Sto A Roma!!

I am finally here. I can't believe it. After all the waiting, I have finally arrived in Roma. Luckily, flying in I had a window seat, which allowed me to see everything from lush green farmlands to the sea off the western coast of Italy. Emerging from the clouds I actually felt as though a magical fairy tale land was coming into view. It was breathtaking.

The flights from Boston to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Rome were relatively painless. On the way to Frankfurt I sat next to Evan and Charlotte, two BU students on their way to study in Dresden. We shared stories and excitement for the adventures on which we were about to embark. After saying goodbye to the two of them at Customs (which I went through in Germany) I found my way to the gate for my flight to Roma. I was delirious from having been up for almost 20 hours, so I rested until Italy finally came into view underneath the wings of the Lufthansa jet.

Walking off the plane was surreal and waiting for my luggage to arrive on the baggage claim a roller coaster ride of emotion, since the rest of the trip had been so flawless, I was sure something had to go wrong. It did not. I found my bags and found my way to the smiling girls with IES signs who greeted me in the waiting area. They paired me with another girl living near me and herded us and our bags into a cab.

This is when it hit me that I was in Italy. Not because of the street signs that read names I recognized from the freakish amount of research I'd done before hand. Not because of the radio that blasted ballads in Italian. No. It hit me when I got to use my first bit of Italian when the girl with whom I was sharing the cab started to look like she might hurl. I asked the cab driver in English if he could pull over and when he gesticulated wildly for me to clarify in Italian I managed to say "possiamo fermare? per favore?! lei fa male!!!" He pulled over!! It was exciting to be understood and have my first Italian interaction. I am in Italy.

When I arrived at Via Ostiense, 30, I had a similar interaction with the doorman, when I fished for Italian words I'd learned back at Columbia, sometimes successfully, other times to no avail. When I poured out of the elevator on the 5th floor, the door to the apartment was open and 4 of my roommates were waiting for me. My apartment is beautiful and gigantic. My roommates are all friendly. I'm sharing a room with Marsia from Michigan and the other three Americans, Stephanie from Connecticut, Tara from Miami and Allison from Jersey, are sharing a room the size of ours. We have two bathrooms, a kitchen filled with light and a little living room filled with Ikea furniture. My bed is by a window that looks out onto the balconies of other apartments and I think I will get great light in the mornings. We have an incredible terrace that overlooks Via Ostiense, which I know will become one of my favorite places when the weather starts to get warm.

I don't think I could ask for anything better. Tonight the five of us Americans and our Italian roommate Antonella made gnocchi with freshly made tomato and black olive sauce and parmiggiano, pear and blue cheese salad with honey and olive oil dressing, and homemade (by us) bruschetta. Antonella introduced us to the cube game, which is incredible and I can't go into detail without ruining it, but I promise to play with you at home when I return.

Tonight, although it's late, we're going to go for a walk around our neighborhood. We'll see the Piramide and hopefully venture up toward the Circo Massimo, Foro Romano e Colloseo. I'm in this place that's still so foreign to me, in an apartment that doesn't quite feel like home yet. But as someone very close to my heart reminded me today, I am now in my new home. Italian things have already happened to me, and Italian things will continue to happen. Don't worry, I will make sure to absorb every one of them.

A Dopo-
J