome week program and take it day by day. Warning: this may be an extremely long blog post. Grab a coffee, you might need it.

Last Thursday, I was finally able to meet some of the fellow exchange students at orientation and had to quickly throw myself out there and make friends. It's like the first day of uni all over again. Meet a lot of people and remember their names (when you're in Europe, this is no easy task. I've had to ask "sorry, could you say that again" about a gazillion times and a minute later I'll forget again. My mouth just isn't capable of making that sound), make good first impressions, be funny, get people's numbers, and hope you're included in a group by the end of it. All that within the first couple of hours, so no pressure at all...

That night we went to an apertif (common Italian buffet styled eating) at OS Club. The food there was questionable. I would definitely not recommend going there since everything had a similar mushy taste to it. But the main purpose wasn't to eat anywho, it was to socialize! And because the drinks at the restaurant/club was outrageously priced (10 Euros for a bottle of beer), a bunch of us decided to leave for Campo di Fiori for 1 Euro shots. An hour later, we arrived there on foot. Half an hour later, half the group was drunk. All in all, a great first night with my new Erasmus friends. 

Because exchange is 75% party, 24% school and 1% sleeping; Friday meant drinking time again. Some necessary pre-drinking at Matt & Charles' terrace (MC Terrace for short, because there will be many parties held there. Their terrace would be a waste otherwise). Look at us, so jolly taking shots of Limoncello. Lots of karaoke, card games and laughter later, a dozen of drunk foreigners set out with their phones to find Shari Vari Club at 1am. Opinion on the first Italian club I went to? Crowded, small, awful music and overpriced drinks. As much as I love some oldies like Jailhouse Rock, I just wasn't feeling Elvis that night. When we tried to leave, that's when we realized Shari Vari was a maze. Upstairs was another world! There were other rooms with presumably different types of music: damn it. It took us 15 minutes just trying to find the exit. Chaotic. Absolutely chaotic. 

After sleeping through most of Saturday, I got up in the afternoon for the "Discovering Rome" event. Let's get one thing straight. In Italy, there is no "on time" concept. If it says 4pm, you'll be lucky if the people arrive by 5pm. If you're a person that's persistent about being on schedule all the time, then you'll go absolutely mental in Italy, because it simply won't happen. Things will happen when they do, just accept that fact. When things finally started moving along, we got in groups of 6 and went on a scavenger hunt. We went to Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Campo di Firori, the Ghetto (no, it does not have the same significance as what you're thinking, it's actually just the name of the Jewish area) and other smaller alleyways. I've already been to most of the sights with Miso so I didn't really take pictures. 3 hours later, our group walked proudly to the meeting point thinking we came in first or second place. Turns out we were the last group...heh heh...and since it was dinner time, our local Italian group leader showed us what he claimed was the best pizza place in Rome. There is always a line-up outside this place, so come prepared.

 The menu. I went with a pizza made of zucchini flour (not shown here).

 My pizza face and my pizza. Nom nom nom. So fresh, so flavourful, so delightful. We all devoured our food so fast it was anything but classy. Not quite sure if it was the best pizza I've had because I was boarder line famine mode when the pizza came so it tasted like gold to me. Will have to go back and try it again for a more reasonable critique.

On Sunday, we were planned to go to Viterbo. I was expecting a mini day trip with the public transportation and would probably be home by 4pm. Was I ever wrong. They got us two coach buses and off we went to Viterbo for a 12 hour, full day trip. We first went to Bomarzo Park, known as the Monster Park with beautifully weird sculptures everywhere. A picture of with the Erasmus students, this is only half of the group. Look at the sculpture in the back of the naked dude holding someone's leg? Errr...yeah, okay.

 Who needs the leaning tower of Pisa when you have this? Trippy feeling when you're inside the tower.

 The most famous sculpture of the garden. RAWR.

 After a late lunch, we finally got to Viterbo. It's a small town with a lot of character to it. Buildings with clothes hanging dry outside the window, rust and moss growing from cracks, children playing football on the streets and lots of locals taking a late afternoon stroll around the piazza. Here's what a typical street there looked like. You may find this odd but I love the look of old alleyways, the more rugged the better. Taking typical touristy pictures is great but sometimes its the things normal tourists take for granted that makes the city so unique. And for me, it's the forgotten alleyways. Let's all take a moment and appreciate this picture I took, except imagine it to be 3 shades darker because my camera made everything brighter. Where's the filter when I need it?!

 Went to a local pastry shop there and ordered the croissant on the counter. Italian Croissants aren't like the French ones; they're soft and bread like with powdered sugar on top. Majority of the time you'll find them filled with cream or nutella and are eaten for breakfast. Yes I had it for dinner, whatever, close enough. I think I dragged my exhausted body home around 10pm that day and spent the night looking at courses and timetables for the next few hours because unknowingly, school was about to start the next day...

Monday, the day of classes. I will dedicate another post to school so on we go to our next event; dinner at Ariccia, a town on a hill with a beautiful view (it was night time when we got there so all I saw were faraway city lights of some unknown city). We ate some authentic pasta, meat and cheese. The city is well known for their porchetta so in my tummy you go! 

But most importantly, it was the wine. With around 100 students, the wine to person ration was 1:1. I know I'm not the best at math but you read that right. A bottle of wine each. How could the night not have been anything but amazing?

On Wednesday we had a movie night at school. I was sleep deprived from the previous days' activities and having a full day of class really took its toll on me so I skipped the movie. It's okay, I plan on downloading the movie and watching it with my room mates so all is gooooooood. 

As for today, the last day of the welcome week, there is a party (yes, more drinking. This should come as no surprise to you by now) at Level Club. I slept for 12 hours last night so I should be prepared for what's to come...although that's highly doubtful.