A Roman's Rome

Salve da Roma, i miei amici e mia famiglia!

Well, here we are (finally): a blog from Roma!  My first blog post in 2+ years.  And, what years those two years have been.  I was just thinking this morning that I had no idea I would be currently living in Europe as recently as eight months ago.  This all happened more quickly than I realized and, yet, I am happy to report that things have gone surprisingly smoothly.  I sit here writing this in my new apartment (while trying to fend off the mosquitoes...yep, still in October), with my new internet connection, a phone, a bank account, a few new possessions to make the place feel like home, and some fun new memories.

The Vatican (and my neighborhood) as viewed from Garibaldi during my first week in Rome.

And, though things have not been perfectly easy emotionally, I am happy with my decision.  Sure, I so badly want to hug my baby niece who will turn 1 next week (and, of course, the rest of my friends and family!!), and am desperately missing the mountains and water (to call the Tevere River "water" would be very generous), but I am glad to be in Rome.  I have met many lovely, kindred spirits, am daily entertained by my very gregarious students (I have about 20 Italian tutors...they've been very helpful!), and am loving living on my own for only the second time.  My 80 year old portiere is my best friend and I am starting to feel more comfortable with the day-to-day differences (taking out the trash, for example, is quite the ordeal), though I still can't really get used to the coffee and carb-heavy diet
here.  Good thing I brought a ton of tea with me!

I have now been in Rome for about 7 weeks, and have heard the words "why are you here?" about 40,000 times.  Or should I say 40.000 times.  The decimal and the comma are inverted here.  (Try teaching science to kids who have grown up in this system - not easy!)  I continue to process my answer to that question, and though my main goal in moving to Europe was a new "adventure," I am trying to decide whether I want that adventure to be learning Italian well and really get to know Rome, or if I want to live here, continue learning Italian for fun and focus on traveling an obscene amount.  I'm sure it will be some amalgamation of the two.  Today was a beautiful sunny morning and I went for a run to Villa Borghese and Piazza del Popolo (a huge park and very famous plaza) and, for the first time, felt like I really live here.  They say no one in Rome is originally from Rome, so maybe I fit in more than I think, but it was nice to just take a jog around my new city, knowing exactly where I was and how to get home.  Incidentally, home is really close to the Vatican, so it's not too hard to get lost!  

My second visitors (three of my favorite folks from my undergrad days) arrive in Rome tomorrow and then I'm off to Berlin Thursday-Sunday for an IB Chemistry conference.  Can't wait - I loved Berlin when I was there 5 years ago.  Of course, soon, I will have to show pictures of my palace of an apartment, explain the insane process of paperwork and appointments to become a Roman citizen, tell about my trips and constant Italian-language faux pas, share stories about my school, new friends and students, and much more.  But, for now, things are going well though very busy.  I always have time for a phone call (my US number still works - call or text whenever) or a Skype, though - don't be shy.  Just remember I'm nine hours ahead of the west coast :)

Love to all.

Baci (kisses) e buona serata (have a good evening),
Kt