ciao roma!

I'm finally here! I got in yesterday afternoon (after minimum taxi terror, might I add--the cab driver only ran two red lights), and mere minutes after my arrival a bunch of us decided to walk to Vatican City. I was exhausted but determined not to miss out on actual sightseeing, so I went along. This turned out to be a foolish mistake, as I had not eaten since 5 am on the airplane. Luckily I bought a bottle of water (non frizzante! yay) on the side of the road to tide me over. St. Peter's Square was beautiful, but smaller than I expected...the basilica, on the other hand, was enormous. we saw the Pieta, St. Peter's tomb, and took a stroll through the grottoes (Pope John Paul's tomb has an armed guard!) After the Vatican, we walked along the Tiber in search of food and photo ops. Eventually we came across a little pizzeria in what I think was Trastevere, but at that point I was delirious with hunger so I can't be sure. Our group of 10 split up and we sat in smaller groups outside. Alissa, remember when you almost got hit by that bus in France? Well, I was having vivid flashbacks last night at dinner--our tables were literally in the road. I had to pull my feet in several times in order to avoid getting flattened by passing trucks, scooters and yes, the occasional bus. Even eating dinner here is a life-and-death experience. Will we live through the appetizers?? God only knows... Anyway, after dinner, two other girls and I broke off from the group and headed back to the Centro, but we of course got lost and spent a sizable chunk of the night wandering through Trastevere, trying to read our maps in the dark and trying not to get hit by cars (sidewalks are rare in this neighborhood...)

This morning was perhaps the greatest adventure thus far--a trip to the Italian grocery store! I remembered what Jules said about weighing your own fruit and luckily avoided getting yelled at in Italian...although I didn't have exact change, and the checkout lady was none too pleased about that. If I have learned one thing so far here, it is that the Italian people love exact change. After our excursion to the grocery store, we went to lunch at an adorable cafe a few blocks from the Centro, where I had a salami panini and "cafe freddo," which I expected to be like iced coffee but was actually a cold shot of espresso. Still, it was tasty, and I followed it up with some yummy blended strawberry ice drink. Deeeelicious!

Since then I've pretty much just been unpacking and staring adoringly out my window at the gorgeous view (that's the photo at the top). Most of the group is moved in now, although we're still waiting on a few stragglers. I'm completely in love with the Centro--the sink and furniture in my room is nice and new, much better than Roho was! The bed's sort of a cot in disguise, but it's not bad. And the most glorious thing of all? There's an ice machine in the basement! YES!!!!!!!!!!! Life is good.