Il mio primo giorno a Roma

Soooo I've really never felt this "butterflies in my stomach giddy" to this degree ever. The best part about it? It's not about a boy, it's not about not having to take stats class ever again, it's not about having gotten a phonecall or a text I'd been waiting for. Its about finally having arrived in a city that I'm instantly head over heels about, and knowing I get the next four months to explore it to my heart's content. It's about knowing that this is only the beginning, and knowing pretty much nothing else.
My first day was spent wandering the cobblestone streets of Rome, particularly around the Piazza Navona area. I arrived a day before the program started, so I stayed in a hotel that first day. Rome is HOT. serrrrrriously hot. (I'm getting a nice Roman tan, actually. Let's hear it for day trips to the Mediterranean sea, eh?). I started walking and wandered around the corner and just happened to stumble upon the Pantheon. How could you not love a place where simply by walking a few steps you come accross something as epic and historical and grand as the Pantheon?

From there I walked a little more and then came to Via Del Corso, one of the main commercial streets in that area. Commercial as in there's a disney store and a Zara, but there's still cobblestones, bite size cars, exquisitely-engineered buildings, and everything else that shouts Roma. Past Via Del Corso I found the , and then sat down for a caprese salad and fanta, where the, not gonna lie, dashingly attractive waiter gave me the clearest instructions I'd heard all day about how to find a store that could help me out with my european cell phone situation. nice, helpful, AND ridiculously handsome? Perfetto, I could get used to this ;)
I got my cell phone situation figured out at the Vodafone store, and now proudly sport a european slidephone, with a telephone number that I have yet to memorize..That evening I went to a little cafe and got talking with the several guys working there, and between all of us knowing varying levels of Italian, spanish, and English, we had a pretty great convo while rocking out to Black Eyed Peas under the Roman stars...ahhhh, la dolce vitta

Finalmente a Roma

So I'm really gonna have to get better at updating this, it's been who KNOWS how long since I last wrote here (i suppose the quickfix answer to that one would be to check the timestamp). I was even going to write about the days leading up to my departure and what a roller coaster those were (up and down and all over the place doesn't even begin to describe it), because I was experiencing that good ol' pre-travel anxiety. The kind that comes from having to wrap your head around the fact that you're going to be moving your entire life over to a different country for four months. no biggie. the constant questions of what will it be like? what kind of people am i going to meet there? will i get homesick? what will the adjustment process be like? but, as things tend to go, time didn't allow that post, and neither did the two giant suitcases that awaited intense packing. the so instead of going into that, which I may at some later point in time (or for anyone out there who wants to travel abroad and would like to know what its like to go through that stage, by all means talk to me about it and i'll gladly share), i cant help but getting to the bottom line: THIS PLACE IS PERFECT FOR ME! seriously, nothing short of perfect. the SECOND the cab-driver taking me to my hotel turned the corner and the sight of Rome was in front of me, every single drop of anxiety vanished, evaporated into the August Italian heat. Every single time we turned the corner, just when I thought the views couldn't get more majestic, I saw something even more stunning. For the first time in my life I was literally rendered speechless. It was impossible to be my normal chatty self with the cab driver (no huge loss there), because I was actually too stunned and too delighted by arriving in the most enchanting city in the world and being able to call it my home for the next four months...