Holy @#%!# cuss, I'm in Rome!

Well, hey there!  I bet y'all thought I forgot about this, but I didn't!  I don't plan on doing that for another week. 

So as you could probably figure out from the title, I've just spent my first day in Rome and it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  The winding and hilly roads, the old stone staircases, the eight different gelato stores on the way to class... oh yes, it is a thing of beauty and wonder.  Additionally, the weather is amazing- hot and sunny.  This is actually an unfortunate discovery for me, as I packed primarily long sleeve shirts, one pair of shorts, three sweaters and a jacket.

And the apartment I'm staying in is fantastic!  It's a somewhat rustic looking building on the outside that is two stories and has a garden in the back containing lime and orange trees.  The garden is beautiful, and I should know because my room has the easiest access to it as it is located underground.  Yes, you heard correctly, my room is a basement.  But it is an adorable basement!!  Seriously, I'm going to post pictures of it soon and all five of you are going to believe me.  The only drawback really is that instead of a view of the street, or a tree, or another building, I just see feet and the occasional curious child... Just wait for the pictures.

Um, what else... I ate pasta twice in the past 10 hours.  That's kind of impressive, right?  Oh, and my luggage lock apparently was cut on my checked bag at the airport, which is strange, because it was only a two digit combination.  I didn't even know what the combo was at first and managed to still guess it (in case you were wondering, the magic number was 17).  And... yeah, besides that, I went for a really long walk today up and down a hill of stairs.  So, all in all, I'm counting the first day as a success.  Let me know if I left out anything.