Salute!

It’s my second day in the Eternal City and I already feel a great deal more comfortable in my surroundings than I did as I stepped off the plan yesterday morning. After about eight hours of flight time and a couple of gourmet meals only United knows how to provide, our descent was announced and I experienced my first profound sense of excitement. Before this I was neither sad nor excited to leave but as we touched down just as the sun was rising behind the rolling hills of Italy’s Lazio region, I felt exhilaration.

It took days to collect my bags which, mind you, at about fifty pounds each (both of them), proved extremely difficult to maneuver by myself. Luckily the walk from the baggage claim to the taxi was short, and I found a girl I knew from UCSB to share a taxi with into the city. The taxi driver drove like a maniac and spoke no English but was kind enough to point out all the sights we passed.

Once we arrived at the study center (located in the Piazza dell’Orologio- about two blocks from the Piazza Navona) I learned that this girl and I were also housemates. It was nice to have someone I knew to share the terrible experience of lugging one hundred pounds of clothes up some very steep marble steps into our apartment.

Our three-bedroom dwelling is located in the Transvestare neighborhood, just a block away from the Tiber River and a fifteen-minute walk from school. I absolutely love the neighborhood. There is a grocery store right next door to the building (literally- the next door to the right) and there are several restaurants and “bars” on our block. A bar in Italy of course is not like a bar in the states, it’s more like a café, mostly serving coffee and pastries.

While the apartment is not luxurious in any way it has all the necessary amenities and of course, “location, location, location.” Today we had orientation and on the walk home my housemates and I stumbled upon a much bigger grocery store than the one downstairs. Ergo, I am now enjoying my first home cooked Italian meal: fusilli pasta with pesto sauce.

Stairs of death (scale delle morte)

My street!

Entrance to my school

Bridge over the Tiber

Tomorrow is more orientation and a group photo (shoot me now) but hey, I’m in Rome so I guess I can’t complain…