Salve Rome, piacere conoscerla

(Hi Rome, nice to meet you.)

Wow. I'm here. I'm in Rome. This is real life. And it is AMAZING! Here's how I got here:

Saying goodbye was tough. Carmel, Mom, Garret and I grabbed lunch at Acme. I needed some Louisiana food to stick to my ribs until I got here and my roast beef po boy and seafood gumbo did the trick! AND my Aunt Mary Beth and Aunt Jill came to surprise us! It was a great great time.



Carmel headed back to BR for class and the rest of our party headed to the airport. We'd gotten there super early so I checked in and then we all sat and talked for awhile which was lovely. Also, Mom had baked me an individual sized cherry pie which we passed around- amazing. I still had half of it (which was later scarfed down in Memphis about a millisecond before boarding the plane to Amsterdam).

After many hugs and kisses and tears, I made my way through security, turning back to wave like a nutcase the whole time. Then I cried all the way to D6.

The plane ride to Memphis was great. I sat next to a huge burly tattooed medical escort who has traveled all over the world. We chatted the whole time- it was so fun (and random). The plane was late getting into Memphis so I ended up with about 20 minutes before I boarded my 9 hour flight to Amsterdam. I made some rushed phone calls, grabbed my last American snacks, annihilated the other half of the baby cherry pie and boarded my flight with a huge goofy smile.

I fiddled around with all the stuff in my backpack, watched a movie and then loaded up on Benadryl to help me sleep. I did get a little sleep but time-wise I was really confused so I have no idea how much sleep I got. I got off the plane in Amsterdam, and it's true, Schipol airport is neat. I ran into two guys from Hattiesburg in the line for customs in Amsterdam. Oh and a flight attendant on the trans-pond flight was from Houma. It's a small world after all!

Hi, Amsterdam.

My original plan was to find my gate then find a cup of coffee, but once I reached my gate, my entire body refused to move again. Plus it was hot as hell, so just thinking about hot coffee made me sweat. More.

What was really strange waiting for that flight, and also the flight itself for that matter, was that I think it's safe to say every person on that flight spoke a different language. Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

Arriving in Rome was incredibly surreal. I just kept sayiface andng to myself, "Holy ___, this is Rome." (I mean, do you blame me?) The plan was to wash my get at least half presentable before exiting the airport but it was all I could to to find 1. baggage claim 2. a bathroom 3. toilet paper for that matter 4. my luggage and 5. my mind.

The sight of my last piece of luggage making its way around turn-thingy was quite possibly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I could've cried I was so happy. I just couldn't believe I had made it all that way by myself. AH!

So I got out of the airport after calling the ISA people, got a taxi (despite my embarrasingly poor Italian) and got to my apartment. The taxi, by the way, was terrifying. We hit 180 km/hr which translates to 111 mph, spent most of the drive not in a lane, some in oncoming traffic, etc. etc. etc. Roman driving at its finest.



Got up to my apartment and it is HUGE and GORGEOUS. Two bedrooms, two baths, wood floors, two balconies (one off of my room!). It exceeds any expectations I could've even hoped to have had. Except is had no air conditioning. And the temperature is about the same as home. It is so hot. I am so sweaty. All the time. BUT I'M IN ROME! So it really doesn't matter.



We then went to the University to meet up with all the other ISA students and staff and went to dinner. And not just dinner. An EIGHT course Italian feast. Then we got our first gelatos on the way home (I chose limone. Mmmmm...) Pictures below:




The roomates are amazing, it's really uncanny how well we're already getting along. Hooray! We stayed up last night, completely delirious, playing a game and it was hilarious. Today we woke up and got to school for 10:30 to get our Permesso di Siggnorio (Permit to Stay) in order, got our Italian cell phones, AUR student IDs, class schedules, etc. It was fun to see more of the (super tiny) campus and hang out with some of the other ISA kidos. We finished up business and then a group of us went to find lunch. We stopped at a pizzeria right outside of campus. I think they put pure joy into all the food here. Later, we're going on a tour of Rome. I'm sure plenty of pictures will follow.



Sorry this post is ridiculously long. I promise I'll start editing... A presto!