Goodbye Home, Hellooooooo Rome

Starting an early afternoon to a long night, we all gathered at JFK for several hours to chil on Sunday, May 22nd. After gethering outside of security, we made our way to the gate together and hung out some more. Once we boarded the plane, members of our group were scattered about. It was possibly the largest plane I'd ever seen. And only on a flight to Europe (especially Italy), would they tell women to take off their high heels should we all land in water. Can't pop that inflateable slide!

I chose to sit by the window, of course, though I never ended up using it for anything like I thought I would. When sunrise came around, a time I usually photograph out the window, I was still asleep, or trying to sleep. Seated next to a foriegn woman and her daughter (both of which I presumed were Italian, though I cannot say), I was very quiet for most of the trip. I slept through both dinner and breakfast, and though I'm sure I didn't miss much, my goal was to sleep most of the flight for a good rest.

Little did I know that wasn't really going to happen. I spent most of the time half awake (the constant turning on of lights for meals did not help), and crammed sideways into my seat, headphones on the entire time.

When Rome came, everyone looked wiped. Going through customs was easy, passing by the lazy stampers before waiting for our bags, and then our transportation. But really, you know you're in Italy when your "arranged transportation" doesn't show up, and is instead on lunch break. When calling St. Johns, their response could be summed up by "can't you just come now? And make your way over here? So we don't have to do it?" After a while of waiting, they came through, and despite our tired eyes, it was a laugh.

Once all was sorted out and we made it into our rooms, we unpacked, changed, and head out for a walk. I revisited some of the places I'd traveled to three years ago - namely the St. Paolo fountain on top of one of the many hills in Rome, with the Spanish Embassy across the street, where I had taken my friend Katie's photo years ago. Walking around Rome, we tried water from street fountains, navigated streets, and explored churches.

After walking down the hill, we went to a fantastic pizza place, definitely said to be in the top 10 pizza spots in Rome.

I also want to apologize for any spelling errors - the computers in the lab (where I wrote most of this post) as well as my now-changed laptop for Italian internet are all trained to spellcheck Italian, not English! About every word in this blog is wrong...

And now I need to sleep and shower, and leave the girl who is skyping across from me alone. I've been waiting to get into bed for hours! Goodnight all! More adventures to come. And better written posts when I don't feel like I'm going to pass out!