Finally in Rome...

March 28th


We arrived in Rome 2 hours later than scheduled because the flight took off from Philly almost 3 hours

late. We sat on the plane for 2.5 hours while they fixed the malfunctioning cargo door. We were off to a

rough start already. Luckily we made it to Rome and got off the plane by 9:45am. We thought for sure we'd

make it to the 10am pick-up service we had scheduled. We didn't actually get our luggage until 10:15am. By

the time we found the pickup guy, we had to wait until he came back from taking the girl. He thought he'd

be back by 12pm...we'll he got to us at 1:30pm finally.


We finally made our way to our apartment. We're staying on the 4th floor, and luckily there is an

"elevator" here. It's the most tiny, narrowest elevator ever. I'll have to take a picture of it. We're

staying near the train station. I'm pretty sure we're in Rome's version of Chinatown. It's weird, it almost

seems like New York city where Chinatown meets Little Italy. I have to admit, the neighborhood is a bit

shady at times, and you can tell we're in the cheaper area of Rome. We're only here for the first month, so

now we know we'll want to spend a little more money and find a nicer area to stay.

We went to dinner at Piazza Navona last night at a restaurant called "Tre Scalini". The food and the

service was really nice. After dinner we took a walk in the Navona neighborhood and found plenty of really

fun small bars, cafes, and restaurants. I think we'll definitely be spending more time in that area. We

then took our "passegiata" through the Roman streets. We walked from Piazza Navona (the home of Bernini's

Fountain of the Four Rivers) to the Pantheon, and then on to the Fountain of Trevi. We topped off the night

with a stop at the Spanish Steps where we spent a few hours. We met a group of Geography students from

Germany. It was the one girls birthday and they were so nice that they even offered us wine, snacks and

"birthday cake" which was actually a store-bought apple tart. It was a really cool experience. We also met

a guy from Lithuania who has been living in Rome for the past 7 years, and his friend who was originally

from Puglia in Southern Italy but who has been living in Rome for several years as an architect.


Only in Europe is it socially accepted to drink wine and beer on the steps of a church in the middle of a

town square all while playing the guitar and singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and celebrating your birthday

with strangers all from different countries...all while speaking English.

Considering these people all speak English here, I'm not sure who I will be teaching. They don't seem to

need my help. I could use some tips from them however.

So that's it for our first day. We found a supermarket and a cell phone shop. I need to buy a USB cable

because I left the 20 I have at home and have no way to upload my pics right now. I'll write more soon.

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