Monday, May 9, 2011

First Impressions

Feeling so thankful, happy and blessed to have arrived safely in gorgeous Rome. Although I can usually sleep through anything, I didn't sleep a wink on my 8 hour plane ride to Italy. Mom, Julia and I had gone to the outlets right before my departure to pick up some enjoyable books to read.. I started The Da Vinci Code (a must read that has been on my list for far too long & now I can finally indulge!) on my flight and ended up reading 300 pages. I seriously could not stop reading it.

When we arrived in Rome at baggage pickup I was extremely paranoid that my luggage was going to be lost.. All of my fellow Nutrition majors had retrieved their bags & I was literally the last person to receive my luggage ... 20 minutes later haha.

Some noteable things about Rome so far..
1) Every single taxi was a Mercedes. All of the taxi drivers were dressed in their finest suits and they drove us back to the Pantheon Institute in Mercedes Benz Vans? I'm guessing this is the norm over here but when I think of taxi drivers I usually think about yellow, disease-infested cabs..
2) Couldn't help but notice that the bushes & trees are absolutely gorgeous here. I'm not sure what kind of trees they plant here or how they meticulously maintain them. They are immaculate. It's honestly one of the first things I noticed. Maybe we should plant one of those in our backyard dad? hhaha
The Pantheon Institute (Our Apartment!)
                                                                Living Room
                                                                  Kitchen
                                              4 bedrooms (total) in our Apartment. 
                                          Katie & I are in a quad (w/2 other people)
                                                         Our bathroom for our quad
                                                        Courtyard of the Institute



A few of us decided to go on an adventure to find some lunch ... Went to this outdoor cafe where we got our own wine, pizza,  appetizer and dessert for 10 euros each! It was incredible & a great first meal here...








Also found the perfect place to run :) very long
trail that follows the Tiber River which is a block or two from our apartment. Testing it out tomorrow!



Just thought I'd give a shortened version of some of today!! Tomorrow is orientation when we finally get our itinerary (crossing my fingers). Hope all is well at home, everyone. miss you all!

xox ali

1 comment:

  1. Looks like quite an apartment! Hope you enjoy your first day of orientation and you run along the Tiber. did you find any place to get groceries yet?

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