Fat and Fab

Alright people. Today has been a rough day. Ya know when you're in a hot shower and it's so nice and you're so content and happy and then all the sudden, someone flushes the toilet and before you can even think about it the water goes ice cold and it is the worst kind of painful shock that can be endured? That was today. Someone flushed a toilet on me approximately17 times. It was our first day of classes. I had class from 2:20pm to 7pm. Not kidding. First day of school since May 10th. That was a hard hit to take. My classes seem great. I love my archeology professor and class but it is going to be a TON of work. So much work. Can't even fathom the amount of work. My art history is going to be a struggle but I think I'm interested enough in the subject that I can make it work. And I LOVEEEEEE my religious studies class. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. The hour and a half went by so fast and the professor is probably one of the most intelligent men I have ever met. He's awesome. The class is titled Contemporary Issues in Morality, and it deals with theological ethics ( how you relate to God), social ethics (how you relate to other people, how society forms our values and affects us) and relational and sexual ethics (how relationships build and why they fail, falling in love vs loving, different types of love, the modern sexual revolution). I think it is going to be my favorite class. Also, I had great food today. I had fruit salad and a cappuccino. For lunch I had a pizzette con pomodoro e mozz which is pita bread with fresh mozzarella and slices of tomato that they put in a panini maker and it is amazing. For dinner, we went to this totally chic restaurant and had garlic basil tomato bruschetta and pasta with red sauce and then a green salad and a fab piece of like chocolate citrus cake. At around ten we went to happy hour at a nearby bar for a celebratory fruity pink drink on the rocks. A huge problem now though is that I'm craving chocolately gelato. Like I need it. Fat and Fab, people. Fat and Fab. That's the life. Tomorrow I have Italian (eh) but that's it plus a million pages of homework I need to do. Send me positive thoughts and love.

Miss you all. XOXO

Rome After Dark

So I personally love nothing more than a gals' night of good times. Partly why I adore SMC so much, it's like a never ending girls' night. I have come to realize that Rome is actually the perfect city for a night of selfies, girly drinks and giggles. It is also the place where it is acceptable to be my mother circa 1980s. Let me explain a typical night:

7:00pm- We all wake up from our naps, gorgeous and revitalized, of course.
7:15pm- We walk room to room trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Pasta and pizza or pasta and pizza?
7:30pm- We walk room to room trying to figure out what to wear.
8:00pm- We get ready. Kinda. Sometimes it's really hard to care, but I normally reapply deodorant.
8:30pm- We walk out the door and promptly someone asks, "does anyone know where we are going?" No one usually does.
9:00pm- We finally find a restaurant as our stomachs begin digesting themselves.
9:05pm- The waiter immediately asks us "ehhh, vino... white or red?" We all respond with "the house chardonnay," like I'm sorry, who are we? My mom. That's who.
9:30pm- Depending on restaurants, we either order individually, or sometimes they just bring out a schmorgaspord of bruschetta, pasta and pizza. It's ALWAYS amazing.
11:00pm- After chatting, giggling, sharing food, drinking wine, being ridiculous and eating, we are ready for more. This is when we normally go to some sort Americanized study abroad bar. This is where we sit and listen to the best of what apparently Europeans think American music is (everything from Fall Out Boy to Nelly throwbacks to ABBA remixes and Come On, Eilleen. It's actually the greatest) and sip on our gin and tonics with two limes (once again, the Renedawg gene in me is coming out).
12:30am- We hit a discoteca for some tequila shots (more limes, please) and dancing like the white American girls we are. A lot of pointing at each other. A lot of singing to each other.
2:30-3:00am- Back in my pajamas, giggling with my fellow gin and ton-ton gals after a fabulous night in this wonderful city.
3:00am- Fast asleep, dreaming of what great adventure the next day will bring.

It's the ultimate Smick chick experience. How lucky am I?

Pope Francis and me.

I actually just had the most incredible experience of my life: mass at the Vatican celebrated by the Pope. I grew up in a Catholic household, and going to mass was always extremely important in my family. I consider myself to have a reasonable faith life, but I am often the one dosing off in mass, not paying attention and frankly, not caring. On our walk to the Vatican for mass today I truthfully was thinking more about how cool of a sight it was going to be to see and not at all how being there would affect me. I was shocked that when my eyes first fell on the Pope, those same eyes filled with tears. I had no clue I would be so emotionally moved! The whole mass was in Italian, but I could actually follow along pretty well. The rhythm of the mass is the same, and I could tell by the responses what part of the mass it is, even though I couldn't understand a word. It was absolutely incredible. That's really the only way to describe it. The whole time I just kept think about how blessed I was to be there, and how so many people deserve to be there above me. Standing there, in a sea of people, in front of the Pope and the other clergy and the Vatican, I felt like the smallest bit of something really big. It really hit me on our walk back when I saw actually how many people were there. I seriously have never seen so many people in one place desperately trying to catch a glimpse and be a part of it all (and I was at Lolla). It's hard to explain, but it definitely was not what I was expecting. We were fortunately close enough to get great pictures of the Pope with my camera! The mass was held outside to hold the amount of people coming to see Pope Francis, but I am looking forward to going back and seeing the inside.

Don't worry- I said a few prayers for you all while I was there :)

Much love!

AHHHHHHH today was a fantastic day!!! After sleeping off jet lag all day yesterday, I was ready to go. We toured the Roman Forum which was the center of the ancient Roman civilization and the Colosseum- so cool. My archeology professor led the tour and she is actually amazing. Kinda like a female Indian Jones with a British accent and a PhD. But anyways, it was amazing and I already have learned so much. AND on the plus side, I got to FaceTime my mommy and she showed me my dogs. And that was really nice. Tomorrow brings mass at the Vatican and seeing the Pope!

Fabulous.

Food in Rome is fabulous. Wine is Rome is fabulous. When you tell a bartender you want a "sweet mixed drink," it is fabulous.

I LOVE ROME

The Fainting and Puking Auto-response

For those of you that know me, know that I handle any sort of stress, anxiety, change via a dramatic fit of fainting and puking. For example, I hated my first grade teacher so I puked everyday of first grade. I couldn't get through a third grade speed multiplication table test without losing my lunch. I used to puke before dance competitions to get the jitters out. I fainted at Six Flags one time because I was so nervous to go on a rollercoaster. Well, old habits die hard. True to form, I woke up feeling sick as a dog and nervous as hell. We were standing in line at the cafe waiting to order breakfast when things quickly went down hill. Everything went black and then I collapsed (classic), but had to quickly stand up because I realized I was going to yak all over the beautiful cobblestone street of Rome. A fellow nervous wreck ran with me across the street to a garbage can and then took my to a bathroom and got me a water. God bless the soul of Michelle. After my episode of typical Katie nervous behavior, I felt exponentially better. A few gals and I walked around and went to the Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. Both were incredible. The Piazza is a big square with restaurants and shops lining it and huge, beautiful, historical fountains in the center. There are street perfomers and musicians and artists. That's another thing. No matter where you are, you can always hear music in Rome. The same kind of music they play in Italian restaurants. It's literally like the city has a soundtrack. The Pantheon was actually ridiculous. HUGE and full of so much history. The whole thing inside is marble and it's breathtaking. I'm very excited to learn more about it and really appreciate it for what it truly is. From there we decided to get gelato. Oh my, was it good. I'm still getting the hang of ordering, because I actually know no Italian whatsoever. But it's fine. I had champagne gelato topped with a scoop of raspberry gelato. FABULOUS. Huge fan of the gelato. This afternoon, we went on a tour of the area. Again, those of you who know me, know I get lost on bike rides. And all of Rome pretty much looks the same. Big, old, colorful, ornate. So the whole figuring everything out thing will take some time and attention (especially since after a year, I still cannot find my way around ND's campus). Tonight we are going out to dinner and vino.


Also, Ryan asked for a shout out so here it is. Hi Ryan.

Finally here!

Ahhhh! I'm finally here!!! The journey has been long, my friends. My flight was great, nothing unexpected. However, I got seated next to the finest piece of dark chocolate who was coming from the Bahamas to play basketball in Rome. Oh ok. Due to my charming wit and ability to relate to him on many levels (we both miss our homies and love Michael Jordan), we became fast friends. He showed me pictures of his house on a coconut farm and him and his friends on the beautiful beaches of the Bahamas. He also informed me that I dance when I'm listening to music with my eyes closed. I'm not kidding you. I can't make this kind of stuff up. They served a meal on the plane, but I was not about to trust the chicken in a plastic vacuum sealed container. Besides, my mom packed me enough almonds and goldfish to feed me every meal every day for a month (HOLLA, renedawg!). They also played the movie 42, which was fun because for a few hours Terran "wasn't the only black guy on the plane" (his words lol). The most interesting part of my day thus far has been the cab ride from the airport to the hotel. You're on this normal looking expressway one minute and then all the sudden you are in the other world that came to be thousands of years ago.  It's crazy, because it's nothing like anything in the United States.  Our hotel is so pretty and it's like taking a step back in time.. Except for the cat. There's a cat that lives in the hotel and just wanders. It freaks me out. It jut walks in our room and sits in my suitcase and crawls under my bed. Like who allows that?!?!? Anyways, let's gets to the best part of today: dinner. I hadn't eaten anything since the flight except for a few almonds, so needless to day, I was starving. They brought out the first course. FIRST course was a beeping plate of lasagna. Because we were all so hungry, we scarfed it down. We'l then came the salad. And then the veal. And potatoes. And then dessert: the best  tirimisu I have ever tasted. It was so rich I could barely fit anymore into my already full stomach. However, the waiter stood and waited until I finished it, refusing to take my plate until I did so. All in all, it's been the longest day of my life.  I've been up for more than twenty four hours now and I am exhausted. The most tired I've ever been.

Until next time,
Kitty

The Final Countdown

ONE WEEK until the greatest adventure of my life begins. And fortunately enough for all of you, you are privileged with the pleasure of being bombarded with blog posts from yours truly. So, sit back, enjoy the ride, watch the pasta and pizza land forever on my hips. If this thing is anything like my Twitter, I'll be the only one who finds me funny.

-xoxo, gossip girl