8.

Erasmus+ project week

On monday I finally met my friends from Germany again! After I hadn't seen them for one and a half months, it was a happy reunion and first I didn't really know where to start when they asked me about my time here because I realized that I didn't just see important sights but got used to roman habits and mentality. However, we had a heavy day ahead which hadn't even started at that point.
E.g. we went to the exhibition "Keys to Rome" where we could see ruins of the old city. It was just a pitty that our guide spoke a not very understandable English.

 

We also visited a few conferences about working abroad or the history of the European Union. Today we went inside the Colosseum and were guided  through the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill by a bunch of students of us, which was an absolute highlight for me.

All in all the last three days were terribly stressful though because of all the walking and standing around until 6 or 7 p.m. (not to mention this extrem heat wave that came over us) but we all made it at the end - my feet still hurt by the way. 

 

7.

Strike!

So, today we didn't go to school because of a strike.
My previous host sister tried to explain what this strike was about and if I got it right, all the students were supposed to write a big test or exam today which the state should have used to compare between
schools in Italy.
The schools which achieve the best results in this test get more money from the state, which, in my opinion, is a terrible thing to do. Students who don't have the opportunity to get the best education should be taught by competent teachers who e.g. went to a further training which is why they would need the money urgently. It would be very helpful for their advancement.
Instead of that the state decides to give ist money to schools which mostly are already rich and have a better education system.
The students and teachers of the school I'm going to were striking today because the Vittoria Collona (school's name ;)) doesn't have much money already and they are, as I am, totally against this kind of stupid action.
Just wanted to write about that, I hope it's understandable to you.

6.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

... I brought myself to writing a blog post again - which is actually not so easy because many things happened lately.
I think it's important to mention that we've been to a few universities where professors of these were giving speeches about different subjects e.g. taxes compared between countries (which I, to be honest, found pretty uninspiring), about future chances and politics.
The speech I thought was the most interesting was about religion and  politics and their effects on each other. It was given by a young professor from Minnesota, USA who was quite dynamic.

It was not just fun listen to him but he also made the subject fascinating and interesting.
We also went to a cool park with members of my host families friends and family where we made a picnic for lunch and hung out all afternoon.

But the most important thing I didn't tell yet; I changed host families a few days ago! First I was a bit sad and perhaps even a bit afraid to leave the familiar environment and all the habits I got used to. Now, however, everything is fine, my new host family is casual and easy and very nice. Mostly they even speak English with each other when I'm around. So I am really happy to be here as well.

5.

Parks and malls

As you can see, we've been to a beautiful park of Rome, which is called Villa Pamphili. But of course, it's not the only park we went to. In fact, we saw quite a few lovely places like that. The parks are, among other things, my favourite parts of Rome because of their almost untouched nature. Finding trash happens much more seldom here, even though there are indeed some points where people seem to give nothing about the vegetation. But I'd rather wanted to share pretty views with you, so here you are:

It's a bit long ago, maybe two weeks, but we also went to a mall near Rome, where everything looked pretty expensive to me. And above one passage with all the shops, we found loads of pink umbrellas hanging above our heads to protect us from possible showers ;)

 

 

We didn't buy anything in case you wanted to know, though it was quite interesting.

OK, so that's enough again for today ;)

4.

The REAL Blog

Planning my next post, I decided to finally start a real blog with real little comments and even real photos ;) because I noticed that I haven't been too detailed and regularly. In order to improve my blogger professionalism, I'll try to be stricter with myself... can't promise anything though :)
OK, let's start:

So, here's a typical alleyway of Rome, where you can see that most of the buildings are in sandy colours which looks kind of homely and pleasent to me. I took this pic on our way home from school. I like going through the streets here although there often is too much trash in them.

We often visit the centre of Rome in which there are so many beautiful buildings to look at...

 

I hope you liked my pictures.

For this time there were enough of them I think (I don't want to overstrain you or something ;). But don't worry, there'll be more stuff to look at in the next post, and of course, more to read as well.

 



3.

Pasta every day

So, people in general - I really dont want to support any generalizations but... you know - have lots of temper, are lively, spirited and get loud very easily, to be honest. E.g. the fact that some people stand in the street, discussing wildly because of their cars which are parked too close to the next, is nothing special here. There are also several discussions and little fights within the family and among friends but these are always forgotten quickly. I guess you could say the trouble vanishes as quickly as it comes. Apart from this they treat each other warmly, and most of the time there's a kind and heartfelt atmosphere around, especially in comparison to the german treatment that I am used to.
Another fact: Italians seem to be very proud of their pasta. And I should know because for me there was not a single day without pasta. I also got to know many different types of sauces and side dishes that I never expected to be eaten with pasta ;), such as zucchini and peppers.
People here indeed have other eating habits than German. To me it's curious that they don't eat any bread for breakfast, but for after any other meal. At school there's no such thing as a cafeteria, there are only vending machines in the halls from where you can get coffee, tea, hot chocolate or little snacks which are the only food you eat before you get home...
I think that's got to be enough about food for one blog and by that I mean enough for today, so...
bye ;)

2.

First day in school

At our first school day we were too late - because of the bus - but that seemed to bother no one.
Unfortunately, I forgot most of my stuff such as my laptop, so I couldn't get started with my work.
The school was confusing to me, it was much bigger from the inside than it looked from the outside and had nested and complex passages and lots of students, which was even scarier for me after I found out that I had to change classes almost every lesson. Luckily, my host sister (her Name is Ludo, by the way) always led me to the next rooms.
I met lots of really cool people, who were all very helpful and kind.
In the afternoon we went to Elisa's, who is the girl I will live at for the next month, and she cooked lunch for us - again pasta with tomato sauce and mozzarella as an appetizer.
So, basically that was my first day. (Just to let you know, I won't tell you about every single day from now on. More precisely, my next post will be about my general impressions, e.g. about the people and the city.)