An American in Rome

I have really lucked out with the weather. Today is the first cloudy day, not bad for winter weather.

I had a nice lunch meeting yesterday with Ettore and three producers. Where did we eat? At a Sushi place called Zen in the Prati area. I felt like I was back at Sushi Roku in L.A. except for the everyone speaking Italian thing.

It was stunning out so I walked back home. The area around the Vatican was very crowded. Later that afternoon I met the bella ragazza Shelley. Check out her blog, At Home in Rome. It's very smart, interesting and entertaining (just like Shelley). We went to the bar Friends (it has nothing to do with that fake NYC show. LOL) which is a great place to chill out. I had such an incredible time, hearing more about Shelley's experiences and what brought her to Rome in the first place. She was so encouraging about making the move. I noticed both she and Tracie B speak flawless Italian. Of course it helps that they live in a place where it is spoken.

I met Denver for dinner who has lived in Italy since grad school. She went to NYU undergrad for film and received her master's in film here. She is a screenwriter and a casting director. We have a mutual friend back in L.A. If you are in Italy you can see the latest film she casted "The Night Before the Exams - Today" which was directed by once of her classmates. We met last year when I was here and it was good to see her and catch up again. We went to a very good place off Campo dei Fiori. I have no idea what the name of it is. As we left at 11:00 and some people were walking in for dinner.

It is hard for me to explain to my non-Italophile friends back home how my first trip to Rome changed my life. I have traveled to other foreign countries but I was surprised by Rome. I felt to my core that for some bizarre reason this is the place I am supposed to live. Talkng to expats here makes me realize I am not crazy. I told Denver last night, that on my first morming here I walked to Piazza Navnona. It was very early and the sun was just peeking over part of the Piazza. I can't explain how happy and moved I was that very moment.