First Day

Where to start. Well we arrived at Newark airport on time however, due to the bad weather our flight was stopped on the runway for an additional hour and a half or so. I was so nervous about flying! In fact, for the past few weeks I have been panicking on and off but when the time came I was sitting on the plane I was so comfortable! Initially my friend Robin and I were seated separately but Jennifer Clark offered to switch seats so the two of us could be together. Our seats were right in the front aisle, which was fantastic for my long legs. Robin and I sat right next to President Leary and her husband, both of them spent a lot of time making sure that I as well as every other Bay Path student was comfortable! Once we were all seated and buckled in, honestly you dont even know you are on the plane! I as well as the other passengers watched the movie The Blind Side, listen to a few continental airline music stations and then slept for about three hours before we landed at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport! Upon landing in ROME we took a bus trip around the local sights and then arrived at our hotel, unfortunately, the rooms were not ready so we unloaded our luggage into the one room that was ready and headed to the streets!! We meandered to the TreviFountain (not sure on the spelling) and oh my god. I mean this entire trip has made me realize how small I am if that makes any sense,I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have this oppurtunity and to see ROME! This experience has been so liberating I have tasted so many different foods already! We went to lunch as a small group earlier today at a small mom and pop store where we had pizza! Tonight we went out as a group and had a multiple course dinner featuring several classic italian dishes such as spinache ravioli, bacon and tomato pasta, tirimasu and much more! After dinner we went back to the hotel to change and professor Burns took us on a night sight seeing tour! We took several taxis into town at which point we went for some authentic Gelato! After this we made our way to the Trevi Fountain which is phenomenal at night! I cannot even begin to describe the sounds, lights, people! I was able to take a few videos which I will try to post! After this we went to the Spanish Steps and made our way back to the hotel.

Which brings me to the funny part of the trip, the bathrooms! These have been the most interesting, my God, that has been an adventure and a half. Most of the bathrooms here look like U.S. toilettes but without seat covers which begs the question: do we sit or squat? hahaha we have all been comparing notes and laughing non-stop :)

After the tour a few of us went to a local discotech around the corner from our hotel! It was a great time, however, the men were very forward so I agree when people say you should go in groups! The internet here is horrible and highly delayed I will try to write more later, miss you guys!!


Sam