A Semester Abroad: Day 3

Today was another fun-filled, activity packed day. The university has us doing quite a few orientation programs/meetings in theses two days before we start classes. I started the morning by getting a mini tour of the city from a four-year JCU student. My person is from Rome and had so much info to share about the city and how to get around it. I finally learned how to use Rome's subway, tram and bus system all in one day! They took us on a walk around Rome and we got to see the Roman forums (old Roman ruins which once used to be the center of the city where people would gather to discuss political and social issues). We also got to see the Colosseum but I still haven't had the opportunity to actually tour it. I'm hoping to do that either this weekend or sometime soon in the upcoming weeks. We also learned about a super cool thing that the city puts on in the forums that I'm planning on attending sometime. The city takes you into the forums and they do a little show of what life was like back when the forums truly were the center of the whole city. I'm really looking forward to this excursion as it sounds like a lot of fun. After we walked to the Colosseum (it's not a super long walk, maybe like 20-25 min from campus), we took the subway back to the main train station to learn how to book train tickets and navigate the huge Termini train station in Rome. From there, we learned how to take the bus, and took that about halfway to our apartment complex before we got off and took the tram system the rest of the way, learning how to use all of Rome's public transportation. After our city tour, I had to go through step 2 of my immigration process. In order to obtain my permit to stay, I had to go to the local post office and sign some documents as well as verify my identity with my passport. It was actually a super cool experience, because not many of the post office workers spoke English, so we really got immersed into Italian life, even if it was only for a few minutes. From there, we were done with all of our "mandatory" meetings for the day, but my friends and I had signed up to participate in a special tour around the city that specialized in discussing the ancient monuments throughout Rome. This tour was definitely one of my favorite things that I have done so far since being here. I got to learn so much about all these monuments and why they're there and it was just altogether super super interesting. We got to learn even more about the forums and got to see them more up close, got to see the balcony where Mussolini used to give his speeches to the public, got to see the steps and courtyard that were designed by Michelangelo and got to see the theatre that the Colosseum was kind of designed after. The best part was that seeing all of these things came with such amazing fun facts about these historical pieces. After the tour finished, Lea and I went back to our apartment and we cooked our first meal! We haven't had a ton of time to do grocery shopping and stuff yet, so we just made a simple spaghetti and marinara sauce with homemade garlic bread. It was a quick and easy dinner but it was really good and I look forward to making a bunch more meals in our apartment kitchen. Today was definitely a super fun day and I'm looking forward to a weekend full of organizing, planning trips and getting ready for school to begin! Missing everyone back home<3