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.

Day 2

My second day in Rome started at 5:30 am, when I halfway woke up, and then halfway fell back asleep. I then fully woke up around 6:45, and almost considered actually getting up because I felt so awake, but I opted to stay in bed until my 9:00 am alarm went off. Of course, before 9, I was able to fall back into a deep sleep and was then not very happy to hear the alarm. But I forced myself to get up.

I then discovered that the school's Wi-Fi, which had been working splendidly on my phone all day yesterday, was totally disconnected and would not allow me to log back in. After our first two orientation sessions, in which we learned basic rules and things and got our passports back, I went to go see Andrea, the IT guy. In typical Italian fashion, he was not in his office. Katie and I decided to go have lunch across the street, where we found some pretty delicious pineapple fruit cups. We finally were able to find Andrea (though he was in the hall outside his office chatting it up with his buddies), and my phone is now hooked up to a different Wi-Fi that I can only use on the first and second floor. I live on the fourth floor. The struggle is real. But at least my laptop's internet works fine in my room.

We then went exploring again, just kind of wandering about (but being safe). We happened to stumble upon the Piazza del Popolo--which we later realized could have been reached by a much shorter route--but the way we went was fun anyway. It was a great photo op.

On the way back to campus, we saw some graffiti that was amusing to both of us, but for different reasons: Katie laughed because she thought it said "NERD," and I laughed because I thought it said "NERO."

We then had a nice little neighborhood walking tour, led by one of the in-charge people around here (not entirely sure what her role is yet). The area is chill now because it's still August, so that's been pretty nice. Later, we had our final orientation session of the day, which turned out to be the best. Gianni (whose American Starbucks name is "Andrew") talked to us about Italian/Roman culture. He used my purse as an example for how to avoid pickpockets, and used me as an example for how to avoid the advances of Italian men.

After some late afternoon relaxation, Katie and I headed out to Lungo il Tevere, which I remembered from my EF tour last summer. It's basically just a bunch of tents set up along the Tiber from June through the end of August that house shops, nice restaurants, fun bars, and even weird arcade/carnival-type games. Since it's ending in just a few days, I reeeeally wanted to go (and want to go again probably this weekend). We ended up having a nice long walk and a delightful dinner by the water. Katie got her first Prosecco and good Margherita pizza!

#TiberSelfie

Twin dinners!

Ching ching!

Overall, it was another successful day in the eternal city. But my feet are starting to feel the consequences of walking for miles in sandals on cobblestones!

Day 1

I really don't know why some people prefer the journey over the destination. My journey to Rome last night/this morning/whatever was really not very fun at all. To start, it took well over an hour to get to the airport all because of traffic (classic New York), and then Terminal 4 at JFK was ridiculously crunk. So many non-Americans kept trying to put full bottles of water and hidden laptops through security. Amateurs! Just kidding. Sort of.

Then, however, I was reunited with Katie, which was super exciting. I gave her her lovely birthday gift of a somewhat inappropriate Monopoly-themed card, a lime green fanny pack with the word "PARTY" on it, an American flag bracelet to match mine and the one I gave Anarita, and a pair of Alex & Ani compass earrings (because she's a major world traveler now like me).

The other two good things that happened were: A) Katie and I got to sit in our own little row together, and B) The selection of movies and TV shows to watch on the plane was EXCELLENT. Mad props to Delta. I was torn between such classics as Gone with the Wind, The Pianist, and even Mulan, but as soon as I saw Walk the Line, I realized it was the obvious choice. I just wish Dallas had been there to watch it with me! And then, of course, in typical Aimée fashion, I watched an episode of Frasier.

Other than that, the flight sucked. I couldn't keep down any food (got sick 3 times...one of which was post-landing), we had turbulence almost the entire time, and the two Dramamines I popped barely did anything to help me sleep.

But alas, we made it safely to Rome, and had a nice little drive to the St. John's campus. We did get ripped off by the taxi driver, but I stole his water bottles, so whatever. We also saw some pretty cool views of St. Peter's on the way in, so that was cool.

I'm pretty confident the St. John's Rome campus is just this one building with like this cool little courtyard thing, but we haven't quite figured it out yet. We did, however, walk around the neighborhood quite a bit and found a good grocery store to buy toiletries at that wasn't named on the school's suggested list of places to go in the area. We're proud of ourselves.

I've already busted out a couple Italian words in public: si, grazie, prego, and ciao. So nothing special. But still, kind of exciting in a lame way. I'm actually really hoping I'll be able to use my two semesters of KILLING IT in Latin to translate some inscriptions and stuff. I've already been fangirling over the streets named after Julius Caesar, Octavius Caesar, and Marc Antony (where campus is!) because I'm lame, so just wait until I go to the Roman Forum again.

After relaxing some in the afternoon, we went and ate the free pizza that was provided to all us students down in the campus courtyard. The pizza was all right...I'll definitely be having much better Italian pizza soon though, mark my words. I then suggested that we go on a nice evening stroll, which was easily the best decision ever. The weather was perfect, there weren't too many people out, and we got to see several of Rome's famous structures up close, including the Castel Sant'Angelo and St. Peter's Basilica. Katie got to knock out two new countries in one day!

We also began photographing our "travel mascots" with beautiful Roman scenery. My travel mascot is Gumby, and Katie's is some little Cubs player stuffed thing named Nub. (See pictures below, and excuse them if they're blurry or horrible).

Gumby wanted to get blessed by Papa Francesco.

On the way back to campus, we stopped and had some gelato--she got pistachio, and I got my classic stracciatella. I'd consider it decent gelato; we'll definitely have to hit up one of the better places soon.

All in all, it's been a good first day in Rome. But I expected nothing less! Amo Romam (<--that's Latin).