Roaming Rome in the Rain

January 09, 2018

Roaming Rome in the Rain

Writing this, I am sitting in bed in my Roman apartment, which is a sense of relief. On Sunday afternoon, I arrived at the airport, confident that my luggage weighed under the 50 lb weight limit...What I did not know was that one's carry-on luggage must also weigh less than 8 kg, so this led to some re-packing in the middle of Logan airport. With that crisis averted, I had one last meal with my parents before boarding my flight. The past two days have been orientation and getting settled. Today I found out (officially) what classes I would be taking, which are "European Comparative Politics" and "Rome Wasn't Built in a Day." Between lunch and my advising appointment, I had some free time to explore the Prati neighborhood a bit more. Unfortunately my brother and I do not share the same sense of direction so it was a bit of trial and error navigating to find a phone store, but this gave me the opportunity to see more of where I would be living. The Prati neighborhood is primarily residential/businesses and is right by the Vatican. Obviously as soon as I left lunch, it began to downpour. Everyone talks about Paris in the rain and how magical it is (if you have not heard this, you MUST watch Midnight in Paris or listen to Paris in the Rain), Rome does not have the same magic... I walked down Via Cola di Rienzo, which has many stores, some of which you have heard of (Calvin Klien, United Colors of Benetton) and other stores that are more unique to Italy. After successfully finding and purchasing a SIM card, I rewarded myself with some gelato and decided to explore down some of the side streets. I am beginning to get the lay of the land here.

I didn't bring my map with me today so here is a picture of the map I would consult on occasion.

I am addicted to coffee table books and this book store had some fantastic ones. (mom, leave room in your luggage for one!)

Even in Italy, 50 shades of Grey is popular.

I went over to the foreign language section and grabbed a book at random and opened up and it was a love letter with the location: Wellesley. The book is by Vladimir Nabokov and it is love letters written to his wife, Vera.