We left the hotel via taxi, which we arranged through the hotel, thankfully, at 4:35 AM. I think I can officially cross early morning airplanes off my To-Do list for the rest of time, regardless of how cool it was to be in the airport while it was dark and so few people were around to crowd it up. The reason we left so early was because our flight was at 7:10 AM, and I wasn’t sure how much time it would take to get our ticket, drop off bags, and get through security. Now I know it’s not all that much. We got to the airport just after 5, I believe, so we went straight to the left luggage desk to wait for them to open at 5:30 so Britt could reclaim her two bags she left there on Friday. It was then I consumed a smoothie, my first drink of the morning.
We took the lift up to Departures when we were ready and checked in at the kiosk, then checked our bags in what must have been in 15 minutes or so. Then we went through security, which must have taken only 10 minutes or less and found ourselves waiting downstairs in front of the Departures board, waiting to be assigned a gate. With that given, we went to the proper place and waited. There I had my second drink, a chocolate chiller. I think I’ll call it heaven in a cup. Or something equally fitting, because it was awesome.
The plane ride itself was smooth and just fine. The girl sitting next to me (since Britt and I had to sit diagonally from each other) ended up being super friendly and a lot of fun to talk to. She was returning to her home in Rome, after being in the States with her family and doing an internship, so she was used to the commute and showed us how to get through the airport once we got to Italy. I don’t think I could have thanked her enough, since we did make it through much faster than we would have on our own. Once we said good bye, we made our way to the taxi service and soon got on board and were driving to the Housing Office. One thing I should have got before I left home was a map of Rome. Whoops. Oh well, such is life. We made it to the Housing Office with no trouble, and we got our keys and all that in minutes. The only thing was, we had no idea how to get out of the courtyard; the doors to the outside had locked and I didn’t see the exit he was talking about. So, we ambled about for a few minutes until I ran back into the actual office, amid a bunch of Italians just looking on at Britt and I wandering, and he showed us the way out and would you know it, someone else just came in a cab! We decided to take it, even though the office was relatively close to our apartment, because of the suitcases and the cobblestone.
In the end, we paid very little for it and we got there faster so we could spend the time we would have spent walking, trying to figure out where our actual apartment was. I went up the wrong staircase and spent at least 10 minutes wandering the small third floor of 3 doors, trying to figure out which one was ours, when all of them had Italian names I could only assume suggested families living there. Luckily Alice and her sister came and saved us, since I wouldn’t have checked the end of the courtyard to find the other staircase just hanging out. After a couple trips in the lift and some stairs, we were finally in our apartment!
We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking, until we took a trip to the market to get some food, because Alice’s sister was going to make us dinner (It was delicious, by the way). We dawdled around a bit too, seeing our studio and the Pantheon from the outside, which happens to be really close by, and a few other things. Weirdest thing? A cat sanctuary in the middle of a piazza. Not even kidding, I couldn’t make that up if I tried. Apparently Rome had a cat problem and so they made this sanctuary for the strays, which is run by volunteers and apparently people have even given money to keep it up. Rome, this is going to be a seriously interesting semester, isn’t it?
Here's a picture if you don't believe me:
Anyways, the market was pretty fun. Reading labels in Italian is fun. Not knowing what they are and having to guess is fun. That’s how I picked shampoo and conditioner; I found Pantene Pro-V with something along the lines of the 2 in one thing and I figured I was getting it right. The guy at the register wasn’t so much a fan of me though, which I am assuming is because I had no change to give him and instead he had to break a E10 note. He basically threw my change and receipt at me, although he did that to the others too, so I don’t feel so awful. I think one of my goals is to understand him better.
When we got back, we were approached by an Italian couple in the courtyard, trying to explain to use that someone short was waiting for us at number 5. And so there was Cindy, waiting with all her stuff at the top of the stairs by the door. She got here after the Housing Office closed, so she had no key and thus had to wait for us. Thankfully, she hadn’t been there too long, so it was alright. She unpacked while we had fun and helped make dinner. After that, Alice’s sister decided to take us to the best gelateria she knows, which took us past the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. We couldn’t find it for awhile, but when we did, mmmm, yum. We sampled each other’s gelato, but mine was honey flavored. Or something similar. It was awesome. Gelato in general is awesome. We went here:
Pictures are a bit fuzzy, because it’s dark and my camera isn’t at its best at this time of night, but I hope you get the idea. We took our gelato to the Trevi Fountain and oh my gosh was it packed! It had to be around 11:00 PM at this time and still, people everywhere! We did take some cool pictures though:
And a roommate picture:
And there you have it; my first day and night in Rome.
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