Yesterday (Saturday 27th) Joe, Anne, Kate L, I, and about 30 other JCU students piled onto a bus at 7 am and trekked to Tuscany to find some major shopping outlets. We did find some good deals, but most of items were 300 Euros off of 12,000 Euro items. I purchased a grand total of two shirts and a date planner, Anne two belts and a shirt, while Joe and Kate L were not so fortunate. The other members of our expedition were less afraid than we were to spend mommy and daddy’s hard earned cash. The girls sitting in front of us dropped 3000 Euros a piece easily, and the rest of the people on the bus were within close proximity.
To give you an idea of how much money in US dollars 3000 Euros is, each US dollar is roughly 2/3 of 1 Euro. 100 US dollars will give you 73 Euros at most locations that do not charge a transaction fee for changing the cash. With that in mind, 3000 Euros spent on purses and scarves actually cost these girls is roughly 4000 US dollars. Personally, I am not so much into brand names, but there are always opportunities to find well made clothes that are discounted at these high end outlets. I spent a grand total of 44 Euros and felt pretty good about my purchases.
Other than the joy I felt at having cheated the system from robbing me of my hard earned cash, the trip was a bit of a downer. Here were these girls, smothered in make up, thinking nothing of spending 4000 Dollars without blinking an eye. I was feeling bad about my personal self worth as might be measured by my own personal bank account when I started listening to the conversation that was taking place in the eight seats behind me. Here I will relate a general idea of the topics and information that was discussed on the three hour trip to the outlets, and the three hours back.
When we first hoped on the bus, everyone was tired. I heard the girls mumbling something about drinking too much the night before and passed out sprawled over Joe, and leaning my feet on Anne across the aisle. When I woke up, we were two hours into the trip and we off loaded for a bathroom break and some breakfast. As I stood in line to order a sandwich and a glass of juice, I saw several sleepy looking companions and asked how they were doing, and didn’t a cup of coffee sound good? All three frowned and shook their heads and each related a personal story about feeling as if they were about to puke and how they still felt that their stomachs were full of vodka. Sighing and shaking my head, I did not respond, obtained my food, and wandered back to the bus.
Thinking my interactions with these girls was over, I took over my seat and Joe’s and attempted to go back to sleep. This was not possible, as the girls behind me were now talking at the level one would have to in order to be heard in a club. The conversation, when I actually paid attention to what they were saying, was about a girl who had paid 400 Euros for what she had thought was A grade hash. Instead, when she had opened the wrapping, it was a lettuce leaf. “There wasn’t even oregano or anything! He could have at least given me a nice salad or something” was her response.
They moved on to discuss their level of skiing ability, one girl claiming that she had been skiing three times before and felt totally prepared to go down the alps. Laughing to myself and imagining this girl in her 5000-dollar Gucci suit falling off a cliff, the conversation turned to discuss “world politics and economics”. All eight girls agreed that having to convert dollars into Euros was a silly ordeal, and it would be much easier if everything the world over cost the same amount in the same currency. They also felt cheated, having to learn European languages when traveling in the EU and decided that all people should simply speak English. Furthermore, it was far too cold in Italty (it has been about 45 – 75 degrees during the day) and they should have gone to school abroad on a tropical island.
On the return trip the topics changed course. When we were putting away the massive piles of shopping bags in the holds above the seats one girl, who happened to be in my Italian class, wanted to practice the few phrases we had learned with me. “Arrivaderci” she said to me, looking expectant.
“Goodbye? We only just met!”
“Oh, I though that meant ‘What is your name?’ “.
I do not know about anyone’s level of Italian knowledge, but I think “Come ti chiami” isn’t even close to goodbye.
While we worked on a bit of Italian so she wouldn’t flunk the course, the other girls started talking about the purposes of going abroad. They claimed that school was over rated and simply a tool to find good drinking buddies and hot Italian men. One girl in particular had met and had sex thus far with two different Italian men named Felipo. Having plugged both numbers into her phone she had failed to differentiate between the two different men, one of which was a total sleaze. Having waited for the hot Felipo to call, when the ugly one did, she picked up and arranged a date and hotel room. When she found it was the wrong one, and not wanting to upset the young man, she went to dinner and had sex with him that evening. Her friend responded,
“It was an understandable mistake. Felipo is like John around here”.
The conversation dropped off as the girls got tired, they slept for about an hour, and then woke up complaining of full bladders and an intense desire to get off the bus. We were about 45 minutes away from our drop off point, and 10 minutes outside of Rome. In their intense displeasure , they were failing to read the signs along the side of the road which listed the distance and the city about every 2 minutes.
“If we do not get there in ten minutes I am jumping off of this bus”
“I think we have two more hours, we just went through the same toll booth that was near Tuscany”
“They only have one toll booth in Italy?”
“That was the only one I saw on the way there”
“Wernt you sleeping?”
“Only half of the way”
“Oh, then that must be the only one”
“If we have two more hours I am getting off right now”
“Im jumping out the window and getting a taxi”
When we finally arrived at JCU I got off of the bus as fast as I could. Joe, Anne, Kate L and I, in desperate need of a political conversation, went home and made gnocchi. Now, I know I tend to be judgmental, but Anne and Kate tend to be very forgiving of others mental short comings. They too were stunned that over the course of eight hours, these were the only things discussed and there had been no desire shown by any of the girls to talk about something meaningful. If wealth means utter stupidity, maybe I should just give up my dreams of being a princess and be a professor for the rest of my life. At least I will be in good company with intellectual thought. For now it is time to talk about anything intelligent. Ciao.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Meat Man and Other Food Goodies
I have been here for two weeks now, so I think it is an appropriate time to talk about the meat man. Anne and I live across the street from a kosher butcher, that operates Monday through Friday morning. It is a family business where I have seen six or seven men working behind the counter and one woman working the cash register. The first night that we decided to make chicken, Anne and I wandered over to the butcher shop, hoping that our broken Italian could help us obtain half a chicken breast, thinly sliced. When we first walked in there were three older men who were helping customers, one of which eventually took our order and listened with good grace to the American girls who were “butchering” his native tongue. As we went to pay, I decided to attempt to ask for some cooking guidance and asked the woman if she spoke any English. She politely told us no but there was someone in the shop who knew a little. Turning over her shoulder the woman yelled, “Angelo” and we heard from the back something that sounded like “Coming Mama”.
From the back room, in a spotless white apron, appeared a BEAUTIFUL young man. He came around the counter and smiled at the two of us, as we attempted not to gape. In careful English he asked us what we needed and we blundered through a few questions comprised of a smattering of our two languages. To make a long story short, Anne and I basically stumbled over ourselves trying to form the words to our sentences, and remember why we had entered the butcher shop in the first place. Needless to say, we have been back several times.
On our second visit, Angelo was the butcher who greeted us when we first entered. Among a chorus of “ciaos” and “boungiorno’s”, Angelo filled out our order for more chicken and practiced his English by asking us where we were from, did we like Rome, and how long were we going to be in Italy? Finally, he asked if either of us were Jewish. Anne, being a Christian, sadly shook her head no. I however, with a very large grin was overjoyed to confirm that I was in fact one of his “chosen people”. Apparently, every other male member of Angelo’s family had been listening to our conversation and all chimed in with exclamations of “Oh wonderful! A nice Jewish American girl!”. I am sorry to report that nothing could ever take place between Angelo and myself for several reasons including a large language barrier and the simple fact that, at this time, I am not single. However, my mother would be overjoyed if I brought home a nice Jewish boy.
Angelo is not the only tasty treat in Rome. The pizza here is amazing, along with the bread, olive oil, olives, wine, coffee, fresh herbs, and just about everything else. We have taken a liking to a little place that is along our walk on the way to school called Pizza Roma, which has three locations around Rome and one in Fort Lauderdale Florida (go figure). For 1.85 euros I sit down to a square piece of pizza and a bottle of water. Pizza is always cut from a large square pie in the exact amount that you desire, which is nice if you only want a little something when walking around town. Pizza normally has ham, cheese, olives, eggplant, potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, more cheese, and a few items I have not yet managed to translate.
We walk enough that eating all these wonderful things really has no impact on our weight gain. It is thirty minutes to school every day, and at least thirty minutes everywhere else. While we attempt to take busses and trams around the city of Rome, it is truly more time effective to walk places, as the busses rarely show up on time, or go on a straight route from point a to points b, c, d, or e. They tend to pause at point J, smoke a cigarette, and proceed to point K. This is a rather difficult feat, as neither J nor K exist in the Italian alphabet. Therefore walking is what we do most.
Though more has transpired today regarding some interesting American girls on a bus that Joe, Anne, Kate and I could not help but overhear, I am going to make some gnocchi and sit down with a glass of wine. Ciao!
From the back room, in a spotless white apron, appeared a BEAUTIFUL young man. He came around the counter and smiled at the two of us, as we attempted not to gape. In careful English he asked us what we needed and we blundered through a few questions comprised of a smattering of our two languages. To make a long story short, Anne and I basically stumbled over ourselves trying to form the words to our sentences, and remember why we had entered the butcher shop in the first place. Needless to say, we have been back several times.
On our second visit, Angelo was the butcher who greeted us when we first entered. Among a chorus of “ciaos” and “boungiorno’s”, Angelo filled out our order for more chicken and practiced his English by asking us where we were from, did we like Rome, and how long were we going to be in Italy? Finally, he asked if either of us were Jewish. Anne, being a Christian, sadly shook her head no. I however, with a very large grin was overjoyed to confirm that I was in fact one of his “chosen people”. Apparently, every other male member of Angelo’s family had been listening to our conversation and all chimed in with exclamations of “Oh wonderful! A nice Jewish American girl!”. I am sorry to report that nothing could ever take place between Angelo and myself for several reasons including a large language barrier and the simple fact that, at this time, I am not single. However, my mother would be overjoyed if I brought home a nice Jewish boy.
Angelo is not the only tasty treat in Rome. The pizza here is amazing, along with the bread, olive oil, olives, wine, coffee, fresh herbs, and just about everything else. We have taken a liking to a little place that is along our walk on the way to school called Pizza Roma, which has three locations around Rome and one in Fort Lauderdale Florida (go figure). For 1.85 euros I sit down to a square piece of pizza and a bottle of water. Pizza is always cut from a large square pie in the exact amount that you desire, which is nice if you only want a little something when walking around town. Pizza normally has ham, cheese, olives, eggplant, potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, more cheese, and a few items I have not yet managed to translate.
We walk enough that eating all these wonderful things really has no impact on our weight gain. It is thirty minutes to school every day, and at least thirty minutes everywhere else. While we attempt to take busses and trams around the city of Rome, it is truly more time effective to walk places, as the busses rarely show up on time, or go on a straight route from point a to points b, c, d, or e. They tend to pause at point J, smoke a cigarette, and proceed to point K. This is a rather difficult feat, as neither J nor K exist in the Italian alphabet. Therefore walking is what we do most.
Though more has transpired today regarding some interesting American girls on a bus that Joe, Anne, Kate and I could not help but overhear, I am going to make some gnocchi and sit down with a glass of wine. Ciao!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
The Usual Italian Morning
Thursday is the last day of the week that I have class and on thursday I only have one class that takes place at 9:30am and lasts till 12:20pm. I arrive with 10 minutes to spare, having rushed my morning and slept very little to arrive on time. There are no class rooms posted for this particular class, because it is one in which students are lead around the city of Rome to learn about its ancient monuments. The first days rooms are posted on the wall when we first enter the school building. At first glance I see that we are in room 1. Then, looking more carefully, I see that the time for just today has been changed to 8 pm. Did I mention that it is my only class of the day? So now, I am sitting in the student lounge, its 9:30, and I have only about 30 minutes of homework with me to do tops. Well, that is the only homework I have, so I really can't complain that much, but I am here and could have slept in! Grrrrr.
Other than the class time change for today, nothing much has changed here. I finally know how to walk in the area around my school and not get lost. I dont know quite how to run to the open track yet to do some intervals, but I have a general idea of where it is from looking on the map and attempting to run there once before. Today Im going to go on my run in that direction again.
Thus far I have not met too many kids from otuside the American U community. It is hard to get other people to hang out with you, as they all hide in their home school groups. There are a few execptions, such as Kate (a friend of Joe/Jeesh's) from his home town, and a few guys and gals from Tulane, who also seemed to show up to this university together. The JCU local students think they are the worlds greatest gift to man kind, and pretend to not speak any english. I don't particularly want to be the person who goes and attempts to make them all warm and fuzzy, but I have managed to get a few of them to open up and share some of their knowledge of Rome. When they learn you arn't going to ask them the best places to get shit faced, they realize you are a real person and talk to you.
Did I mention it rains here? Did I mention it rains alot, randomly, so hard that you are soaked by the time you find your umbrella and open it? I realized this the first time it rained the other day and did not realize that everyone who was outside had moved into local shops to avoid that sudden, brief downpour. I have learned better, and now wear knee high boots, a raid coat, and carry an umbrella. Bring it Rome, I am staying dry! Others in my apartment, have not taken those steps to stay out of the rain, and have gone through an amazing number of pants in the last few days. [We have no dryers here, so everything has to hang out to dry. For jeens, in rainy season, this can take up to 38 hours.] Our washing machiens also take an amazing amount of time to run their cycles. It takes and hour and a half for the thing to put water and soap through my clothing and it only holds about half of what one at home would. Many people are not realizing this till they have no clothes left, and have to wait about a day to have dry things to wear.
For now, it is time for homework. Ciao. Mao.
Other than the class time change for today, nothing much has changed here. I finally know how to walk in the area around my school and not get lost. I dont know quite how to run to the open track yet to do some intervals, but I have a general idea of where it is from looking on the map and attempting to run there once before. Today Im going to go on my run in that direction again.
Thus far I have not met too many kids from otuside the American U community. It is hard to get other people to hang out with you, as they all hide in their home school groups. There are a few execptions, such as Kate (a friend of Joe/Jeesh's) from his home town, and a few guys and gals from Tulane, who also seemed to show up to this university together. The JCU local students think they are the worlds greatest gift to man kind, and pretend to not speak any english. I don't particularly want to be the person who goes and attempts to make them all warm and fuzzy, but I have managed to get a few of them to open up and share some of their knowledge of Rome. When they learn you arn't going to ask them the best places to get shit faced, they realize you are a real person and talk to you.
Did I mention it rains here? Did I mention it rains alot, randomly, so hard that you are soaked by the time you find your umbrella and open it? I realized this the first time it rained the other day and did not realize that everyone who was outside had moved into local shops to avoid that sudden, brief downpour. I have learned better, and now wear knee high boots, a raid coat, and carry an umbrella. Bring it Rome, I am staying dry! Others in my apartment, have not taken those steps to stay out of the rain, and have gone through an amazing number of pants in the last few days. [We have no dryers here, so everything has to hang out to dry. For jeens, in rainy season, this can take up to 38 hours.] Our washing machiens also take an amazing amount of time to run their cycles. It takes and hour and a half for the thing to put water and soap through my clothing and it only holds about half of what one at home would. Many people are not realizing this till they have no clothes left, and have to wait about a day to have dry things to wear.
For now, it is time for homework. Ciao. Mao.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Today is Monday = Class
I woke up this morning, took a nice 30 minute run around the Roman Forums and the Collusem. I took a shower, stopped by a small pizza joint and got lunch for 2.45 Euros. Jumped on a tram, went to the Pantheon, then strolled through the city back to school for an intro class in Greek Civ. Yes, Rome is amazing.
Yesterday I got a pillow for 10 Euros at the local market and basically relaxed for the whole day. I really needed a day with nothing to do. Today is just an into to classes and getting into the mode of being in school again. After last semeter I can do anything. I have to run for now, but I will post something longer later today. Web shots hates me, so that link contains nothing. I will create somthing else by which everyone can see what is going on here.
Ciao
Yesterday I got a pillow for 10 Euros at the local market and basically relaxed for the whole day. I really needed a day with nothing to do. Today is just an into to classes and getting into the mode of being in school again. After last semeter I can do anything. I have to run for now, but I will post something longer later today. Web shots hates me, so that link contains nothing. I will create somthing else by which everyone can see what is going on here.
Ciao
A day late blog... no web access
Today is my 6th day here in Rome. My Italian is expanding slowly considering that I have never taken any classes in the language before. Since today is Sunday, the large street market is taking place just a block away from my apartment. I really am located in the heart of the old city, but lucky to be placed in a modern apartment with a stove that works and hot water that manages to last through five girls and their showers.
Apparently here in Rome there is a problem with mold, so we have to keep our windows open whenever we are home. The only problem with this is that there are many gypsies that break in through said windows and steal all of your belongings, generally while you are sitting in another room. One of the apartments that housed American U. students has already had a break in (near the Vatican) because the girl forgot to bolt the door before going to the ATM across the street from her house. Locking the door here isn’t good enough to keep people out, so many apartments have one to three bolts per door to the place. I am lucky enough that every window here is at least 14 feet off the ground and facing an inner courtyard to the building. If someone gets in the building, good luck jumping up 14 feet without me hearing it.
We have no drying unit for clothing here in Italy, so dry Jeans are a big deal. The washing machine takes a good hour and a half to makes it way from wet, to soap, to clean. Then we have drying racks that we put outside on our small deck (just for clothing) and pray that no one manages to get up there. I have to think long and hard before I put my Jeans in the washing machine because it means they are out of use for at least 30 hours. It was raining sporadically over the last few days so I kept the Jeans inside to dry and that took a good two and a half days.
Two days ago I went to the Coliseum and the Roman Forums. It was amazing. Joe, Leslie and I arrived too late in the day to enter the buildings themselves, but watching the sun set over the old marble structures was well worth the 30 minute walk from my home. Tomorrow I plan to take my run out along the river to the forum to see what it looks like in the morning without tourists.
Now off to the market. I hope to bring home a large cutting board, some fresh basil, garlic, an assortment of herbs, and perhaps find some cute leather boots. (The way you can tell at first glance the locals from the Americans are the leather boots. Americans wear flip flops or tennis shoes, the locals wear leather boots or very nice sneakers.) Send me some emails guys, I do actually have time to respond at least once a day. I am only taking 13 credit hours worth of class and one of them is drawing. Ciao!
Apparently here in Rome there is a problem with mold, so we have to keep our windows open whenever we are home. The only problem with this is that there are many gypsies that break in through said windows and steal all of your belongings, generally while you are sitting in another room. One of the apartments that housed American U. students has already had a break in (near the Vatican) because the girl forgot to bolt the door before going to the ATM across the street from her house. Locking the door here isn’t good enough to keep people out, so many apartments have one to three bolts per door to the place. I am lucky enough that every window here is at least 14 feet off the ground and facing an inner courtyard to the building. If someone gets in the building, good luck jumping up 14 feet without me hearing it.
We have no drying unit for clothing here in Italy, so dry Jeans are a big deal. The washing machine takes a good hour and a half to makes it way from wet, to soap, to clean. Then we have drying racks that we put outside on our small deck (just for clothing) and pray that no one manages to get up there. I have to think long and hard before I put my Jeans in the washing machine because it means they are out of use for at least 30 hours. It was raining sporadically over the last few days so I kept the Jeans inside to dry and that took a good two and a half days.
Two days ago I went to the Coliseum and the Roman Forums. It was amazing. Joe, Leslie and I arrived too late in the day to enter the buildings themselves, but watching the sun set over the old marble structures was well worth the 30 minute walk from my home. Tomorrow I plan to take my run out along the river to the forum to see what it looks like in the morning without tourists.
Now off to the market. I hope to bring home a large cutting board, some fresh basil, garlic, an assortment of herbs, and perhaps find some cute leather boots. (The way you can tell at first glance the locals from the Americans are the leather boots. Americans wear flip flops or tennis shoes, the locals wear leather boots or very nice sneakers.) Send me some emails guys, I do actually have time to respond at least once a day. I am only taking 13 credit hours worth of class and one of them is drawing. Ciao!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Day 4
Alrighty guys, here is the scoop. Forgive me if there are wierd miss spellings in this blog post as this is my first real attempt to use an italian keyboard.
After I arrived in Rome that first day, I began to have extreem culture shock. When I got out of the airport the lady that was taking me to the school got out to stop, deliver some bags to other appartments and take a smoking break while I waited in the car for an hour. The real kicker is that my appartment has 5 girls, all from American U., in two bedrooms. I am lucky enough to have a room mate that demanded that we have the two bedroom, but it is small and cramped. There is a desk wedged against the wall that we cant really use so I have contacted housing about moving it into our almost as small and cramped living room. I personally want a desk to use at some point in this semester, and the housing people try to get us what we need, but my room mates in the triple room do not want me to move my desk into their common space. I eventually talked them into it, but it took some convincing.
Other than the housing things are great. The food here is AMAZING and not that expensive. The other day Anne, Joe, Frank (a guy who lived on our floor at AU, and I all got personal pizzas and split 2 liters of water and a bottle of wine for 6€ a piece. That was the most I have paid for a meal thus far.
Last night we wandered across the river (we live in Trastevere) to visit the campo dei fiori and get some gelato, which was (of course) fantastic. The weather is a little cold but nothing San Franciscan can't handle.
More updates coming soon. I know if I write a wall of text people will not read it.
Ciao!
After I arrived in Rome that first day, I began to have extreem culture shock. When I got out of the airport the lady that was taking me to the school got out to stop, deliver some bags to other appartments and take a smoking break while I waited in the car for an hour. The real kicker is that my appartment has 5 girls, all from American U., in two bedrooms. I am lucky enough to have a room mate that demanded that we have the two bedroom, but it is small and cramped. There is a desk wedged against the wall that we cant really use so I have contacted housing about moving it into our almost as small and cramped living room. I personally want a desk to use at some point in this semester, and the housing people try to get us what we need, but my room mates in the triple room do not want me to move my desk into their common space. I eventually talked them into it, but it took some convincing.
Other than the housing things are great. The food here is AMAZING and not that expensive. The other day Anne, Joe, Frank (a guy who lived on our floor at AU, and I all got personal pizzas and split 2 liters of water and a bottle of wine for 6€ a piece. That was the most I have paid for a meal thus far.
Last night we wandered across the river (we live in Trastevere) to visit the campo dei fiori and get some gelato, which was (of course) fantastic. The weather is a little cold but nothing San Franciscan can't handle.
More updates coming soon. I know if I write a wall of text people will not read it.
Ciao!
Monday, January 15, 2007
I have Arrived
I am currently awake at 5:45 in the morning Rome time. I thought I would be fine with changing the time zones but apperantly the 7 or so hours I slept on the flight from San Francisco to France didnt quite do it for me. Now my internal clock is very VERY confused. I know that most of the time when people blog they write too much and you never know what part to read and then you end up looking at the pictures so I will try to keep these all short and to the point.
When I left for the airport yesterday my parents and I experienced a whole suit case saga in which we attempted to purchase a new one for my journey. The first was too small and the second's handles flew off as soon as we picked it up off the floor. So I ended up with my father's suit case (for which he was none too pleased, as it is a very nice one) and off the airport I went.
I had two flights. One from SFO to Paris and the second from Paris to Rome. Both flights were more or less on time, the food was good, and I managed to get some sleep. Here is a picutre from my view of Paris. I attempted to load about 10 picutres but this fool thing of an internet doesnt want to do it. I am going to have to find a webshots host place for that.
When I arrived in Rome it took me a while to get to the school as I was toted off with the baggage car to make their delivery of suit cases leagle... so... yeah...I landed at 4, got my bags by 4:30, and made it to the school around 6:45. It is a 25 minute drive from the airport (you do the math). Finally I arrived at my appartment (images coming soon). Anne is my room mate an we are living with 3 other girls from American University. Joe is living up the hill from us, about a 5 minute walk away, as is his friend from home named Kate. Other than settling in, all the girls crashed last night. I managed to sleep for about 7 hours, but now I am fully awake. Anywho, that is my first update, more coming your way later. Ciao
When I left for the airport yesterday my parents and I experienced a whole suit case saga in which we attempted to purchase a new one for my journey. The first was too small and the second's handles flew off as soon as we picked it up off the floor. So I ended up with my father's suit case (for which he was none too pleased, as it is a very nice one) and off the airport I went.
I had two flights. One from SFO to Paris and the second from Paris to Rome. Both flights were more or less on time, the food was good, and I managed to get some sleep. Here is a picutre from my view of Paris. I attempted to load about 10 picutres but this fool thing of an internet doesnt want to do it. I am going to have to find a webshots host place for that.
When I arrived in Rome it took me a while to get to the school as I was toted off with the baggage car to make their delivery of suit cases leagle... so... yeah...I landed at 4, got my bags by 4:30, and made it to the school around 6:45. It is a 25 minute drive from the airport (you do the math). Finally I arrived at my appartment (images coming soon). Anne is my room mate an we are living with 3 other girls from American University. Joe is living up the hill from us, about a 5 minute walk away, as is his friend from home named Kate. Other than settling in, all the girls crashed last night. I managed to sleep for about 7 hours, but now I am fully awake. Anywho, that is my first update, more coming your way later. Ciao
Saturday, January 13, 2007
The Night Before
It is the night before I leave for Italy and I am getting my things together, hoping that I am not forgetting anything that I really should take with me. My plane takes off from SFO at 3:30pm from SFO and I will land in Paris 11 hours later. I have a 3 hour lay over in France and then its a 2 hour flight to Rome. When I land JCU students will be at the airport to take us to the campus where we can pick up our appartment keys. From there we will be driven to our respective appartments. Anne will hopefully be my room mate unless JCU screws that up. Anne and Joe will be arriving together earlier in the day so I will meet up with them for the evening and attempt to stay awake long enough to catch a brief glimps of Rome. Other than that not much is happing for the first day of Italy. I will try and post here as often and in as much detail as I can, but being abroad saps the mind, or so I have heard. I will also post a small selection of pictures here so you can get an idea of what it looks like on my adventures around Italy and Rome. For now, its back to packing...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
