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What a joy this week has been so far.
I took a picture of my hottie/biotch Architecture prof. Giovanna, for your viewing pleasure. This was during class one day. I'm pretty sneaky.
After a long 4-day week of classes, my friends and I needed to get out and par-tay on Thursday night. We went to a region of Rome called Trastevere, a hipitty hoppity place filled with night clubs and magic. We went to a bar called DJ Bar, and it was 1 euro shots night! Kory + 1 euro shots of tequilla = great fun for all!!!!The bar was EXTREMELY crowded, but we made our way through the half and half italian and american crowd to the dungeon-like basement dance floor! While ordering my 5 shots at the bar, I met an Iowegian! Imagine my surprise! After insulting her state for a few minutes and downing my shots, Dana and Tim and I danced our hearts out. First on the dance floor, then on the chairs, then on the tables! But not just any tables... IKEA tables! I was so happy to be able to tell everyone that I was dancing on $7.99 IKEA end tables!After the night of dancing, I woke up in the morning (in my own bed!) with confetti on the floor and streamers in my underwear. Nobody knows how or why.. Nevertheless, we had fun!
Friday was a chill day after party night. Along with the confetti and streamers, I also woke up to SNOW on the ground! That's right, SNOW! For the first time in Rome since 1985 (or 1965, depending on who you ask.) We went to the soccer fields and built two amazing snow people, and had a snow-covered orange fight. Friday night we made some new friends at JFRC! Kathleen, from St. Paul. I'm always happy to meet a fellow Minnesotan.
Saturday was the day-trip to Pompei (Pompeii in English, Pompei in Italian). It was neat to see, and interesting, but after you see a bunch of ancient ruins, they all start to look the same. Ancient, and ruined. The best part of Pompei was the body casts. It was awful to see the looks on the faces on the people. There is a part of the town called "Garden of the fugitives" where there were about 10 bodies all found together, at the wall of the city. It was sad.
It was fun during the day to tell Dana that Mt. Vessy was going to erupt again (it really is!- they predict a huge eruption that will send ash and lava in a radius of 7 km around Vessy!). But much to my dismay, it didn't. Another interesting part of the city is the brothel. The local prostitutes didn't speak Latin, so the men had to point at dirty pictures on the wall so the girl would know what they wanted. The pictures are still there, thank God, unharmed by Vessy.
Sunday we went to the flea market again and I bought Purple leggings for calcio! I can't wait to sport them on Wednesday. I also got two more doughnuts. They really are the best in Rome at this little restaurant near the market.
I did laundry today! And watched old videos of Tessa that were on my computer! Hey Tessa!
Finally, a not about Mensa, the cafeteria. I can't eat pasta ever again. I honestly vom at the sight of it. Today in Mensa I got hot dogs. I was eating one, and it smelled familiar, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. Then it hit me. Beggin Strips dog treats. Oh joy. I couldn't eat the rest of my meal because my hands smelled like I just gave Tommy and Lola a treat (shout out to my neice and nephew!). I want Mexican food, Dunkin Donuts, Panera, Chipotle, Dairy Queen. I just can't take Pasta anymore.
Feel free to send me mail!
Kory Iverson
Via Massimi 114-A
Box 225
Roma, Lazio, Italia 00136
Ciao raggazi! A doppo!
Hey yallziez!
Uffda. It's been one heck of a week and it's not even over yet!
Last weekend was spent shopping and reading. On Friday night, Manak and I ventured into the city in search of hoodies, coats, and sweatpants. We didn't find any of those. After a rough shopping excursion, we decided that instead of having Mensa (the cafeteria here at JFRC), we deserved some good old American fare. So we headed to the Perfect Bun restaurant downtown. It took a little bit to find, (good thing I have a photographic memory), but we finally made it. We were a bit early for dinner (6:30! oh no! blasphemy!) so we had to sit at the bar and order drinks before. But we both got great cheeseburgers and french fries. It was a cool place.
On Saturday we all once again headed out for some shopping. We were on the "Michigan Ave" of Rome (Via del Corso), and when we walked out of H&M, there was all of a sudden a parade down the street! Mind blowing. Italians are so random. I guess it was related to Carnivale, but anyway, it was people dressed up, and lots of horses, and confetti. Oh the confetti. They litteraly just threw it in your face. It was fun though. After shopping, we all went to a bar in Trastevere. We ended up at Mates, a pretty hip place if you ask me. I had my first Kamikaze(s). A very enjoyable drink if I do say so myself. The bar was very cool. Lots of italians, and lots of good music. We sat in this velvet booth thing with a table, and a curtain to boot! (Confession: I had accidentally typed "booty" but I changed it.) After the bar, we had to take a cab back as it was approx 2:30am. The guy tooootally screwed us over. He drove in a circle before actually going to JFRC, and then our total was 17.10 and I gave him a 20 but he only gave me 2 euro back. I wish I spoke more Italian so I could express my discontent.
Sunday. Oh Sunday. This day was great. It was sunny and warm, so I convinced Dana to come with me to read our book outside in the courtyard. It ended up that 4 other people from our class joined us, and we read the day away. We are reading a slightly (majorly) confusing and annoying book titled "The Silent Duchess" (I don't reccomend it, HUGE waste of time), so whenever one of us was confused about something, we would just ask the other what the heck was going on. Or we would tell eachother if it was actually worth it to read the next 10 pages or not.
I had my first Italian test on Monday!! I got a 50/50 even though I spelled Arrivederci wrong. I'll never forget it now though.
Tuesday! An uneventful day, I had class alllll day until 9.30 pm. In my film class we watched a 1946 movie about two boys who end up in jail together, and in the end, they get in a fight and one accidently kills the other. It was oh so uplifting. This came after last week'd movie where the dad killed himself. After the wonderful film, it was KARAOKE NIGHT!!!!!!!!! Karaoke night is one of the many activities that makes me love JFRC. 10.00 pm everyone gathered in the Cafe downstairs, and although it was called Karaoke, it ended up being more like a JFRC sing-along. There was even free beer provided by Loyola! They played such hits as "No Scrubs," Toto's "Africa," and Whitney's "I wanna dance with somebody." Along with the backstreet boys, brittney spears, and some Frank Sinatra thrown in there, it was a pretty magical evening.
Wednesday I only had one class and it was cancelled! Thank the Lord. It was my Architecture class. So instead of class, we planned the rest of our trips. All in all, we are going to: Madrid, Paris, Franfurt, London, Greece, Budapest, and Dublin. Uffda! and since it was Wednesday night, that means CALCIOOOOOOOOOO!!!! We got our t-shirts at dinner tonight, and because my high school soccer shorts already have the number 5 on them, I obviously got the number 5 on my tshirt! I am the only one with a full uniform! The Purple Nurples suffered a tough loss (2-1) but we will prevail next week. I had an assist with the Irishman! (who, by the way, was playing Irish jig music today in his room while I was showering. It was pretty great.) After the game we went to Angela's for pizza and beer. I want to play soccer this summer. High school sports really ruined it for me, but I love this.
As many of you know, I have a thing with older, or shall we say, Mature Women. Well, this gift didn't stay in the US! It came along with me to Italy. I now have a relaysh with Nella, the 70 year old woman who works with her husband Renaldo at the self titled Cafe "Renaldo's" downstairs. She always gives me the special, two nutella filled cornettos for 1 euro (a savings of 20 cents!) and the other day she brought our relationship to the next level by giving me pound cake completely free. She also asked for my name, and now she knows what I want at when I go. She looks good for 70, don't worry.
Well, that's all I really have to say for now. Time is flying here but I really do enjoy it, even if I don't enjoy Italian people all that much.
Ciao ragazzi. A doppo.
Hey y'all.
Since you all begged for a new blog entry, here it is.
Where to begin... On Sunday we got up early to go to the flea market. It was pretty interesting. For the Mantorville people, think Marigold Days but wayyy more crowded. It was rows and rows of vendors and tons of people. I didn't buy anything but we did laugh a lot at the sights. After the flea market we went to a cafe and I had my first Italian donut. It was amazing.
On Monday I made my first trip alone downtown. I had to buy shoes for calcio, so after my class I got on the bus to downtown. I first went to Athlete's world and looked at some pairs, but they were all over €65 so I went to foot locker but they didn't have my size. I ended up going to Nike, Adidas and some other smaller store before heading back to Athletes world and I found a sweet pair in the sales section. I'm pretty happy with my purchase.
Wednesday was probably one of the best days of my life thus far. It started with getting up at 6a.m. to go to the Vatican and get in line to see the Papal Audience. It was my first time in the Vatican and it was beautiful. We had to go through security, and then we sat in a big hall waiting for the Pope for about 2 hours. The place was filled with different groups of people. When the Pope came out, I didn't know if it was going to be like church and everyone would just stay calm or what, but instead, everyone got up and started clapping and shouting, it was great. And Joe was loving it. He was like yeah, yeah!! and he put his arms up like ok enough, enough, and he was blowing kisses and having the time of his life. He looked really frail, but he was having a good time.
After the crowd quieted down, he started his speech, first in Italian, and then in like 8 other languages. At the beginning of whichever language he was about to do, a priest that spoke that language would come up and announce the groups that were there who spoke the language. Whenever they would announce a group, they would stand up and sing their school song, or for the Nigerians and Chileans, a typical song from their country. It was very unexpected but very cool. We didn't have a song planned, but we did stand up and clap, and at the end of the Joey's English speech, he said he specially blessed all the students and faculty of Loyola Chicago's Rome Campus. One of the groups from Asia did a dance routine right up on the stage in lieu of singing a song. It was so weird, yet fascinating, yet mind boggling. All of a sudden this techno dance party music comes on, and all these little Chinese boys run out on stage, literally RIGHT next to the Joemeister, and they did human pyramids and juggling and Joe was loving it. It was the only routine that he clapped for!
As if my could've gotten any better after the Pope, Wednesday night was my first Calcio game! I got on my new shoes and my old KM soccer shorts and we had to walk all the way to the fields, which already had me winded, but luckily I had about an hour before my game, during which I cheered on Anna and Manak in their games.
All of Calcio is just for fun, and nobody really has any great soccer ability, so it was hilarious. I cheered on people who I didn't know, and we all sang songs together and it was just great. My team played the Maroon team, and I played defense, goalie, and offense. I love my team, and we already have one win under our belts! During the game, all my friends were cheering me on, and doing KM cheers too. Between laughing and running, I was pretty much dying on the field. I called a personal foul on this girl who grabbed me, and then at halftime I purposely ran into her and told her to watch out. I put my arms out like "what are you gonna do about it??" It was fun. After the games, all the teams went to the local pizzeria, what I call Angela's, for pizza and beer. A great ending to a great day.
Oy vey this is getting long, but I just have to tell about one more day.
Since we had the Papal Audience on Wednesday, we had to have Friday classes this week. My only class was Architecture, and it was on-site. We went to the first church ever dedicated to Mary, Santa Maria in Trastevere. We had to sit at the fountain once again, and draw the church. I had previously like the professor, Giovanna, but yesterday made me not like her so much. She was walking around, giving people advice and what not, and she came up to me and said I was being too detailed by drawing the lines on the windows, and I was like, uh, are you kidding me?!? Dana had drawn stick figures for the statues!!! But heaven forbid she look at Dana's drawing! Giovanna almost ripped my drawing out of my sketchbook, and since then I'm not too fond of her. It's a good drawing I think!! I'll put it on here once I figure out how to work this scanner. At the second church, Santa Cecilia, she had everyone lay their drawings out on the fountain and she went around judging them all. At one she said "don't get offended, but..." and pretty much said it looked like a pile of you know what. I still talk about Giovanna like we're best friends/ lovers (what's new?), but unless she gets an attitude change about our lack of drawing ability, she's not my favorite anymore.
That should just about cover my life up until now. I went shopping yesterday, got 3 shirts for only 20 euro!
Take care, Ciao, arrivaderci, etc.
Buonasera!
This week was fun, until I realized yesterday that I have to read 400+ pages before Tuesday!
Wednesday morning I had my first on-site class downtown. We met at the Pantheon, and learned a little bit about it and the building techniques, then we had to draw it! After the Pantheon, we went to a building that is only about 4 years old and we also had to draw that. I'm still not quite sure what exactly we will be working towards in this Architecture class, but I do enjoy it.
On Wednesday night there was a mass and dinner downtown that we went to. The mass was in this really old church in the middle of downtown Rome. The priest, Father Al, is a prof at the JFRC and he came around introducing himself before mass started. He got to me, and I said my name is Kory, and he said Kory as in Cory Feldman? or how about Corey Haim? and I just laughed and he said "oh thanks, is that old?" and I said "REALLY old!" and thus began a great friendship. He then wouldn't talk to me and he kept snubbing me and at communion, he said "Body of Christ, KORY" with a hint of "KORY you little brat." So mass was nice, and my History prof played the organ for it.
After mass we went to dinner at a restaurant across the street. I sat at the table next to the Dean of Students, two of my professors, and, you guessed it, Father Al. During dinner he kept saying "I hope you are all having a great time over there... except Kory." Dinner was amaaazing. First they brought out small appetizers like bread, mozzarella balls, black olives, meatballs, bruschetta, mushrooms, peas, etc. Then came pasta, then roast beef and potatoes, and for desert we had fruit and pancake-like cookies. During dinner my table only got one bottle of wine while the others got 2, so we were throwing a fit, and we eventually got another bottle from another table after being told by the waiter that our teacher didn't want us to have more than one. The next day in class during attendance, the teacher that was sitting at the table next to us called my name, and then said "so you got your bottle of wine then?" I really like that the profs are all involved here, it's great.
On Thursday we went out for Manak's birthday, and I had my first Roman Cheeseburger. It was good, and their fries are a lot better than in the states. After the restaurant, we went to a pub where they played only Shakira. All in all it was a success. Friday consisted of reading. and more reading. and more reading. And then going to Trastevere to a gelateria and a bar that had real Italian kids our age!
Last night I also found out that I am on the "Purple" calcio team. It also has all the people that I love on it, and a real Irishman! Practice starts on Wednesday night, so I have to go to the flee market tomorrow to get some shoes and shorts.
Today we are going to the Keats home/ museum by the Spanish steps. Oh and I'm also doing laundry for the first time! hoorah.
Ciao Regazzi.
Oy vey. I tried to wait two days to blog again, but it feels like it already has been two days. Time goes slow here. Yesterday I tried to go shopping with some friends, but everything was closed because it was Sunday. It's such a different life here! God forbid I wanted some granola bars and nutella. They make THE BEST nutella croissants in the cafe here. Oh lord. They are my new chocolate long johns.
I only had one class today! It was Italian and my profa is so funny! Her name is Nadia and she always tells me how my name doesn't exist in Italian. They don't even have the letters K or Y in their alphabet! But today we had to go around the class and say random countries from the book and the nationalities that go with those countries, and wouldn't you know it, I got Canada! So I learned that in italian, Canada is "Canada" and Canadian is "Canadese." So bravissimo. Hopefully I get an A. I tried helping Dana with her Italian homework today, but she's kind of a lost cause, so we'll see where we end up by the end of the semester. We had an Italian speaking partner party tonight and we met some Italians who are studying at the local university, so it's like we help them with English and they help us with Italian, although they know English much better than I know Italian. All I have learned so far is "mi chiamo kory" and "dove la fermata del autobus" also my favorite word is "basta!" I say it all the time. It's like "stop, enough!" in English.
My books were $185 dollars this semester! Not bad! I was still like, ughhh this is so much! but then I remembered that last semester I payed nearly 800 so i reminded myself that it could be worse.It's raining here today and I'm not too happy about it.
Ciao Regazzi!
For orientation, we had a 3 day stay in Assisi, about 4 hours north of Rome. We stayed in hotels, and had activities that were "somewhat" helpful, the best of them being a tour of Assisi. It was odd to hear on the tour about two "new rooms" that had been added to a church. The "new" rooms were added in the 1700s but in relation to the centuries old church, they WERE new. Something being hundreds of years old here is nothing.
On our last day in Assisi, Tim and Dana and I took a walk up to the castle. The view was amazing, and it wasn't foggy which made for some great pictures.
Back in Rome, classes started last wednesday. My first class was an architecture class that I thought was going to be mostly writing papers, but as it turns out, it is actually a drawing class. I had to go buy sketchbooks and special pencils and pens, and compasses and rulers. I'm pretty excited about it seeing as my major would be architecture if Loyola offered it. On thursday I had 3 classes, but I accidentally skipped my first class because I went to a class that I wasn't even enrolled in. I was even pretty adamant to the prof. that I was in it, because my name wasn't on the attendance list. So when I got back to my room I checked online and it turned out I spent 3 hours in a class that I'm not in. oh well! My other classes are Italian Film Genre, Italian 101, The world of Late Antiquity (history class), and an Italian writers class. It's going to be different than my latest semester of business and math classes, but it will be a welcome change.
So this is our first real weekend in Rome, and it was a good one! We don't have classes on friday, so we spent the day planning our spring break trip to Madrid and Paris, and then we played a game of "calcio" (soccer) with some other students. I also ate about 12 clementines picked straight from the tree in the courtyard. I'm going to miss that in Minnesota. Friday night we went downtown and saw the Colosseum and went out to eat at a little restaurant. Yesterday we went to the Emperor Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, about an hour outside of Rome. It was a huge estate, and a lot of the walls are still standing. I have taken a rock from everywhere we have been, and at Hadrian's villa (or Villa Adriana), I took a piece of terracotta from one of the walls.
Last night my friends and I went to a pub, but since it was a Roma soccer game, it was full. Then we went to a nearby restaurant and I ordered Nachos with guacamole (and got made fun of by my friends) which was actually doritos and guacamole when it came. Everything in Rome is uphill so I have become pretty used to walking great distances on uphill cobblestone roads. Between the clementines and the walking, I'm not too worried about getting scurvy or getting out of shape when I'm here.
I'm joining the intramural Calcio team tomorrow. I wasn't going to at first, but I am heeding the advice of one of the full years here that "you're f*ed up if you aren't on the Calcio teams."
Anywho, I hope this wasn't boring. I'm not good at blogging, so I'll work on it.
Ciao!
Ciao!
I'm sitting on Dana's bed with Manak and Dana. We just finished watching Manak play futbol with the other children, and I just picked clementines from the courtyard. I'm trying my best not to get scurvy while I'm here.
Anyway, once I get all my thoughts in order, I will start to write about what I have already done, and then the blogs will go in order, but I figured I would try it out once today.
The water in the building is shut off today, as they are cleaning out the calcium build ups and trying to get us more hot water, so it's a good thing that I showered before I went to bed last night. OH! There was a spider in my bed last night! I crushed it with my alarm clock. It's almost warm enough to sleep with the windows open! A nice change from the great white north that is Minnesota. So, I'm going to go enjoy the weather and go to the tabachi to buy stamps. I hope you all are well!
Ciao and I love you all!
