Roma: An Adventure

All right, so here is attempt two at starting this blog. I started to write a post a few days ago, but as would happen, I got sidetracked and left it. Now, it’s a bit unusable since it basically says that I have four days to go and have not packed yet. Well, that’s all changed because now I have zero days to go and have packed! I am actually sitting in Newark airport right at this very moment. I have a good six hour layover here (my flight landed early) so I am bound and determined to find some place to access the wifi and update. I’d really love to watch some Merlin too, but we’ll see if that happens.

If you couldn’t tell by the title, I am heading off to Rome for the semester. My school has a campus there and I will be spending four months there. Just a little excited about that. I am a journalism and history double major and will be spending my time there mostly studying the latter. What better place to study history than in the Eternal City?

Here’s what’s going on right now. I’m sitting in a lonely airport terminal fervishly wishing I had wifi so that I could relieve some of my boredom. I’ve already taken one flight and have two more to go. Tonight’s flight will be my longest at just over eight hours. I’m heading to Munich where in the morning I will make my final connection into Rome. I think I’m feeling a little bit of everything right now. I’m excited, happy, hopeful, a little nervous and genuinely looking forward to what’s about to happen.

I can’t say for certain, but there’s definitely a good chance that I am going to change and I am looking forward to it. Who knows what’s going to happen, but I’m definitely going to make the best of it. There’s not much more to say for now, but I hope that you’ll hang around for the ride. I have a feeling that it’s going to be pretty spectacular!

EDIT: As you can probably tell, I didn’t find internet access in the airport. And it’s been a bit crazy since I got here, but I’m getting a chance to post it now! That means I’m officially in Rome! Have been for three days now. Let’s just say that I’m already in love. I haven’t done much venturing out beyond the neighborhood I live in, but it’s one beautiful place.

The people are so friendly even if we are obnoxious Americans. Getting a taxi at the airport was a fun experience since there were a couple of drivers who wanted me to ride with them as soon as I walked out. Just as a note, don’t ever accept a ride from someone offering! Those aren’t official cab drivers and they can charge you a boatload of money to get anywhere. Always use the taxi stand.

I used my first bit of Italian when giving my driver directions (it was just our address, but so what?). Somehow, despite the fact that I was tired, I managed to take in and enjoy the beautiful countryside. I started to get worried that he might not be taking me on the most direct route, but didn’t have too much to fear. I made it to school for about €50. Not too shabby.

After that there was just a bunch of paperwork and picture taking for our special JFRC IDs (after three plane rides I looked totally awesome). This is getting to be a long first post, so I’ll leave you with the fact that I somehow made it through the rest of the day, moved in, met my roommate and stayed awake. Needless to say, I had an early night.

Here’s to being in Roma and starting my great adventure!

[For those of you reading from Loyola, I got a late start in posting here. This is from a couple of weeks ago. I’ll add the rest soon. ^_^]