Formal Dinner, Rome, and School

Hello everyone, there is lots to catch you all up on so I will get right into it. I will try and keep this one a little shorter so you can finish reading it without falling asleep haha. So, what to talk about, well I think in this blog I will tell you all about the 2nd formal dinner we had ( I didn’t have time to blog about the first haha), my trip to Rome, and as promised in an early blog, I will talk about school a little for potential students. But we will keep that part brief lol.

2nd Formal Dinner:
Our 2nd Formal dinner was just as amazing as the first. In fact I actually liked the food a little better at this place. We went to a small restaurant and it was amazing. We had a few appetizers which they served to us one at a time. We had prosciutto wrapped around mozzarella cheese, apple savings, and what tasted like a little honey. That was followed by zucchini mouse, which I would have never imagined combining together. I always thought mouse was supposed to be a sweet desert but this was actually really good. At first I thought it was some type of quiche, but we asked the waitress and she told us it was actually zucchini mouse. Next we had something that I have no idea what it was. The best way to describe it was almost a crab rangone, so it was also really amazing. After that we had eggplant with anchovies and cheese on top. I wasn’t a big fan of this as I don’t really care for anchovies or eggplant but owell, it was the only thing I didn’t care for the whole night. Last we had what was like a mini pizza which was absolutely amazing. It was loaded with veggies and the crust was almost like a pie crust which made it even better.
Next came our first course, which was risotto. They brought it out in steaming pans and it was so good that I got seconds. The second course was homemade pasta with duck meat and duck sauce which has been my favorite pasta that I have had since I’ve been here. Can’t say enough good things about how good that was. The third course was some type of game bird. They had what looked like the breasts stuffed with some type of cheese and maybe spinach. I’m not a food expert so if my descriptions are a little off or just terrible I apologize but it’s not one of my talents. Jake is the food critic, and if he blogged about our formal dinner I would go with reading his because it will be way better than this one haha. Anyway, the last thing we had was desert and this was my favorite part of the meal. We had ice cream with hot fudge and it was in some type of pastry bowl. I can’t remember what the ice cream was called but it was the flavor of the middle of a Milky Way candy bar, and it was seriously the best thing to ever touch my tongue, no joke. That’s as far as I go for explaining it because I just can’t even describe how good it was. So the 2nd formal dinner was again amazing, great friends, great food, all set in an awesome setting. Again another pitch for potential students, if you come and don’t go on these formal dinners, you will regret it period. Anyway, now my trip to Rome!

Rome:
If you would have asked me before coming on this trip what my number 1 spot I wanted to see was, I would have said Rome. So needless to say I had very high expectations going into the trip. With all that being said, Rome is now my new favorite place on earth. I’ve always loved the history of Rome and to see the sights, the art, ahh man it was so sweet. I got in Friday night and I stayed with my friend from high school who is also staying in Rome, so that was an added treat. It was great to see someone from home, as even though I’m having an amazing time over here, I do miss the people at home, which is natural. That night we went to meet her roommates and stayed out for a little while with them and that was really fun. Saturday we saw most of the sights in the city. We went to the coliseum, the forum, Victor Emmanuel monument, Trevi fountain, those types of sights. Saturday night we didn’t do a whole lot; we went out to dinner and then went back and caught up. We stayed up kind of late, reminisced, told stories about growing up to her roommates, and just had an awesome time. Sunday morning the Pope was giving mass, which is really rare, so we got up really early to try and go to it. We got there around 7:30 for a mass that was at 9 and the line was already outrageous so we decided to go to the Vatican museum instead.
Now, I am by no means cultured when it comes to art. In fact I am the type of person that looks at some art and thinks, “what the hell, I could do this.” But the Vatican museum blew me away. The Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s room’s with the School of Athens painting, all the statues, it was all just amazing. My friend has actually taken a lot of art history so she was able to tell me a lot about all the paintings and sculptures in there so that was really cool too. We spent like 5 hours there and it was worth every minute and I can’t wait to go back to see it again.
That night we made dinner at her place and it was fun to get to cook again. We also went to meet some CIMBA students who were also in Rome at the Trevi fountain to go out that night. At the fountain, two of the students (Jon and Kelly) decided it would be fun to do a fake marriage proposal. So we all spread out, Kelly and Jon went to the front of the fountain and he acted like he was proposing to her. Someone in our group yelled, “Oh my God, he’s proposing!!” then we all started yelling and everyone at the fountain started clapping for them!! Hahahaha. It was one of the highlights of the weekend, and one of the funniest things I’ve seen!! After that we all went out and had a great last night in Rome. I made sure to do the touristy thing and throw the penny in the Trevi fountain. There is a myth that says if you throw a penny with your right hand over your left shoulder in the fountain; it guarantees you will make it back to Rome some time. Looks like it’s coming true because I’m going back there the second travel week!! Haha. All in all it was an amazing time, and I know I keep changing my mind on what my number one place I’ve been has been, but I really don’t think that Rome will move from the top spot (kinda like Iowa wont if they keep winning!!! Go Hawks!!) Sorry had to add that in, there having a way to amazing season not to give them a shout out. And yes it is hard to miss a season like they’re having, especially since I love football and I bleed black in gold!! But still, Rome is hard to beat!

School:
Ok all parents of potential students, I promised I would talk about school a little to put your mind at ease haha. Yes we do attend school; it’s not all fun and games. I have had nothing but good experiences here when it comes to classes. All my teachers have been amazing and I’ve really enjoyed having smaller classes again. I went to a small high school so I’m used to having 10-15 people in a class instead of 400 lol. The classes are really interactive, which really makes the time go faster and it also helps you actually learn the material a little better I think. Here at Cimba, there is a strict attendance policy for every class. The 1st class missed is a third of a letter grade, the 2nd class missed is a full letter grade, and the 3rd class missed is dismissal from the program. So if you’re worried about your kid skipping school to travel more or to go out the night before and sleep it, well, it’s not an option to miss class lol. They do this for 2 reasons. The first is that since there is a lot of travel built into the program, they need to make sure students don’t miss any class; otherwise they will miss out on a lot of material because every class covers a lot. The second reason is so that if a student doesn’t make it back from a travel break, they will know about it right away. It’s basically just another way to make sure people are safe over here. And to prospective students who think it’s stupid to have an attendance policy because you want to travel more, you have 20+ days of travel, you won’t need a whole lot more lol. I would say that the only hard thing is that you really have to make yourself focus here because there are so many fun things to do and see so sometimes you have to say no I have to study and really make yourself. But it’s all worth it : ). Well that’s plenty long, I know I promised a shorter blog but owell, hopefully you read it all anyway!! If there is anyone keeping up reading my blogs and has any suggestions or anything you would like to hear about or have questions, just comment!! Thanks for reading and until next time Ciao!!