Day One

So I FINALLY got some internet access. Most homes and hotels in Italy don't have internet so you have to go to an internet store, and pay for internet - but its been hard to figure that all our (and I'm a little too cheap to pay for internet use). I wrote a journal everyday since I've been here so here is my first journal entry. Enjoy!

June 7th 

6:45 pm Italy.

So I go to the airport, and finding my way downtown and to this hotel was no problem at all. I got my luggage (happily it all showed up!) I got my passport stamped (after I found out that I went through the wrong line up - the italian citizens line up - and then had to re line up. Then I made my way through the airport to find the train that would take me downtown. On my way I found this calling card vending machine thingy, and so I decided to buy a calling card so that I could call Bevan and let him know that I got here okay, and that I love him. So I put my 10 Euro into the machine and the stupid thing never gave me my stinkin’ calling card. I was pretty ticked about it, but too tired and anxious to get to my hotel and relax to try to find someone to figure it out for me. So I went to the train station, got on the sweltering hot train (apparently Italians don’t believe in AC, and made my way to Termini (the main transport hub of Rome)

When I got to Termini I could either walk to my hotel from there (its really not far) or take the Metro (subway) one stop to be a little closer. Initially I had decided that I was going to walk, but when I got to Termini it was SO HUGE that I couldn’t figure out which way to go out. So I decided to follow the signs to the Metro instead because that was more structured. I figured out how to pay for the Metro ride (only 1 Euro) and took it one stop, and then from there it was pretty simple to find the hotel. I got to the hotel and there were these scary, big wooden doors that were locked, so i figured that maybe there was another entrance around the corner of the building, but I was wrong. So I came back to the scary wooden doors and saw that there was an intercom thingy, so I pushed the button, and some woman came on the phone and asked me if I had a reservation. I told her the information I had, and the big wooden door unlocked and as I pushed it open, the woman on the intercom in her thick accent said, “second floor”. So I walked up to the second floor, and there was another smaller wooden locked door, AND another intercom. I pushed the button and the woman said, “one moment.” The next thing I know, some dude in calling me from the stairway above (at first I had no idea that it was ME he was calling) but he came down the stairs more and made eye contact with me and said that I had to go to the third floor for my room. So I followed him and came up to the third floor, and he knocked on the door and Liz answered. She's a girl who is also attending the same prgram as me, and is from New Jersey. We made plans last month to meet in Rome and share a hotel. 

Before I did anything else, I really wanted to call Bevan so I told her that I was going to go figure it out. She said she wanted to come with me because she needed to call her mom. So Liz and I went walking down the street to find an internet cafe or a calling card or something, anything. Not too far away we found an internet/phone place. I wouldn’t call it a cafe, because it was just a room with computers in a row, and these glassed in individual phone cubbies. For some reason their phones wouldn’t call Bevan. I actually think its because they would connect my phone to Canada first, and then I was supposed to dial the number. But when I asked them if I should dial the country code (1) they kept nodding their heads, ‘yes,’ but I think that when they connect me to Canada they already do that part, and so I kept entering the country code for a second time, and it wouldn’t go through. That place really reaked of urine anyways!! I was glad to leave. So Liz and I went in search of another solution and we found a ‘tobacchi’ store (like a convenience store) and bought a couple of calling cards there. Then we went to find a payphone where we could use it. When we finally found one we had to figure out how to use the stupid thing, and then finally I got to talk to my love! Oh man, I miss my Bevan.