I haven’t really had the chance to enjoy the beauty of the city yet because my first priority is finding an apartment. I’ve stopped going to real estate agencies because their offers are too out of my price range on top of agency fees. I found a cute place in a part of the city called Gianicolo that I really like, although the landlord was a bit too particular about things. Finding housing has been quite stressful. I spent most of my day yesterday walking around that area to get acquainted and see if it’s a place I would like to live. The area is very quite and it definitely has more of a residential feel to it. I would prefer to have a place in a more exciting part of town like Trastevere (which is where I would ideally like to be), but Trastevere is only a short bus ride away. Today I walked from the school I will be teaching at to the apartment in Gianicolo and it is only a 10-15 minute walk. I feel like I’m on that HGTV show House Hunters International only with a lot less options.
In the midst of being totally confused by different directions people were telling me (I took three different buses and two trams) I stumbled across the Basilica di San Pietro/Piazza di San Pietro, the Vittoriano, a really beautiful fountain in Piazza della Repubblica, and great shopping on Via Nazionale. If I hadn’t taken the wrong bus I wouldn’t have seen most of it. I take for granted the ingenuity of the way Manhattan was designed. It is so easy to navigate; it’s a literal grid. Rome is so complicated with tiny side streets and piazzas all intertwining…it doesn’t even make sense on a map. I guess that’s how it maintains its charm while still being so vast.
Cultural Note: A ticket to use public transportation (bus, tram, and metro) costs 1€. When you get on the bus you have to validate the ticket in a little yellow box. The ticket is valid for 75 minutes from the time you activate it, and you can use it as many times as you need to within that time frame. If the carabinieri (police) come onto the bus to check tickets and your ticket has either timed out or was never activated, you must pay a fine.
Highlight of my Day: As I was exploring Trastevere I passed by a store that said alimenti biologici (organic food). One of the places I knew I was going to miss while being in Italy is Whole Foods, but now I found a shop where I can buy my almond milk, sheep’s milk yogurt, and quinoa! I was so excited.
Ultimate Sight: I passed by a middle school yesterday that had all its windows open with no screens. On the top floor there were three girls sitting on the windowsill practically halfway out of the window. In the front of the classroom the teacher was ruthlessly banging on the desk as the students’ screams were flooding into the street. My best guess is that she was either trying to kill a bee or quite down a group of unruly kids.
