Benvenuto a Roma

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The first real day in Rome was a lot better than my past experience in London. Of course my feet are filled with blisters after walking everywhere. I had some nice experiences with the locals. As i was returning to my apartment without my roommates for the first time, I went to open the huge door with my key. But I had three keys on my key chain, so I was struggling with which one was the right one. During this, an old Italian man carrying groceries came up behind me and was trying to help me figure it out but was only talking in Italian. As it took me a little longer, he started to get more impatient. Finally I got us in so that was interesting. In a little while, I left to meet up with Al to visit a friend of ours who studied in America when we went to high school and happens to live in Rome. Before we could go to see her though, we needed a monthly bus pass so we wouldn't get fined when taking the bus. So we went on a search at these small newspaper stands and in tabaccherias (tobacco shops) and finally found it at the 4th one. I asked in Italian for the passes so I was pretty happy with myself considering I only had one semester of Italian. We each paid 28 Euros and continued down the street to the bus stop. As we were waiting at our stop, the guy that sold us the tickets was calling after us and coming down the street. He explained, in Italian, that he sold us passes that were only 18 euro and accidently overcharged us and gave us each 10 euro back. Talk about restoring my faith in people.

So then when the bus finally comes we get on and validated our passes. This elderly woman gets on with us and sits down in a chair. After we swiped ours, she extended her hand with her pass in it and speaks Italian. Since the bus ride is so jerky, she didn’t want to get up to scan her pass. Assuming the obvious, I take her pass to run it through the machine but it is different from ours. Of course she tried explaining what to do in Italian but she was talking too fast to understand. I told her in Italian that I could only speak a little Italian so then understanding why it took me so long, resorted to acting out what I had to do with a swiping motion. All I had to do was move the pass in front of the machine and a sensor picked it up. Oh. I returned the pass and then Al and I went on to have a conversation with her. We tried talking in Italian, she tried in English. We explained how it was our first day in Rome and that we were students. She complemented Al’s hat (which my mom got him) and after a little more conversation, went on to say, “Today your Italian is good. Tomorrow it will be very good.” She even got off the bus with us to try to help us figure out where we were going, even though we knew where we were. I love Italians.

Finally we meet up with Mary and she shows us her house and her father’s house, which are so unique. They are very modern and yet there are aspects that date back to 100s of years ago and contain the history of Rome. We met up with a friend of hers and went to a nice restaurant in the area. I ate some rigatoni with mussels, yum. After that, she took us on a quick tour of Piazza Navona before we returned home.

I am also going to include some pictures of my apartment here. I have my own room and the apartment is pretty big. I also have a pretty nice view from my window. The shower only has around 20 minutes of hot water at a time, and usually takes 2 hours to regenerate, so with four people sharing one bathroom, that’s interesting. Other than that and the fact we only have one fork, I have no complaints.

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Photos

My key
One of the keys to get in my apartment. This thing is huge.

My bedroom.
Not the most cozy but its nice

View
There is a pizzeria right next to our apartment. Haven't tried it yet.

Comments

[Laura Sahyoun]

Bella Laura
The key looks like an arrow, you'll need a bigger purse! Your apartment is so beautiful, love the views too! I can't wait to read your next blog,quickka... and see your photos, Hugs and Kisses Love you soooo much Ciao Bella Laura,xox Mama

[Nina]

:)
sorry these comments are so late..but “Today your Italian is good. Tomorrow it will be very good.” = the cutest thing ever. :)