First Few Days In Italiaaaaaa

Okay, last blog didn't work.  First I made it say Norastrip2008, and it is most definitely not 2008.  Then I tried to edit the whole thing, put a map on there and some pictures, and that didn't work either.  Haley told me to use it, but now it is no longer free. So I switched. SORRY! Here it is......

Hello! I finally now have more than 30 seconds to myself, where I can sit down and possibly reflect and write to you all about the intense/amazing experiences I have been having! We haven't stopped moving since arriving in Rome on Friday afternoon. Things have been 5 times more chaotic due to our Wednesday flight being canceled. The snow storm in Milan seriously freaked the Italians out and they all thought the world was coming to an end. It never snows here apparently, but right before landing in Milan we saw some beautiful mountains freshly covered in snow, it was quite the sight.

In all of my traveling this process on Thursday and Friday was most difficult I have ever experienced, most likely because of the attempt to manage 200 students. But our Thursday flight was delayed 2 hours as well, which left us zero time to catch our flight in Milan. Granted we did get 3 free glasses of wine on that long flight over there. We then went through a security check, and what we later found out was customs? No one picked up their bags, and we just walked through handed the guy our passport he stamped it on a random page and we kept walking. One by one we walked through, I was sure there was no way it was that easy but I was wrong. Once we finally arrived after over 16 hours of traveling we found out over 60 pieces of luggage had been left in Milan. This left most of the students with at least one bag missing and some without any. I didn't lose any, but everyone seemed to handle it fairly well.



We finally arrived at the John Felice Rome Center around 5, had to do endless registration etc and had less then hour to unpack and eat dinner before the Cafeteria (Mensa) closed. Afterwards a few girls and I took a stroll around our neighborhood which is called Via Massimi. One of them being the girls who I had a blast with on the flight over here named Emily, her roommate Kate, my roommate named Lauren who is also a really neat girl, and Nika who I had known back in chicago. We went on a wine hunt but found EVERYTHING was shut down by 9 pm even on Fridays. We were all slightly discouraged but were able to buy a few delicious Italian beers from the local pizza shop and set on some steps of a Piazza and chatted for a couple hours there.

We had to be up by 7 am the next morning to get on our buses to head to Siena. We managed to get about 4 hours of sleep. The bus ride was about 3 hours up to Siena Tuscany and the ride was everything you could have possibly imagined. The scenary was extraordinary. We stayed at 4 star hotel called Hotel Garden, with beautiful gardens about a 20 minute walk from the center of Siena. We were randomly roomed with people from the program, and I got lucky and roomed with two girls named Kristie and Suzie. They are both lots of fun, familiar faces from Loyola as well. We walked around the gardens of our hotel waiting for lunch to begin around noon. I took pictures of how beautiful the dining set up was of all our meals. White table cloths, wine glasses, several course meals, and dinner provided an unlimited supply of bottled wine. The tables sat about 10 people and that is about the size of our group of friends at this point. We played a "get to know you game" in sharing 3 facts, 2 of which are true and one is false, and the table has to decide which are true and which is false. We had a blast. Shortly after we had Italian courses which we have been having for an hour everyday. I am making slow progress. "Buona Sera, mi chiamo Nora. Como ti chiame? Ahh, Piachera! Como stai? Uno, due, tre, quator, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, diechi. Dove e il bano?? Alright thats enough. But I'm slowly learning, pronounciation is so different then spanish. The language barrier is driving me crazy!



Shortly after we hopped on the bus again to San Gimignano. A small medieval town which was established in the 14th century. Many merchants and bankers moved there and built these walls to surround their town, it was absolutely gorgeous. 17 towers that they had built within this tiny town which symbolized the stature of families. Whoever's tower was the tallest signified how important each family was, therefore there were 17 families with high stature in this little villa. I took over 200 pictures there. We all bought bottles of wine from there as well. After taking a guided tour there, we returned back to Sienna for a delicious 2 course dinner again, with a plethora of wine as I had said before. We had another orientation, and than were sent off into the night. We walked for about a half hour before we got to any of the bars, stopped at 2 and had a fabulous time. We came home around 5:30 am and were locked out, so I ended up sleeping in a neighbors room. I guess I drank too much wine on too little sleep since I was kicked out of my room at 10 and ended up throwing up twice the next day. I struggled through the whole day yesterday, but once we finally got back I was feeling well enough to eat and much more energized. Unfortunately Mensa (the cafeteria) is god awful. I never expected the food to be so terrible. They can't even make a good red sauce! Maybe I'll loose the 15 pounds I was told I should expect to gain!

After dinner 15 of us booked flights for Barcelona the weekend of my 21st birthday. I'm absolutely thrilled. There are 2 other girls coming whose birthday it is as well on the 23rd and the 25th, so I'm sure there will be a lot of celebrating going on! Lauren (my roomate) and I seem to the have the decided hang out room. We all stayed up and chatted till 3, hoping to make lots of travel plans for the future. Everyone I have met is great, I feel like I am meeting people constantly. New names and friendly faces everyday which is such a relief. The administration and teachers are also incredibly helpful and sweet. They slightly feel like surrogate parents, really willing and able to to be here for you with any concerns you may have. I had a wonderful talk with the Vice-President/Dean on the bus yesterday named Susannah Carvela. She has lived all over Europe including Siches where I have been many times to visit family friends who live there. She reminds me a lot of my mother so it was comforting to speak with her for a long while.

And I have finally caught up to today. We were on the buses by 10:15, I skipped my Italian class this morning because I was just too exhausted, I have yet to get a good nights sleep. (Sorry mom & dad). Anyways we went up North about an hour to a Villa called Villa Hadrian right outside of Villa Adriana. A Villa that had been abandoned after the fall of the Roman Empire, but had been constructed in the 1st and 2nd century. It was also really incredible. I took about 200 pictures there as well. There was so much incredible and intricate detail engraved into the marble of these structures. They provided us with a bagged lunch which had 2 ham sandwiches with cheese on them. Nothing else. Very plain and almost impossible to eat. Though I have found 2 other girls who don't like cheese!! So there Catherine Bartlett there are others on that cheese high horse with me!

On the bus ride back I heard "If I were a Boy" by Beyonce, it was my first real reminder, like wow I am not in America anymore. Hearing Beyonce just made me laugh a bit and reflect on how out of touch I have been with home. Maybe they keep us this busy on purpose, just to keep our minds busy so they can't wonder and be home sick. Anyways, I arrived home and was finally able to exchange my money today, have somehow survived 4 days without having any Euros. Its sad how much money you lose. But I'm optimistic that if I don't spend much on drinks and buy 1 Euro boxed wine at Upim--the Italian version of Target I will have sufficient funds. Ever since I had been in my bed relaxing and writing this little note to you all. I left briefly for dinner and to POTENTIALLY go to Upim, so we called a cab since it closed at 8 and we had very little time to get there since it was already 7:30, a 5 Euro taxi cab split four ways didn't seem so bad. Lauren, Kaela (another incredible girl who I have met), Nika, and I all ventured into this cab, being friendly and attempting to speak with him in Italian. He proceeded to drive us all over area racking up a 21 Euro tab because he had absolutely no idea where he was going. That is $30 American dollars! We kept asking if he knew where he was going, and he didn't, so we just had him bring us home. We had to have an SLA (which is the Roman version of an RA) let him know we refused to pay considering we ended up right back where we had started with no wine, watches, shoes, groceries, or anything else that we desperately needed. (Sidenote: No person from my generation knows the time without a cell phone. We are going about our lives in a timeless zone of zero text messaging, phone calls, etc. It has been different but oddly relieving and relaxing. Point is about 6 of us have to go buy watches so we can know the time of day without depending on a cell phone!) Sorry if that was a bit of a rant, but we just returned from this totally absurd/frustrating/hilarious adventure. Who knows if the man knew where he was going the whole time, but we sure weren't gonna pay him.

I want to describe my living situation briefly before I go sign up for Tunisia and explore the city of Rome tonight with a large crowd. The dorm is old and because it was an old convent it has a very strange lay out. Feels kinda bare, and the walls are paper thin, but am making it more and more of my home as time goes by. Everything is in one building with 3 different wings. The electricity goes out frequently, in fact it was out for over 6 hours last night in the entire neighborhood. And lastly, there is NEVER any hot water. I have refused to shower in the freezing cold. I already hate showering as it is (those of you who know me well already know this disgusting fact). There is Mensa which I have talked about earlier and a Cafe which you have to pay for but is cute and the main hang out area called Renaldo's Cafe. Has a large screen TV, a ping pong table, and lots of seating spaces.

Anyways, I am being rushed off to this meeting. I hope everyone is well and I will write again soon when I can. Things should be more settled for a bit now. I intend on getting myself lost in Rome this weekend, I seriously look forward to it. Talk to you soon!

Love,
Nora Claire.