CIAO, Roma!

Wow, I cannot believe I am in Rome! (Or as the Italians say, Roma!) Some few things to note so far is that do not take roses from strangers on the streets when there are guys with you because they expect the guys to pay for it, keep bags as close to the body as much as possible, and practice italian as much as you can!

The plane ride over was exhausting. I boarded the plane at JFK, January 15th, after crying a little after leaving my family and Harold. After a little more tears in the plane, I listened to Kings of Leon, Jason Mraz , watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and some of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and had my first glass of wine without being carded! I landed at Heathrow in London. Heathrow is crazy! It's just a big airport made of glass. After running to my transfer flight which was only about 40 minutes after I landed, I boarded my plane to Rome (I slept through it).

When I touched down in Rome on January 16th, I met up with Camay after being lonely for many hours, who was on another flight, and we boarded the St. John's shuttle bus and headed to downtown Rome. There's so much graffitti here, more than NY (if that's possible). We ended up in this little street, which I later found out is named Via Marcantonia. We, as in the entire DTW group, began to roll our luggages round the corner and found ourselves in front of the SJU Rome Campus. We thankfully did not have to drag any of our luggage up because our RA brought them up in the elevator.

Camay and I walked into our rooms and yelled for joy. Not only do we have double beds, but a room with a KILLER view! We overlook the street below and see the rooftops in sunrise and sunset. We are also the corner room and the closest to the bathroom and laundry room. The only flaw right now is that the bathroom is co-ed. But either way, Kudos Rome Campus! Our room began on one side but we moved everything to our liking.

Then today, we woke up to the Roman sun coming through our window, got to the shower (before anyone else could), and then had orientation. We went on a short neighbordhood tour to check out where we could buy groceries and where to use our meal plan tickets. I bought milk (latter) and it was difficult because I got some attitude from the cashier but that's expected. Then bought some eggplant parmesean pizza. Then had an 'italian lecture with Gianna' who told us that when italian boys invite you for 'coffee' they really mean for sex.And there's no turning back once you do. That's sorta scary. Also, that italians don't wanna hear that you're from Jersey but from NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA, MIAMI! Lol, Gianna's hilarious. We finally then went on a historical center tour of the nearby areas. We went to this villa (which I don't remember the name of right now), the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain! I didn't get to throw any coins into the fountain, so I'm going back some time this week. One coin means you'll return to Rome, two coins means you'll marry in Rome, three coins means you'll marry a Roman! We passed by Armani, Prada, Valentino, and I drooled a little.

I am sitting in the dorms listening to Joe Jonas (hah), facing the window with this black sky and a faint glow from street lights. I planned to go to the Trinita dei Monti for church tomorrow morning. Hopefully the Vatican this week. That's it for now folks, here's a few photos. More on my facebook. I plan to make a flickr at some point for my photos.