so now am happily settled into a very nice yet inexpensive youth hostel in some lovely neighborhood near the vatican. i have seen more of rome this past week then i ever had any idea exhisted. this city is huge, massive, and totally unrepresented for the most part in guide books, and even lonely planet, the youthful travelers best friend, has zero information on this sprawling, magical city. i think i need to do an expose of my own...as i discover more of this place ill write it down and get to know it. apparently where i sold vegetables last saturday is a very up and coming bohemian hot spot for romans who are moving out of the tourist enclaves, and the neighborhood is in the flux of being super shady and independent and chic and family friendly.
i have no idea what my schedule is at this point, literally. i was dropped off, as i said, at the subway station, and the deal is that the farm where i am suppose to work this week is this gigantic, chaotic farm outside of rome, where they make everything from cheese to prosciutto to bread to vegetables. however, since it is so big, naturally, no one there has any idea what i am doing there, or who i am, and, more importantly, no one lives on that farm so i have nowhere to stay. and since it is so far outside of the city, it will take a huge amount of time to journey there and back everyday. but i cant stay out there in a hotel nearby because then i will literally be in a hotel nearby but also in a hotel in a used car lot in the middle of nowhere. tough. so i opted to find a hostel inside the city and take daily journeys, which i imagine cant be that much more difficult then going to and from school in udine everyday. and a seasoned inconvenience traveler. i have to be there by 7am if i want to make cheese, so i need to leave my hostel about 5:30am. i am seriously thinking that i just lived the healthiest week of my entire life, so i might as well keep this up; hard work, early nights, early mornings, lots of food, no booze...
so my italian when i speak, as i said, is absolutely terrible. i think it actually got more terrible as the week went on, but only because i was speaking so incorrectly before, and all the exposure to the language cause me to go through a complete mental upheavle and start all over. on the upside, i can now listen to italians speak and understand it for the most part!! hoorah!! am a genius and a success! as simone always said, almost a scientist. and in the case of this language, almost practically a mathematician.
am going through a bit of shock after having to leave the comfort of the loving caramadres, but i know more good things are to come. and the cowboy sent me an email and asked if i had a night free this week to have another steak...and my friends here in the city will be around, so ill be able to keep myself busy and in good company.
la la la tomorrows the day! hoorah for america!