Recap of First Week

Tuesday: Rachel and I were the first to arrive to our apartment in Trastevere.  Our apartment has a kitchen, living room with a big table and couches, three bathrooms, and four bedrooms (3 doubles and a single).  We had trouble deciding which bedroom but ended up choosing one in the back of the apartment which is closest to the best bathroom and has windows that are not facing the main road.  We wanted to rearrange the room so we moved a ton of furniture around only to realize that the wardrobes were apparentely bolted to the walls..  Hopefully it will be fine if we just remember to move everything back before we leave.  While we were rearranging furniture, our other roommates started to arrive one by one.  First, Emmy came with her parents.  She lives in Las Vegas and goes to University of Arizona, but she went to PC for one year, so it was cool to talk with her about that.  Then, Danielle came from San Francisco.  She goes to University of San Diego.  Next, Caroline from Chicago arrived.  Her boyfriend, James, is also in the program and they go to DePaul.  Finally, Michelle came.  She lives in San Diego and goes to University of San Diego.  They are all very friendly so we definitely lucked out with the random placement.  I basically took the rest of this day to unpack and get organized while getting to know my roommates.  Emmy and her parents left for lunch at one point and kindly brought back their leftover pizza.  This was my first Roman meal and it was very good pizza (a four cheese and a margherita).  I probably should have napped earlier but I didn't want to waste my time sleeping on my first day!  I finally took an hour nap in the late afternoon which turned out to be a bad idea because I felt even more tired after.  Then, we finally left the apartment to go to our first dinner in Rome.  At this point, six of the seven roommates had arrived and our last roommate was kind of a mystery.  We went to a good restaurant in Trastevere and I got pasta carbonara which was delicious.  Then, I had my first gelato experience of coffee and stracciatella.  It was delicious!

Wednesday: On Wednesday, we had a long day of Orientation activities with CEA.  We had to meet at a hotel in the morning and Rachel, Emmy, and I got confused trying to take a bus there.  We ended up getting a taxi because we didn't know our way around the city and we were running out of time.  For breakfast, we had croissants at the hotel and then we had a bunch of talks about safety and academics.  All of the CEA staff seems very nice and fun.  For lunch, we had pasta with tomatoes and cheese, salad with tuna, and tiramisu for dessert.  At lunch, we finally met our seventh roommate, Venesha.  She goes to school at Texas A&M and lives in Jamaica.  She had just come back from three months in St. Tropez, France.  All of my roommates seem very traveled and have a lot of cool stories about traveling around the world.  After all of the information at orientation, some of us went to Coin, a department store.  I bought a laundry bag since I hadn't thought to bring one with me.  Then, we walked back to our apartment.  That night, we went to another restaurant in Trastevere.  I think the waitress was annoyed that we were Americans and only ordered one course for our meals since this was a fancier restaurant, but this had to be the most delicious meal I have had so far.  I got fettucine and I think it had an alfredo and mushroom sauce over it.  That night, we got gelato again.  This time I got a hazelnut flavor with dark chocolate.

Thursday: In the morning, my roommates and I went to a market.  I got some delicious fresh blueberries.  Then, we had a walking tour of our neighborhood where we were shown the grocery store, hardware store, and other useful places.  After the tour, we walked to CEA, which is where I will be taking all five of my classes.  The walk takes about 30 minutes if you walk very fast.  The CEA "campus" is very small with offices, 2 classrooms and a lounge, but it is updated and in a nice area of Prati.  For lunch, I got a prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato, and lettuce wrap from a place across the street from CEA.  Then, we had an SOS Italian session where we started to learn a bit of the Italian language.  I enjoyed this because I love learning about languages and I like recognizing words from being around Grandma.  After that, we went to St. John which is another campus that shares their resources with us.  They have a bigger and better lounge and a pretty courtyard with tables and a fountain.  On our walk back to our apartment, we went close to the Vatican which is very big and crowded with people.  Later, I had my first solo grocery shopping experience with Rachel, Caroline, and James.  I have never bought food solely for myself and it was difficult to know how much and which items I should buy.  I ended up getting water, bananas, cherry tomatoes, pasta, and some cereal bars.  That night,  some other people from our program came to our apartment and we all hung out.  Emmy also had two of her friends from Vegas visiting and they were so fun and genuinely nice.  I never realized how laidback, experienced, and different people from the west are compared to the east coast.  I guess just in general, I feel the most sheltered out of all of my roommates, but at home, I feel normal.  It's interesting see the differences.  Anyway, that night we went to a bar and then later walked down by the river, which has a ton of tents with restaurants, arcade games, and activities.  This is a festival type of set up which ends today (August 31).  We got really good sangria and sat around a table talking.  Then, since we had only had snacks for dinner, Rachel, Venesha, and I got some really good pizza from a place right by our apartment.  I had a really good slice of ham and mozzarella.

Friday: Rachel and I had a Providence College meeting at CEA while most of our other roommates had an orientation with John Cabot University.  JCU offers more classes than CEA and almost everyone in the CEA program (except PC students) takes half of their classes here.  I woke up at 9 and we had to leave by 9:20, so I barely had enough time to get ready.  At 9:30, Rachel and I grabbed bananas and then walked (very quickly) to CEA.  We made it by 9:57 but we had booked it.  So, now we know that we should probably give ourselves 40 minutes if we want to take a more leisurely walk.  At CEA, we had a meeting for PC students to touch base about the program.  After that, Rachel and I were so hungry that we ended up back at the panini place across the street.  This time I got mortadella with eggplant, mozzarella, and tomato.  This was around 12 noon and it was interesting to see that many of the sit down restaurants were either just opening or still not open.  Everything opens later here than it does in the US and most restaurants don't follow strict hours.  After lunch, we walked back to our apartment.  We got gelato again at a chain called Grom.  I got Bacio and a cream flavor.  Then, we took naps.  At night we had some snacks and got pizza again.  Mine had prosciutto and mozzarella.  Then, my roommates and I tried to go to a Great Gatsby party.  We had to take a bus and then walk pretty far past Prati.  We got lost a few times but we ended up finding the party.  It was in a much quieter area than our neighborhood but the party itself was really cool.  It was outside with some DJs and lights and there were a lot of non-Americans there.  It was fun but I was very tired and it took awhile to get there.  But it was cool to see where locals like to go, rather than be in Italy at a bar with all Americans.

Rachel and I at Grom (taken by Michelle)

Saturday: I slept until 2:30 pm!! My sleeping schedule is still very messed up.  I had some yogurt, and then Caroline made some really got pasta that she shared.  I have been working on this since I woke up.  I want to try to remember a lot of things so I am glad that I spent the time on this.  Tonight we are going to an Andy Steves walking tour of Rome.  Hopefully, I will see the Colosseum and/or the Trevi Fountain, since the Vatican is the only touristy thing I have seen so far.  Then he offers a 15 euro five course meal with unlimited wine.  After that, we might go down to the river since it is the last night that everything will be open down there.

*We ended up going to the Andy Steves dinner at Miscellanea, which is close to the Pantheon.  We had brushetta with prosciutto, bread, pasta with red sauce and bacon AND pasta carbonara, pizza, and watermelon.  Plus, we had the unlimited wine and a delicious "sexy wine" which has a strawberry fizzy flavor.  This was one of my favorite restaurants so far.  After dinner, we went to an Irish bar called Scholars which was pretty fun with Irish music and of course some Irish travelers who found their way there.  This might have been my favorite night so far.

Vatican

Street near my apartment in Trastevere

Pantheon

Funny picture of all of us on our phones in ROME

Walk to CEA classes

Flight

I can't believe I have made it to Rome!  I left Boston on Monday, August 26 at 2:40 pm after having a final American meal of blueberry buckle, eggs, and ham at Nanny's with my family, the Hays, and the Cronins.  I was feeling really nervous before the flight.  Hugging my mom goodbye made my eyes get a little watery but I didn't want to be crying alone in the airport so I pulled myself together.   Luckily, once I made it to my gate, I felt pretty calm and more excited about the experience.  My 45 minute flight to New York was easy but I became nervous again when it was delayed by 20 minutes.  It was supposed to arrive in NY by 4:05 and the delay made it 4:18 with my second flight to Rome at 5 and boarding at 4:20.  Once we landed, I was so nervous that I might miss my flight but I knew that other people from Boston were on the Rome flight.  Even though I was in row 24 out of 30, I waited for everyone in front of me to get off the plane before running to my new gate.  Thankfully, I made it to the gate as a large group of people was waiting to board the plane.  Rachel and I took this same plane together so I saw her once I got on and it was comforting to know that we would be arriving together.  She sat about 6 seats ahead of me.  I was just so happy to make it to the plane in order to start my journey.
On the plane, I sat next to an Italian girl and her father who were returning home with some other family members.  I later found out her name was Georgia (not sure if that is the Italian spelling for it) but at first she started talking to me in Italian.  I think she asked my name, but I didn't understand so I said, "I don't speak Italian." She said "English?" and I nodded.  I felt bad that I wasn't able to communicate with her and that the thought of sitting next to Italians on the flight hadn't crossed my mind.  So, I pulled out the booklet that came with a beginner's Italian learning disc my mom got a few weeks ago to try to ask Georgia a few questions.  I learned that she was 9 years old, and I told her I was 19.  She also does not live in Rome but I don't remember the name of where she lives.  As I looked at the book, she read with me over my shoulder.  On one page, she pointed to the word for "tall" (which I can't remember right now) and then pointed at me to say that I am tall.  I found the word for "short" and pointed at her.  It was nice to have this experience on my flight as a heads up about what it would be like upon my arrival in Rome.
Surprisingly, a lot more people than I imagined speak English here in Rome, since it is a big city with lots of tourists.  Despite this, I wish I had come here knowing a bit more Italian so I could communicate better with the locals.  I am able to pick up on some words because of my time spent at Grandma's house and the fact that I know French, but it is hard to put sentences together with grammar.  My Italian class is definitely the one that I look forward to the most because I want to get as much out of it as I can as quickly as possible!