Once I finished at orientation and started to meet a few people I’ll be at school with while I’m here, I had to find my way back to the hotel for the first time alone. Though I got the keys to my apartment yesterday, I spent one more night in the hotel because I didn’t feel like I was ready to move into my apartment quite yet, but that meant today I would have to move in. There was no more putting it off.
But before I even experienced that little stressor, I had to figure out how to take the freaking bus alone? For those of you out there actually reading this who haven’t been to Rome, while the bus system can be incredibly helpful to get you where you need to go, you can only get where you’re planning on going if you can actually decipher the bus signs, the bus you want actually decides to run on the day you want it to, and it actually decides to make the stop you anticipate getting off at once you’ve already boarded. I knew exactly what bus I wanted to take, what stop I was getting off at and everything, but the bus driver seemed to have a little something else in mind.
For whatever reason, and boy do I hope it was a good one, we didn’t stop at my bus stop I needed to get off at. Since I realized that a little too late, I figured I would ride the bus the rest of the way until the end of the line and then take the same bus that was about to take that route but in reverse when I got to the bus depot.
Thankfully that worked out just fine, but instead of making it back to the hotel in the 20 minutes or so it should have took, I managed to spend a little over an hour on a Roman bus. But regardless of that, I did make it back to the hotel so I would consider that an accomplishment considering this is the most confusing bus system ever and I didn’t have to give up and take a taxi instead. If I’ve learned nothing else in my short time here so far, Roman time will always win. You wanna be at the Trevi Fountain in the next 20 minutes and you’re a 15 minute bus ride away? Totally doable, right? How does being at the Trevi Fountain in an hour sound? Cause that’s more likely. But anyway, I’ll end my little anecdote and continue with my day.
I got back to the hotel, finished packing up my things, we chilled there for just a little bit and then took a taxi to my apartment to move me in. Once we got here, I finally got to unpack my 71 lb suitcase (and yes, you read 71 lbs correctly. Oops. I like clothes, judge me) and while it does feel really nice to be completely unpacked and no longer living out of it, a wave of uneasiness crashed over me. The fact that I’m all unpacked is just confirmation that I’m actually going to be here for the next month. I won’t be boarding the plane with Patrick in just two days to head back to the states. I’m actually going to have to live here and find my way around on my own and cook for myself and so on. That terrified me. And so meltdown #1293178 began. I did get on my computer and get to talk to both my parents a little bit which was nice, but at the same time made me want nothing more than to be going home on Sunday.
Patrick and I then asked my roommates if they would like to join us for dinner, but they already had prior plans, so we headed out into the city and got dinner. Once I got back from that, I was alone in my apartment. Roommates were nowhere in sight, Patrick dropped me off and headed back to his hotel and I was alone. I luckily got to FaceTime with my mom and Becca, but then once we hung up, I was alone again.
Now, as I’m wrapping up writing this post, I’m wondering where my roommates are and if they’re doing okay, how I’m going to fall asleep with all the street noise outside my window and how I’m going to make it through the next month. I know I will, but I also know it’ll be a little tough. I’m hoping if I can figure out a Roman bus mishap on my own that I can also figure out how to enjoy the rest of my time here in Rome. That’s all for now, until tomorrow, ciao!
Read more from Jenna at https://jeninrome.wordpress.com/
Check out http://studyabroad.uark.edu/romecampus for more information on the U of A Rome Center: Summer Campus.
