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.