"Yeah, my dad said I shouldn't bother coming home if I don't make A's and B's."

So unfortunately I think that this will be the last time I post before classes start... Oh well, they shouldn't be too bad.

We had our housing and academic orientations yesterday, both went decently well. They took all the students at the meeting and broke us into groups of 30 or so, as we walked from the auditorium to the next room we were meeting in, one of the guys said "So... who else heard, "This is not a 4 month vacation you're going on."? A chorus of "Yup!"'s, "I did!"'s and "You too?"'s erupted almost instantaneously. I mentioned that I had heard it "once or twice" from my rents, which is when one of the girls said, "Yeah, my dad said I shouldn't bother coming home if I don't make A's and B's." I have classes Mon-Thurs (no classes are held on Fridays, very nice), Western Civ, Mid-Evil Roman Monuments, American 20th Century, and Italian 101.

Yesterday we went back to the market to do household type shopping, spices, cleaner, sponges, all that good stuff. We couldn't for the life of us find the salt and pepper though, so I stopped a gentleman asking "Scusi signore, dove sale e pepe?" (Where's salt and peper). I'm sure he could tell that we were American, but he was so happy to help us both find everything we could ever want, tell us how to find good deals, and what spices/flavors/wines were best with everything we could possibly want to make and how to correctly pronounce what we were searching for- great experience. A lot of you know that I spent some time a few summers back in France, living with a family my french teacher knows- I have always heard so much of the "The French hate Americans, they're so rude, etc. etc. " But I never experienced any of that, I'm sure mostly because I was with a French family and wasn't viewed as "the American tourist", but here I am most assuredly seen as an American tourist and people are so incredibly willing to help me learn to speak the language. Fantastico.

Yesterday evening two of the roommates and I went out to the Vatican with some friends, we got there as the sun was starting to set, then walked all around the area, grabbed some dinner and walked back through the square when it was dark. The beauty of Rome at night is simply incomparable. Amazing. Even during the day, it really is a beautiful city. Even on the outskirts of Trasteverte, where we are- the architecture and colors are phenomenal. It's as if Rome is blanketed by an all-day sunset. All of the buildings are hues of yellow, orange, red, and tan. Bella citta.

In my last post I mentioned how... 'lively' the driving can be in Italy- at first I was wondering if that my have only been our driver- every country has a few people who think they're Earnhardt. However after being here a few days, I can fairly say that it's not just him. They're all out of their minds. Driving in NYC/Boston/Atlanta has nothing on driving in Rome. Streetlights mean nothing to cars and even less to scooters/bikes. While crossing a street, any street, in Rome, you have the same two options that one has while driving a boat from a harbor out to the ocean in a heavy fog. You know that there are massive container ships whose path you need to cross, you have no idea what path they'll be on, nor how fast they'll be coming up on you. So you can either take it nice and easy and meticulously plot out what you think will be the safest path, or sit down, hold on tight, put the throttle down, and pray. Knowing that plotting out a path is useless due to the fact that there are no lanes for cars to follow, we usually decide to just wait for a slight break in traffic and sprint. It's worked so far!

I was sent this flash video from one of the students who's been here for 2 years already, which shows the difference between Italy and the rest of Rome. It's hysterical and it's one of the most accurate depictions you'll see. Absolutely check it out.

http://www.infonegocio.com/xeron/bruno/italy.html

Doing some more sight seeing this evening, I think- not sure yet where I'll post most of the pictures, but will get on that sooner than later.

Ciao!

Exhaustion

So I made it all the way to Rome- and what a trip it was! Flew from BWI to JFK without much to tell about it, pretty small plane- but we took off and landed without a hitch, so can't complain. Needed to switch terminals at JFK, so of course I had to go back through security there. Two lines (mine and another) merged into one just before security and I noticed that I was in the middle of a French family who spoke very little English, the father spoke the most, then the mother, and the three young girls spoke hardly a word. Both parents were in the front of the family, with one girl, then there was me, then the two youngest. So I turned to the girls and told them to go be with their parents in front of me which was received by huge smiles and words of gratitude from the whole family. Random acts of kindness is what it's all about. So I proceeded to my gate, then with enough time decided to grab lunch (I think, meals and even time really mean so very little when you're flying across multiple time zones) and wouldn't you know it? The same French family ends up right behind me in the same line. Made small talk and said our goodbyes as I left with my food. Eventually it's time to board- get to my seat and yup, you guessed it. I'm sitting next to the father of the french family. His wife besides him and the kids behind us. Then next to me across the aisle is a girl (around my age) who says she's heading to Rome after London as well. Unfortunately not to study abroad, but teaching English in Florence to grade school kids. 7-ish hours later, we land at Gatwick and head off to the international gates, going through yet another security check. After we get through, we (Marybeth (the one teaching in Florence) and I) say our goodbyes (this time for real) to the French family. We got to our gate with plenty of time to spare and prepared for the last leg of our journey. 2 hours later we land in Rome, breeze through customs and collect baggage. We had to wait a while for the belt to start moving, but bags started flowing off pretty quickly thereafter. Everyone's but poor Marybeth. Neither of her two bags arrived. So off to baggage claim we went, where I (while feeling terrible) had to leave her, in order to be able to find the guy holding the "JCU Students" sign before he left and I was stuck without a ride. Her family was just on the other side of the hall though, so I wasn't all that bad of a person... :-P

About 6 of us from JCU were there and waiting for our driver. He came soon enough and drove us (I'm using the word "drove" very loosely. All four tires may have been on the ground at one point in the drive... but I doubt it.) back to the front gate of our apartment. It was a roller coaster, really was. I'm very glad I still had some Dramamine left in my system. Cutting across 4 lanes, then back another 5 lanes to get ahead of one guy, no signals, people hollering at everybody and 6 poor Americans sitting in the midst of it all telling each other that in case we don't make it, it was great meeting everybody. And the driver, let me tell you- was the real deal when it came to Italians. Early 40's, bald guy, designer jeans, shiny brown shoes, white button down that was half way unbuttoned, and a build that he could have lifted the van if need be. And a real thin goatee that seems to be very popular with 30's and 40's here. So I settle in, take a nap, go to"Simply Market", a very small grocery store and meet 3 of the guys I'll be living with. One from California, one from North Carolina, and one from Philly. Seems like we should all get along well. We had just enough time/energy to all head out to a local pizza joint close to campus and get back for bed.

This morning we all woke up around 10 and have just been relaxing so far. Most likely do the tourist things today and tomorrow. We are starting to notice the little things that differ between here and in the States. Biggest one so far? The shower. It's about 2 1/2 feet x 2 1/2 feet (no joke) and to possibly grasp the idea of temperature and pressure? Think... Horton Center before Agape Meal as far as pressure most of the time, and for temperature think... Emerald Pool at 5am. Going to take some definite getting used to.

Ciao!

What does one do their last day in the States for four months?

"Love and be with your mother". That was the answer I heard when I asked that question out loud this morning. I smiled and rolled my eyes, but Lord knows I love her and we're both lying out by the pool now, so I suppose the answer works.

This is the first post/entry/blog I've made (as well as first time blogging, so I apologize to all the real bloggers reading this- but I have no idea about any of the correct blogging terms) in what I'm hoping will be a somewhat frequently kept up blog (or more likely, a rambling) of my trip to Rome for the fall semester to study abroad at John Cabot University. It's an American style University with many of it's students being Americans going to study abroad (either for a semester or as 4-year, degree seeking students) and a good handful from all around the globe. As well as a good contingent from Italy, itself. All classes, luckily, (besides language, of course) will be taught in English. The University is named after John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), an Italian explorer, originally from Venice, who became the first European explorer to sail to Canada in 1497 when he landed on the shores of Cape Breton Island. (MacIntyres reading this: we owe him one.)

I started to type a "sorry for the history lesson" type paragraph, but... I'm going to Rome. May have to put up with them from post to post. :-P

For a brief look at the future though- I'm flying from Baltimore to JFK tomorrow, then an overnight flight to Heathrow (London), then finally to Fiumicino Airport in Rome. Take-off at 1:45pm from BWI and land in Rome around 11:30am (local times), long trip, very much worth it.

I should say that now I'm going to go and finish packing/last minute shopping needs, but it's a gorgeous day. So instead, I'm going to continue to listen to what mom told me and "Love and be with your mother" by lying out at the pool.

Talk next time from Rome! Ciao!