Day One

Day 1 August 15, 2010


Whew, I made it! It is very weird not being able to call or email anyone to say what is happening now, to explain how I couldn’t stop smiling as I drove into downtown Rome to find my new home for the next 5 weeks. I will HAVE to get internet access tomorrow.

My flights here went well. I slept almost the whole 4 hours of the flight into Chicago. This was a good thing since I had probably the worst seat in the whole airplane: last row (no reclining, no leg room) and in the middle seat. The highlight of this flight was when I coordinated filling my cup with soda just as the girl in front of me decided to recline her seat. Basically I was left with half a cup of soda, wet clothes, and someone sleeping in my lap. Ok, a little exaggeration, but it WAS funny. After waiting in Chicago for 6 hours, I was finally on my way to Rome! I was way too excited to fall asleep though so I passed the time watching movies and trying to have whispered conversations with whichever neighbor wasn’t sleeping. The nice thing was that I had the whole three seats in the middle ALL to myself. It was nice to be able to stretch out and lie down across my couch in the sky.

Finally, we land in Rome! After taking the train into the main station of the airport, I get some Euros, pick up my checked bag, and get a taxi. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time. My taxi driver tried to pull one over on my right away saying that they had a fixed fee of 60Euro to drive into downtown Rome. Yeah right dude, I checked with the taxi service counter and they told me it was only 40Euro. I was too happy to finally be there that I couldn’t be upset with him; I just laughed and said no, I’ll give you 45! In typical tourist fashion, I pulled out my camera to take a few shots driving into town. And then, I was standing in front of my Rome home…but nobody was here to let me in. I had no cell phone to call the landlady and no one in the whole building answered the intercom. So, I took a seat with my luggage and waited. It was nice to soak in my new neighborhood. There is the back of a church almost right in front of my apartment. Either I will get very used to hearing church bells or I didn’t have to worry about bringing an alarm clock with me. I didn’t wait long before the landlady came roaring in with her little car. She’s a tiny lady who reminds me of a frazzled mom running through house instructions: what is off limits, how to use the different amenities, where trash goes, etc. She explained all of this using half English/half Italian, so I am not sure if I got everything but it seems pretty straight forward. Don’t use the dishwasher, don’t use the washing machine. I am guessing that is because these are the big energy users in the apartment. I’ll have to find a laundromat in the neighborhood. After she left I poked around a little bit and then got down to unpacking. My bedroom is actually really spacious. I have a closet, a cabinet, a large desk and two twin beds in my room. I found out the hard way why there are two beds but only me staying here, one of the beds is missing a wheel and has a small piece of wood jammed under it to keep it straight. It’s ok, I stabilized it and turned it into a couch. So, I have a studio right next to the kitchen which leads to the washroom. I took a video to document it.

Once I finished settling in, I quickly showered, changed, and headed out to explore my neighborhood and find the 24hr supermarket the landlady told me about. The streets are made up of dark gray cobblestones. The buildings are so old that they can’t be described as dirty looking anymore. It is fabulous! There are a few people strolling through these streets and every now and then a car passes by. I am weirded out by how quite it is but then I realize that today is Sunday (holy day in Rome) and all stores are closed and most Italians are inside their homes. In fact, I heard more English spoken in the streets than Italian today….and all of these people were tourists. I decided to walk in one direction down Via Giulia and keep going. Little art galleries and jewelry shops line the streets. The muffled sounds of music and TVs playing drift down from the apartments above. I turn back and meander through a few side streets but didn’t stray far from Via Giulia. It’s not a big excursion day, just some wandering to know that I am actually in Rome. I checked out a few local restaurants but didn’t actually go into any of them. There is one that seems really homey and not too pricey just a block away. I make a stop at the 24hr, 7 days a week supermarket that is a few blocks away. As I said, everything is closed on Sundays, so a 24/7 store is a novelty here. I bought a few pieces of fruit, a cheese I picked out by smell not by name, some sliced salami that looks amazing, crackers and a bottle of water. This is my first meal in Rome.

I didn’t realize it, but I walked around for hours today. By time I got back it was 8pm. I decided to get into my pajamas and have my dinner at the table in my room. Just as I settle down to eat, I hear a knock on my door, and so I meet my roommate for the next two weeks, Olga. She’s a bubbly and super energetic girl, and even though a part of me says her super energy should be annoying (just a little bit) I can’t help but like her. She is 10 years younger than me but is going to be my guide here in Rome. She has been here a few times and knows the ins and outs like “the Coliseum has finally opened the underground and we must see it, but we have to get there early before the ‘goat-like’ tourist groups take over”. She says all of this in the middle of talking about how much she loves Rome and doesn’t stop to take a single breath. I swear I lost a couple of pounds just trying to keep up with her conversation. She will be a good companion for the next two weeks…if she doesn’t flit away when something or someone more interesting comes along. But really, she seems sweet and wants to be super helpful. I’ve already been given the rundown of how to get to the school, how to get a bus pass, how to get a sim card, how the beach is too far away to turn back for a forgotten bathing suit (which she did today), how to go shopping, how every corner has the best ice cream shop,….She wanted us to go for a walk together tonight, but I am sooo tired and just listening to her made me exhausted! I’m joking. Really, I just wanted to make sure I finished my journal entry before I passed out. Did I mention that we talked for only about 15 minutes before she left for the evening?

So, here I am now, the cheese and salami cracker sandwiches are long gone and I am really ready for bed. I’m glad that I don’t have to be at the school until 1 in the afternoon tomorrow. This will give me time to find the bus stop, figure out how to get a bus pass, get lost a few times and arrive there in time. I think I have to get there so late in the day because I opted out of the placement testing (I’m going to start in the Beginner Series). Its orientation day so I don’t think we will have any actual classes. I’m curious to find out how much I will learn. Necessity is a great motivator; I already used a few Italian words today.

Bona Notte.

ps, I haven't downloaded my photos from yesterday yet....so they will be included in the next post.