my trip in short...

It began while I was checking my bags in at the British Airways counter. There was a young englishman behind me, traveling to London, his name was Nathan, but because of his accent, he pronounced it Nafan; so great. It was almost as if he was speaking pig talk. :) He was heading back after a month-long visit in the U.S. to see his 19 month old son and wife and we ended up sitting by eachother on the plane, well, an aisle separated us, and it was nice to have someone to talk with after such a teary good-bye with my mom.

On that particular flight, the plane wasn't full AT ALL so I had an aisle seat with two seats empty to the right of me so I could lay down, fully. As wonderful as that was, I couldn't fall asleep but the flight felt so short, that it was fine. I definitely felt like I wasn't prepared to fly for 8/9 hours, but somehow my body did it.

At the London airport, after standing in the security line forEVER, I started to talking to this young woman behind me, who I noticed had an Italian passport. We started speaking italian with eachother and since she was studying english, we had that language going too. It was so fun to be able to use what I've learned and also for her. Since her flight for the States didn't leave for another couple hours, she walked me to my gate and we just sat and talked before I left. Her name was Marta, she was 22, and was headed to Philly to stay there for 3 months to study English.

As I said good-bye to her and stood in the line to get on my final flight, I met two older women who were traveling to Rome for a 10 day-exursion. They were so pumped up, their enthusiasm was contagious. Rosemary and Martha were their names and they were so friendly as all 3 of us were able to sit next to each other for the last 2 and half hour leg of the journey.

When we landed in Rome, I got off the plane, headed through customs and picked up my bags with no trouble at all. I headed out to see Antonello and it was great to see his beautiful smile. After we left the airport, we headed to this little town called Fumicino which was right by the airport. It sat on this little river and although it was dark and rainy, we decided to go to a little pizzeria and walk in the rain, eating our little cheese pizzas. I really couldn't have asked for anything more special.

Today, I went and saw my apartment for the first time and met my landlords. I now hold in my hands, the 3 keys that will allow me to have a little more independence in my life. Part of me is super nervous to be on my own, but another part is looking forward to this next step. Who knows how it will turn out, I just know I would have kicked myself if I didn't try at all.

Jet-lag is setting in and I'm hitting a wall. I have to sleep now. :)

Ciao friends!