I've been in Rome now for about 48 hours, and what a crazy 48 hours it has been. I've been wanting to start this blog earlier, and now I finally have the time. This post is a little long, so bare with me. There's so much to say, so let's start from the beginning.
THE JOURNEY:
On Tuesday January 29th, my flight departed from LAX at 3:50pm. From there it was a little over a 10 hour flight to Paris, France. It was my first time flying alone, so I tried to look like I knew what I was doing, when I really was so confused. Walking on a plane through the first class section is deceiving, because coach is nothing of the sorts. Luckily I chose an aisle seat. I ended up sitting next to two men, and it was very cramped. Thank goodness we had our own little TV's, I ended up watching 3 movies: Looper, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Pitch Perfect of course ;). After attempting to get some sleep, and eating two airplane meals, I arrived in Paris around 11 am their time, so 2 am California time.
I walked across the entire airport, and literally just got on to my next flight. It was a smaller plane, with leather seats, and more spacious. This time I got a window seat. Everyone practically had their own row, except me of course, when a lady and her daughter (about 2 years old?) came to sit by me. Everything was fine, until she kept kicking me, and add the kid kicking my seat behind me, not fun. There was also some kind of sports team on my flight, and let's just say, they were not ugly. After the 2 hour journey, I finally arrived in Rome.
THE ARRIVAL:
It was about 2:30 pm Italy time and 5:30 am California time by then. And I was exhausted. Getting off of the plane, I actually got to exit it by stairs that lead outside (seriously have always wanted to do that). I went to baggage claim and waited patiently for my bag to show up on the carousel. Most everyone else got their bags and left. I'm still waiting for mine. No more bags are coming out. And then the machine stops. Probably the worst feeling ever, and my biggest fear. In a panic I ran up to the service desk, and luckily the lady spoke English. I had to file a claim to get my luggage found. And I was not happy. One guy was also at the desk, and starting speaking to me in Italian, and I had no clue what he was saying. He did mention LAX, so he didn't have his bags either, since we were on the same flights. So luckily I wasn't the only one. I left baggage claim, and I was supposed to meet at a certain terminal to check in with my program. I was expecting some kind of table of some sort, until a lady randomly approaches me asking if I'm studying at Lorenzo De'Medici (the name of my school). It seemed a little sketchy, like a sham or something, until I saw that they were holding a sign. I must have really looked like a confused American student for them to point me out.
From there she gave me the keys to my apartment, and the address. The man with her led me out to get a taxi. He told the driver the address and I was off. Seeing the outside of the airport for some reason just looked like LA, I couldn't believe I was actually in Italy. It was quite a drive, and that driver was crazy. Driving in Italy seems terrifying. He couldn't find my address so it took even longer for me to get there. FINALLY he found the street, and said, "Ok it's right there", I had no idea where "there" was. So I got out, and there were no street signs, and I didn't see address numbers. So I finally just asked someone on the street where the address was, and I was standing right by the entrance. The addresses here are confusing, because it includes the floor number and apartment number, which I didn't know. So I go in and there's an elevator! (It seriously is like the one in The Lizzie McGuire Movie.) I didn't know which floor, so I decided to keep going up the stairs. There are no numbers on the apartment doors, so I had no idea which one is mine. There were a lot of office rooms, so I just rang the door bell to one, because I needed help. A lady opened the door, and she spoke a little English. I showed her my address and asked which one it was. To my surprise, it was the apartment right next to hers! It was so relieving. I opened the door and was greeted by my two roommates. It was nice to finally talk to American students of my age.
The apartment was bigger than I expected. There's a small living room, a kitchen, one bathroom, and two bedrooms. I'm sharing a room, and the beds here are tiny. Smaller than a twin. And the shower is a 2x2 foot square...
After I was settled in, without my luggage, we went for a walk to find a place to eat, because I was starving and hadn't eaten since my first plane ride. The first place we found was called PizzaSteak. I ordered a Margherita pizza, and Acqua Minerale (which is just water). You actually have to pay for water here, unlike free water in America. The pizza was HUGE, and the water came in a giant glass bottle. The pizza was really thin, and not a lot of sauce, unlike the greasy Pizza Hut pizza. After the long journey, I tried to go to sleep. But it was literally impossible. I had so many thoughts going through my mind, mostly about my luggage. And huge time change didn't help much either. I think I slept for 2 hours, and woke up around 2 am, and didn't fall asleep for a few hours. But I had to be up around 8:30 am the next morning.
FIRST DAY:
I had orientation at 10 am on Thursday morning. We left around 8:45, because we have to take the Metro to the school, which is a subway. After walking a few blocks to find it, we went underground and bought our tickets. It takes about 4 stops to get there. A lot of people ride it, and it's really fast, so you basically just stand the whole time. We got off at our stop, and walked a few more blocks to get to the school. All of the streets are really confusing. They're really small, except for major streets. And the street signs are only on the corners of buildings. I was surprised to see that they drive on the right side of the road. We got to the school, and it is literally just one floor of a building. There are only about 40 students total, all from the US, and about 6 more people from Chapman. There was a presentation from the US Embassy, and he told us some scary stories of things that have happened to students while abroad.
After orientation we took a short tour around the neighborhood, and then walked to the Trevi Fountain. It was quite a walk, but when we got there, it was a lot smaller than I expected! I threw in my coin, and unfortunately Paolo did not appear in front of me ;). On the side there is water spewing from the fountain that you can drink from. And it was delicious. I also had my first gelato there, and I got Stracciatella, which is basically chocolate chip. The gelato was thick, creamy, and very rich. Different from the gelato I've had in America.
From there, we journeyed to find the Spanish Steps. It took a while, and a lot of walking, but it was cool to see them! And very tiring to walk up them. But the view was gorgeous!
We decided to head back after that so we went to the nearest Metro stop. After going deep underground, the train had just opened, so we went to get in. As I was getting in it got crowded, and three girls were blocking my way to fully get in. I tried to push through them but they wouldn't move. They surrounded me, and then tried to get out. As they were walking out I noticed one girl was trying to get into my purse. I noticed enough to pull it back, and she managed to unzip it. Luckily nothing important was in that pocket. THOSE PICK POCKETERS CAN'T FOOL ME! It was actually really scary to experience though. You hear about, but experiencing it is a whole different story. So now I'm really paranoid, and I hide all my important stuff. Unlike the US where you can leave you bag for a second, I'm taking no chances here.
Later that night we needed to buy some groceries, so we walked to the closest market. It was actually really cute, and was just a normal grocery store. And they were playing Bruno Mars inside which was strange, but I was definitely okay with it. One difference was when buying produce, you have to weigh it yourself and print the ticket for it; the cashier doesn't do it for you. I didn't know how to read some products, such as the milk, so I just grabbed the one that looked best. I tried not to interact with anyone, because I didn't want them to know I didn't speak Italian. But as I was checking out the cashier said "Busto", for some reason I thought she said "Gusto" which I thought was just a greeting, so I just smiled. She was staring at me for a response, then she said "Do you want a bag?" So busto means bag. And you have to pay for grocery bags. In Italy you go to the market more often, because you have to carry everything you have with you back to your place. And even just the few things I did get were pretty heavy to carry. There are no Costcos near by to stock up on.
That night I couldn't sleep AGAIN. I probably got less than 5 hours. This time thing is killing me. Plus I was still stressing about not having my luggage.I didn't have my Italian phone, so I had no way of figuring out how to get it. On my form I told them to ship it to my school's address. Apparently they tried to deliver it, but no one was there to accept it. I had to wash the same clothes I've been wearing since my plane ride. There is only a washer in my apartment, not a dryer. They hang all of their clothes here.
SECOND DAY aka Today:
We had to be at school by 9:30 am today. We had to do some permit stuff since we're living here. And I finally got my phone to use in Italy. It's definitely more basic than those old Nokia phones. I asked the staff at the school about my luggage, and they called them for me. For some dumb reason on the form I filled out I put my house phone number in America, since my phone doesn't work over here. Apparently they texted that phone number with information on contacting them and getting my bag back. After several phone calls, and me on the verge a breakdown, the guy told me, "So you're bag has been shipped to Hong Kong". I was about to lose it, until he said he was KIDDING!! Not the best time to make a joke of this. I guess Italians are just light-hearted? It was not funny to me. But he told me my bag would be there in a few hours. HALELLUJAH! So basically I had to wait for my bag while everyone else left to explore the city. I went on a walk and got a panini and ate it in a nice little park down the street. Paninis here are not the same as Corner Bakery for example. The one I had was the shape of a pizza slice, and it wasn't grilled like we usually expect them to be. It was basically just a sandwich. But it was pretty good.
I went back to the school to find my luggage!!! I HAVE CLOTHES NOW!!!! Literally can't explain my excitement. This whole luggage thing was a little too stressful. I had to take a taxi back to my apartment, because there was no way I was rolling this 50 pound thing through the metro alone. On the ride back it was cool to go through streets I haven't seen yet. Everything here is just amazing, and ancient.
Sorry this post was so long, so I'll try to update more often. And I'll try to get better at taking more pictures. Arrivederci for now! ( And I'll try to improve on my Italian)
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