I'm here!!!!

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OK, so it’s my second day here in the most fab of all cities (well, so far…). Yesterday, Sept. 2 (MY BIRTHDAY!), we got here at 7:45 AM and exchanged money at the airport while Grant went to get the bags. Katie and I waited in line forever, but we finally got our money and found Grant with the bags. Then we met our driver and he took us to our apartment. It is on the most darling little side street off of Via de Trastevere. Trastevere is a great street with all sorts of restaurants, bars, and shops. We met the man we are renting our apartment from at the gate and he took us, and our bags upstairs. The family previously renting the apartment was still here because by contract they didn’t have to leave until 10AM and we weren’t supposed to get it before noon, but they were really sweet and understood that we couldn’t really help the time of our flight and let us put our luggage inside. We talked with Enso, the man from Roman Reference who we rented from, about all the details and then set out to get some food while the apartment was being cleaned.

We discovered this great place on our block called “Pizza Boom”. I swear, it’s magical!  If you know me really well, you’ll know that I am seriously obsessed with pizza, and Pizza Boom is like the castle to great pizza. Hahaha. So Grant, Katie, and I ate there and walked around to find out what was close to us and where would be a good place to buy groceries. Grant was really tired, so Katie and I kept on and Grant went back to take a nap. We decided that we really wanted to get our cell phones so we walked for a ways but didn’t see one and decided to ask for directions. Now, keep in mind we can’t speak Italian but we were trying really hard. Luckily, the peeps here are really sweet and like to try to make an understanding. We finally walked to Via de Marconi, and found tons of really cute shops and even a mall.

We came upon a store called “Eldo” which we gather is like the Best Buy of Italy. We struggled through buying cell phones, which was hilarious. We were having a really hard time trying to communicate with hand gestures and adding Italian accents to English words, so I figured that maybe I could find someone who spoke Chinese and go by it that way. When I finally asked our salesperson if he spoke Chinese, he gave me the most dead-pan, “Are you kidding me?” look. It was so funny, because he thought we were crazy for asking that. Anyways, we bought our phones (which we still can’t figure out how to activate…) and a hair dryer. Typical girls. 

We went back and took a nap from about 1-5:30PM. We would’ve looked around longer, but everything closes for siesta about 1PM. So we slept and then I woke up everyone and we unpacked. Unpacking was a real treat (saracastic) for me because I realized that in my reluctance to leave and deprivation of sleep (plus added fear of exceeding the weight limit) I packed hardly any clothes. So Mary Margaret needs to go shopping or else she we’ll be naked for the rest of the trip. After unpacking we showered, and waited for Erin, the 4th roommate. We last heard that her flight was coming in at 5:30. We waited until 9PM, fretted for a while, and then hunger set in, so we left a note with my phone number on it at the gate and went out for my birthday dinner. YEA!

We ate a ristoranti called Station Pizza Café. It was soooo good. I had a tomato/basil bruschetta with a pizza of eggplant, tomatoes, mozzarella, and parmesan. Absolutely heavenly. I chased it with some Vino de Rossa (red wine). Mmmmm!

We went out to find some happening bars, and walked for what seemed like forever, and found this cool side street with tons of bars. We found a really cool Moroccan bar where everyone sat on these neat floor pillows. I was treated (thank you, Grant) to a Kir Royale: crème de cassis with champagne. So good! Then we walked a bit more down that street and found a much more high energy bar called Havannah Club. It was a more Americanized bar, but still a fun experience. Everything was in glass and lit from underneath with this electric-blue light. I had a Sex on the Beach there and then we decided to head home because it was late and we were all pretty tired.

But when we got home, we weren’t ready to let the festivities die, so we cranked up the Jackson 5, opened a bottle of wine, and gave in to a sing-along/dance fest. We crashed, and still hadn’t found Erin! So much worry!

This morning we woke up, well I guess it wasn’t morning but rather 12:30PM. We all agreed to head back to Pizza Boom and try to find a way to get to the school. We bought bus passes for the month yesterday, so we boarded the tram and took it to the river. We got off, and walked up the side of the river until I found the bridge in front of Castelo Sant Angelo. It is so, so, so beautiful there. If you’ve read “Angels and Demons” it’s the alleged Church of Illuminati. Also, if you’ve read it, you know there is a bridge lined with angels leading up to it. Angels are so magical to me, and it was really an amazing moment on the bridge. So many people walking around, enjoying life, the good weather, etc. When we were walking to our school, Katie and I (naturally…) found a pasta store with pasta shaped like little penises. It was very tempting to buy and surprise Grant with a funny supper, but we will have to do that later. I led us to the school (from spending a week here last Christmas) and we rang up, but no one was there. We got a soda and found a tram pretty close that led us right back in front of our house—much closer than walking from the river. 

Katie and I decided to “home-ify” the apt. and redecorated while Grant took a nap—hahaha. We cut out magazine pics and made a collage over our beds. Complete with a Janet (Miss Jackson if you’re nasty) pic by my bed. We have TONS of extra bedding for some reason and took that to cover this really ugly couch that was in a furry cow print and covered our dining room chairs to look like a wedding reception. Then we rearranged the furniture and found little odds and ends to decorate with. We like to call them “furm shings” because we were told (by an Italian desperately trying to use English) that is “forbidden to move furm shings at night”.  Very cute. We also hung up a cute, green table cloth over the entry to the alcove where we store cleaning stuff so now our apt is very cute, very comfortable. We also hung little disco-fied hearts and angel Christmas ornaments from the chandeliers and Katie hung gold mardi gras beads on the chandelier in the living room. I love it!

Right after decorating, we got a buzz from downstairs (like an apt. in NYC or something). Low and behold it was the no longer M.I.A. Erin! She had mixed up her flight times and was delayed a day, but we were all so happy to see her and know she was OK, that we bombarded her with questions and stories. Luckily, she’s really sweet and loved it.  I love all of my roommates. I feel like we all bring something to the table and it makes our living situation work. Katie brings a very happy, funny aspect and it’s very interesting because being in Rome is her first time out of the MIDWEST—I love watching her discover new things here because she truly appreciates it. Grant is very smartical (giggle…) and is like having a dad here. He’s always watching out for us and before Erin arrived, I’m sure was driven nuts by our silliness. He would send us out for groceries and we’d come back with no groceries, but cell phones (that we couldn’t figure out) and an Audrey Hepburn poster. Classic! Erin brings a really fun, positive worldly aspect and is really really cool. I’m so enjoying my roommates!

I made dinner—and it was good! I made bow tie pasta with tomato sauce and I added in some basil and basalmic vinegar for flavor. I grated cheese on it and cut up some green olives too—soooo yummy. We also had bread and of course some more wine. This place is impossibly heavenly.

We just ate gelato at a gelateria on our block. The gelato is great because it’s not so creamy as ice cream, and the flavors are much more true to the real thing. For example, tonight Grant’s strawberry gelato, was like eating a real strawberry. *sigh* As we were sitting outside, Tara Tinnin walked by. Grant recognized her and then she, Grant and I all had a momentary freak out! It’s so crazy. I went to pre-school with here and would hang out with her occasionally at summer day camps, and Grant knew her through some friends in high school. She’s in Rome for the semester too, so we traded contact info and now Grant is so excited he’s on cloud 9. 

Well everyone, I miss ya’ll much, but I’m having an absolute blast here and getting along just fine. Please leave me messages and e-mails—I’d love to have a little piece of home to read.  Once I get my cell phone situation figured out I’ll send out my phone number and we can schedule calls. It’s too expensive to call overseas just to have someone not answer. Love ya’ll!

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