Walking and waiting and more walking

I'm so exhausted, I don't know how I'll keep this up for the next month in Rome. I'm hoping it's just jet-lag, or my not sleeping well yet. My new bed is pretty hard (but bouncy) and the pillows are basically flat, but what was worse was how cold our apartment was/is. We talked to the people in charge of arranging our apts, and told them our heat doesn't work and they informed us that in Rome the city/buildings turn off their heat altogether for certain months during the year. So not sure if we can do anything about it besides bundle up. I'm beginning to miss my blistering hot dorm room. We also realized tonight that the oven and stove don't work, which I think may be connected to the heat being cut off (if the heat is run on gas). But we did finally figure out the toilet--there are two ways to flush it, a button in the wall that is a "small flush" and a handle below that for a "big flush". Too complicated...

Alright, enough bitching. The morning started out with a 30 min walk to the Campidoglio near the center of the city. We were supposed to meet with some of the mayor's cultural dept and talk about our internships. We were quite a sight walking along the narrow sidewalks, 40 kids in a pack. There was even a point where we had to cross a very busy street to get to the steps of the Campidoglio, and while there was a crosswalk there was no light. So following our prof we just stepped into the street and hoped the cars and buses would stop. They all did, but not until the last minute which was a little unnerving. We had some time to explore the capital before the meeting, so my roommates and I went around taking pictures. The hill overlooks ancient Rome, so the view was incredible. There was some small ceremony going on involving the Red Cross and some athletic team, so there were a few guys dressed up as gladiators and flag-twirlers. We wanted to get a picture with the fake gladiators, but kept missing our chance. So instead we ran around taking pictures of each other around the capital.When we finally made it into the meeting room, we sat waiting for the officials to show up and speak to us for about an hour. Apparently Italian time is kind of like Hawaiian time, you'll get there when you get there, chill. We were so bored (ci siamo molto annoiati)! And once they all finally did show up, they did this short presentation about who they were and why we should be excited (I think...) all in Italian! We were all looking at each other with that "are you getting this?" face we know so well, and I believe for the most part we picked up about 10% of what they said. I still have no idea what we'll be doing Monday morining.

Our prof Giuseppe had told us to try and "look nice" for our meeting, so I made a small effort and wore some dark jeans and new boots. I know now that I will not be hiking all over Rome in those boots again. I don't know how these Italian women do it, my feet were killing me! Especially with the cobblestone everywhere! Definitely not wearing stilettos anytime soon...

For lunch we stopped at a cheap bar (in Italy a bar is a small restaurant, like a cafe) across the crazy-crosswalk street from the capital. It was cheap for a reason. I'm pretty certain the pasta was all microwaved. We know now to avoid anything touristy, mainstream looking if we want decent food. We did, however, go back to the Campo dei Fiori on the way home and pick up our first gelato here! It was good, but I've had better panna cotta before. That place also looked touristy.

I do have to mention that although a place may be good for tourists, it does not mean they speak English. Before coming here we were told that we could easily get away with English while in Rome, and that's why we're living part of the time with families in the south. I don't buy it. So far everyone has spoken Italian to me, expected me to order in Italian, etc. I suppose it's a good thing since I'm here to learn the language, but if I was visiting here and didn't know a single phrase it would be extremely difficult.

Anyway, we came back and took short naps, then went back to the Campo to try the restaurants for happy hour. Even though we weren't hungry after the gelato, we went anyways and ordered some bruschetta, cocktails and wine from yet another touristy place. There they did speak English for once. Thus far we have finished 2 bottles of wine with dinner, and though I'm not a big fan, while in Rome... ok that was lame... After the bruschetta we decided we were actually hungry, but nothing on the menu looked good so we drank our drinks and planned to eat our left over pizza--except the oven doesn't work! So I guess just bread and cocktails for dinner! We then walked back to our apt about 15 minutes away and got to see a piece of Rome at night. It is indescribable, the energy is amazing. So many people come out to eat late and the city is alive, but calm.

The idea for tomorrow is to spend the full day exploring the whole city. We are going to get tickets for a hop-on hop-off bus tour that will take us to all different sites, and we can then get off and explore them ourselves. Before that we're going out for a real Italian breakfast--basically espresso and pastries. I want to figure out what a briosche and cornetto are. Tomorrow will be much more interesting, I promise. Good night all.