ciao!

Rome in one day...definitely not enough. i got off the plane at 9am, and had only the one day there, since the next day i fly to sicily. i figured it would be the best way to beat jet-lag. my italian coworker, ida and i met with one of the backers of our project, then did the pantheon, piazza navona, colosseum, and visited the outside of the vatican city at night....dinning at a local restaurant frequented by the bishops, and at times the previous pope.

la la la la la....

i'm learning some vocal survival skills right now. so far, lots of larynx massaging, tongue stretches, and trills....which makes me feel a bit inferior since i can't roll my r's.....also a problem for learning italian, although i'm noticing that i CAN roll short ones if i really want to.

sicily bound....

so i've got a little over 2 weeks left in philly before i leave for sicily for 3 months to work. i'm trying to learn a little italian. my contact there gave me 3 important phrases to learn:

1. "dove e' il bagno (where is the bathroom)
2. "quanto costa il pane" (how much is the bread)
3. "no, non voglio andare a letto con te solo perche' sono una straniera" (no, i don't want to go to be with you because you are a stranger)
   

right....i'm all set for italy.