So I decided to do my first load of laundry this morning…
this is going to take some getting used to! Basically, it’s half the size of a
load in the States, and takes about 3 or 4 times as long. They are very small,
front-loading washing machines, and I think they reason they take so long is to
save electricity somehow, because Italy imports all of its electricity so it
costs more. Also, there is no dryer, so I’m just going to have to plan in advance
when I need laundry done, and re-wear things even more than I usually do. It
might just work out that I do laundry on Tuesday’s if I get up early enough so
I can do two loads (if needed) and then still go to yoga at 12:15.
Yoga round two. I could actually get my bind today! We
didn’t do the full Birds of Paradise pose, but I would have been able to at
least get up for a little bit! Afterward, I met up with Bridget and bought a
bus pass for February (finally!) and signed up for about six different clubs.
Yoga, Running (if I am able to, we’ll find out February 7th),
Volunteer, Diversity, Film, and Drama. There wasn’t much information about any
of them so I just figured I would get some emails and go to a few meetings and
decide from there which I would like to join!
Then Bridget and I attempted to find the Anglo American
Bookshop again across the Tiber River. I don’t think I’ve ever been so lost in
my life! We tried to trace our steps backwards from the tram stop, but ended up
winding our to the Pantheon. Then we tried to find it following the same
directions we did on Sunday, and actually just walked in a circle back to the
Pantheon. So after another try –and fail- we decided to get some gelato and
refresh our brains! This time I tried caramel cream with cioccolato, and it
was, again, fantastic! It took me a while to eat though; it’s just so rich!
We tried to find the bookstore one more time, then just
decided to not get even more lost and just find our way back to the tram. We
found some neat looking streets that we hadn’t been on yet, and eventually came
around on the other side of Torre Argentina that we normally enter, and found
the tram! On the way home, we got off of the tram on the side of the river we
lived on, crossed back over on a bridge looking for a fort that we think we
found, but weren’t sure because we couldn’t get to it, then just walked along
that side of the river toward our apartment. We crossed back over the next
bridge, which was just one block away from our building!
Everyone I’ve talked to about Rome says they’ve either
gotten lost themselves, or that if you try to get lost you see the most things.
It was actually really fun being lost and I wasn’t worried at all! I figured we
would find some landmark that we recognized eventually, and I was actually
confident enough to try and use some Italian and ask a few different people if
they knew where the bookshop was, or at least the street it was on because I
remembered the name! We actually happened to stumble upon Piazza Nivona while we were wandering about lost, which we had been looking for on Saturday! And we also passed some cool sidewalk art on the way to the tram!
Right when we got home, we found a recent post on the AUR
Student Life Facebook page that had directions to the bookstore, so after a man
working for maintenance came and fixed our Wi-Fi and computer and phone (we
literally just had to plug a cord in…), Bridget, Paige and I headed out the
bookstore again, and this time didn’t get lost! So I should have all of my
books, except for whatever I need for my painting class that I will find out about
on Thursday!
I’m halfway through my first week of classes! Well, sort of.
I didn’t have class today, so I guess tomorrow at 12 I will be half way
through! Technicalities.
Observation of the
Day: It’s the small adjustments that have been making this trip feel more real.
It’s also the getting lost. As a tourist, I would have my map out and be afraid
to wander anywhere out of the way.
