Little pictures...

My snack (At 3:30 in the afternoon...)

The kitchen in our hotel.  This is what you call a "one-hiney kitchen"

You try walking in high heels on cobblestone. 

The view from our apartment.  Lots of little smart cars.  See the little blue-green one in the far right corner?  That's ours. :)

Just a couple pictures I took about four minutes ago. Sloppy, yes.  But I just wanted to give you the jist of things.  :)  More to come.  

The Taste You Can See

Buongiorno!

Today has been a lazy day for me and my mom.  Dad has been out in Naples fetching supplies (I'm terribly excited that he was able to get Cinnamon Toast Crunch because I'm a junkie) and doing some other things.  Of what nature these other things are I'm not entirely sure because Cinnamon Toast Crunch?  Yes.

Suffice it to say, I slept in.  Shocker.  But only till about 10 or so.  ;)  I worked on my blog template for a while and realized I was hungry.  And because we had no Cinnamon Toast Crunch by this time, I ate bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic.  No, not really breakfast, but granted, it was 11:45 and I wanted it so I ate it.

Then, I basically worked on my blog for several more hours because blogger hates me and then sat down for some good old Friday Night Lights action.

(And as a side note:  May I mention that all of you need to watch this show.  Friday Night Lights.  Remember it.)

There's a little store downstairs called the Tabacchi.  Yes, it is what you were thinking.  But actually, tobacco is just about the smallest section of the store.  Mainly it's snack items, little things you might need, and sandwiches.  But most importantly, in the left corner by the register is a gelateria.

So all morning I was sort of thinking about maybe getting a gelato... and then mom started wondering if we had any tea in this hotel.  I, being the very observant and focused individual that I am, vaguely remembered that there may have possibly been some boxes of teabags downstairs if she wanted a quick cup.

I rushed down to the little store and picked her up a box of English Breakfast or something of that nature, and sidled over to the gelateria.  Now, keep in mind, I'm in a foreign country.  So by this point, I'm very nervous.  I'm a young girl in a store full of grown-ups who don't know any English.  (Lunch hour was not a great time to go to the store.)

With butterflies flitting in my belly, I walked up to the gelato counter.  And waited.  The guy who was making paninis finally saw me, and walked to the counter.  I pointed to the 2,50 euro cone and said "Un cono di frutti di bosco."  (Frutti di Bosco was a purple gelato I had noticed while waiting oh-so-patiently, and because of it's purple nature, I had to order it.)

And thank Heavens, he understood me!  After a quick "Grazie!"  I walked to the cashier and waited in line whilst licking my gelato.  It was a delicious raspberry treat, and, well, I meant to take a picture to post here, but I forgot.  Sorry.

Now I'm back in the hotel room, and am feeling quite alive after a cup of espresso that I brewed for myself. I think we're going to go take a look at our new apartment in a bit, so maybe I'll take some pictures on the way.

Arrivederci!

Quick note

You may notice templates on my blog going in and out.

Or, should I say, from pretty to ugly.

But there's a reason for the insanity!  I'm just trying to create a cute design, and for someone who's relatively "technology-challenged," it could take a few days hours..

Stay tuned!

La mia nuova vita in Europa

Ciao, amici miei!

I am now in bella Roma, and I absolutely love it.  Mom, Dad, and I will be here for about six or seven months, and then we will move to Belgium for three years. (Hence the blog name... pasta? Belgian waffles?  Ha?  ha?)

Living in a foreign country sure takes some getting used to, but luckily most of the people I have met so far have been patient.  I live in a more suburban region of Rome, so there are hardly any tourists.

My family = Sore thumb

Really, though, I find Italians fascinating.  They are so passionate and enthusiastic about everything!  They wait about half a second before blowing the horns on their little-bitty smart cars, they wave their hands around when they speak (even when on the phone), and get very excited about every. single. thing.

Today, mi famiglia took the metro (Subway train) to the real center of Rome.  We saw, first, the Spanish steps!  They were absolutely beautiful!  We didn't go up the steps, because for some reason, all of the tour groups decided to come out that day.  Next, we went to the Trevi Fountain (La Fontana di Trevi), and don't ya know, that was also crawling with tour groups wearing very strange hats.  But it was completely worth it.  It was the most gorgeous fountain in all of... ever.

We all threw a euro into the fountain.  Legend has it that if you throw a coin in La Fontana di Trevi, you're sure to return to Rome.  Sounds legit; worked for my parents who have been here before.

As we were heading to the Pantheon (Y'all, I didn't realize everything was so close together) we saw, no joke......

A mariachi band.

Which needed some more practice.

So.....

We walked past the merry band of players and found a quaint gelateria.  The gelaterias abound in Italy, much to my delight.  I got a scoop of stracciatella, which is like chocolate and vanilla but better, and a scoop of menta, which is just mint chocolate chip, in un cono.  (In a cone.)

Finally, we arrived at the Pantheon.  It was so beautiful, though pockmarked with age, and would ya believe it, there were more tour groups.  So many.  So very many.  And this time? They sang! And they clapped! And cheered! And I didn't know why! Because they were German!

I'm positive we'll go back, and I hope we'll go at a time where we can actually go in and see the sights up close.

After the Pantheon, we sat down at a cute little cafe, and I had a caffe fredo, which means cold coffee.  It was really just a tiny cup of cold espresso, and it gave me the jitters for a moment, even though I didn't drink it all.  That's strong stuff.  But it's also delicious.  So I will be getting that again.

We also had some caprese salad which was surprisingly mediocre.  It didn't have any basil, which is wrong. Just wrong. And the tomato wasn't quite ripe.  But the people at the cafe were very sweet, so it made up for the unfortunate salad.

Lastly, we just walked around and went in a couple shops. And much to my delight, they have a Sephora.  I'm pretty sure I may have sorta kinda possibly squealed and skipped across the cobblestone like a little schoolgirl.

Finally, we hopped on the metro to come home, and the last train was so full!  (And a little smelly.)  One nice looking girl stepped inside where there was hardly any room, and this old Italian man started yelling at her.  It was rather frightening, and she just meekly stepped off the train.  That man's mama needs to teach him some manners.

Now, I am back in our little hotel (we move to our apartment soon) and I'm making this little blog.  I hope you'll all enjoy it!  Please feel free to leave comments!

Grazie (Thank you!),