My Roman Apartment...

So you must excuse the mess, but the following pictures are of my apartment. I live in a district called Valle Aurelia. If you google maps Via Laterizi 20, that is my street and you can see how close to the metro stop I am. When I get to the metro I can see the Vatican, so that's pretty cool. This place is expensive, but it's actually the cheapest studio I could find. Living in the center of Rome would be more like 1200-3000 EURO a month, so I'm getting a pretty good deal. It takes a little while to make it to school, but it's not that bad.

So here's a new story. The night bus driver and I have become buddies. The other night I had to work at the school until 11pm so I made the last bus home around 1130. Well, of course I was one of the few people who get off at my stop, and the stop has this crazy hill next to it that people usually take. So he asked me if I should stop next to the hill. but I said no I live on that street close to the other stop. So he blew past the bus stop and dropped me off right in front of my apartment. He's like the grandad I never had!!! It was nice not having to walk the 100 feet to my door!

A Discerning Flight Back To Roma....

For those of you who were unawares, I really, really HATE the Frankfurt, Germany airport. Anytime that I don't have to fly through Frankfurt I do a thank-you dance to God. Frankfurt, to sum up, is a maze. It sucks. You have to go up two flights, down three flights, up a flight, around the corner, go through customs, another checkpoint...well you get the idea.

So now that you know I absolutely ABHOR this airport, I can now tell you my experience of traveling to and from FAT and FCO....FIRST i have to tell those of you who DIDN'T get the joy of hearing how the hell I even got HOME!!!! boy, was that an experience....so let's begin.

I flew home on the 11th of December. Now, my original flight was scheduled for the 16th of December. Which was actually a lucky guess because the 15th was a ferry strike and the 17th was a pilot strike which was going to ground ALL flights. Well, I asked mom to change my flight to the 12th of December so that I could come home early...well, low and behold there was yet....ANOTHER STRIKE!!! lol...so we tried the 13th, but everyone had moved it, so we settle on the 11th. Anyways, the morning I fly, there is a HUGE thunderstorm...and I'm talking the likes of which I had never seem before. The lightening was so bad I was worried we couldn't take off. By online it said that I was ok. So I get to the train station in Rome, and I make the 6:52 train. Now, I wasn't supposed to board until 945, so i'm really early, and the train from rome to the airport is only 30 min. .....well, it's a good thing cuz the train end up taking 1:30 to get there!!!!! they made lots of stops, we have no idea why, it's supposed to be a no-stop express....so I get there at 830am...still early....Now, in Italy, there is a checkpoint BEFORE you even get your ticket...so I went through that, and of course my passport is blurry so it never reads on the scanner so I stand in line. After another half hour the lady is trying to find me....yeah, no go. so I have to go outside and then I have to talk to the agent there. Upon another half hour she finds me...yep, you guessed it, the checkpoint. which the lady got confused so I just tried to blow past her and the security guard gave me a dirty look so I had to explain...yeah, so then there's an even longer line to get checked in. after another half hour I check my bags and head to customs. Then, a bunch of people cut so that they can make their flight and I think i'm okay because I have like 30 minutes until boarding. I make it through security, a nice old man let me cut, and then I head to my gate....which is FAR. You have to take a bus from gate to gate. So I get to be the LAST one on the bus. I just squeak in. When I stepped on this bus, my plane started to board. So I make it to my gate and they have a slight delay in boarding so all is well.....not. We board and of course I sit next to the Grinch. He was a mean old man who huffed and puffed cuz there was a baby and the guy in front of him leaned back...so yeah....he only talked to me the last 10 minutes and then he wouldn't shut up!!!!

So I get my bags in DC, and the young man who stamped my passport asked if I had anything to declare. I was like "Sir, I'm a poor college student"...he was like you're right....Welcome. Then I said, "Could you say the whole thing please?...I've been gone a long time..."...He smiled..."Welcome to American Ms. Reynolds"....So I make my flight from DC to LA and I sit next to the cutest Harry Potter family I've ever seen. Four kids and their mother...ALL reading. Tino would have died. Anywho, that was uneventful (thank GOD), and then I get to the gate in LA....Then I head the announcement...."There's a 50% chance that this flight will NOT land in Fresno..".....wait WHAT!!! i've been flying for close to 20 hours at this point...I want to go HOME!!!! Well, we get to Fresno...and the fog is so bad...the pilot needs 1200 feet to land..and he only had 700...we do another couple circles, and then the next thing you know he comes over the speaker saying that we were lucky we were on this plane cuz the other one was sent back to LA...and I land! Now, Tino came home from NDNU that same day...He thought he was picking up Don from Vegas. He was so busy texting that I blew right past him....Anyways, my first thought was TACO BELL!

SO! Now for my return, because one bad trip couldn't be enough right?...Yeah, on top of not wanting to come back, I had a really bad trip. I had to leave mom, and then I from Fresno to SFO there was really bad winds and really bad turbulence. So bad, that even I was scared...Well, then from SFO to Frankfurt (ugh) I had the only seat without anyone next to it, so that was nice. But then we landed late and we had a medical emergency so they needed that first. Well, this girl behind me was traveling for 10 days in Rome and Florence by herself, and she was staying near me. As soon as we deplaned we RAN from our gate, through customs, security and to our gate. Well, at customs they interrogated me on what i was doing, and at security a woman touched me in crazy places because I forgot to take my ring off and I beeped the thing. So after my pat down, we ran for a FULL TEN MINUTES!!! They nicknamed the airport the Frankfurt MARATHON for a reason. Ridiculous. We ended up making our flight by 1 MINUTE!!!! how crazy is that. So then I sit there for the next hour trying to cool down. And then we waited the hour for our bags. Only I ended up getting my fake loius vutton looking like the pictures above. Haha, well when i got it only one handle was missing. Then I tried to pick it up by the other handle and it broke. When I was rolling it to the train station of course! It broke too. So, I had to place it ON TOP of my 50 pound red suitcase. Yes, lovely. When I got to the Termini station in Rome, I was sweating, tired, and ready to go to bed. So I left the girl to herself and helped her find the A line, and I found a taxi...To take me back to school, because guess what I didn't have???? Yep, the address to my apartment. I had lost if of course. So I make it to Marcantonio Colonna, I call my landlord and get my address, order another taxi, and make it home. And during the whole process it was pouring. So now in the second taxi, I was wet, cold, tired, and...WELCOME BACK TO WONDERFUL ROME!

All in all, I used to love flying. Hell, last time I went home I ended up in 1st class because they overbooked the plane....if only next time.....

Back In Roma.....

Ciao Tutti!!!!!

I miss everyone at home sooo much!!! MUAH!!!!

For those of you who don't know, last semester was pretty hectic. Let me backtrack and explain how it went.

St. John's University splits up the semester into TWO quarters, which means I have classes every 7 weeks. The first 7 weeks I took a class called "Modern Political Research", which is a Political Theory course. (and again, for those of you who don't know, I absolutley LOVE Political Philosophy, if I wasn't doing IR, I'd be doing that....and I'll probably get my PhD in that.) Anyways, the Professor for this class was AMAZING, and he basically offered me whatever reference or connection I need upon graduation. Score 1 for getting a job from one of his connections in New York. Okay, so that class was easy because he gave all 10 assignmnets on the first day of class, so I finished them early so that I could have a social life. In October I applied to be a Graduate Assistant and a Resident Assistant, both of which I got turned down for...So, I thought to myself, "Well, it was nice being here, but one semester is enough"...In October I had decided to move to New York for January, but then the following Monday I got an email saying "CONGRATS" you're the new GA (Grad Assistant). All of a sudden my tuition is paid for in full, and I'm here full time. Things happen for a reason I guess. Allright, so I start working 20 hours a week, and doing projects galore. Then the second quarter rolls around and I get slapped in the face with a hard teacher, a hard syllabus, and two classes that basically kick my ass. I took an International Law class, and a Global Environmental Politics class. I just counted and I had over 50 word documents for the 7 weeks of the course. Ask my mom, when I came home from Italy on Dec. 11th, I was still doing work at home. In the end the hard work paid off, and I ended up with an A- in Law, a B+ in Global, and a Passing grade in Theory (it was a pass/fail course). However, when I got home I realized I didn't want to go back.

As much as it sounds like fun to live abroad, I've found it's not so glamorous as I'd like it to be. The mail takes forever, getting a Permesso is impossible (it allows you to work in Italy and extend your visa), you CAN'T work in Italy because of the way the system is set up, and the crazy schedule I have won't allow me to teach Italian. The housing is like living in San Fran or New York, and St. John's is terrible at giving you loans back to you in a timely fashion.

For those of you who missed Mom and Dad's 25th anniversary party, boy did you miss out on a shindig!!!! It was amazing...to the extent that it made me never want to leave Fresno. And for some of you, you know how excited I was to leave home. I was excited for a new chapter in my life. I love Rome, but it's just not my city. It's one of those things, it's nice to VISIT, but not to live.

Anyways, while I was sad about living home, I found that good things were to come. I have new classes, a new teacher, and a new living arrangement. No more noisy dorms at 4am, my own fridge, my own cooking appliances, and most important, my OWN bathroom!!!! So now things are wonderful...sorta.

This semester I'm taking four classes. The first quarter I'm taking an American Foreign Policy course, and an International Relations-Global Politics class. This teacher is supposed to be the hardest in the department, but he's changed his standards so guess what...I'll have a 4.0 this quarter!!! He said, turn it in on time then you get an A, miss the deadline you will FAIL! ahh! So this weekend I was planning on getting that started!

However...the apartment I moved into is sorta problematic. The stove still doesn't work, the laundry is unreliable, and the construction wakes me up in the morning. Not so great. Sometimes I have to work late, so I'd like to sleep in, but unfortunatley, the banging is literally right next to my headboard. I would love to post pictures of this apartment, but why get your hopes up when I'm moving somewhere else this weekend. I found a spot, and it's right next to Piazza Navona. If you look at a map of Rome, it's on the left side of the piazza towards the center. It's expensive, but look at it this way, it's like living off of Times Square or Central Park in New York. The place is tiny, and this weekend I will post pictures of it.

The place I'm at now, I must take the Metro from Lepanto station to Valle Aurelia (which is like 3 stops) then walk to the bus stop and take the bus 4 or 5 stops depending on where I pick it up. I've become friends with the night bus-man, Antonio. The bus stop across from my house is a little ways away from my street, and sometimes at night I'm the only one on the bus. Whenever that happens he always blows by the stop and lets me off literally on my street. He's a nice old man! Yesterday he told me he only does it for those who are "piu che bella"....and i'm so "che carina" that he must do it for "tua madre"....which is something like "you're so pretty and cute that you mother would appreciate it"....My Italian is getting better!

Okay, so this blog is getting kinda long, so I'll post more stories separatley!

Ciao adesso!
(this is mom's ciao for now saying in italian!)