Roma

Traveling was the worst. Had a delay in Chicago which pushed my arrival time in Washington D.C. back about an hour and gave me 5 minutes to make it to my next flight. I was off the plane sprinting along with about six other kids my age and a family of five, all trying to make it to the same flight to Rome. When we got to the terminal we found it to be delayed because the guy that fills the jet, overfilled one of the wings and gas was everywhere. So, they had to clean that up which took about forty minutes. When I arrived in the terminal to Rome I knew I was in the right place because all that I saw were a lot older men, very well dressed in suits with dominant facial features (including the big nose) and two priests were on the flight; you wouldn’t have even had to look at the screen to know you were headed to Rome. I got into Rome this morning at about 9am local time. Long flight, but I slept as much as I could. My luck on my third flight finally showed through; unlike my first two flights who not only sat in their own seat but also shared half the seat with me, I was blessed with a little pitite girl studying vocals in Florence. She was nice and quiet, and had food allergies so I was very happy to see her sitting next to my seat. I probably got about 3 or 4 hours of sleep on the plane, mainly because of boredom. When the sun rose in the morning while we were flying over France is was a beautiful way to view my first sight of Europe as I peeked through the clouds. But, I would have to say the sight of the Italian coastline and the rocky hills from above, the stretching broccoli type forests of trees, was a very beautiful way to start a morning. I couldn’t help but think what it would be like to live in some of those villages I was spying on from above. The sandstone style houses with the red clay tops, something you see only in pictures. To say the least, I was very happy and excited to finally land.
After landing into cold, wet, rainy Rome; I realized how bad of an idea it was to not get up the throughout the whole flight. My legs were sooo tight and the minute I stood up I realized that I had to use the restroom very badly. So, I spent the first 15 minutes or so in Rome in the restroom relieving some much needed pressure. Found my way out of the airport and into the stazione (train station). Had my first Italian short convo with the lady at the ticket counter. More or else was two words and she helped me by repeating them back to me, but still a confidence boost, at the time. Made sure I validated my ticket, because my father made sure to tell me at least 4 times in a day to do so. I spotted an American girl waiting for the train into Termini too. She wasn’t hard to decipher, she was blonde had three huge bags. I helped her put her bags on the train and we shared little seating area. Even though we didn’t talk much we still liked the company of having someone that spoke English around at least for such a short time. It was her first time in Italy as well. She headed to Florence for school right after the train into Termini, she looked completely lost when I left her. But, so was I so I wasn’t much help. I helped her find where to buy some tickets for Florence and that was that. I had my own problems, somehow my perfect planning and preparation to walk from Termini to my hostel failed me. I came out on a complete different street, so I just picked a direction and walked that way. I knew which way the train came from and I knew that was south and I needed to go north a bit so I walked that way, it eventually worked out. I got into my hostel but had to wait until 15:00 (3pm) to check in. So, I decided to check out a local convenient store. I walked in this little closet of a shop and asked, in Italian, if he spoke English, he looked at me with a real puzzled look and said something and pointed behind him so I shook my head up and down and walked out. I had no idea what he said, so much for the confidence boost, ha. I walked and hung out at Termini because that was the only thing I knew and I figured they would speak a little bit more English than anywhere else that was close by. I usually wouldn’t think that way but I wasn’t feeling confident at all in my Italian by that point If there is one thing I have noticed about Italians is that everyone of them has something beautiful about them. Something that sticks out and makes them unique, I don’t know if it is the attitude about life and the heritage or what but it is a very attractive sight. They are very confident and deliberate in their movements and actions.
I haven’t had anything to do today, so I have spent most of the day on the computer; making sure the Vikings lost (glad to see they know how it feels to have a late Favre interception cost them a playoff game) and other things. I’m sharing my hostel for the night with 5 Brazilians, 1 Chinese/American (from Boston), and 1 Australian girl. I feel bad for the girl. It’s going to be an early night for me, but I think I will be woken up later because these Brazilians look like they mean business about going out tonight. So, we will see!
All in all, I would consider it a day of survival in Roma. Didn’t do a thing. Just sat around and tried to sneak in little naps here and there. I am glad to be here. I think tomorrow, if the weather cooperates I will go see more of the city.