Grime and Gelati!

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So Mum and Dad came out the very next day to join me in a rented apartment down the road from what was to be my new place. Eager to see the sights of Rome, we explored the city in the boiling heat; taking in the wonders of the Pantheon and Piazza Novana, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, St Peter's and the museums of the Vatican, the ruins at Terme di Caracalla and the nightlife of Trastevere. The city stunned me at every turn. It seems around every corner there is something spectacular to look at. Mum and Dad were in love with the city as much as me-not to mention the incredible food and ice cream!




On the Monday we went over to my new apartment to collect the keys. Bruno my landlord, and Daniella his daughter-neither of whom can speak any English-were waiting for us with smiles on their faces. Anna, a lady at my new school who had agreed to come along and translate for me, had not turned up and so we spent the first 20 minutes gesturing at each other and shrugging our shoulders! It's so frustrating not being able to communicate, but it gives me such motivation to learn the language. My first concern was that the two monstrous coffin like wooden single beds that I had agreed with Bruno in May to get rid of were still in the apartment; along with an awful amount of furniture. When Anna arrived she had the unhappy task of translating what ended up being a stand off between me and Bruno. Bruno saying he needed to keep the beds as he normally rents out to two single girls and what will he do when I leave tomorrow (firstly, 'normally'-he had rented the apartment to the same two girls for the past 10 years, and secondly, I have no intention of moving out 'tomorrow'😉 and me saying that I had my furniture coming tomorrow and had absolutely no space to keep these two hideous wooden boxes (didn't put it quite like that!). Bruno then said I could get rid of them myself, as if someone new to the country with no italian would have a clue how to do that?!

Finally Bruno's wife-the real boss-was put on the phone to Anna who agreed to chuck the beds if I left my furniture behind when I leave. No Way! So we all went into different rooms to deliberate. In the end, and after a lame attempt at running after a skip that we could see on the back of a truck out the window, Bruno magically found a friend that would help him dispose of the beds the next day at 8.30am. After much 'grazie mille'-ing we all left, slightly nervous of having offended eachother but smiling nevertheless. I don't know what we would have done without Anna there!



The following day and true to his word, Bruno was there at 8.30am with his friend carrying out the beds, and various other skip worthy pieces of furniture. Mum, Dad and I had planned to clean the place as much as possible before the furniture arrived, but Bruno hung around like a bad smell for hours showing me all sorts, like how to turn on the gas. I think it was then it dawned on us how much cleaning was really going to be needed to make the place habitable. The apartment was filthy. Absolutely disgusting. How anyone could live in that filth was beyond all of us, and why Bruno hadn't taken the month to clean it was a mystery too. I'm sure if I'd have been Italian or already living in Rome I would have refused to move in until he cleaned the place from top to bottom. But I guess when you relocate abroad you put up with things you wouldn't normally.



Mum and Dad were troupers-as most of you saw on facebook we managed to gut, clean, repaint and assemble new furniture in a matter of days. It's amazing what a lick of white paint can do to a room! I felt so happy and comfortable in the apartment once the work was finished. Dad actually lost a stone in a week through all of his hard work in the sweltering heat! Not sure why I didn't though......must have been the daily gelato stops!

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