First Two Days in Rome

We finally made it to Rome! Ellis and I sat next to each other on the plane.  Right next to us was an Italian man who was wearing a skin tight purple turtleneck with half of a bald head.  The hair that he did have was as long as mine but dripping in grease...Yuck!  He was our entertainment for the 9.5 hour flight since the volume did not work on the plane's tv. 

When we got to the airport, the IES staff members were waiting on a group of about 20 of us students.  They gave us welcome packets and put us on buses to our apartments. I know they thought we were all crazy, dumb Americans because we each had two giant suitcases, a purse and carry on bag.  When we finally got to our apartment, there was another staff member waiting outside to give us keys and show us how to work different things in the apartment.  We have a stove, oven, dishwasher, tiny frigdge/freezer, tv, table and chairs and futon in the main room.  And here is a picture of the bedroom Ellis and I share.

It is small and the decorations are just lovely haha, but we do have our own bathroom attached to our bedroom. 

Yesterday Ellis and I set out to explore our neighborhood a little bit.  We found an outdoor market right down the street where we can buy fresh fruit, vegetables and meats.  We also spent the day riding the different metro lines and buses around the parts of the city that we would need to know how to use to get to school.  It took us a few tries, but he have finally gotten the hang of it. 

The school is right on the Tiber River.  It looks across the river at the Castel S. Angelo and some other beautiful building that we do not know the name of, but it looks like it is some sort of government building.  Here is a picture of that building.

We have two roommates named Marissa and Ritika.  So far we have really enjoyed them!  They are from California and Minnesota.

Today we had to go to the school for orientation meeting from 9am until 5pm.  It was very boring, but they gave us some good information.  The school is in an old school for nuns.  It has a terrace on the 3rd floor which is also beautiful!  Here are pictures of the view from the terrace.

There will be more pictures to come. 

So far the biggest struggles that we have had has been finding a hair dryer and straigthner!  I mean we looked and looked and looked in just about every store we could think of yesterday and found nothing!  We had no idea they would be so hard to find, but we finally found a hair dryer (no straightner) today in a little department store.  phew! hahaha

Right now it is about 7:30pm and we have just gotten home.  We stopped in a grocery store and got some pasta and wine for dinner tonight. Ciao for now!