Captain's Log: Day 1

My first day in Italy was ridiculous. Joe and I arrived by airplane at 9am Rome time, and we failed at getting any significant sleep on the plane. We did not realize that there would only be a 4 hour night while on the plane. I suppose going 300mph due east would shorten the dark hours quite a bit. It was bright out by the time we saw land again. Spain looked like a murky soup of land and water, and seeing the Mediterranean Sea with Spain's outline was cool. Italy, from the air, looks to have a lot of tightly packed cities in the crevices of hills and mountains. Orange also seems to be the color of choice for roofs... hmm...

In any matter, we made it to Rome, got our luggage, quickly moved through customs, and neared the exit where we met our first Italian. He was standing at the door and asked me if I needed a taxi. I said yes, and he ushered Joe and me to follow him. He helped us with our luggage and and we entered the taxi. alone. no one else was there. I, thinking back to my beloved CCP class, quickly thought I was being trafficked. After a short wait, the driver came back and we made our way to Rome (while Joe and I carefully looked to make sure we could remember where we were going and that our driver was following all signs to Rome). Of course we overpaid, and of course he dropped us seemingly nowhere near our destination, but hey, WE WERE IN THE CENTER OF ROME! In all honesty, the entertainment of the drive was worth it. Romans drive as if there are no laws prohibiting their advancement. Lanes are ignored, lights are suggestions, cars are mere barriers to pass, there are no speed limits. We almost ran over an old woman who was walking across the street, but instead we had to brake as if we had met a brick wall. We passed a red light, but then our driver realized that there was indeed traffic that could kill us, so he quickly reversed to where law required him. We almost missed a turn, but instead of slowing down, our driver sped up, passed the car in our way, braked in front of it, and then wildly turned into the exit while dodging the ramp railing directly in front of us. There are more examples, but these will do.

After we were abandoned in the streets of Rome, we had to find this piazza dell'orologio. Sadly, we had no idea where it was. We walked several blocks down the street asking different Italians with different knowledges of English only to find that we had been dropped off in exactly the right place, but we had to go to the back of the plaza in order to find the office we were looking for. Once there we had a small orientation, then were taxied off to our apartments, had another small orientation, and were allowed to go up to our rooms. 80 steps later, we found our apartments to be spacious and amazing. There are five of us living together, but we have two bedrooms, a lounge, a full kitchen, a full bathroom, and a connecting entry way. Each room, except the bathroom, has a balcony. WOW.

After we got situated, a few of us decided to go to the nearby market and buy some food. We did, and I got some lovely mozzarella to go on the pasta and bread we decided to share. Once back to the room, it was finally time for some sleep. Sadly, this was short-lived as our friends had made us pasta with some great wine we had bought. In a desperate attempt to remain awake for the rest of the day, Joe and I decided that we should try and find the Accent building by foot, as we did not want to pay for a taxi or wait for the tram (although there is a really cool road for it that cars randomly decide to use instead of their own dedicated lanes). The building is easily found once you have been there, and is just down our main street a thousand blocks and then you follow the Tiber River another thousand blocks, eh... it's about an hour walk.

Instead of going to the Accent building, however, Joe and I made our way to the Vatican and St. Peter's Square (Joe is Catholic). This being our first major destination, I was very much in awe. The square is a huge oval court yard surrounded by pillars and tens of statues. In the center is an obelisk statue, but the main attraction is the gigantic dome building standing at the end of the courtyard. We didn't walk too close, but we are going back later to spend much more time exploring. Absolutely phenomenal.

We met back at our room at 8pm for some dinner. By this point I was nearing extreme exhaustion, but I was excited for my first night in Rome. After much walking and talking, we found a small restaurant that was serving outdoors. Sadly, all the tables were taken, but we happily ate inside. I got spinach and mushroom ravioli with a butter sauce. It was very good, but let's just say that I am still waiting for a severely overpriced, overly amazing meal in Italy.

Afterward, the gang wanted to go to a bar and be ridiculously loud and stereotypical American college kids. Oddly, there were no bars to be found, so we settled for a Gelato diner that also sold alcohol. I had a cappuccino gelato and a blonde german beer. Both were good, even though I normally dislike beers. We had a good time talking about how obvious it was that Romans hated us, and how crazy everyone was, and how everyone was trying to take our money. It is no wonder why they hated us though. We don't speak their language, we take forever with our money, we are often loud and annoying, we never know what to order for food, we can't tip well, we don't want whatever it is they are handing out, etc. etc. Basically, Romans don't make strides to serve Americans, and so we have mutual hate for each other. Sad.

Once we returned to the room a little past midnight, I passed out. We have one window and a balcony, we opened both, had a cross breeze, and the noises of the city rocked me to sleep. How wonderful.