Rome Day 1

Rome, 2:42 AM

Arrived in Rome today ( I guess, yesterday at noon).
Flew Alitalia from San Diego to LAX, LAX to Rome non-stop. Never doing that again. Although flying non-stop is more convenient, I did not know what to do for 13 hours. Service wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great. Food was pretty bad, but I ate it because I was starving.

I'm staying at Trastevere. It's one of Rome's oldest neighborhoods, dating from the Etruscan times. It's a pretty quiet neighborhood, especially away from the main streets. It's pretty and charming: cobblestone streets, narrow lanes, vines growing on sides of buildings...it's not heavily trafficked by tourists.

The place we are staying at is an old medieval building that was owned by the Pamphiljs. Many of the people studying abroad with me don't like it because it's old and "falling apart." I like it because it's old. I've never stayed in a place like this before. It's an old residence with medieval walls and a cloister/garden in the middle. We have a large common room, kitchen, 2.5 baths, and the rooms are pretty large.

Our room opens up to the upper part of the garden next to the walls and terrace. Our room open up to the street and to the Tiber River.

HOWEVER, there are problems. The main entrance, next to the church is only open from 8am-9pm and the back entrance is a little scary. It's a little dark and narrow. We are supposed to share our rooms between 3-4 people (Ely and I are not sharing). 2.5 bathrooms for 12 people is not enough. And the shower head fell off (thank goodness for bucket and dipper method--I'm good). And the internet kinda sucks. So, for the price we paid for, this SUCKS! We thought we were saving money by staying at the dorms and not getting a short-term apartment. Were we wrong, very wrong. For the same price or a little bit more, we could have much nicer accommodations.
Meh. It's like an adventure!

We went out by the Tiber River banks. There is some summer event going on where people placed restaurants, bars, stores on the river banks for night time fun. Had Spaghetti carbonara. Sooo goood!!! Could never get my carbonara to be like that: coats pasta perfectly without being too heavy. It was love.

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