When in Rome...

January 10-11, 2013

We left Minnesota at 11 am on Thursday and began the flights to Italy. While on the plane we met a young guy stewardess from Britain, with an English accent (we made him repeat words over and over just to hear him speak). We were on a mission to kick off our trip with some wine so we asked him if we could have some. He came back with three bottles to choose from.  I of course asked if I could have all three, since it was such a tough choice between them all. He agreed then came back with three for Catherine as well! It defiantly made the international flight a lot easier on us. I thought we would get some sleep since we had so much time to kill, but we were far to ecstatic to let that happen! 

After a day of flights we finally arrived in Rome. We were in Italy and so excited!! On the plane we met an American girl that will be studying abroad in Rome. All of us ended up waiting for a hour for our luggage, not realizing we were at the wrong luggage shoot. Whoops, first lesson in a foreign country, ask multiple questions to make sure you have the right answer. 

We took a bus from the airport to our hotel, The Cressy Hotel. The first impression of Rome; busy, loud, lots of people, incredible structures, and beautiful. We checked in and got ready to go out on our first night in Rome. We hadn't slept in over 30 hours, but we were so excited to be there so we just had to go check out the city.  We went to dinner at this family Italian restaurant, oh my golly, first Italian meal.. the food was amazing!! We started to talk to the girl next to us and ended up becoming friends with her and some other locals. They gave us the low down on where we should go and more of what we can expect in Rome, which was so nice. We look forward to visiting them all again when we go back to Rome in March.

Saturday morning we headed out to the city in Rome. On the bus we met a group of nice American students that had just got back from a cruise. The students were kind enough to give us a quick run down of what to do. After taking their advice and getting our "TIM" cell phones, which don't always work, we started exploring the beautiful city. The architecture is incredible! We walked around Rome all day, stopping in all of the little shops, meeting the owners, and checking out ALL of the cute cafe's. We went to the Piazza Nova, a beautiful fountain in the square, where artists sold their paintings. We went to the Pantheon, an ancient building that was originally a temple for gods then Christians took over and now it is dedicated to St. Mary and the Martyrs. Outside of the Pantheon, we ended up meeting and becoming friends with a group of 7 american girls from California. The girls are all so sweet and we traveled the city with them the remainder of the day. We all saw the Spanish Steps, the view was incredible. I was talking to artists at the top of the Spanish Steps and one told me we were friends and he wanted to give me a gift to remember him and Rome. He then had me sit down and began to draw a "character" version of me. It was so sweet of him and I will always remember our conversation. We also saw the Trevi Fountain and made our wish, so magical. All of us girls went to dinner and around the town that night as well. 

Oh and for some reason Italians, and I mean almost everyone I've met that tries to say my name.. loves saying my name... whenever I say my name is Melissa, they look at me, pause, then they go "oh ME--LEee-SA" and repeat it at least 2 or 3 times over and over.  Its pretty funny, we just laugh every time. So Mom and Dad, you did a job naming me I guess.

"Culture Shock" definitely set in right away. We had major JET-LEG on Sunday so we slept most of the day. After we woke up we went to our first Italian mass and dinner afterwards. Mass was beautiful. On the way back we met some more locals and visited with them, just taking in the atmosphere and learning about their culture. It is so much fun to see their perspective on life and how different, but similar it is. The churches are incredible, the beauty of them is just breathtaking,  I can't even comprehend it.  

In Rome I learned when its okay for you say Ciao (hello) and when you should use other phrases to say Hi to people you know. I learned that there coffees are small and that when you know someone you kiss them on the check, something I am still getting use to here. 

On Monday we found the train station and set off to Macerata. I was so excited to get to our new city, I couldn't wait!