First days in Rome

Prego! I've been in Rome since Tuesday afternoon- my plane landed around 2:15, and after a taxi ride into the city, I arrived at my residence around 4:00. Once I checked in, I got to my room and met my roommate, Bob, who is a senior at Temple. A little bit later, I met Adam, my other roommate from Fordham. We walked to the Temple campus for a welcoming pizza dinner, and I saw Kelsey, Evan, and Haley there; it was nice to see my only friends from the program. After the din-din, we meandered around the city and bought a little bit of wine to have when we got back from our apartments. Jet-lagged, the night ended early, especially by Roman standards, and I feel fast asleep at 11:30.
Probably because my body is still not used to the time difference, I had trouble sleeping the first night and woke up around 7:00 AM. As I lew (past tense of lay) in bed, I tried to fall back asleep, but my ears were still (and currently still are) having trouble from the pressure changes during my flights. At around 9:15, I left the building and went to the morning orientation for students with early lettered last names. After a bit of that, we had lunch, then Kelsey, Bob, Lauren Faralli, a new friend Kristen, and I walked all over the eastern side of the Tiber. We saw the Ara Pacis, the Pantheon, and just strolled around the windy side streets. We also stopped for gelato, obvi! Anyway, we walked back to the residence, and went to the grocery store. I took a nap, then cooked dinner in the ladies' room. We ended up having an authentic Italian dinner, one that lasted around 4 hours. Again, I went to sleep earlyish.
Last night was a better sleep, and I woke up today feeling very rested. Today we had walking tours of the city, led by Temple faculty members. As per usual, I was in a group with Evan and Kelsey, as well as Bob. In addition to the normal group, my final roommate, Matt, who is from LA, was also on our tour. The walking tour was very helpful and allowed us to see a good portion of the city. After taking part in it, I feel a lot more comfortable trying to figure out the bus system and the metro, as well as more inclined to travel to further parts of the city. After the tour we got kebabs then walked to Piazza del Popolo to take the metro home. I got groceries, rested, then went to a cooking dinner at Temple Rome again. After the demo, I came home, the girls and I made dinner, we hung out for a bit, then went out for the first time in Rome...

We rounded up Adam and Matt, as well as the girls' friend Ashley. We missed the last metro, so we tried to find a bus. Eventually we found one almost half the way to campus, and a nice Italian youth helped us find our way. After a skeptical Night Bus ride, we eventually ended up right at Campo di Firori, a success in which Adam played no small part. Since Campo di Fiori is mainly an American pub center, we tried to find the place in the plaza to hang out. We stayed for a little, then the police ushered everyone out of the Campo, a normal procedure for a late night hooligans. We caught a taxi back, Haley caught the driver trying to dupe us, and we arrived safely at the Residence. Overall, a very wonderful day.

Tomorrow is computer stuff at the campus, then more exploration, followed by a talk on daily life in Rome. Sorry for the long post, I just had a lot of catching up to do. Hopefully soon I will be able to discuss my reactions to the city instead of just listing the events of the day. Bona notte.

*I wrote this post on Thursday night, 14/1, but for some reason it would not post; I had to repost it this afternoon on Friday the 15th. I will update about Friday's events a little later.