At some point in time, each person in the Rome 2011 Study Abroad trip had this thought come across his or her mind. Maybe not as emphatic passionate, and excitement filled as Michelle Rau's announcement to the Fiumicino train station, but we've all come across this thought. For me, this is the beginning of the longest period of time and the longest distance away from home that I have ever been. Scary. For a month, I'll be 7 hours in the Gregorian future. Okay, that's pretty cool. It was cool to get on Skype with my sister at 10:45pm in Rome, and she shows me the front door to our house and it was still light outside. So, I turned my computer to the window of the common area, and she saw a pitch black sky. Just a cool thought.
As far as what the day was like, on May 30th,I woke up at 7:30am in Mandeville, Louisiana. My day ended and finally an opportunity to sleep at 11:00pm on May 31st, in Rome. Within those 34 hours, a short flight to Toronto. In Toronto, I figured out that Canadians would 1. Not be sufficient traffic police for their inability to adequately shuffle herds of cattle through the customs area 2. If we had Canadians working the borders in the States, Obama's immigration agenda would no longer exist. The lady whose line I was directed to clearly hated her job, or really loved it. I was asked a series of questions and follow up questions about my LAYOVER in Toronto. I thought she was kidding when she questioned why I booked a flight to Rome through Toronto, but no..For a second, I seriously thought she wouldn't let me in. But God prevailed, and Cruella Deville let me in.
The next 10 hours, not important. I slept the entire flight to Rome, and awoke to a Roman sunrise from my 32K window. Just kidding. Air Canada inhitbeted my ability to sleep with way too many awesome free movies. My playlist: Limitless, The Mechanic, The Rite, and almost all of Gnomeo and Juliet (more like five minutes at the beginning of the flight until I came to my two decade's old senses).
Arrival in Rome: Thanks Fiumicino for almost losing my luggage. My bag was literally the last bag to come out of the carousel and was fifteen minutes from the previous bag birth.....that's tight. Luggage trouples behind me, I was greeted by a group of 8 other Loyola peoples. So, we headed to St. John's. Around the uppy, downy, and windy structure that is the Termini. I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but way too much effort was put into this underground system. I'll stop there for now. It's 8:36 am on June 1st, and orientation is in 24 minutes. Quick synopsis on the rest of yesterday:
PIAZZA DEL POPOLO!
