I landed early yesterday morning and had to do all the checking-in right away. Luckily, we were checking-in at a hotel connected to the airport so I could bring a cart with all my luggage on it instead of having to carry it all there, thank goodness. Checked in and got my Italian cell phone, information, and apartment keys (which are super cute...they look those keys they have as bottle openers or on jewelry). Everyone's living in different apartments so we were all driven to each of ours. By the way, people in Italy are the CRAZIEST drivers. They double/triple park even if it's parallel parking, and cars go super fast even when there's barely enough room for them to fit through. Oh, and pedestrians do not have the right of way, so whenever I've been stepping off a curb I get a little afraid of being run over. But back to the point, I was the first one in the car dropped off and fumbled around for a bit trying to figure out how to move my suitcases from the car to the apartment. Finally got my suitcases inside the apartment complex and left two and carried one up a flight of stairs (I was dying at how heavy it way). Sat on that floor for a second and pouted and realized that the door I was standing next to was actually an elevator which saved my life! So happy I didn't have to carry all my luggage up five flights of stairs.
Couldn't open the door to my apartment, so luckily my roommates were already there to help me get inside. I still haven't successfully unlocked the door to my apartment yet. I was very surprised at the apartment size and things we had in it since they kept all the information super vague, so I expected it to be terrible. Also, we have an awesome balcony, and I absolutely love sitting outside, just listening to everything going on around me. I'm seriously minutes away from Vatican City and can see the top of St Peter's Basilica from my balcony. Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous and sweet. This is my view for the next three months.
My roommates are all super nice and we get along really well, which I'm so happy about. We went exploring a bit yesterday and walked around the Vatican and other places near our apartment. We definitely stick out as Americans, and people know it, especially when we were around the Vatican... people kept asking us if we wanted tours. Hopefully the whole looking American thing will eventually lessen once we start learning our way around and start speaking a little Italian. We were all super tired so ended up going home pretty early. I passed out at 9:30 and didn't wake up today until 10. I guess I was more tired than I thought.
Today was definitely a little more boring of a day since we had orientation. We got a little lost on the way to the school, since we were only given directions with the buses and googlemaps apparently didn't know how to take us there. But, it was nice to see where I'll actually be a lot of the day Mon-Thurs. It's a really cute area definitely a small "campus." Technically they have two campuses, but it's just two different buildings that are max 5 minutes from each other. It's like the distance from the corner to the lawn at UVa, so it's weird to me that it's considered two campuses. Orientation wasn't exactly like first year orientation since I was actually learning something about the city, staying safe, and traveling so it was useful. That took most of our day and then we went out for dinner after. Everything is super filling, and I haven't been able to finish a meal yet. This could be a bit of a problem though since it's disrespectful to leave anything on your plate at a meal. How Italians are not fat is beyond me! Tomorrow we are going on an excursion and eating an Italian meal with all the courses, which hopefully I'll be able to finish!
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