On Friday we did an excessive amount of shopping. Erica, who has been in Europe for a year, needed many new things. So Kelsey and I accompanied her on her journey to replenish her wardrobe. The most exciting part of this day for me was visiting the Rome Gap. For those of you who don't know I work at the Gap back home, and really enjoy it (I miss my 1603 family). Hence, it was a goal of mine to go to the new Gap (it opened just a few weeks ago). After wandering around the shopping district for a while, I finally saw the hallowed blue square sign. As we got closer I saw that there was someone handing out balloons that said "Hello Rome!" with the Gap logo. There were also people riding around on blue bikes, with the same logo, handing out directions to the new store. When we walked in I went weak in the knees. It was gorgeous. There was a man in a suit opening the doors and greeting us, and there was a mural of Gap through the ages. The store is the biggest store that I have ever seen. There was even a seating area with fashion books and books on Gap's history. They have personal shoppers, ridiculous amounts of fitting rooms, and two levels of pure Gap goodness (the top is the kid's store, which is also massive). So cool! Also, a genius marketing ploy: they had their employees wearing shirts that said "I'm wearing Curvy" or "I am wearing Real Straight" and of course, the corresponding pair of denim. I thought it was cool, but my friends were confused. Needless to say, I quite enjoyed my time there. I even picked up a few things that I desperately needed (denim skirt and sleeping shorts). It is still super hot here, the temps this weekend have been in the high 80s low 90s.
On Saturday It was simply too hot to do anything. We all slept in and were doing homework, lounging and such when we had a great hankering for coffee. So after much coaxing, I went out of the apartment sans makeup to go down the block and get a cappuccino (Erica promised that if we saw cute boys we would scream and run away). The coffee was delicious, and we saw no boys. So all in all, a success! This was also the day my roommates went from great to epic. I was skyping with my parents and we were talking about my grandma and date night. Most Friday's we take her to a restaurant called Lakeshore Grill in Macy's. This has been going on for over a year, and we have befriended the staff (Max, Ourida, Brenda, and Claudia I miss you all). Anyway, at this restaurant they serve popovers, the most delicious bread item ever, and I was bemoaning my inability to find them in Rome. My roommates, who overheard this, asked what a popover was. Moderately appalled that they had never heard of them, I described them as a fluffy muffin (they now call them fluffins). Long story short, I continued to talk to my parents (in another room) and my roommates decided to google popovers, found a recipe, and made them for me as a surprise. Erica, the baker extra-odinare, did a fantastic job. We even recreated the honey butter, which makes popovers that much more delicious. I love my roomies!!!
Today, was, well, interesting. I woke up early-ish this morning because Erica and I planned to go to church. While showering, in that blasted itty-bitty shower, the shower head sprung a leak. So, the bathroom floor flooded, the shelves got wet, the hair dryer was soaked, and my darling black dress was sopping wet. We did manage to fix the shower head (the nozzle had come loose and needed tightening) but my morning was off to a wretched start. Due to this unfortunate leak, my hairdryer was unable to be used (rather not be electrocute thank you very much) and I had to go to church with undone hair. Bleh. To make matters that much better, the pre-planned route that Erica and I had to get to church was screwed up because the tram was not running this morning. Yippee! So Erica and I wandered around for a good thirty minutes trying to find a bus that would take us to the right location, and were only five minutes late for the service.
This church, called Rome Baptist Church, is unlike any service I have ever been to before. The church is self is super tiny and not air conditioned. It is also packed (like shoulder to shoulder, kids on laps, and out of chairs and pews) because it is the only English service. We hope it will become less crowded when tourist season ends. I digress. The hymns were ones I had never heard before, and the choir (bless their hearts) could not really sing. Also, die to the small size of the church, we had to sit through both a children's and adult's sermon. The sermon, was decent, but no Pastor A, and the congregation frequently threw out choruses of "Amen." And to top it all off, at the end of the service, all the new people had to stand and introduce themselves. We did manage to meet some other study abroad kids (from a different school) but it was, none the less, awkward. I would love the ability to poke around for a different church, but Erica and I agree that an English church service is better than none (Italian would be cool, but more cultural, less spiritual).
After church, Erica and I went to grab a bite to eat (service started at 10:30 and ended noon) and totally lost track of time. By the time we returned home it was about three in the afternoon and Molly and Kelsey thought we had died. I assure, we did not.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on homework (yes, Jim, I do study). Made some good headway on the reading and will do more tonight. I will also probably plan my trip to Florence. The roommates and I are planning to go next weekend. Woot woot!
P.S. The berry bars turned out dreadfully. The crust rose to the top and the berry/lemon gel did not set. It turned into a dish of gelatinous goo, tasty though. We all grabbed a spoon and a corner of the dish. It will be made again, and hopefully in turns out. This makes the score oven:3 and erica:2, I am rooting for us to come out ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment