Its been a while since my last post, which means only one thing... I've been incredibly, incredibly busy. Its amazing where the time goes, but I'll get to that in one of my next posts. Each post so far has detailed a different part of how my trip started here, this will be the final post dedicated to the beginning.
The sunday of our first weekend we really didnt do much. We had an information session about living with a host family, what to expect, how life will be different and things that we should be sure to do and not to do. After this we had a break and then learned a little bit about traveling around rome and europe. This was definitely helpful, and somewhat gave us an idea of how to go about planning trips and where to start. By this time in the weekend we were all ready to get out of the classroom, settled in our homes and really start our experience in Rome.
After our last meeting was over we brought our luggage from the classroom down to the first floor and then just waited around. The lounge in the St. Johns building has one wall that is all glass and looks out into the hallway. We all piled into this room and waited as our families trickled in to pick us up one by one. The best way to explain it is that we felt like dogs at the pound waiting for someone to come and choose us. Families showed up here and there, every ten minutes or so someone new would arrive. We would all get excited and pensive, unsure if the person who had just shown up was coming to choose us or someone else. None of us had ever seen our families before, so we just didnt know who was coming for us. The first to show up were two Nonnas (grandmothers), adorable little italian women. Families ranged from nonnas who enjoy hosting students for company, to full families with children ranging from very young up into their 20's.
After about an hour of sitting around watching italian television, basketball actually, since it was the only thing we could understand, Paola our host mother arrived. We were by no means one of the last to leave, so like dogs in the pound, Adam and I had no idea if she was there for us or for someone else. We finally figured out that she was there for us, so we moved out into the hallway to meet her. She is a short woman, in her early 60's with blond hair, spoke no english and had what seemed like a loving personality, I'll touch on that a little more later. I was the first to introduce myself and that was greeted with a big hug and the traditional kiss on both cheeks.
We left with Paola in a taxi and headed to our new home. I would be lying if I said that Adam and I weren't petrified. It was something that I personally have never had to do, meet a stranger, someone who I can't easily communicate with and go off to live with them for four months. She spoke to us in the car in Italian, we tried to understand what we could, neither of us taking any Italian before. The fifteen minute ride was filled with a great deal of awkward laughter and si, hoping yes was the right answer to her questions and comments. We finally arrived on our street, a familiar place that we had been to the day before. Adam and I paid for the cab, luckily we looked at the meter before we got out or we would have had no idea what the driver and Paola were saying.
My home for the next four months.
The street signs in Roma are on the buildings.
We made it inside the building, up the stairs and into her house with the bags. She showed us where our room was, the kitchen and the bathroom, all within about ten feet of each other. In Rome what they consider houses we consider apartments and Paola's is on the smaller side, but it's in a great location. She said that the closer you get to the city the smaller the apartments get. I really don't mind, I'm used to living in dorms, even though Loyola has spoiled me. It's interesting to be fully immersed in another culture.
Our room, my beds the one on the left if you couldn't already guess.
Like I mentioned before the house is in an amazing location. If we walk to the end of the block to the main street you can see down to the Coliseum and we are one block from the metro station which connects us to the rest of the city. One block in the opposite direction is our bus to the Italian school or a ten minute walk, and we're above a pizza place, it honestly couldn't get any better. It is a very quiet and peaceful part of the city, a really nice neighborhood to just walk around and explore. When we go out at night or on weekends we are only about a ten minute walk home, so unlike almost everyone else, we do not need to take a night bus or a taxi. Our walk is amazing, we go past the monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II, the Roman Forum and the Coliseum and I always feel safe. It's definitely a little different than the surrounding and streets of Baltimore at night.
But I digress, back to Paola. So I've covered her house and how wonderful that is, Paola is even better. Before arriving in Rome I had heard from past students that she cooks dinner but then doesn't eat with you. I was a little worried and hesitant about this, because this would be one of the only times that I would get to sit down and talk with her...
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