When In Rome...

I arrived in Rome on Wednesday, June 29th, but was unable to check into my dorm at John Cabot until Thursday, the 30th. (I couldn't get a flight for the 30th) So I stayed in "downtown" Rome, by Termini station, at a hostel owned by a small, old, Chinese lady. I pretty much just crashed at the hostel, to wake up and get an early start to find John Cabot. The school suggests that you to get a taxi to John Cabot, but depending on where you're coming from, it could get pricy. I'm super stingy about paying for transportation, so I decided I'd just take the bus to the neighborhood where my dorms/the school was located in and I would go from there. It wasn't that easy. I was dropped off at the top of a hill and was completely clueless as to where I was. Everyone I asked for help didn't know English... and when I'd ask, "Universita John Cabot?" they proceeded to speak to me in Italian. Yeah, okay. Helpful. Finally, I ended up in a bookstore, speaking with a lady who knew decent English. She gave me correct directions, and as it turns out, I wasn't far from my destination! But mind you, I was again, lugging my suitcase, purse and carry on around on brick roads.

The address the lady gave me, went to the Tiber campus... Which isn't far from my dorm, only about a half to 3/4 a mile. However, I passed the dorms on the way and didn't even realize it. Once at the campus, they directed me back towards the dorms and I was ready for check in. I had left the hostel at 9:30 AM. Current time check? 1 PM. Genius. With all the sweaty-ness, I not only had to start meeting potential friends, but also had to take my university ID picture, err, mugshot. So disgusting.

I checked in, found my room and realized that I was in a 2 person apartment. This confused me because I was under the impression that we were going to be placed in 4 and 6 person apartments... This is something I was surprisingly really looking forward to because it meant it was a way of meeting friends. All day there were orientation events and everyone was wandering around in their groups of 3 or 5 other roommates and I was still roommate-less. Around 8 PM that night, I was in a mandatory student housing meeting when TA-DA, Brittany, the other girl studying at John Cabot from SIUE walked fashionably late into the meeting. They had grouped us together as roommates!

The following day, Friday, July 1st, we had many orientation activities where they put us into randomized groups and we had to go on a "scavenger hunt" to teach us to find our way around the city. Here is where I finally met lots of people and began my 5 week Roman holiday. :]