Buongiorno

"Only bring what you can carry." How many times in a girl's life time does she hear these words? Speaking for myself, i've probably heard that over two-hundred and fifty four times. I've never listened.

I thought I packed perfectly. Two months in Italy and one month in India was going to take up my entire summer. I made little piles all over my room. Even my mom commented that it looked like I had made significant progress in my packing since the semester in Australia. My mom was wrong. I was wrong. My two giant bags were both a solid 20 pounds heavier than they should have been. I also dragged a mini rolly, a big Long Champ, and my favorite purse that Nana gave me. As my dad and I were barely able to drag everything in the airport, he was threatening me under his breath that if they were over weight, I was taking stuff out. But as Gary started chatting it up with the airport bag lady, they discovered their birthdays matched, Tax Day, best day of the year. Not only did my extra 40 pounds make it on the flight without any extra charges, Gary managed to talk his way into seeing me off at the gate. I think i'm the only twenty-one year old that gets a hug from their daddy right before getting on the plane.

I left on Monday, May 17th, on a direct flight to Rome! Great flight. I had the two seats to myself. A nice Italian man across the isle quizzed me on some Italian vocabulary and gave me a list of bars. Surprisingly, the flight attendants were terribly cold. Honestly they were a little old and couldn't fit that easily through the isles. Maybe time for them to retire? One fifty something flighty was trying to flirt with a thirty something Italian man. She was telling him how she was from Florida and was a "beach gal." I was over this lady, and I hit my button for some complimentary water.

I jumped off the plane (now Tuesday) and gathered all my over-weight bags on a one Euro cart and headed out to meet Jill at a nearby cafe. Jill, one of my best friend's older sister, lives and works in Rome. She takes classes at the Angellicum, a Vatican University. She's currently starting a non-profit that helps religiously affiliated people coming to Rome. Jill was also a Public Policy major at Duke. To be a public policy major, you have to complete a public policy internship before your senior year, and Jill invited me to Rome to help her with some projects! I immediately took her up on the opportunity to live in Rome, work for the Vatican, and brush up on my Italian!

Jill brought me to a bed and breakfast near the Vatican. A lovely little Italian family with uno piccolo bambino had two rooms for rent. We dropped off my stuff and got some pizza. We ate delicious pizza on the steps in front of the Vatican and hit up her favorite gelato place on the way back to the B&B. I got a nice nap before taking my first solo trip on the bus system to meet Jill. One of Jill's friends, a priest, invited us to a dinner party at his friend Fabio's house. Fabio is not a priest, but is friends with these guys so he offered his home so they could cook a fabulous dinner in his kitchen! This was a beautiful area and we had the most amazing Indian food cooked by Pakistani priests! What a memorable first night and dinner in Rome! Fabio offered to drive Jill and me back. I got my first experience riding in the car with an Italian man. He even put my dad to shame. We whizzed past monuments, up hills, and through mini ally ways. I always close my eyes when the car turns on a road that I can't personally imagine fitting in, nevertheless a car!

On Wednesday I slept in and walked around Rome by myself. I found a little cafe and had my first chat in Italian.

I am six hours ahead of Eastern American time here. Around 1pm I start receiving emails from my mom. In the late afternoon, I finally hear from friends! Sometimes if I wake up early enough, I can still catch my friends on bbm out at a bar!

Ciao!
Jessica