one.

We have been here for exactly one week. Seven days. I realize new after typing all of that, it makes it sound like a survival post. "Day 5... Somehow I've survived...."  But a small part of me, actually feels that way. Remember last post how we got lost the second day?? Yep so that happened... again.... and again..... and again.... and again. Four times. EVERY DAY! We didn't get lost Sunday on our way to church so like that was swell! (that's a sign isn't it.... #thechurchistrue) Anyway, even though we got lost everyday, that didn't stop us from having an amazing time!

The Colosseum.... It's stunning. Beyond words. 

On one of our Rome adventures Sarah, Crystal, Chan and I were trying to get o Eatly. It's like IKEA but for food. It is kind of far away, but people kept telling us we had to go there cause it is amazing. So we decided to spend our Friday night and go to this hopping place and eat delicious Italian food. It took us an hour to get there.... mostly because we got lost and wandered the city forever... FOR-EH-VER..... FOR-EH-VER. But enough of that. After walking around trying to get Google Maps to cooperate with us and give us simple instructions we ended up ditching that idea and decided to ask a local.... Only problem with that is none of us speak fluent Italian... so next goal--find someone who speaks English. But who can you tell if they speak English? You can awkwardly stand near them and see if they start speaking English, but then you look like 4 nosey teens trying to eaves drop on their conversation. UGH! Finally luck was on our side, we found a very kind lady and she gave us simple instructions to Eatly and off we were! Now.... once inside the restaurant was another struggle... I mean none of us are fluent, we tried to pick it up on the 10 minute train ride over, but sadly we couldn't retain everything. Shocking isn't it?! But imagine, an IKEA... but for food. Mind boggling, right?!  Every floor was something different. Fish, Meat, Cheese & Bread, Gelato, and Pasta! Everything. But we found the pasta and pizza restaurant and it was perfect! (I really regret not taking a picture, but next time I go... Just wait.) We made fools of ourselves as we ordered the food just like classic tourists trying to say the Italian words and gesture to our menus. The waitress thought we were idiots... No doubt we felt like idiots too. So we can agree with her on that. We ordered our gelato after paying for our dinner and we off like a dirty shirt. Now getting home.... If you can't tell by now... Technology wasn't on our side. But we finally got it to work for about 10 minutes. We found our bus stop and waited for what seems like forever. What do three American girls do to make time pass while waiting for a bus that seemed like it was never going to show... sing Broadway showtunes! Duh. No brainer! We sang Wicked and Legally Blonde, and we wouldn't have it any other way! It was quite the entertaining evening.

This week was filled with the whole shabang. Stress, saddness, beauty, and love. I continue to fall more and more in love with the city. I miss my family and friends but having the ability to talk to them whenever I have wifi is the best, I don't know what I would do without them! Shout out to my faves, you know who you are! #blessed. On Monday, Chan and I were also able to go see the one and only... ED SHEERAN. He is one of the best performers I have ever seen live. Like.... perfection. Also his opener was Ryan Keen! If you have a chance go look him up! Amazing too. Ed knows how to pick 'em.

After the concert Chan and I assumed there would be taxis waiting outside the arena like in the States... Nope! There are none! So with no phones, no wifi (our hotspot wasn't working... shocking isn't it?!) and no clue how to get home. Panic began to settle in... How on earth are we supposed to get home!? We wandered around and in some broken Italian that I remember from last semester I asked about taxis-- everyone's answer was to call them! Well poo, we don't have a phone, but thanks though. But wonder of wonder and miracle of miracles, there was a bus that was taking us to Piazza Venezia. We did it. We made it home to our warm beds and all was well. All in all this week was good, challenging but good! School has started and is going to be... different! Here's to getting back into routines and for making it one week abroad. Yay!   

Dang it feels good to be a gansta

Chillin out, maxin, ralaxin all cool

Until next time,

-O

TELL MA I MADE IT.

"OY WHAT A DAY I HAD TODAY!"- Fanny Brice, Funny Girl

Hello from beautiful Rome!

I am here safe and sound, and living the Lizzie McGuire dream. Hopefully I find my Paolo and become an international pop star! Probs not. Just the average American girl living the long time dream of hers to live in Rome. But getting here was serious stuff guys, I'm talking paperwork up to your eyeballs and lots and lots of emails but so incredibly worth it. I've been here for two days and already I'm in love with the city. I am sad to be away from my beloved family and very treasured friends, but I came to grow and learn more about the history of Italy and eat more than my fair share of gelato and pizza. So here's to the good eats of Italy! Huzzah!

Day uno:

We can fly, we can fly, we flew! Holy canoli kids. Waking up at 5:00 am is not an easy task, I don't know how people can be fully awake at such a silly time. I frankly don't like it! I couldn't even function, let alone think, so the airport was a bit of a struggle. But I managed to force a smile and get pumped cause I was about to be in Rome in a short 15 hours. Nah the flying wasn't that bad though! After 2 movies, 3 hours of How to Get Away With Murder, 2 hours of The Big Bang Theory, 2 hour layover in Atlanta (peach smoothie, cause #georgiapeach ✔️) and 2 hours of unsuccessful attempts at sleeping, we made it. But like flying into Rome was perfect! We could see the ocean and all the little houses and it made me giddy, like the city was awaiting my arrival and I couldn't wait to see what it had in store. I'm so lucky to be on this study abroad with Chan. She is such an example of positivity and light that I find myself lacking sometimes. After a very fast paced and traffic jammed ride from the airport to our lovely apartment Chan and I were ready to die. I mean jet lag definitely got the best of us. Different times during the day we were either slap happy and laughing at the literally everything or we were just so quiet and desperate for a nap. BUT to my demise people advised me not to take a nap on the first day and all would be well... uh nooooo! I saw nay! I need my sleep. We did everything to take our minds off of napping. We showered cause like nasty plane feeling, walked around our little neighborhood, talked with the new roomies, unpacked, everything. We couldn't do it, my body started to lose it and I was started to get all shakes and weird!! But it's okay cause I napped anyway and I felt just fine! So HA to those who told me other wise. ISA, the company in charge, took us to the most amazing dinner! It was beautiful and so delicious!! Pasta, veal with prosciutto, roasted potatoes, and tiramisu! Bliss.

We came home and crashed cause we haven't slept in 42 hours since waking up from the airport the day before... All in all I know this is going to be the most amazing trip in all my years.It was all so perfect. Not to mention all the wonderful sights we saw whilst riding the tram to dinner.

Day due:

Lost. I'm telling you straight up lost, in a foreign country barely speaking the language... Scary as going a month with no Netflix. Terrifying right?? But you wanna know a secret, that's where I feel like I found some cool treasures!

Rome in the rain= perfection

We had orientation this morning and we found the directions and had the perfect amount of time to get there on time with no stress. Nope not at all! Hahaha. We accidentally took the tram instead of the bus. So we took a crazy long way to get there but I feel like I learned more about myself than I wold have by sitting in an orientation. Although the orientation would have helped greatly! But the Program directors are so kind and they helped us along. The first night they told us they wanted us to get lost because that makes us learn faster and that makes sense! They were smart for that! Anyway after all the boring things like getting school ids and making sure we had the correct documents, we went to got lunch.

Suppli. Deep Fried. Rice, Tomato Mozzarella. PERFECTION!

Suppli=delicious!!!! Totally recommended! You gotta try it. Then we had a walking tour of Rome We saw all types of historical monuments, from the Pantheon to the Trevi Fountain.

Roomies- Me, Megan, Chan, Crystal, and Sarah (missing MJ)

The Pantheon

GELATO

I was robbed my Lizzie McGuire moment because it is under construction! But we got gelato and continued to walk aimlessly around until we found a bus and continued home. Yes the number of selfies is.... well a lot. But I can't help it! Plus I mean #selfie. I thoroughly enjoyed my past two days and I cannot wait to see what the next two months have in store for me. I'm so thankful for this opportunity and I hope you who want to follow along with me in la bella Rome!

Dear Rome,

I love you. 

Until next time,

-O