Rome...take 1

          Well the start of my adventure begins on the night of February 21^st because my plane wasn’t going to take off until 6am February 22^nd.  Knowing me, the only thing to make this possible was to pull an all nighter with a cab ride at 3am.  And to say I was nervous was an understatement, which many might think is strange.  In a matter of 7 months I have lived in Israel during a crisis period, traveled into the West Bank, gone on a spontaneous trip to Greece, and taken many a Megabuses to various colleges around the United States.  But, this time, I was going to be alone.  Only for a week, I know, but like I said earlier, it’s not like Katie and I actually knew each other.  And I really don’t like being alone.

            And on top of that, 3am was rapidly approaching.  I was packed, I was dressed and all I was doing was listening to my high school’s acapella music to calm my nerves.  OK and a little One Direction too.  I was texting my friends from home for a pseudo-send off since none of my friends from Israel were awake or around, and before I knew it, the cab driver was calling my cell phone to tell me he had arrived.  I rushed out of my room, forgetting to lock my personal bedroom door, said goodbye to the guards and hopped in the cab.  And for the whole car ride I wanted to tell him to turn back and drop me back off at the dorms.  But obviously, I made the right choice in staying put with my decision to travel.

            But, it wasn’t just the lack of knowing anyone that made me nervous, but also that my layover for my connecting flight to Rome was only 45 minutes.  And when you grow up thinking all and most airports function like O’Hare in Chicago, I almost had a heart attack.  45 minutes wasn’t going to be enough and I got myself ready to run once I got off that plane.

            So there I was, completely flustered and running through out the Athens airport.  I was so anxious about getting there in time that I almost breached security by trying to get through a door clearly marked for personnel only.  And then after making a fool of myself in more ways than one, my plane was delayed and had to wait at the gate for 15 more minutes…couldn’t just get on the plane and not deal with stares…lovely.

But from that point on, everything was perfect and everything went perfectly.  And here’s the update about staying with the nuns a couple posts ago.  It shouldn’t surprise you to know that my mom is very good friends with a priest.  And that priest knows a nun.  Well that nun, has a twin sister…who is also a nun.  And she lives in Rome.  So who did I stay with, nun #2 in Rome.  Sister Joan to be more specific.  Her order’s headquarters is in Rome and the majority of them were American…and two had the name Mary.  I had never felt more at home.  They gave me my own room with a bathroom, towels and even a wifi password.  This was the perfect transition.

            These nuns are some of the sweetest people I have ever met.  They all genuinely cared about what I was going to do during the day and that I got back on time.  And they all cared about each other.  They made sure everyone was home and got to the airport ok.  They welcomed every new guest and had nice send offs.  They even put my name on the sign in front of my room.  And thank goodness I went straight to them and not all of a sudden on my own.  I felt like I always had 15 people watching over me.

            And then things just got better because well…I was in ROME!  Day one of being there I went to the Vatican and overlooked St. Peter’s square in more ways then one.  Something that I will say until the end of time, there is just something about the sky over St. Peter’s.  No matter the weather, it’s always gorgeous.  The best part was I had to walk through St. Peter’s every night to get back to the Nun’s house, no matter where I was, it was the only way to get back.  The Christmas tree plus the dome lit up at night just adds up to one beautiful place.  And you don’t even have to be Christian to appreciate how beautiful it is, it just is.

            Through out the week I walked a cumulative 5 hours a day, in the rain and sunshine.  I saw the Spanish Steps, snuck a picture of the Sistine Chapel, threw back a wish/coin at the Trevi and had me some damn good gelato.  But my favorite part of any city, but specifically Rome, was the views. 

Stupid Mary went a whole day without cash…but in the process got to go up on the Cupola for free because of it.  And one day while walking, I somewhat stumbled upon a side view of Rome.  To see all that Roman history from almost a bird’s eye view is something in it of itself.  Not only is Rome just casually scattered with thousands of years of history, but it’s beautiful too.  It is.

           And at this moment, I didn’t know I was going to be coming back, so I was sad to leave.  Sad to leave the wonderful nuns and sad to go somewhere that I didn’t know what to expect.  But luckily I came back, and well more on that later.