Lonely in Roma

I'm here in the apartment for a few days by myself. And unfortunately, this is the time that one tends to get a little homesick. But, I've managed to find plenty of full length movies on youtube, and I even did a little shopping today (window shopping that is). All of my roomates as well as most eveyone else in the program has packed they're bags and headed out. Unfortunately, most of what they were interested in doing, did not fit my budget. Either that, or they could have cared less whether or not I came and therefore, I wasn't invited. One group is spending the whole weekend travelling from Venice, to a couple of the hill towns, to Florence, and then back to Rome. The other groups I know are heading to Florence, and many are staying the whole weekend. Sadly, I had no desire to go to Venice. And while Florence was enticing, no one seemed to want to take a day trip there and come back later that same evening. I guess I was just out of luck. But on the brighter side, I just put money towards a trip that one of the studio managers is heading up. It's a small beach getaway down to Naples and we'll be staying in Villa there as well as seeing the island of Capri. Because food expenses are rather slim here and I haven't eaten out much at all, I've been able to save up a little bit to spend on this trip.

This past week has been a little hectic. We had two projects due on Tuesday, both of which went well. It was our first late night in Rome; bedtime comes around 10 or 11 and we didn't turn the lights off until 1.30 or so. Yesterday was spent outside of Rome in the ancient port town of Ostica Antica. It was reachable by a thirty minute ride on the train, and is only a few train stops away from the beach. This may become a weekend destination. We have monthly passes for the train and subway systems that allow access for all of the month of March and April. Ostica was quite the change from Rome. As soon as we stepped out of the train stop and began our short walk down the road, I could smell flowers and hear birds. Only the occasional scooter interupted the sound of the breeze. It was such a relief.



It was by far one of the prettiest days we've had since we first arrived. The breeze was blowing and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. It was a bit warmer than usual but still a little brisk at times. This port town was beautifully planned, with apartments, shops, and storage facilities. Truth be told, the set up of the apartment homes centered around a courtyard is still a successful plan in use today.



Not sure what this weekend holds in store for me. I know I'll be doing a lot of cooking to keep myself busy and maybe go shopping a bit more tomorrow.