My First Week in Roma

Buongiorno and hello to everyone back home! I am missing everyone immensely but I have been having an awesome time here in Roma. I really need to get better about this blogging thing. I feel like I just got here and before I knew it, it’s been a week, I’ve started class and seen nearly everything so I’ll try and update you on my adventures!  I’ll take you back to the States as I left it:

My parents drove me and my 2 heavy bags to O’Hare for my flight over to Heathrow where I would connect to Fiumicino in Rome. It actually wasn’t as hard to say goodbye to them right away. I’d been home from end of December until early February so think I had had enough of them by the time I left (kidding mom and dad!) As they waved me goodbye I got through security and after quite a long wait, I made it onto the plane. I sat by 2 cute boys, which in my 21 years of life and countless plane rides has NEVER happened to me! I tried saying hello and learned that they were Polish visiting family in Chicago and spoke about 10 words of English. But they were nice and interested in what I had to say, or what they understood of it, hah. I was nervous I wouldn’t sleep on the plane, which I didn’t, but that was by choice. British Airways luckily had the final season of Breaking Bad on demand which I had yet to finish at the time. So all 6 episodes I watched got me through the plane ride with ease, but I was tired for my next flight. I tried staying as awake as possible even though it was a solid 3 hour layover with no wifi. Once I was on my next plane to Fiumicino I had a window seat so I crashed. Then I finally woke up to a rainy Rome. I grabbed my bags and some euros and found a taxi. Advice to anyone taking taxis from an airport to their destination city, the cabs will totally rip you off. I had 2 giant bags, a backpack and my purse, plus had no idea where I was going so I decided to take the hit. Even though it drained my pocket, my cabbie was super nice. He pointed out sights and history in broken English for me. He even pointed out a Lambo that had to be at least 400,000 euros… PS the driving situation in Italy is absurd! I would have an anxiety attack trying to drive here! Everyone speeds, honks, yells and makes obscene hand gestures while driving.  It’s an experience, hah. 

Eventually I made it to my hotel. I ended up arriving a day before my program started because the flight was cheaper, so I booked a small single person hotel (relatively close to school) to stay in for the night. There was a tiny older man working the desk who initially was a little harsh toward the dumb American, but then warmed up to me. I think he felt bad because I was struggling with my little knowledge of Italian and my credit card declined. So I paid in euros and he helped me with my bags up the stairs to my Harry Potter sized bedroom. Forcing myself to stay awake, I decided to try to walk and find my first Italian dinner. It was pouring so my walk wasn’t too far, but I found this tiny pizza place called Pizza de Teatro. I stared at all the types of pizzas and decided on a delicious one with pumpkin sauce instead of tomato, bacon and basil. Probably the best pizza I’ve had in a long time, so it was a successful first meal. That night I slept from about 8-midnight and woke up, completely not tired and bored. My room was super hot, so I had windows open but there were birds outside my window that sounded like old women having an orgasm. These weird screaming birds would not shut up all night! So I figured since I wasn’t tired, I’d put the tv on. No English channels whatsoever, but Spongebob and the Super Bowl were on in Italian so that was the best I could do. I fell back asleep around 6 and woke up around 9 because the man with my breakfast knocked on my door.

The next day, I walked over to my school, IES, where I was greeted by Rosie, a super nice girl who works at the front desk at school. She gave me my housing information and orientation schedules. I went back to my hotel, grabbed my stuff and took a cab over to the Prati neighborhood to see my new apartment. Ok guys, my place is HUGE! Way bigger than I ever expected to be a euro-apartment. It’s no NYC penthouse or anything but I am still pleasantly surprised whenever I’m in it. I walked into the lobby and met Arianna, my ISC (Italian Student Companion, kind of the equivalent to an RA at home). She is this beautiful Italian girl who’s about 4’11” and teensy. Over the course of this week, Arianna has become one of my best friends here. She has taken me to aperativos (which are small Italian dinner buffets) and Porta Portese (cool vintage markets in the Trastevere neighborhood only on Sundays). But anyway, once I was settled and unpacked, she and I got to know each other and clicked pretty fast. She has been a great friend to me this week so I am very lucky to have her as a roommate. I also met my other roommates and some boys that live downstairs. That night, Arianna cooked dinner for all of us! Us 5 girls and the 4 boys sat around the table getting to know each other over 1 bottle of vine which didn’t give us much, but we were in good company. We went out later that night with other ISCs to an Italian pub in Prati, but we quickly realized that 5 euro beers aren’t the best idea for that night, so we all got our own alcohol, went down to the boys apartment and played drinking games. It was a really nice time with the new friends. 

Tuesday morning, we struggled over to school at 9am for orientation. IES is a tiny school. There are about 90 kids on our program, many populated by Penn State or the east coast. Now I know how kids at IU feel if they aren’t from Indy or Chicago! The building is cute, it reminds me of a middle school. The floors are color coated and the desks are super tiny, hah. Everything we did there for orientation was pretty uneventful. Just seminars on studying, drinking, traveling, etc. Whatever. I came home and went grocery shopping with my roommates and my friend from school, Peter. I am definitely no cook, so that’s a bit of a bummer. It’s hard trying to cook when you are on a budget and aren’t interested in pasta 24/7, I’m learning though. That night the roommates, Peter and I went out to an American karaoke bar which was hilarious. Peter and I met an Italian boy named Jacopo who studies in Rome and lives in the south of Italy. He took tons of photos and added us on Facebook which was pretty awesome.

Another big place to go out in around here is in Campo di Fiori. It’s very American/ British populated so that’s where a lot of kids in our program either go initially, or end up unintentionally. I’ve been out there a few times already. It’s fun and wild, but I’m trying to go out more locally to meet new people and practice Italian. The American bars jack up the prices of drinks to get suckers like us. Last night, Arianna took us out and showed us some more authentic places with cheaper deals in Trastevere so I was excited to do that. Quick side story; she also brought us to this tiny place that looked like a bookstore, which sold shots with chocolate shot glasses that you eat all in one. Plus each shot is named after a sex position in Italian, so that was awesome. 

We also had a few exposures to our Italian teacher and what to expect out of class. I have a teacher named Madda and a good class. We had two days of 3 hour Italian exposure to make sure we are each in the right level. Madda is a great teacher because she is very practical. We never spent all 3 hours in the classroom. The first day we did some introductory stuff and then she took us to a pizzeria to explain (in Italian of course) how the pizzas are made. Where did we go, you ask? THAT’S RIGHT! Pizza de Teatro! I was so pumped. This pizza place is phenomenal and dangerously close to school… ok enough about food. We watched a super cute Italian boy make the ‘za and she bought us a piece. The next day we went on about a 2 hour walking tour all over the smaller piazzas of Rome (piazza, not pizza). She showed us obscure spots of history, like where the prime minister got beheaded, or fresh fruit markets in Campo. I think she is going to be very helpful with my exposure to the Italian language. I keep telling people, it’s getting easier because instead of being 1 hour out of your day, now the exposure is constant… And I love it!

On Saturday, we had one last mandatory orientation for IES which was a brief tour of a certain section of Rome. This one I actually really enjoyed! We learned how to use public transport to some historical places. Each apartment had a different spot to go to, so we went over by the infamous Victor Emmanuel Monument, or the Wedding Cake. That has to be one of my favorite landmarks here in Rome! That and the Castel Sant’Angelo (which I get to walk by every day). But I feel like every landmark here is beautiful so I shouldn’t even have a favorite. Anyway, the Wedding Cake is MASSIVE. It’s a huge building in Piazza Venezia, across the street from a controversial balcony where Mussolini did all of his speeches. Our tour guide was an IES professor of the Rome as a Living Museum class (which I am in!) so he definitely knew what he was talking about. He also took us up Capitoline Hill where we looked over the Roman Forum and Coliseum (which is under construction right now, boo). After that tour, I decided I wanted to do some more sightseeing, so I set off on my own to go to the Vatican. Il Vaticano is about 15 minutes from our place, so I took a quick walk over there to snap some pics with my awesome new camera from Christmas. It was the first sunny day all week so I wanted to take advantage of it. I didn’t go in because the line was astronomical, but it’s an amazing and beautiful structure. I hit up literally everything that day! After the Vatican, I went to Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, back to the Wedding Cake and down to the Coliseum. I kept asking Italians for directions to new places in Italian. Some replied in Italian and some in English, but it didn’t matter because I liked practicing. That was probably my favorite day here so far. Traveling and sightseeing alone is incredibly underrated. I was efficient and happy exploring the city, and my independence…

That night, Peter and I chose not to go out and drink, but instead walk over to Piazza Espagna and people watch at the Spanish Steps. It was an incredibly peaceful night. We just talked, practicing Italian and expressing feelings about our time here so far. We wandered down a side street with hole in the wall restaurants and wine corks stuck in cobblestone and it’s moments like those that I realize I’m not home anymore.  It hasn’t been all easy (right mom?) but I’m really working to learn more about this country, this city and myself. I have a feeling that if everyone knew how hard something would be, no one would try it. Right?

Until next time everyone, ciao!

Sara