Tag: Rome

Travel | Cheap Vintage Shopping in Rome (Like Goodwill, But More Expensive)

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It took 4 years, but finally I found out where there is a real second-hand store in Rome…and it happens to be in my backyard. 😉

Before I left the US, I was pretty much hooked on spending part of my weekend in the local Goodwill or Salvation Army. I have a thing for anything vintage and I am ridiculously cheap frugal, so shopping second-hand leaves me in bliss.

When I first moved to Rome,  the “vintage” stores here left me thinking Oh, Hell No!

Seriously, the prices were (still are) enough to induce cardiac arrest.

Luckily, my friend Sammy introduced me to Ex-Novo on Saturday.  Although the prices are still considerably high in my book, they are still significantly lower than the vintage stores that you will find in Rome’s historic center.

So, if you’re in Rome, or planning to travel here, and love vintage, check out Ex-Novo in the San Paolo Basilica area. It’s just a few steps from the metro.

Ex-Novo

Via Corinto 12, Rome

(San Paolo Basilica Metro)

Vlog | Let’s Go Vegan (Universo Vegano in Rome, Locations Throughout Italy)

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Join my friend Gabrielle Di Bari and I as we check out Universo Vegano, located near Campo de’ Fiori in Rome for the first time. 🙂

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Vlog | Italy: Let’s Travel on the Metro in Rome

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A quick tutorials on how to use the ticket machines in the metropolitana (subway station) in Rome…and what to do if you can’t. 🙂

Happy Sunday!

Travel | JCU Students Speak About Study Abroad Experience: Black in Rome!

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Alexandria Maloney, JCU graduate and Founder of the Women’s Leadership Initiative. (Image from LinkedIn. Click to visit her profile.

Really wonderful video put together by Alexandria Maloney to address the issues that young Black students may encounter when studying overseas, particularly in Italy.  Please, take time out to watch & share. 🙂

Until Tomorrow,D.

 

Vlog | Black? Female? Where to shop for hair products & makeup in Rome

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Staff at Astri s.r.l. Click image to visit their website

Staff at Astri s.r.l. Click image to visit their website.

When I first began living in Rome, I had brought with me enough supplies to last me for one whole year–that’s right. I stocked up! The thing was that…I didn’t return to the US until two years later. So, I had to figure out where to get hair and makeup products…and at a reasonable cost (a.k.a. cheap). 😉

I have to give a massive hug to my friend Alexandria Maloney for telling me where to go when I was desperately searching for products! 🙂

Travel | Garbatella (Rome)…Even Gandhi Had to Visit!

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New Cover Art for YouTube. Click to Visit Vlog: Rome Off the Beaten Path.

New Cover Art for YouTube. Click to Visit Vlog: Rome Off the Beaten Path.

I have a newfound respect for vloggers…actually, for anyone who films and edits anything.  Yes, indeedy, I do.  Windows Movie Maker and YouTube Video Manager have occupied my soul for the past 72 hours.  Although filming is fun, to be frank, it takes a whole lot of balls to pick up a camera, head outside and record yourself. 😉

Below is a playlist of videos on Garbatella, a neighbourhood that was developed just before the rise of Fascism and was later taken over by the Fascists who relocated people (many communists) they evicted from the historic center.

I welcome you to watch, and hope you will like them.  Feel free to  offer suggestions.  Places you’d like to see, subjects you’d like discussed, etc.

Also…

Thank You So Very Much For Being There Even When I am Not Here!

Vlog | What? Fibromyalgia, Living in Italy (Plus Being Black, Queer & Vegan)

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I’ve decided to begin a YouTube channel. 😉  It’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for some time, and now I’ve finally taken this first step.

I hope to share with you the lessons I’ve learned living with fibromyalgia, and also living abroad as a woman of color.  I look forward to your feedback and to answering questions that you may have.

Now, you have a voice to with the face! 😀

An Open Letter to Nature…

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Image Found via GIS

Image Found via GIS

Rome, Italy, October 23, 2014

 

Dear Nature,
I am writing to you, because…well, I know you’ve been struggling for some time now. I know that your relationship with (some) people has caused you to feel a bit unsettled…and really, you’re not to blame for the condition your in.

However, just for this moment, I wondered if you could consider Susan Powter’s advice from in the 1990s, and simply Stop the Insanity.

I think the 30° drop in temperature in the course of 24 hours may be somewhat of an overreaction. Really, there was no need to go from 78°F to 46°F without real warning.

Of course, I may be wrong about this. I am just thinking that we could solve this with a little group therapy. What do you think?

Your loving inhabitant,
D

1 Oct 2014 |Reading of Keats: A Fundraiser at the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome

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In Rome? Join me at the Protestant Cemetery for this Event!

JCU // Creative Writing Workshop

Painting by Walter Crane, Gravestone of English Poet John Keats in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, 1873.  Image found: http://enabime.wordpress.com

Whether or not you are in Rome, if you are an admirer of John Keats’ poetry or poetry in general, then this fundraising event may be of interest to you.

On Wednesday, October 1, 2014, the Non-Catholic Cemetery (also known as the Protestant Cemetery) will be holding a reading of Keats’ poems and letters to raise funds for the renewal of his gravesite area.

Unbeknownst to many, the Non-Catholic Cemetery is operated by means of donations and voluntary service.  Keats is not the only notable figure to be buried in the Cemetery.  In fact, visitors to the Cemetery will find the graves of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Joseph Severn (buried next to Keats), Antonio Gramsci, August von Goethe, Amelia Rosselli, Juan Rodolfo Wilcock, and many more.

Where: Cimitero Acattolico…

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Many, Many Thanks to My New Followers!

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Image found: http://happyblackwoman.com

It’s one of those hazy Roman September mornings: the kind that isn’t so hot that you feel like your only option is to remain indoors, fixed permanently in your bed or under your shower.  Still, it is the kind that makes you a bit lazy about getting up or even bothering with finding mental clarity.

Rome, on these kinds of days, becomes a centrifugal blend of noises: the distinct songs of cicadas, the cobblestone scraping of straw brooms, the random knock of a hammer, the friendly greetings of neighbours, the midday ring of the church bells and the frustrated blares of traffic.  It’s that kind of morning.

Leaves stand still, birds have gone incognito, laundry dries on clotheslines, and there isn’t a soul in sight–even if voices can be heard in between the sadness of moving sirens.

I’ve woken–sort of–to this kind of day: depleted of energy and bogged down in thoughts.

Go through the routine: meditate, stretch (on bed, too tired to stand), effectively putz around room and find: necessary papers, missing perfume bottle, a collection of hairpins, and worn out fortunes from the local Japanese/Chinese restaurant that has yet to reopen since the start of summer and is “Chiuso per Ferie,” feel pleased that the room has been swept, books have been stacked, and mind has woken just a bit more.

I take a look at my computer: glance at Facebook, post something personal and then professional; think about email and decide to avoid it for now; visit school/work blog and then personal, and find myself at this moment of…

Gratitude.

Thank you to my new followers for taking a chance on supporting my blog.  Thank you to my old followers for your continued support.  Thank you to my visitors for acknowledging my presence.

All of you have made this hazy day much less hazy–

You let me know that I continue to take the right steps on my path.

Until Next Time,

D.

P.S.

Interested in the Gratitude Journal in the image above?

Visit Rosetta Thurman’s Happy Black Woman for more details.

P.P.S.

ATR Challenge Day 10: Getting up & Getting Grateful! Thanks! 😀