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Sunday, June 27, 2010

La Programma

We woke up at 6:30am and headed out to Rome to drop Kaitlyn off at the airport, however she lost her passport and she couldn't leave on the plane home for today. She had to stay in Italy for a few more days, which really isn't a bad thing but it surely is when you don't have any of your ID's or your credit card or your passport to get you home. So she has to do a run around and get those things before heading home to America.

I on the other hand have to go to my program that I came to Italy for, which is centered in Rome. I arrived bright and early and was greeted by the other members of the program who arrived yesterday and Friday from the states to participate in the program as well. I received a scholarship to study in Rome for a month and learn about the Italian culture, language, politics and more. It is going to be one heck of a month. I am anxious to get started and can't wait to spend more time with the people here in Italy. There is a lot more that I need to learn about my culture and this is the perfect opportunity and the perfect time in my life to do so.

The first thing I did when I got into the residence hall was put away all of my clothes and organize my belongings and then of course it was time for a nice, long nap. I napped until it was lunch time and we ate together in the cafeteria. Alongside us were other students from around Europe who come to the institute to study as well. We ate a classic Italian meal with spaghetti and salad and ended with fruit, but we still managed to take a walk together to il mercato to buy things for our rooms and the essential items to live in the hall. It was like being back in college again except now I wasn't in North Philadelphia, but rather a beautiful, historic city in Europe- what a difference!

Since the World Cup is still going on and USA lost yesterday, we managed to watch the England vs. Germany game together in the TV lounge and spent some quality time together before hitting the books and preparing for our first lesson domani (tomorrow). Each of the students I'm studying with has a great personality and we are all very different, but have so much in common. I think because the group is so small we'll be able to learn more about each other and really form a strong bond. Our instructor is a great guy from the South in America and he is so enthusiastic about having us in Rome. He is so ready to take us around and show us all that Rome has to offer, as well as other places in and around the city.

I spent the rest of the night settling in and watching soccer with some residents of the university. The work started after my hour workout in the crazy cool gym in the basement. That's about all we did for the first day of the programam- Buona notte.

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