PDX airport waiting for my delayed plane
The first two days of my trip were basically traveling. My
plane leaving Portland was over an hour late so my three-hour layover in
Chicago was cut short to just an hour. Enough time to go to the bathroom, find
some lunch, and try to calm myself before the next flight. The flight to Rome
was about 8 ½ hours. I watched movies/tv because I really couldn’t sleep even
though I tried, however, I do recommend watching Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
and How to be Single. J
Arriving in Rome, we caught a shuttle from the plane to the
airport. The passport check was smooth. I gave my passport to the guy and he
stamped it and I was on my way. No questions. Thankfully, my bag arrived like
it was supposed to. A quick walk through customs and I was bombarded with the
arrivals gate. It took me a little bit to find the Spalding sign and I did get
a little nervous I wasn’t going to find it, but I did! I had a short wait. I
met some of the people from my program, but was too tired to make much
conversation.
I think it’s always hard to approach a new city from the
airport because it never has the best views. I tried my best not to prejudge
Rome which was easy since I tried to just close my eyes as we drove towards
Rome.
We pulled up to the hotel where we had more waiting to do.
My hotel room wasn’t ready yet and neither was another student’s so we went to
lunch in a small little café down the street. I had a lovely vegetarian sandwich
with eggplant and mozzarella. Back at the hotel our rooms were still not ready
so we went on the short neighborhood guided tour where we were yelled at by an
Italian woman in English. We’re staying in a pretty central location with some
beautiful cities within walking distance plus the train station a few blocks
away.
Finally, my hotel room was ready. I started unpacking and
exploring the room when all the lights went off and I couldn’t figure out which
switch would turn them back on again, so I had to leave the room and reenter to
get the lights back on. I thought I found the right switch, but again they went
off. I didn’t understand what was happening. Each time I left the room and
returned the lights would work for a short amount of time before turning off
again no matter what switch I turned on. I finally realized that I had to stick
my card in a slot by the front door in order to keep things on.
My roommate arrived a little time later and we had a little
bit of time to talk before getting ready for the welcome dinner with the whole
group. We took a bus to a restaurant which was in this cool little place with
walls covered in ivy leaves. The meal was amazing, but there was so much food
and apparently the alternative for meat is cheese and tomatoes so I had a lot
of that. There was an appetizer, a pasta course, my cheese and tomato salad, tiramisu
and topped off with an espresso. It was all delicious.
We were even treated to a small show when a woman, from
another group, opened a high window and starting hanging underwear on the railing
while the musicians on the ground called up to her. She closed the window and
then was joined by a man with one of the those glasses with the fake nose as a
disguise. It was fun.
A quick ride back to the hotel and I went to bed ready to
put an end to my traveling all-nighter.
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