Day 3

Day 3
•    9:20 a.m. (Ben) 9:50 a.m. (Jordan)
o    I woke up and took a shower
o    Jordan took a shower last night, so he got up at the last possible minute
•    10 – 11:30a.m.
o    Italian Survival Session 2
    Same awesome Dutsch Professor.
    He took us to Rinlado’s Bar for breakfast. (They make good pastries)
    We learned some basic Italian like:
•    Non so: “I don’t know”
•    Permisso : “Can I get through here?”
•    Che Bella! (Pronounced “K  Bella”)or Che Bello!: “Hey Beautiful” or “Hey Handsome”
•    11:30-12:45
o    Italian Cultural meeting
    Italians came and talked to us about the culture in and around Rome.
•    12:45 – 2 p.m.
o    Mensa
    I had some good pasta with grean beans and an apple
    Jordan had the same pasta with pizza bread (it didn’t look like pizza to me) and green beans
•    2-3:30
o    Study Trip meetings
    Lots of good options. There was was to the ancient Roman port of Ostia where we would also see catacombs. Also, there was a WWII study trip, and there were potential trips to Ireland, Poland, Tuscany, and  Greece.
•    4:15-5
o    Met with the USA Italian consulate
    Gave us some good safety information and directions for what to do if our passport is stolen.
•    5-5:30
o    Introduced to the psychological and medical staff available on campus.
•    5:30-6:45
o    Jordan and I treked out into the surrounding neighborhood looking for gorceries. Bought some essentials. Jordan and I had to lug all our stuff back up a very large hill.
•    7-10:20 p.m.
o    Dinner
    We went to a nice Roman restaurant with the whole group
•    Served us a 5 course meal that was very good, but I couldn’t eat it all.
•    Jordan successfully ate eveything
•    10:20-10:50
o    Walked back to campus
o    Writing blog update
o    Tired and going to bed soon.
Quote of the day
•    Me: “What is that red sauce bread?” Jordan: ”Ben, that’s Pizza”
Upcoming Posts
•    Soon, we will be including videos and pictures on our blog, we just have not had the time to download them onto the computer.

Day 2

Day 2 Summary

·         10:15 a.m.

o   Roll out of bed after getting 12+ hours of sleep. (Jet lag eliminated)

o   Jordan hit the snooze button, I took a shower.

·         10:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

o   Floor meeting, followed by FAQ session, followed by filling out visa paperwork for the consulate. Overall, boring paperwork stuff. Some useful tips about taking the bus line around Rome though.

·         12:25-2:00 p.m.

o   Mensa (lunch)

§  I had gnocchi with a nice red sauce, spinach, an apple, and lots of water.

§  Jordan had gnocchi, watermelon, potatoes, carrots, and “potato chesse egg thing” (Slavik)

·         2:00- 3:30 p.m.

o   Italian Language Survival Session I

§  Our teacher was from Holland. We spent 20 minutes learning some basic Italian. Then he deviated from the schedule and decided he would bring us to a café and make us order Italian Ice in Italian.

·         4-4:45

o   Break. Jordan and I look up the cost for monthly Rome bus passes. They are cheap, only 35 euro….

·         4:45-6:30

o   Convocation, followed by dinner served in the courtyard.

·         6:30-7

o   Break

·         7-10:50

o   Scavenger Hunt

§  Jordan and I were paired up with Molly and Emily. Winner gets 50 euro off the study trip. Here are all the things we found on the hunt:

·         The Trevi Fountain

·         The Foro Romano (The Roman Forum)

·         The Colluseum (it was wicked awesome)

·         St. Peters Bascillica

·         The Spanish Steps

·         Piazza di Novano

·         The Pantheon

·         A Ferrari store

·         The Arch of Constantine

·         Castel di Saint Angelo (The castle of Saint Angelo)

·         The Tiber River

·         The Walls of the Vatican

·         Trajans column

·         Took a picture with Italian military police (he left right after we did this, we thought it might have been because of us)

·         10:50-11:50

o   Made our way home via bus 87, transferred at Piazza di Covero to bus 990. Got off at our stop near Via Massimi.

o   Walked three blocks home.

·         11:50-12

o   Found the nearest water fountain and drank two cups of water.

·         12-12:30 (present)

o   Updated blog. (After checking Ogame :D)

Quote of the Day

·         “If you are taking a taxi and you think you are going in circles, you probably are” (said during our FAQ session).

·         “Did that policeman just leave because we asked to take a picture with him?”

·         Me: “Jordan what did you eat for lunch?” Jordan: “A potato, cheese, egg…thing”

Italian Cultural Quirks

·         The toilet can only be flushed by a button on the wall that does not look attached to the toilet at all.

·         It is okay to stare at someone. This makes the girls from campus uncomfortable.

Day 1

Day 1 Summary

·         Little sleep on the plane.  (00:00 – 09:28)

o   Poor old person movie followed by tower heist.

o   Good ravioli for dinner and croissants for breakfast – so good that I ate the croissant of the Italian guy sitting next to me because he was asleep.

·         Arrive at FCO Airport. (09:28 – 10:30)

o   We make our way to baggage claim and get our bags – it was only about a forty minute wait, helped along by the fact that many Italian signs had English subtext.

o   After securing our luggage, we made our way through the airport (following the herd) until we made it to the taxi pick up area. 

·         The Journey to JFRC (10:30 – 11:09)

o   After figuring out how to get in line for a taxi, we ended up in a taxi with an Italian female driver who did not speak English.  I just continued to say gratsi and Ben tried to explain it to her in English.  We reached a solution when Ben handed her the paper with our address on it. 

·         Arriving at J-Force (11:09 – 11:23)

o   We finally arrived at our campus which was very nice.  It was a little confusing at first because there are a lot of other buildings (convents and priest houses) intermingled with it and everything is gated.

o   The ensuing confusion to find the right gate resulted in us having to talk up and down a long hill several time until I decided to get out our directions and read where it was. 

·         Getting Settled (11:23 – 11:59)

o   We had to go about handing in documents and getting pictures taken when we arrived. I only misplaced my passport once.  We got settled into our rooms later (we are rooming together as planned) and got unpacked.   

·         ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ (11:59 – 13:40)

o   Follow our unpacking we took a satisfying, yet short, nap.

·         More tasks (13:40 – 14:50)

o   Following our brief sojourn, we went down to the Information Commons (AKA the Library – which is very nice) and got our wireless configured to work on our laptops (although still no wifi in the rooms).  During this time we also sent emails letting everyone know we had landed safely. 

o   After this we went to the Mensa to enjoy lunch.  We had some good pasta, carrots, and fish (which I got totally boned with – literally bones all over). 

·         ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Part 2                (14:50 – 15:45)

o   Another Nap Time.

·         Neighborhood Tour (16:00 – 17:00)

o   We toured the neighborhood surrounding JForce, which was nice and our guide pointed out all of the shops, stores, and restaurants that she enjoyed.  The neighborhood is on one the hills in Rome, so the rest of the city is downhill of us which is nice.

·         Informational Meeting (17:30 – 18:15)

o   We had our opening informational meeting (separated into genders) where we were told policies, safety stuff, etc.  It was informative.

·         Dinner  (18:45 – 19:30)

o   We had some delicious pasta with carrots, cantelope, keish, and potatoes.

·         Winding down (19:30 – 22:05)

o   Spent some time doing a few business items in the computer lab area.

o   We explored the Gym, adored the vast amount of Carravaggio paintings, and we updated our ogames. We also found a clean water source after many parched hours of desperation. 

·         ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Part 3 (22:15 - ???)

o   Went to bed for real this time.

Day 1 Quotes of the Day

·         “This plane is ROMAN!”

·         “If all roads lead to Rome, do all taxi’s go to Rome?”

·         “Can I have that guy’s croissant?” (Jordan to the flight stewardess)

How Jordan’s Latin has helped?

·         Was able to inquire about a gate (porte) using Latin. Nothing else thus far.