When in Rome...

Longest day of my adult life. It started with the plane ride, that actually started on Wednesday and ended Rome time 11 am. On the plane we had thee raunchiest flight attendants. Her name was Jane. She would just boss orders and act like a total drama queen by bad mouthing her fellow employees and throw food at us. Me and Megan Evans did not enjoy it one bit. She sat by me on the plane, well twice, once on the first plane and then on the Rome plane. We laughed about the dumbest things because we were so tired. Once we landed we hit the bathrooms and boy were they bad! They smelled so bad and I couldn’t even handle it, and these are nice ones! After that we hit customs and I got my very first stamp in my passport, pretty neat. Then grabbed my huge bad, probably the biggest one of everyone. “Fabio” became our bus driver, I don’t really know his name but that’s how he acted. He was the epitomy of Italian men, greasy, gold jewelry everywhere and a pink shirt on. When we got to our hotel we were more than exhausted… and wanted in our rooms. Me and Ashley Matier are rooming together. It’s a good time. The rooms are actually way nicer than I thought they would be. (first… a bidet. Second… a balcony. Third… double beds, tv, internet, and space!) We showered in our nice little shower, and I mean nice, and headed downstairs for our next adventure. We took the hotels shuttle from the hotel to some place with a cool mural on the wall. We, being 14 students, then had to fend for our own to find food, yeah first Roman experience… get your own food. We failed miserably and had to settle for waiting and finding a professor. We found him at a BAR, or sandwich shop, and had lunch. I chose ham and cheese sandwich. The little café was so adorable and had thee best looking little treats I’ve ever seen. Way fancy and I’m sure way too good to eat, hence why I didn’t. After that we got on the train to go see… duh duh duh da, the Colleseum. Also, the train smelled of urine but in all respects was much cleaner than New York. Literally you walk out of the train station smack dab into its walls. The beauty of it overpowers you. The proportions and size of it are overwhelming. I loved all 80 entrances and the ruin look of it. We took pictures and in no less than three minutes after being there, it starts raining. Now I’m not talking about a summer sprinkle, oh no! Camera in hand, bag in other, I have to run my fanny over to the nearest cover… a tree. We all ended up there, soaking wet and miserable. I tried to save my dear new camera so I had to shove it in my pack and then get my umbrella out, thank heaven I still had that. So as all 29 of us are huddled under 15 umbrellas, completely soaked and angry, we decide to walk the town. Not only is this a bad idea, it’s a horrible one. The rain turned to hail and was taking people out, size of golf balls. After about two hours of being completely soaked we walked past the beautiful forum and Giotto museum to the museum on top of the hill. It’s an old trifecta of buildings that now house a museum of the ancient building. It’s so beautiful there, and to know that this was so long ago makes it that much more special. After the beautiful museum we decided to split for dinner. Me, Susie, and lots of others decided to spend the night at a Hard Rock. The food was so good, probably because we were so hungry. Susie led us astray twice, down the same street. In other words, we rode a taxi back into town and am not headed to bed. Rome is totally different than what I expected, and I hope to keep learning more. Today has felt like a year of struggle but it will be fine tomorrow. It’s hard to be away from the fam, but am having a total blast.