Thursday, July 1, 2010

Meet the Romans



















There is one , CRUCIAL ingredient to loving and enjoying Rome...

THE ROMANS!

They are the ones who will show you the wonders of the Eternal City, bring you to the places you need to be at, introduce you to the people who will change your life, teach you alot, make you drink even more , but mostly make you laugh.

There is a "joie de vivre" in the cittadini romani that i haven't seen in alot of places. They might aswell have invented partying, they do it so well. Ok they think they know everything, but still , listne to them, you'll learn ALOT. They are wonderfull story tellers, and any little mundane event transforms itself into an Odyssée. But mostly, and one detail that i am very fond of, having grown up in Paris : they are always Elegant! (the right ones at least :) )
THE PROBLEM : FINDING THEM

As a foreign student ,ERASMUS or not, you're going to be likely to hang out only with your fellow transfer students. My one advice : DON'T!

OK that might be a bit harsh, but at least, try to delve into the Italian world right at the beginning. Because if you don't, you'll get used to being around foreigners, and trust me , it might feel confortable to hang out with people who speak your language, or are in the same situation as you, and it's important aswell to have a few "buddies" at uni , because as i will explain later, that is going to be living hell, but you're going to miss out.

By hanging out only with people who are also transfer students, you will NOT learn the language, you will NOT experience the culture, and you will NOT enjoy is as much as you would if you have at least a handfull Roman friends.

My first semester here, I didn't like Rome. I might aswell be honest. I kept on going back to Paris and didn't even want to settle in. That is mainly because the closest connection i had to Romans was a the Roma rugby team, who had everything but good intentions.My closest friend here and my absolute saviour first semester, Martina Crr. ,albeit being a born and bred Roman, also went to University with me in the UK and therefore we spoke only english and hung out with our other british friends.

However the second I met a certain group of Born and Bred Roman boys, to which we shall refer to as the "BARETTO BOYS" (about 10 boys, who spend their life at the best Bar in the world, Baretto), everything changed, and now I never want to leave. I'm actually coming back for my Masters degree next year!

so yes, my one advice, and actually an advice that Martina Crr gave me : "SOCIALIZE, even with randomers --> just for fun!"



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