"You will be fusstrated..."

So by now I have been in Rome for 33 hours and 35 minutes, or there abouts. I have some Tiziano Ferro rockin' on iTunes right now. Sadly, he is not on tour anytime soon so the chances of seeing him live are slim. Probably for the best though. Obvioulsy, I have decided to blog (just like every other study abroad student). I hope people find me as interesting as I find me. I think the fact that I am in Italy automatically gives me 10 extra interesting points. Let's hope.

Going back in time...

The flight over was really easy. There were about 40 other IES kids on the same flight out of Philadelphia. I watched the Social Network on the plane (I've now seen 8/10 best picture nominees) and then fell asleep. While landing/coming into Rome, I was a little disappointed because we came from the north and I was on the right side of the plane so I didn't get to see any Italy from the sky. Just a lot of water. Italian water looks pretty much the same as American water. We all had to wait at baggage claim for a long time but it was a good chance to meet some of the other people. We talked about the flight and whether we had been nervous, etc. I was secretly pleased when people were shocked/amazed to hear that I had only gotten my visa 4 days earlier. I was also surprised because almost every student I met had very little or no Italian before coming. 

My apartment is in the area called Monteverde. It is in the southwest part of the city. It's really cute (I'll post pictures soon). I am sharing a room with Kim. She is from Texas. Her parents are Italian so she knows how to speak it. Caroline and Sarah are in the other double room. We also have an ISC (Pronounced "eesk") named Sonia. She is an architect student from Roma3. She cooked us lunch and dinner last night since it was our first day. It was delish. Roman broccoli, artichokes, mushrooms and sauce in little baskets/cups made of cheese, caprese salad, and homemade bread. We also had fondue (with chocolate, not cheese). 

Earlier that afternoon, Caroline, Sarah, and I walked around our neighborhood a little. We went to the grocery store (I got some pineapple juice!) and to a "Chinese Store" which sold pretty much everything. We needed to get towels but they only had beach towels. Sarah's ended up dying her blue. They also sold some Hello Kitty toilet paper. I may have to go bring some of the back to the states. The guy at the store also gave me a free pink plastic carneval mask. I also bought a small radio. Now we can listen to Italian music instead of just my iTunes. Maybe I'll find a good Italian talk radio show. I doubt it.

Despite being completely jet-lagged and exhausted Kim and I decided to go out with Sonia to Trastevere. There was a big meet-up of IES students and their ISCs at a cheap bar called (but not named) "Cheap Bar." There were probably about 50 of us there and people just stood around in the square out front with a drink and talked. It was fun. We met two British tourists from Bristol (where British Skins takes place). They had read that Cheap Bar was a popular hangout for American students. I think our "party" skewed the numbers though. I don't think there are 50 Americans from the same program there every night. We walked around the neighborhood a little and found Sonia's bike which she had left there a few days ago. We decided to walk back to our apartment which took around 40 min. It was a really nice night though and it wasn't bad. Part of the walk goes up this huge hill that has an amazing view of the city (pictures to come once my camera charges).

Today was our first full day in Rome. I woke up, got dressed, had breakfast. None of this is special/interesting/particularly Italian. I think it can be assumed I do this everyday. We all left the apartment together (Sonia came with us since it was the first day). We caught the 870 (?) bus to school. It was really crowded. Orientation was basically just a bunch of powerpoint presentations about stuff we already knew. One director kept talking about how frustrated we will all be. She kept saying "fuss-trated" though. I don't know if it was accent or misunderstanding of the word but she must have said it 40 times. The school director also talked to us. He was very European. He kept making jokes that weren't funny and that nobody really got. They were more like lies than jokes. He basically would say something not true. Wait for a laugh. Say "I'm only kidding." 

IES gave us a really good lunch buffet. Pretty fancy with about 100 options. Lot's of prosciutto and mozzarella. After lunch we had another presentation where the divided the guys and girls into different rooms. The guys had a police officer come in and tell them not to get drunk and start fights. The girls had a woman from the embassy tell us not to get drugged and raped. It was all good advice. They told us to wear sunglasses often. 

After meetings were over we had about an hour before we had to head back to apartments (the first day they had organized groups so we could learn the buses better). Jake (a kid I know from Emory), Kim, Jessica (another IES girl we met today), and I decided to go walk around. They needed to buy their monthly bus passes and I needed to find a power adapter. I did not know the word for adapter (adattore) so I had to describe it (in Italian of course, because I am awesome like that) as "the little thing you put into the wall so that you can use American electronics here in Italy." It worked. I feel like that's what a lot of my Italian is. I don't know all the vocabulary but I have enough that I can eventually get to what I mean. 

We also got gelato for the first time this semester. I might start a gelato counter on my blog. It could get scandalously/embarrassingly high though.

Allora...

Now we are all back home. I'm not sure what we are doing for dinner yet. After dinner Kim and I are meeting up with Jacob and his roommate Will in Trastevere.

Blog ya later!