And the Adventure Begins

After constantly getting heckled and questioned for choosing September 11th as my departure date from the States to Rome I am glad to announce that I arrived safely and with no hiccups! I have discovered that International flights seem smoother than domestic and regardless of the hour I cannot sleep on a plane.

We, (Ann, my travel buddy for the first 8 days is with me), arrived in Rome at about 8:50am local time. Both of us were tired and spent the next 45 minutes waiting in line to get our passports stamped, but despite my family's belief that they wouldn't let me in, they did. Take that Europe, now you are stuck with me for 3 months.

We checked into our hostel around 11:15am to happily find it is 3 blocks dead North of St. Peter's Plaza. Awesome location. There are about 10 other people around our age staying here and both people running it are in the same range. The con is no air conditioning....or fans. I expected this, you have to give up some of the American amenities to live on the cheap, but this room is sweaty warm at almost 1am. Either way this place should work out great and it was a good deal.

We started walking around Rome, in a sleep deprived state, only to discover one absolute truth. The stereotype of Italian's riding scooters could not be more accurate. Everywhere, EVERYWHERE. It is great. They just weave through traffic and though we would deem that unsafe in the US, I didn't see one near-accident and it sped up traffic immensely. Given, everyone is driving tiny cars, making it easier to maneuver and avoid. Rome, the City of the Scooter. Ironic that Italy is more "socialist" than the states, but has no real traffic laws (at least enforced) and the US, the "free" country has an uncountable amount of traffic laws that are sometimes the only thing enforced.

We managed to walk around St. Peter's Plaza a little (every ten feet someone offers you a tour), went to the Pantheon, wondered around the city, got pizza at a street cafe (delicious) and pasta later that night and topped it off with Gelato. One difficult thing is learning what is normal and not. I found in the first days that extra things unrequested get added to my meal (bottle of water, bread, etc) and then they charge for them. They never give you a chance to say no. You have to be blunt about not wanting or paying for it. I am learning though, but will imagine I have lost a few extra Euros today as a noob tourist.

I still can't believe I am in Rome. The phrase of the day way, "Ann....we are in Rome....Italy....in Europe....wtf" I stopped that said this almost everyone hour. It just feels so surreal, like nothing has changed. I am just wandering through a different looking city, but I am in one of the oldest major cities of the Western World. It is amazing and awe inspiring. I am just sitting there on the street having a drink. Part of it freaks me out and makes me want to run home and the other excites me and wants me to visit more and more new cities.

Tomorrow brings the promise of a non-sleep deprived view of the city, more sites and more adventure! Oh, and I will punch the next person who asks me if I want a tour of the Vatican.