Yesterday morning started off stressed like usual. It amazes me that, after allll these years of my life I STILL WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. I ended up packing everything up the night before I had to leave in between watching tv, hanging out with people, and saying goodbye to my car. :'( After having a somewhat more chaotic beginning due to the fact that i realized i forgot some things and had to go back home we were off to the airport. We arrived at O'Hare international terminal at around 12:15 where mom dropped me off and talked for a bit (since it was not crazy or busy at all) and i grabbed my bags and walked inside to a line that was about the length of 6 ticket windows that was my Alitalia flight. I got into line and ended up meeting this girl named Gina from DePaul and her parents who got into line right behind me. She ended up being really nice and her and her parents walked with me up to security where they said their goodbyes. Gina hasn't traveled a whole lot so after I helped her through security a bit we were off to our gate. We met up with Adam and Cassady (two friends from Loyola) and met Adam's new friend Sam. the 5 of us hung out at the gate, went to get a snack, then waited through a little over a 30 minute delay until we were able to board the plane and take off.

The flight was a little under 9 hours and, with the time change, we landed in Italy at 9am. The plane was set up with 2 seats on each wall and 3 seats in the middle. I ended up sitting in the middle seats on an aisle RIGHT next to Gina. Also, I didn't have anyone in my row so I was able to spread out allll of my stuff :) I didn't end up sleeping which was rough since I probably only got an hour of sleep the night before. Gina didn't sleep either though so we stayed awake and talked for most of the flight. I had Adam come up and sit in one of my 3 seats since when I walked back to go to the bathroom he was basically being squooshed out into the aisle by his seat mate. They served us dinner around 630pm Chicago time which consisted of what i can only explain as salty, salty beef with gravy and some cut up vegetables. The reason I find it necessary to comment on their saltiness is due to the fact that I have 2 canker sores that just won't go away. On the side were some pickled vegetables with one slice of meat on it (weird? yes) and probably something else but I cannot remember what it was. There was also a plastic short cup that Gina and I could not figure out. She used hers to hold her glass of water, I used mine for garbage... Everyone else used theirs for coffee. After I dumped my garbage out, filled it with coffee, added a package of sugar and creamer I was content. They played a crazy, crazy movie on the flight that I didn't pay much attention to so most of the flight I read through some travel books that I had and decided some future trip plans... Hopefully. Breakfast was served at around 730 am Rome time (which is the time that the rest of this journal, unless i'm traveling, will be in) which consisted of a cheese and turkey sandwich on rosemary bread and an apple strudel thing. I ate both Adam's and my sandwiches and my apple strudel. I was told i'm not going to live this down; shouldn't it be expected that I eat more than an average person by this point?

When we arrived at the airport we walked down the stairs, yep we unloaded out on the tarmac, and got into buses that took us to the actual airport. I used my first bathroom in Italy and then got into the line to exchange my US money for a few Euros- just in case. We then moved over to the customs line which moved fairly quickly and we were off to get our baggage... or were we. We walked alllll the way past 8 baggage claims until we reached ours (number 9 for all of you who can't do math early in the morning when you read this) and sat there and waited. Our itinerary told us that our bags would be picked up and taken to our buses. Everyone from the flight was waiting for their bags. Gina was also waiting for her bags but she was going to a completely different program in Rome so she knew what she was doing. We debated just leaving baggage claim and finding someone outside of the secure area but, if we left, there would be no returning. We ended up sending one chick out to be our guinea pig. Thank god it wasn't me because we needed to get our own bags from the carousel. Adam, Cassady, our new friend Megan and I waited for our bags together. Both of mine came before anyone else's did. They were upset with me. Eventually everyone's bags came and we left the secure area and moved on to the line for the bus. If i've learned one thing about traveling its that you wait in lines 70% of the time and actually travel for 30%.

We ended up putting our bags on one bus and getting onto another bus, of course, without air conditioning. Apparently they lost someone or something because we waited there for about 45 minutes while they counted and recounted and recounted our numbers. Eventually we were able to leave; which was celebrated with cheers from the members of our bus. The bus ride was about 45 minutes but was somewhat comfortable after the air conditioning was turned on. We made it to campus and were able to see what a beautiful campus it is. (Pictures coming soon)

When we arrived we got into another line to get all of our registration all taken care of. This is when the lack of air conditioning really started to get to us. I had been traveling for about 19 hours at this time and was ready to lay down and relax. After taking care of that and making copies of everything under the sun for about 2 hours I was able to go up to my room and check everything out. The room is nice, no internet however. That may need to be remedied soon. I couldn't find my converter in my bag which ended up not being an issue since I can't really use my laptop and my cellphone doesn't work.

I met my roommate, her name is Ashley. We haven't talked much and her boyfriend seems to be around quite a bit. I couldn't imagine traveling overseas with a boyfriend. It could either act as a premature honeymoon or cause some issues.

We then went down to lunch and waited in line after not thinking we could leave campus yet to go get something to eat. Adam had some time and looked around the whole place and found a room with a tv, some cool chairs, a bar to buy food and water, AND a gelato placeee! haha. We hung out and explored campus a bit. I then went upstairs to take a shower before we went out for a guided tour of the city. Guess what I didn't bring. A towel. I had 20 minutes to figure out a towel, figure out the shower, actually shower, and get dressed. I grabbed some clothes out of my suitcase, since of course I hadn't put anything away yet, grabbed a sweater to use as a towel since there's no way in hell i'll need that with the weather being over 80 and walked down to the bathroom. After realizing the shower isn't hot or super hot-its hot or cold- I showered quickly, dried off with what happened to be a dog hair covered sweater, got dressed, and ran downstairs to meet my friends.

During the tour, I later realized, I barely listened and definitely couldn't remember anything. I wasn't sure if it was due to the not sleeping for over 2 days or the overstimulation but I am planning on going on another one today. We aren't in downtown Rome, we're about a 20 minute bus ride or so away, so we are basically located in a neighborhood. There are a few stores and places to eat and possibly a few bars (haven't explored the night life too much yet). When I got back we hung out for a bit in the only air conditioned room (the downstairs computer lab. my new friend.) until we went downstairs to our gender-specific meetings. After the meetings Natalie and I went for a walk down to the grocery store to buy wine and grapes (i told her they're the same thing and she'd save money buying one or the other but hey, what do i know). The wine we bought was cheap, less than 4 euros for a big bottle. When we got back we hung out for a bit, then went to dinner. I feel like they're constantly feeding us here but its most likely just due to the fact that theres a LOT of pasta. However, for lunch they served a risotto which was delicious, most likely just due to the fact that I love risotto. After dinner we tried to go to a convenience store to get me a towel and to look at phones but most of the places were closed. We instead decided, after googling whether or not Italy has an open container law, (which it doesn't) to walk around our neighborhood and drink a glass of wine... from dixie cups. Very Italian. Adam, Natalie, Caitlin, Cassady and I headed out to explore. We walked around for quite a bit and didn't ever really find much besides awesome looking apartments and dog and cat poop all over the sidewalks. We found a place to sit and twisted of that wine bottle's cap and each had a glass. We accidentally walked up to the restaurant that we signed up to go to tonight and it looks really nice so we're all excited. We walked back, stopped once more to give Adam's blisters and the girl's and my tired bodies a rest and got back to campus probably around 11pm.

We all went back into the computer lab where I started falling asleep while trying to write this last night. I decided to go to bed and when I got up to my room Ashley was sleeping. Can't blame her, it was a looooong day. However, I was unable to find any of my pajamas since all of my clothes were literally in a huge pile in my dresser so i dug around for a while. Oh by the way, the room was NEARLY pitch black so i had to turn on my phone as a flashlight. Found a pair of shorts, grabbed my ipod, didn't even try to put sheets on the bed and layed down on this terry cloth mattress cover thing (i promise its clean... probably). I'm not sure how long it took me to fall asleep but I definitely woke up at about 6am more sweaty than i thought possible while sleeping without covers and in shorts and a tank top. My alarm clock happened to have a thermometer on it and it said my room was 89.7............ It was miserable. I eventually fell back asleep because I was supposed to meet my friends at 830 to run some errands before it got too hot. I woke up at 840, knocked on their doors, realized they had left, threw on a pair of shorts and headed back to...... the computer lab. I decided they will find me when they return. We have a few meetings today, a crash course in Italian and dinner tonight. Hopefully I will be able to actually write today's entry tonight.

p.s. didn't take that picture ^ i will upload my own pictures soon :)