August 2010
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I WANT A CHEESEBURGER THIS BIG WHEN I RETURN:
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BAMBINO OCTOPUS! Andrea Cooks Us Dinner!
Andrea, our friend and art director at work, made us dinner one night. Andrea is from the town of Brindisi, which is way way wayyyy south- in the region of Puglia. Think of the ‘heel’ of the boot of Italy.
He made us a simple pasta dish that consisted of baby octopus, which we all call “Bambino Octopus”— Andrea of course gets a huge kick out of this (we can’t...
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AUG 1: ARSOLI Street Festival
Sunday August 1st, Andrea invited us to go to a beer festival in Arsoli, a very old tiny town snuggled into the side of the Apennine Mountains. Whenever I am invited anywhere, I get really really excited because the car ride itself is always so SO COOL. Like many tiny Italian mountain towns, there was an old castle, the Arsoli Castle is from the 10th century. These tiny mountainside towns are so...
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July 2010
21 posts
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Mime-dude creeping out the entire city
Europe has the WEIRDEST street performers.
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Your foot is the same length as your forearm
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ANZIO, ITALY
Maria and I attempted to go to Ponza this past weekend, which is an island off the coast of Italy- near to Rome. We took the train 1 hour south of Rome to the city of Anzio, which is where you catch the ferry to Ponza. We arrived at 10:00am only to find that the ferry leaves at 8:30am! A tad early? So we spent the day at the beach in Anzio, which turned out to be a really really great day.
Anzio...
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WUPS!!
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My Ethnic Background
You see, my last name is Dottore, which means “doctor” in Italian. So I’ve often been asked If I am Italian. Yes I am, and it seems that some of the people I’ve met seemed a little excited to learn that I have Italian blood in me. My Dad’s grandparents came over from Italy, from the town of Caltagirone, Sicily. All of my grandparents came to the U.S. through Ellis...
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Impromptu Gelato Night
I could get used to this! (sorry for the blurry photo)
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Pescara, Italy *by night
There was much ‘a stirring in Pescara Saturday night. We hit up a seafood festival with (corny) live Italian music, all adjacent to a weirdo flea market— of which I took a million pictures (I gotta get my Flickr up), as I love crappy flea markets. Maria insisted that at the end of the night we take a Bagno Mezzanotte “midnight bath” in the sea. This is typically done *sans*...
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Pescara, Italy *by day
This weekend I visited my friend Maria (from high school!) who lives in Pescara, Italy. Pescara is basically directly east of Rome, but on the Adriatic side. I was super proud of myself because I traveled there by myself! It involved many steps (train, bus). We went to the beach on Saturday, it seems that’s basically whatcha do there. It sorta felt like an outdated 1970s beach town- which is...
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Sandwich Dad
Oscar and I are lunch buddies. Everyday we go out to buy a sandwich together, usually from our favorite sandwich shop. We call this place “Sandwich Dad” because the guy that runs it is super nice, Dad-like in stature and makes the BEST sandwiches. He doesn’t skimp on ingredients, especially the fresh mozzarella di bufala. YUMMM. This sam will run ya about 2.50 euro. A steal! And...
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Happy Birthday Aunt Sandy
Today is my Aunt Sandy’s birthday, I emailed her a card: (she said it was in her top five cards of all time. woo!)
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Il Gelato di San Crispino
Today I visited a gelateria that is said to be one of thee best in the city, called Il Gelato di San Crispino (very close to the Trevi Fountain). This gelateria prides themselves on using the utmost finest, locally produced ingredients. Honestly give their website a peak and read about their flavors, they all sound INCREDIBLE. Their business is all about cleanliness, so they don’t serve...
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CARBONARA
Tonight we went out for dinner, and I was so excited because I haven’t yet had Carbonara pasta. It was a great night out, and my food was DELICIOUS.
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Beer Friday
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Street Futbol!
It’s Friday afternoon here at the office and there’s World Cup fever in the air, even though the Italians are out of the tournament, sadly. We paused our work for a little street futbol game. It felt very Italian, hah. A few snapshots of the players below. I more or less took pictures, and notice the Colosseum at the end of the street!! *Mario is the door guy for our building, a real...
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Proud to be American!
Me: I keep getting bit up... you guys aren't getting bites?
Oscar: No, they must hate Americans
Me: Whatever! If it weren't for us, their asses would still be speaking German!
Oscar: That was a long time ago
[5 minutes later... literally]
Me: (I'm offended) Hey um, we did A LOT in WWII! OK??
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FUTBOL!
I am lucky to be in Italy during the World Cup, as it’s only every 4 years (why not every year?) Tonight we went to Villa Borghese to watch the Wold Cup game, Ghana v. Uruguay. Outdoor, jumbo-tron style. We had beers, pizza and arancino, YUM. It was pretty exciting, but I secretly felt a little jerky as I hadn’t ever really watched a soccer match. There was a “shoot-out” at...
June 2010
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Women love the Trevi Fountain! and gelato!
It must be the girl in me, I dunno. It’s just soooo prettyyyy. I am lucky, when I was here 5 years ago I threw a coin in, which supposedly means that you will return to Rome, and POOF! here I am! There’s a whole bunch of rules as to how you’re supposed to actually throw it in, something like use your right hand but over your left shoulder.. whatever. I’m here. It’s...
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I walk past the Colosseum everyday!
As I’ve said before, I am working at a graphic design agency here in Rome. It’s a 6 month position, and me and the other 2 people like myself who are doing this (I will introduce you to them later), are living in an apartment together provided by the company. The company was great and got an apartment super close to the office. I literally walk around the Colosseum EVERY. DAY....
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First Weekend
My first weekend in Rome has had great weather, in the 70s! My sleeping has been really outa whack, but Sunday I managed to take a really nice walk around the Colosseum, Roman Forum— as I basically live right next to them, up to Piazza Venezia. It is just so crazy to walk around these ancient structures. You marvel at their age, size, beauty, but you’re left dying to know what life was...
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Alive & well in Rome
The plane ride was fine. The plane left at 6:30pm on Wednesday and I arrived Thursday at 8:45am in Rome, about an 8.5 hour flight. Not too bad. I couldn’t sleep but that’s ok. I got lucky and sat between two chatty older people. I like talking to people on planes. I sat next to a really interesting 70 year old woman who was going to be traveling in Rome, Greece and Turkey- all by...
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I'm gonna miss these guys...
I leave tomorrow. I’m basically all packed with a few small errands to run tomorrow, that is, after Mike and I get breakfast at our favorite breakfast spot in Philly, Honey’s Sit-N-Eat (best eggs benedict you might ever have). Mike is the sweetest and took me out to dinner tonight at Garces Trading Company (excellent Philly restaurant). Isn’t he handsome? I’m gonna miss him...
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Back-track with me for a minute...
Hello out there! I am about to embark on a pretty incredible adventure. For the next 6 months I will be living and working in Rome at a graphic design agency. Through this blog I will share as many experiences as I can with you. Expect to read my thoughts on culture, what I’m eating, what I’m seeing, and everything else in between. I am so excited! (and nervous)
But I’d like to...