Getting Settled...

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So last night was really fun. Katie and I were in our rooms, just as I finished writing my last blog, she was about to get on her computer and I was watching Janet’s All for You Tour DVD. She wanted to backup some stuff on her computer to an external super hard-drive. She asked me if she needed a converter, and I said maybe, but I just use an adapter. So she plugged the standard U.S. plug into a U.S. power strip attached to a US/UK converter. The converter was then to be plugged into our outlet and right as she inserted it, it shot out w/ a blue light and all the power on our wing of the apartment went off. Normally, I might be disappointed, but it was so funny I didn’t mind! I loved it—kept me giggling for hours, even now. Then, like the girlies we are, we stayed up talking until 5:30 AM!  I’m not sure whether it was the jet lag, the fun of realizing every night here is a sleepover, or both but it was a blast.

We woke up today, and all of us set out for school. We had orientation there at 2PM and since we live far away we have to take the tram. I actually like living far away, because we get to see much more of the city. Our neighborhood is more like a real working neighborhood, and we’re already making friends! Whereas the school’s location, where the other five humanities students live, has more tourists and is very busy. I love our street. So, we take the tram from the corner of our street to the Teatro de Argentina. I love it because it’s my connection to the theater here. So we get off there, and walk about 4 blocks to school—not bad at all. But, if it weren’t for the tram we’d be up a creek without a paddle.

We were starving b/c we barely had any groceries and decided to grab something on the way, except we forgot it was Monday and most of the shops close then. Sad to say, our hunger was gnawing at us and the only open place we found was McDonald’s. I must say I don’t like to eat McDonald’s at home because it doesn’t offer any vegetarian options except fries and fruit and I would like to support small businesses. But this McDonald’s actually had a variety of delissimo salads—all vegetarian. So we ate there, and then headed to the school for orientation.

At school we were given the standard schedule, rules, syllabus, etc. We got done about 5PM and Katie, Erin, and I headed back home. On the train we saw a little girl with blonde hair, and beautiful green eyes. We told her we loved her eyes, and her mother started talking with us. They were from England and visiting their friend in Rome, who is working teaching English. They were so sweet and really funny. The little girl was 8 and talked about her cat, Bello. She said she originally named it Bella, thinking it was a girl, then in the cutest British accent said, “Well, we took him to the vet one day. Turns out ‘e was a boy!” It was precious and we all loved her. Yea! More friends…

When we reached our stop, we were starving and our beloved Pizza Boom was closed. Erin still hasn’t eaten there—she doesn’t know what she’s missed! So we found another pizzeria close and ate there. While in line, we spotted some American college students so we asked them we’re they were from. “Baltimore” they said, and I replied, “So, what are ya’ll doin here?” I guess I never realized that when I get excited and talk to strangers, they do not use ya’ll nor cut off their “g” from jerunds, and they anserwered “studying” in a sarcastic, country voice. I was so embarrassed by their jokes, I ran out to sit and eat my pizza, not caring to talk to the rude Baltimore Boys again. Humph!

We decided to come back home. Our wing of the apartment (the girls’ side) looks right into the windows of a gym across the alley. Erin and I love to stare at the young bods working out and yell, “Ciao, Bello!” (hello, beautiful boys!), but they can never hear us. Anyways, it’s very entertaining, and we were kind of hungry again, so we decided to walk some more and on our way to get food, check out this gym filled with hot boys. We went inside and took a tour. It was nice, but kind of expensive. We decided we’re only in Rome once, we’d rather spend our money on clothes, food, tickets, etc. than getting hot bods. Plus we can stare all we want from our own bathroom. 

As we were leaving, we saw a man just dropped off from a taxi and struggling up the hill. We all yelled, “Do you need help?” and he said “YES!” so we ran up and helped him. He’s from California and was excited to meet fellow Americans. We helped carry his luggage to outside the gate of his building and he sat there with us and told us some insider tips about our neighborhood. He’s lived here for some time and has several friends from Rome he’d introduce us to and his Italian is very good so he’d be glad to help us with any problems. Also, he told us that where we’ve been buying our groceries is more like the Aldi of Italy, so that would explain the super cheap prices and the OK quality (I know we can do better!). He gave us his card, we said our ciaos and we trecked on. We stopped by the internet store which I find one almost every 100 feet. Interestingly enough every one we’ve been in has been owned by Bangladeshese. Their English is pretty good and they are really nice, so I like it. We checked our e-mail, and then set out to find a restaurant, again. We found one about a block from our street, so we went in. Just as we were waiting to sit down, Jennifer called me! I started jumping up and down like a mad woman, and I couldn’t believe I was hearing her voice! It was really good to hear her and technology still amazes me. After a quick chat, I returned to the restaurant. We walk tons hear and I feel like we’ve been eating like birds, so we ordered gobs of food. We ordered tomatoes with olive oil, a pizza with peppers, olives, and onions, Erin ordered some watermelon, and I picked out “stuffed olives”. I assumed that they were a variety of olives maybe stuffed with pimentos, onions, etc. but they were really stuffed with sausage and fried. Luckily, when they arrived, I cut one open with my knife and realized my dilemma. I knew I should have asked if they were “vegetariano”! But Katie stepped up, tried them, and loved them, so it was all good. We ate, talked, ate some more and headed home. After getting into our beds, Katie and I got to talking again. We decided that we didn’t like having Erin in a separate bedroom and we could move her bedroom into hers. She loved the idea, and came back in to talk. So much fun.

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