So this one time... I was in Rome, and it was amazing!

Ciao, mi amici! Come siete?

I've been in Rome for four days already, but it feels like I've been here for weeks! My flight over was looong and dealing with my luggage was a hassle, but it was well worth it to get here and have everything I needed. Arriving at the Centro was exciting, I live near Trastevere on the West side of the Tiber River, only a short walk from the Vatican. The cab ride from the airport was a little frightening, everything you've heard about driving is Rome is probably true. I especially like the no lanes and the crazy scooters. The drivers have a certain confidence in their chaos, however, so I never really feared for my life in the taxi (although I have constantly as a pedestrian).

After paying an excessive amount for the taxi (it was a Sunday and I think a holiday as well so the fare was steep) I went through the gate to my wonderful home: The Centro. It's a small building that functions as a dorm and school for everyone on the ICCS program. There are 36 students studying this semester and five professors. The first floor has a lobby, library, offices, and a classroom. The dining hall is in the basement (the food is spectacular, authentic Italian cuisine). The dorms are on the upper floors.

I live in a corner room with a roommate named Faith. She's actually from Houston, but goes to Washington and Lee University. Some people have singles which I'm slightly jealous of, but in actuality I'm thrilled to have Faith. We've been getting along so well, it's a bonus instead of a drag to share the room.
The accommodations are modest. The room is about half the size of a Jones double and we share one desk and one wardrobe, but the room is in Rome so I'm not disappointed.

Orientation here has been nothing like O-Week. We had a two hour meeting to run through the rules of the Centro and overview the syllabus, but there were no name games, and no buttons. I'm still a little foggy on some people's names, although 36 people is not a huge number of names to absorb. It's easy enough to ask someone's name or more covertly find it out on facebook or look on the message board. They asked for one inch photos and used them in a name board... mine looks like a mug shot... Aside from the first meeting we've done an extensive amount of walking. First we became familiar with the neighborhood(1-2 mile walk), then more of Rome (8 mile walk), but yesterday was the Obelisk walk...

We traveled over 13 miles around the city of Rome, entirely on foot. The weather was pretty scorching, although it would have been worse to be in Houston. Here at least there's a cool breeze and not 100% humidity. I drank Nalgene after Nalgene full of water. Which brings me to another one of my favorite things about Rome... the terrific tap water. It is the most delicious and often cold water you could imagine. There are fountains in parks all over the city and it is refreshing, clean water.

Living in a foreign country is most obviously an adjustment. The most difficult part being the language barrier. When I was packing to come to Rome I made the decision to not bring shampoo, conditioner, and some other items because I knew they had those kinds of things here. Well they do, but it's difficult to determine which kind, style, color bottle, etc. when your Italian is extremely limited. Mostly I've been buying based on pictures and the rare recognizable brands (like Colgate toothpaste!). I'm working on my Italian by taking it here, which is amazing since I have so much incentive to learn. The Professora is very good and the class is immersion so I'll hopefully learn a great deal.

It's weird how some things are different, like paying for grocery bags, or not having a TV to watch (although Faith and I plan on downloading Project Runway from Itunes every week), or walking down the street and seeing an ancient structure, or having wine with dinner every night.

I'm slowly starting to get more acquainted with wine. I wasn't ignorant to begin with, but my knowledge is definitely limited. Lucky for me we get a wine tutorial soon, taught by the very nice owner of a wine shop.

I feel rather long-winded and like I'm not really delving into any specific experience or topic. There's just so much that's happened it's difficult to cover in one sitting.

I miss everyone. Faith, Jack (other guy from Rice), and I reminisce about Tex-Mex frequently. I miss being able to say "I'm smart, I go to Rice!" whenever I do something stupid and have it mean something. Even though I'm so far away I have reminders of home. Jack and I will occasionally talk about Rice and another guy Tom goes to WashU and knows my roommate from IMSA, Priya. Also about a third of the people here are from the Chicagoland area or go to Northwestern. It's insane. I feel like I'm one of the Rice people from Texas we're such a huge contingent. Apparently Chicago breeds Classists. Someone has A Girl Named Craig (band from Barrington) on Itunes and I'm so thrilled!

Please write, comment, etc. It will make my day to hear from you!