Treni, aèrei, e automòbile

Trains, planes, and automobiles

I’m here!  Safe and alive!  The flights went very smoothly, and I had no trouble at all.  The night before I left, I called United about something, and the guy was so friendly and he changed my flight so I wouldn’t have to switch airports.  (I was looking forward to seeing you, Nicole) That made the trip there much less stressful, because I didn’t have to recheck my bags or go through security again.  On the first flight nobody sat next to me; I had an aisle, and the guy who sat next to me is also studying abroad this semester, so I lucked out on both flights.  The guy is from Penn State and doing a different program.  I finally saw The Social Network (which I was very impressed with)…side note to anyone who has seen it/knows anything about rowing: I’ve always wanted to row in a tank.  Then there was this crazy weird movie on about people that get created just to donate their organs to other people, and they’re dead by the time they are 30 because of these donations.  If you don’t like movies without happy endings-don’t watch it. 

Anyway, I was prepared to take a train (treno), the metra, and a bus (autobus) to the hotel I’m staying at tonight, but I made some travel errors with my luggage, and knew, as strong as I am, that carrying my bag (since I went wheel-less) would not be enjoyable.  Taxis are too expensive, but there was this car service offering a flat rate, not too much more than all the public transportation was when I added it up, so I took it.  (I guess I didn’t really take trains, planes, and automobiles, sorry) Maybe I took the easy way out, but I kept picturing myself walking all over Rome trying to find the right busses, while carrying another person) The guy was very friendly.  My Italian is not good.  At all.  I was expecting at least to understand, and I would be able to mumble some sort of response back, but they talk so fast.  He said his English wasn’t very good, but we managed some friendly conversation in both languages.  Hopefully, I will catch on soon; at least, I’ll be around it and hear it every day.  (I watched a TV movie in Italian yesterday in hopes of that helping)

The hotel is in the same area as my school, on Monte Mario, so I walked around for awhile to see the neighborhood.  It’s very beautiful!!  Now, I realize it is on Monte Mario, so I was prepared for the hills, but I don’t think I actually thought about that until I was walking them…they’re pretty steep, it’ll be a good run.  I do, however, wonder how all the women were walking around in 4 in heels like it was nothing, I can’t even walk on a flat surface, let alone stand still in heels, but they must have killer calves from it.  On my little excursion I decided I should probably get some food.  I hadn’t really eaten the plane meal, and my next given meal wouldn’t be until tomorrow, so I went to the supermarket.  The woman wasn’t very friendly when I checked out, even when I attempted to use my Italian, but you can’t win every time.  I was just proud that I was able to navigate my way around.

Things I noticed:

1. Everyone walks their dogs; no one picks up the poop.  Lesson learned: watch where you walk.

2. Wine is literally cheaper than water.  That is not just a saying. 

3. I found this fascinating, but weird things like this interest me, so take it as you will:  when you buy fruit at the supermarket, there is a scale and you weigh it yourself, punch in the number, and put the ticket on it, so when you pay all they do is scan it. 

So, not too much to write about that will intrigue you, but in short, I’m here and I have not yet been abducted by the Albanians.

Buòna Nòtte