Day 3

My third day in Rome began at 3:53 am on the dot. I woke up, checked the time, and then realized I was hot and hungry...but still too tired/lazy to get out of bed. People down the hall were being kind of loud, too, so I struggled to fall back asleep. Around 5:15 I got four phone calls from some random Houston number. Every time I ignored the call, and then every time they called right back. I blocked the number. Who would call me anyway at 10 pm Houston time, much less 5 am my time?!

So, just like yesterday, I somehow eventually fell back asleep, and was mad to hear my 9 am alarm. Today was full of orientation sessions: one about upcoming events and service opportunities provided by the school, one about the US Embassy and its services to us, one about the psychological consequences of culture shock, and one "Cultural Mentoring Program" session, which we'll have to attend in Seville and Paris as well.

We had lunch at a little local place that accepts the food vouchers we get from the school (which are not food stamps, or so they told us), and we had some language barrier issues. Everything worked out fine, though; the people working at the café (or caffé, or bar, or whatever they want to call it) were super nice, like most Italians are, and the food was really yummy, like most Italian food is. The portions were enormous--one of our plates easily could have filled up two to three people--so we'll probably only go there for dinner from now on.

Side note: I fear that I will soon become the laughingstock of Italy due to my lack of spaghetti-eating skills. Someone please remind me to avoid ordering long-noodle pasta if I can.

Other side note: The Italians seem to have trouble pronouncing my name. I keep getting "OH-mee," sort of like how they say it in France. Still beats Amy, though.

I discovered that I can indeed get Wi-Fi on my phone on the fourth floor if I go to the lounge, which is much more convenient than going down to the first or second floor. The only thing that's annoying is that you apparently need Wi-Fi on your phone to access WhatsApp, even from a computer. Of course, my primary outlet of communication when I'm here is WhatsApp, so I'm trying to figure out how all of that is going to work out. But I think once school starts and things really pick up around here it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Katie and I have started to look at and discuss trips we want to take around Italy while we're here. So far we're thinking of visiting the Amalfi Coast and Florence (and other parts of Tuscany while we're in Florence).

While most toiletries are somewhat easy to find in Rome at grocery stores and pharmacies, Katie and I quickly realized that contact solution appeared to not exist. Anyone who relies on contacts, like we do, knows that solution absolutely, positively cannot be lived without. After popping into various stores today, though, we found a pharmacy with an English-speaking employee. It turns out that they keep contact solution in drawers along the floor where no one can see it! So weird! I suppose it's the equivalent of locked-up items that you see in American drug stores...but it's just contact solution! We think maybe it's some sort of hot commodity that people like to steal here. I don't know. But I'm impressed and relieved that we were able to find it.

Tonight, we went on the most amazing free "comedy walking tour" with people from our program and some students from other study abroad programs around Rome. The tour guide, Hugo, was incredible! He knew so many little facts and was HILARIOUS. Of course I was right there up front the whole time because I can never get enough history of ancient Rome. It was a nice, long walk in which we saw such sights as Campo de'Fiore, Piazza Navona (where Katie and I were excited to see the fountain that's featured in Angels and Demons when Tom Hanks saves the last of the Preferiti), the Pantheon, some other beautiful churches, the theater of Marcellus, the Roman Forum, and even the Colosseum from a distance. My favorite thing we saw was this super old Roman Republic shrine thing that--get this--is A) home to a bunch of really cute cats that are cared for and even given shots, and B) the actual site of Julius Caesar's stabbing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not gonna lie, I got teary-eyed when Hugo was talking about that tragic moment in history, but then I obviously ran over to take pics. Other cute things included two little Fiat 500s, one yellow like Luigi from Cars, and one super cute pink, and a fountain with turtle statues on it! It was really a great learning experience and a good way to get to know some of the cool people in our program better.

We followed the tour with a yummy pizza dinner at Campo de'Fiore. I finally got some wonderful Italian moscato! All in all, kind of a tedious orientation-centric day, but a pretty fabulous night.