grabbing rome by the balls.

I've been in Rome for exactly a month now, and I'm beginning to feel more settled. This is in part due to the discovery of 'LA5', an Italian cable channel which shows only dubbed reruns of American shows including Grey's Anatomy, Will and Grace and Dawson's Creek! Genius. I'm pretty sure this is how I will learn Italian. Through a complete submersion in American television. There's probably quite a lot wrong with that.

A lot of things are very different here, and you can see why people go on about culture shock. Everyone shouts to convey their feelings, and men on mopeds will rage at each other in incomprehensible Italian while driving. Also, the coffee actually tastes nice, and you drink it in about three seconds, standing up in a very European fashion. And it costs about eighty cents which nobody can grumble with. Of course, the bonus points Italians earn for their coffee, they soon lose when it comes to tea. Now, I happen to rather enjoy a cup of Yellow Label, but it just isn't English. Luckily, my mother sent me out here with a big pack of tea and a jumbo bag of Cadbury's miniatures (which came in handy when I couldn't afford proper food), so I feel pretty at home.

So if you have read my little ramblings a lot, you will know that I like making lists and categorising my thoughts in odd ways. Therefore, I give you my definitive list of things I have decided I must do before I return in Julyish:

1. Write at least one hundred blog posts. I've forgotten how to write, and it's definitely time to get back on track.
2. Go to a Catholic mass. I'm curious...
3. Learn Italian - This one is possibly the trickiest. It's just so easy to get completely caught up in the Erasmus scene without actually talking to all that many Italians. Therefore, it is necessary to work that bit harder to make up for it. I also have already befriended some French people, with whom I want to speak lots of French, seeing as I am neglecting it a little bit. French will always be the one with a place in my heart. 
4. Read - This year doesn't technically matter academically, so I am going to take the opportunity to do what I didn't in first year which is to read for pleasure. The more I find time to read, the happier I tend to be. The one hitch is that I obviously couldn't bring many books, and they are pretty overpriced here. Next time I go home, I will return with a case full of books, I think, and if not, it may be Kindle time. I'm just putting that out there...
5. Learn to make proper Italian food in a proper Italian way. I will never eat a ready meal lasagne again. 
6. Earn some money - Because while I arguably could live off the pitiful amount of money I have left when rent is gone, it would mean living like the old man in that Enid Blyton story where the old man lives alone and never leaves his house and all the kids are scared of him. Anyone else? No? But yes, cash = good, so I intend to find a way to earn some of it in a way that doesn't tie me down or make me just as antisocial as the old man in the aforementioned story. Any ideas would be welcome.
7. Find an Italian drink I actually like that doesn't make me a bit vommy - This one's pretty self-explanatory, but I'm not sure I'm willing to put the risky research in, so for now I'm still on the gin in my oh-so-British way. 
8. Go to one of the islands - Because they're warm and pretty. I nearly went to Cagliari instead of Rome. I'm glad I didn't, but I'd like to pay a quick visit to see what I'm missing nonetheless.
9. Go inside St Peter's - Just so I can get all angry at how rich and hypocritical the Church can be.
10. Master eating two big platefuls of pasta per day without gaining too much weight - I think jogging may be the answer. I brought my trainers in anticipation. 

Just because it would please me immensely if some of you got back into Dawson's Creek. I had forgotten just how dramatic it was!

well, the bells out in the church tower chime, burning clues into this heart of mine...

I'm a little bit emotional. Tonight (as you probably know by now) was prizegiving, and not only did I see my best friends in the entire world, but beloved teachers and my excellent school with which I have a bit of a love/hate relationship. My old French teacher made me cry, my old English teacher roped me into organising a Christmas reunion and my (very) old maths teacher helped me find my mother's coat when she was being inept.

We're all going to see Harry Potter tomorrow and I'm disproportionately excited. The books, while a little lacking in stylistic narrative are brilliant. The films are obviously less good, but still offer a better cinematic experience than most other films around at the moment. I'm sure many will disagree...

I am getting on oddly well with my usually tempestuous mother at the moment. This is probably because we haven't spent more than a couple days together since I started at university. The thing is, despite what I say, Mum and I were always going to work things out eventually. We are simultaneously the same and completely different. I'm quite a practical person: I can change light bulbs and fix the electrics and get dead mice out of traps. None of these things are particularly tricky, but my mum is a woman and is therefore incapable of completing these menial tasks. It's partly a generational thing, I think. We're also quite different in our attitudes to men, music and friendship. But I begrudgingly admit that we are SO similar: we're both pretty left wing, we did the same A-levels, neither of us are stupid and we both really like food. I think we both really needed a break. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and I certainly resent her a little less.

I've taken up drinking coffee which I used to really hate. Tea doesn't quite cut it when you need to stay up because you've left it a bit late to do that essay, so I've upped the caffeine stakes. I'm also very much aware of my looming year in coffee-mad Italy. I don't want to seem like a complete tourist. I'm sure I'll be gulping down espresso in no time...

In the past couple of years, my music taste has definitely become a bit more abstract. I like quite obscure bands and melancholy melodies, but I've tried my hardest not to become too pretentious or take my music too seriously. There's nothing worse than a pop snob. Often pop music is popular in the first place because it is genuinely good. An example of someone who has lived up to the hype in my opinion is Ellie Goulding. I really liked her album, and now this gorgeous cover has emerged which I can't get enough of:



And this is the thing that converted me in the first place: