Week One!

Ciao from ROMA:) i'm sure all of you have heard that i made it safe and sound! obviously, i'm still not all of the way unpacked and i am just starting to blog even though i am a few days in! so, because i'm a few days behind i'll fill you in on what's been happening!

day one:

after a wonderful meal at the illinios chmill's i left chicago at 10pm! i took a few tylenol pm so the 7 hour flight was nice and peaceful for me:) when i got to london i thought that i would have a couple hour layover...oh was i wrong! the last call for boarding my plane was 1215...i finished going through security at 1217...and my terminal was on the other end of the airport...so i rannnn! haha! i made it on time, but it was close! once in italy i soon discovered that my big bag...with all of my clothes...was still in london! i kept my cool though and didn't even cry or anything! i ended up waiting at the airport for 4.5 hours for a shuttle to schooL! not fuN! but i did meet some nice girls...and snacked on the treats from peggy:) once i FINALLY got to my apartment all of my roommates had already eaten dinner, so i had a granola bar...not my idea of my first italian meal, but w/e...i made it work!

My apartment is really nice and so are my roommates! i got soo lucky! there are 4 double bedrooms, 1 single bedroom, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and a tiny living room! ill make sure to post pictures soon...one of the bathrooms has what i think is the world's SMALLEST shower! when i got here monday night i took a shower right away (surprising, i know!) and i literally SAT on the floor of the shower and had to hold up the shower head because it is seriously that small...a sight all of you i'm sure are imagining right now and dying with laughter....i ended up going to bed around 12 and passed right out:)

day two:

we had to be up early for pointless orientation stuff but it was nice to actually be in rome and start to find my way around my campus and new town! we had lunch around 4 (my first real meal:)) at a little place down the road called salt and pepper! it was kind of like a buffet style restaurant but i inhaled everything! haha! after lunch we had more orientation and then back to our apartment and hung out. one of my roommates studied here first semester too so she didn't have to go to orientation! when she got home she took us to a small pizzeria about a block away from our apartment where we got a WHOLE pizza and WHOLE bottle of wine for under 6 euro...it was glorious :) after that we w ere all tired and came home and watched youtube videos:)!

day three:

more orientation! after we decided that we were going to try to explore and find somewhere for lunch...naturally, we got lost! ahha we found a cute little restaurant right near school tho! once we were done we came back and took a well needed nap! that night, the school arranged a little appertivo for us (which is basically an early dinner/ appetizers) it was ok, but nothing special. we went out for dessert after at another place right by our house with just our roomies and ended up splitting a few bottles of wine...which led us to our first night out on the town!

the area we went to is called campo de fiori, which is mainly a bunch of college bars...we left a little later than we should have so by the time we got there a lot of things were just wrapping up...we ended up meeting some cool people tho, so it all worked out in the end!

we've been walking everywhere, which isn't too bad, it takes about 25 minutes to get to school and 40ish to get to the bars, but we're trying to figure out the tram system...and if we plan it right, we don't have to pay for that...shhhh:) haha! the tw o things that are obviously the hardest to get used to are the time differance (7 hours ahead of wisconsin) and the language! i know literally nothing! i'm taking a class, so im hoping that it will help me at least be able to talk to waithers and read a menu...simple things like that!

day four:

we slept in reallllly late! the combination of going out and jetlag was really catching up with us! i really miss being attached to my cellphone and being able to talk to all of you guys whenever i want so when i get home l ate at night and everyone is on skype and facebook i stay up super late to talk! i'm sure that will not change, because even already i'm missing everyone like crazy! by the time we got up and ready it was time for dinner....so we slept super late...i'm just choosing not to reveal the time:) haha! we went to dinner down by the trevi fountain and a little restaurant called chianti...there were floor to ceiling racks of wine...something i'm sure my dad would be drooling over! haha it was really beautiful tho! we saw the trevi fountain..our first monument! and then heade d back home to watch sex and the city for a little roomie bonding time!

day five:

this was my favorite day so far! we got lunch at the pizzeria again..this time no wine...haha! we decided that we wanted to go shopping so we ended up taking the tram across the river and down to another area that was much more busy that what is around us! we walked FOREVER this day..probably a good 5 miles...i'm not kidding! we got lost..once again...but luckily we ended up finding the spanish steps and the pantheon....which are so close to us and SOO beautiful! i cannot fathom just how the romans built such huge, beautiful structures soooo long ago! while we were out and about we ended up meeting this club promoter who told us about a club named gilda. on our way home from our spontaneous sight seeing we stopped at a little irish pub and then headed home for a nap. after all of us got dressed up and went to find gilda....a task that was much harder than anticipated....in our heels...we walked...FOREVER...we ended up finding it and it was SUPER expensive...15 euro ( no i didn't buy a drink dad, so don't worry) per drink and it was dumb...there were literally like 55 year old men and women there...and no offense....but we all decided that should be an age limit to when you stop clubbing! ahha so we left and found another irish pub called scholars which was awesome! they played fantastic music and it was packed! there was even a bride there in her wedding dress! since the tram closes at 12 we had to walk home and it was not pretty...our feet were very mad at us! ahah once again, we got home and went on skype until the wee hours of the morning and slept in all day:) ahah

day six:

today! we've been seeing these huge red busses everywhere so we decided that we wanted to go on them. we left the house around 1 today and set out to find them! we paid 20 euro and it took us to like 15 beautiful locations! plus, it was warm and sunny today so we sat on the top level and had sooo much fun! we saw the vatican city! i'm thinking that we will be going back there to go on a tour, because they say it takes a long time! we just walked around and took beautiful pictures on our own:) we also saw a bunch of beautiful piazzas and the trevi fountain again, but this time in the daylight! we stopped for lunch at non other than...BURGER KING! and even though it usually gross...it was sooo good! and hit the spot! hah! we ended up leaving early because after the sun went behind the buildings we got reallly cold but our pass for the big red bus lasts 24 hours so we are determined to get up actually early tomorrow so we can go to the colosseum!

right now we are all super tired and just laying around from all of our walking and late night adventures. we're staying in tonight and i am DETERMINED to finish unpacking:)

Anyway, i know that is sooo much information to take in at once, but hopefully i will do this more often so that they are not all so long! i know that i've still left out so many things but i'm sure that i will get them all updated to u soon!

miss and love u all!

ciao!