IN ROME!!!!

had to change the time stamp for this and future posts so...

yeah, yesterday i woke up at 2:30am in the morning and didn't arrive at rome until 7:20 the next day (keep in mind rome is 6 hours ahead) so i'm living in the future! lol

the flight was LONG. oh my god. and i wasn't feeling too hot so having a ridiculously RUDE passenger in front of me didn't help at all. with economy class there is barely any room and she had the NERVE to back her seat, quite literally trapping me and practically in my face. and when i kindly asked her for breathing room she snapped, "I'm trying to sleep!" like no one else on the EIGHT HOUR FLIGHT was trying to do the SAME thing but was considerate enough to think of the equally unhappy people behind them.

anyway, when we got to rome we were met by our student activities advisor (gianni!!!!) and took shuttles (18 euro but since he didn't have change i had to pay 20) into the winding city of rome. even that early in the morning traffic was INSANE! there seemed to be no rules whatsoever and mopeds/ motorcycles seemed exempt from ordinary driving laws, lol. lots of beeping horns, lots of stores, lots of stylish people, lots of posters, and crazy cool billboards. knowing a little spanish helps a ton (as far as reading things go). the city has so many hills so all the houses look as though they are piled on top of each other in a precarious but really beautiful way. random tropical looking plants flourished EVERYWHERE and stuck out funny against the cold air and cloudy sky. it seemed like we were going in circles and when i thought i couldn't stand it anymore we FINALLY arrived at our apartment!

the place is nice, the lobby is OUTSIDE for one thing, which was odd to me. the maids on staff were VERY nice and even though they spoke mostly italian to me and michi, we could understand them pretty well and they helped us with the odd elevator where u have to open a door to get into. it was VERY tiny so michi went up first and i came after. cheryl was already there (lucky duck) and took the better of the two rooms (which had a BALCONY!!!!!) and me and michi got stuck in the smaller room. it's VERY cute tho---and is sectioned off nicely so it's almost like we own the bathroom (which is also VERY cute).

 there is SO MUCH storage space! i spread my limited clothes over THREE full closets (in one room, i kno!) while michi took the wardrobe. after we finished unpacking, i took a shower and clocked out. i fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pilow! when i woke up we had a 40 min. to the Temple Rome campus where we mingled and had a pizza party. and lemme just say that italian pizza isn't all that great---definitely not what i'm used to. definitely just sticking to cheese pizza instead of experimenting in the future...

tomorrow is orientation! gotta be out the house and walking by 9am. me and anna are going first and then cheryl and michi will follow. when all is said and done we're going to the market place to buy some much needed food. we're STARVING here with next to nothing to chomp on! need to get more euros....