Seems crazy doesn’t it?
Well it was.
I tried to start packing before my graduation day to save time but that was nearly impossible with finishing finals and trying to spend as much time as I could with people before we parted ways.
I graduated college on June 14, 2009, moved home on June 15th, went to the dentist in Palo Alto, had my hair done in Gilroy on June 16th, and On June 17th at 3:00 pm I went to San Francisco airport to fly out to New York.
I said bye to my dad and I wasn’t even nervous at all. And knowing me, I should have been. I had never flown by myself before and hadn’t flown since before 2002. I didn’t know about all of the new security checks or procedures or what exactly to do.
But I did it, I arrived in New York and walked to the baggage claim where Tammy was already waiting. Apparently she left later than me and arrived before I did, whatever. J
Our flight didn’t leave until 5pm the next day, after paying a ridiculous price for a hotel room for the night; Tammy and I spent the day at JFK waiting for our flight. We ate McDonalds, skyped friends and waited patiently (secretly anxiously) for the trip to really begin.
At 5, we boarded the plane, got ourselves settled, and mentally prepared ourselves for the 8 hours that we were gonna spend on the plane. I remember sitting there and saying a prayer…I thanked god for the opportunity of the trip and prayed for a safe flight. About 15 minutes after I said my prayer, the stewardess got on the intercom and asked us to pack up our stuff, we were going to have to change planes because they had found problems with the one that we were on…weird right?
So Tammy and I packed up our stuff and walked down 30 terminals to where our next plane was going to be. We boarded the plane and by 8:00pm were finally on the runway getting ready for take off.
Once on the plane, Tammy and I cheers-ed our complimentary shot of jack and finally said goodbye to America.
–
Roma.
Two bendryls, no sleep and 8 hours later we arrived in Roma. Needless to say, the state that I was in was not enjoyable. My excitement was being over taken with drowsyness and crankiness. We waited close to an hour to go through customs where I got my first taste of Italian culture. The guards were yelling in Italian, women were being aggressive in line and I kind of just stood back and watched it all. I tried to be aggressive and cut but little Italian women are intimidating. Haha
Finally we got through customs and made our way out to find my aunt (whom I had never met) and my cousin. We finally met them and they showed us our way to their car. The tiniest car I had probably ever seen. Somehow we managed to fit our luggage and us. Never I had I felt like I was a giant until I got into their car. Talk about everything being bigger in America.
As we drove to my uncle’s house, funny enough, the first song we heard on the radio was Lady Gaga. When we got to my uncles place, Tammy and I unloaded our stuff and made our way to his apartment. When we got to the elevator, Tammy and I Just looked at each other…it was smaller than a pantry! There was no way that the four of our luggage and us were going to fit, but my aunt insisted that we try. I also forgot to mention, my aunt doesn’t speak any English…so just keep that in mind as we all tried to fit into this elevator. As we squeezed I look around and saw that the maximum capacity for the elevator was four…they definitely mean four Europeans, not Americans. haha.
The first day we got there we basically slept. It was so great seeing my uncle again. The last time I saw him; I was 9…so it had been a good 14 years. We talked for a bit but then Tammy and I fell asleep. We woke up to a wonderfully made lunch and then slept again and woke up in time for dinner.
After dinner, my cousins Isaac, Sara and Isaacs girlfriend took us out for gelato. When we got to the gelato place, I was overwhelmed by all of the choices. I didn’t quite understand how it worked but Isaac explained that they don’t charge you by scoops but by flavors. I remember looking around and seeing that the gelato cost 1,000. I looked at Tammy and I remember saying “ im not paying a THOUSAND EUROS for ice cream!” and that was when she explained to me their “,” was the same as our decimal. That was my first lesson with how to spend euros and gelato. Let me tell you…Gelato and I fell in love at first taste.
After we all got our gelatos we walked around a saw some sights but then headed back home, the next day was going to be a big one. You would think after sleeping all day Tammy and I would have a hard time falling back asleep, but as soon as our heads hit the pillow we were out.
We woke up the next morning and my aunt had set up an Italian breakfast for us. Crackers, sweet bread, and coffee. After we all got ready we set out for my first day in Rome.
Within these first two days I experienced a lot of firsts…flying by myself, crazy Italians, gelato, home made Italian meals, euros…next was public transportation.
Being from California… I have never taken a metro or subway. I thought we would be driving everywhere but I was wrong. We drove to the nearest metro station and then hopped on the metro to go to the coliseum.
We walked out of the metro station and the first thing I saw was the coliseum. I wont ever forget the feeling I felt when I first saw the Coliseum, standing tall in all of its glory. It was much bigger than I had ever imagined. The only word that I can use to describe it is epic. We crossed over and the closer I got it, the more I was falling in love with it. Im not sure if it was because I had never seen anything like it or what…but I was amazed.
That day we went around and saw the Fontana de Trevi, the Plaza del Parlamento, the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon. We ate at a small pizza place outside the pantheon and just walked the streets of Roma taking everything in.
Fontana de Trevi
The Spanish Steps
Pantheon
We got home that night in time for dinner and rested because we’d have to wake up early to take the train to Naples. That morning we woke up to the sounds of rain hitting our window. I checked the weather and found that we were caught in a big thunderstorm. Here I am, a California girl stuck in an Italian rainstorm with only a light sweater and flip-flops to protect me…cool.
My aunt took us to the train station and helped us get our tickets, while waiting for our train we met some students that were apart of our program. The ride to Naples wasn’t very long, its funny how it takes you maybe 12 hours to cover all of California and you could travel a fourth of Italy in about 3 hours. Once we got to Naples, we meet our third roommate Iona at the train station and took a cab to the port. The cab ride was like taking a cab in Tijuana but 200x worse. I saw things I would have never seen like a man riding a scooter, holding his baby. Luckily, we safely made it to the port and it was a close call but we boarded my first ferry ride to Procida. We spent the ferry ride meeting others in our program, debating if it was time to celebrate with Mr. Daniels or what. On the ride we passed by many islands and I just took everything in. How clear and blue the Mediterranean is, the pretty homes and buildings on the islands that we were passing and just how beautiful it all was.
When the ferry stopped in Procida, we all got our stuff and hurried down. As we stood on the bottom level, I remember feeling really anxious. We waited as they tied the boat up and the big boat door opened slowly, exposing the dock, which lead to the beautiful island that I would be living on for the next 3 weeks….
Hello Procida.
