Everything so far has been AWESOME! I will admit that it was a bit of a rude awakening to get out of bed Sunday morning and be greeted in Italian, first thing, about 60 seconds after waking up. But other than that, everything has worked out great. I arrived at Fiumicino on Friday pomereggio around 4:30, got my bags, went right through customs (an unmanned automatic door- very high security around here) and went to get on the train into Rome, only to find that there had been some sort of accident on the line, and the train wouldn't be functioning for who knows how long. Got in line for a taxi, which I had been told could cost an arm and a leg, but having no alternatives I was ready to suck it up... when the woman ahead of me in line turned and asked where I was going. Since she was also going to Stazione Termini (most people were, without l'espresso leonardo), we split the cab. Good deal.
After getting to Termini, I found my hostel without too much trouble, checked in and left my bags, and went to go find dinner. Ended up getting a pizza margherita and un bicchiere di vino rosso, cheap enough, just classic Italian street cafe fare.
OK we're about to go: the rest of my introduction in a nutshell. My Italian parents picked me up Saturday afternoon, gave me a brief tour of Roma, and then we went home. We have a great little flat in Monteverde, very comfortable, and Anna and Claudio are fantastici! (no typo) Anna is a fantastic cook, although she refuses to admit it, and they have done everything to make me super comfortable in the city these first few days, including showing me how to use the tram to get from home to school (which the school pays for- awesome). Last night we had an aperativo at a small little place right near campo de' fiori, and afterwords, the Italian parents went home, and we explored on our own a little bit, including visiting campo de' fiori, piazza navona, and piazza venezia.
ciao e baci!
-Brian
Thanks for the update and great to hear everything is going well! We are all looking forward to the updates - they are just like we are talking so it is awesome to read about things. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed with the depth of the discussion you describe in the 10/28 entry and chuckled when you wrote that your English is getting "rusty" - wow - what an experience you are having! Good luck on your midterms.
Miss you!