Rome!!

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Hey guys! This is about the first chance I’ve had to write about all be adventures to make me a cultured woman of the world. I got home before my host family today (7:30 pm) so I’ve had some time to myself in the house, which is nice so I’ve snooped, and it’s much bigger than I thought, so maybe I will be getting a roommate?

Where to start? The flight to Italy was quite the adventure, I slept most of the way, to Chicago and in Chicago it was snowing, and I had my first experience of de-icing a plane, so we were delayed and sat on the run way for about an hour and a half… which then caused us to be late getting into Germany. After sprinting across the German airport, taking a tram and running up multiple flights of stairs and getting through costumes… we missed the flight by 15 minutes. Quite a bummer, so we had to wait a few hours, and during that time I explored “Germany” (as in the airport). The weirdest thing about Germany: in the airports at least, they have smoking boxes which are like extra large phone booths that people cluster and smoke and when you walk by it smells like a smoky trash can!

Flying into Rome was probably one of the coolest things ever. We flew right over the Alps and for about half an hour it was blue skies and snowy peaks!! Once getting into Rome we met the Siena Italian Studies group and took a bus to airport. Within 5 minutes of being on Italian soil I got my first taste of creepy European men… apparently the man at the airport loves me, thinks I’m a beautiful oriental woman and air kissed at me and whistled…. what can I say? 20 hours in planes and airports is my beauty secret!

We spent about 3 days in Rome… it was amazing! We walked everywhere, and I took my first subway ride to the Spanish Steps. In Rome itself we saw the Coliseum and the Pantheon and the Treve Fountain (I have lots of pictures!!). And you would all be proud…. I did not shop in Rome!!

Meeting our host families was really intense. After a 3-hour bus ride we pulled into a parking lot where the host families were and one by one we were called off the bus and introduced to our host parents (who do not speak English… mine not at ALL) and taken to their cars and taken to our new homes. It was really hard the first the night, but it’s been about 3 days in Siena and I can already hold decent conversations with my host parents!! (it really helps that we have the “le intensitivo classe de la italiano” 5 hours a day, 5 days a week!)

Well guys. Sorry I don’t have anything too exciting to say. I will write more soon. As soon as I get adapters and charge my camera I will take pictures of my host family and house and update you more on my life. Currently, my day consists of class and sleep…and exploring Siena (and maybe SOME shopping??) Oh and of course “io mango molto” (eating a lot!!) We start cooking classes next week and next weekend we go to Carnivale…. That should be an interesting story!!

Ciao!
xoxo
Barbara

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Photos

You should know what this is...
please note the "sexy" European men