Day 1

Sitting in my O’hare terminal, I had no idea what to expect of Italy.  I truly had no clue where the next three and a half months would take me.  Already I had one stressful moment.  I discovered that my massive duffel bag was 8 pounds too heavy to check.  I had to empty out all four pairs of shoes in addition to my poncho and all my books.  All these items in addition to my overflowing backpack and carry-on bag made it very difficult to maneuver through the airports.  Despite this, traveling went remarkably smoothly.  The plane to Rome was only about a third full, so everyone had an entire row to themselves to sleep.  I of course could not sleep at all.  Way too anxious to get to Rome.  The flight was a little under eight hours.  We (I was traveling with my friend Tessie) arrived in Rome at around 8:30 a.m. and immediately found other Cortona art students to wait with.  Our “camp counselor” Daniel was waiting for everyone waving a UGA flag.  Eventually we made our to way to our hotel in Rome.  I had to constantly remind myself that I was not dreaming.  After a group of us got settled in we decided to start exploring.  We got a map and a bus ticket, and within fifteen minutes, we were surrounded by all this beautiful and ancient Roman architecture and life.  With no specific destination in mind, we set out into the city.  I was freaked out by how careless the drivers in Rome seemed.  Cars were speeding by in all directions and seemed to pay no attention to traffic lines or pedestrians.  Rome is definitely not ideal for running.  As soon as we made it off one of the main roads and onto one of the narrow side alleys, the noise of the traffic dimmed down and I was able to appreciate the beautify colorful buildings that came right up to street.  Everywhere I looked I wanted to snap a photo.  We decided to try and find Trevvi Fountain.  Walking ahead of the group, I was about to walk over this metal chain, distinguishing the sidewalk from the street, when I fell flat on my face.  So Graceful.  I later learned that my entire left knew was covered completely in a humongous purple bruise.  At least it matches all my clothes. 

            Trevvi Fountatin is beautiful!!!!  Part of me might just have been in awe because it was the first major monument of Italy that I experienced, but it was so exciting to see this fountain in person.  There is a myth that if you through a coin into the fountain over your shoulder, you will fall in love.  Each of us took turns in throwing in euros.  We will see what happens.  I loved the people watching around the fountain.  I also loved that you could fill your water bottle with water right from the fountain.  After sitting for awhile, we decided to get some food.  We went to a café a few blocks away, where one of the waiters spoke English.  My first Italian meal consisted mostly of this steamed spinach and some other vegetables (no surprise!).  Our busride back to the hotel took a really long time.  My exhaustion suddenly hit me.  It was my goal to stay awake until bed time that night, but as soon as I made it back to the hotel, I fell asleep.  Luckily my roommate woke my up for our welcome orientation meeting, or I would have slept right through it. 

            I soon learned that being a vegetarian in Italy was quite an ordeal.  There were only four of us (out of 46) and two professors that were vegetarians.  In Italy, there are three courses: the first course is the pasta course, the second course is the main course, usually consisting of some combination of meat/vegetables, and the third course is the dessert.  I think the hotel cooks were confused about what a main course is for vegetarians.  Our main course that night was some iceburg lettuce salad and some triangles of cheese.  Not my ideal main course, but no worries. 

            That night, I never slept so deeply in my life.  More than nine hours.  For me, that is a lot of sleep.