Mia casa!

A special mug came to Italy with me to remind me of my friends back home! 

In the bar (coffeeshop.  what we think of as a bar is called a pub) the closest thing you can get to an americano style coffee is a "caffe lungho".  This is still pretty small & entails just taking an extra long pull on the espresso shot, so it really just gets all watery.  What I like to get is a caffe macchiato, which is just an espresso shot with about half an inch of steamed milk (just to take the edge off).  Once I made the mistake to get a latte macchiato, this ended up to be just a glass of steamed milk with a very slight touch of coffee.  (I think this is what Italians think a Starbucks latte is like).  If you order a latte, watch out, you will get only milk.

At lunchtime @ the bar it is fun to get a panini & a campari to feel super Italian.  You literally order & just stand at the bar & wolf your food down.  I've never liked to eat fast, I'm no good at it.  When I've gone for a snack with people, they eat in about two minutes and are just staring at me, ready to go.  Here you go to a trattoria or a ristorante if you want a long, drawn out, sit down meal.  Also at the bar, you can get a caffe correto, this is an espresso with a shot of brandy or grappa in it, just to take the edge off the caffiene.

 I wanted to share a couple shots of my new place.  Nothing fancy but, nice & I'm really happy so far!  It is 5 minutes walking to a ton of restaurants, shops, pubs.  10 minutes to the river.  15-20 minutes right into the very epicenter of town.  There is a little tram that stops just down the block.  It's great!

cute little kitchen

light filled living zone.  nice but, not super homey because my flatmate has only lived there a few months.

view from my bedroom.  it is nice to see all these trees because Roma is really urban.  That is a courtyard down there & a not so busy street.

clothes dryer, Italy style.  it works really well actually, no need for an energy wasting tumble dryer.

I tracked down an Italian yoga class & it was... just ok.  If I don't find something better or more convenient I imagine I will just stick to doing my own yoga practice.  Which always takes a bit of determination.  I walked to the studio the other day, about 3 miles because there was no convenient transport (at least that I had figured out).  Not too convenient.  I have been in touch with a few people locally about possibly teaching a class in English (me teaching it).  Hopefully that will work out, I think it would be fun!  

Here are some other Rome photos:

this bambina was chasing the pigeons & it was oh so cute!

fiori for sale!

these little mobile trucks go around selling flowers too.  you can't really get the scale on this but, it is a very tiny truck!

ha ha, a note left on a car parked on the sidewalk.  can you guess what that means?  :)

Take care everyone!  I'm planning a weekend trip out of the city to either Orvieto or Napoli & will come back with a good story or two.  xoxo