Day 2 (5-12-09) Tour

Today was my first day in Italy and what an exciting day it was! First off we arrived at Rome right on schedule from our 8 hour flight from JFK. This flight was very amusing to me because it was my first long distance flight that involved a time change and it was quite funny at how I reacted to these two things. The flight was much longer than I anticipated. I thought that my drive from Connecticut to Clarkson, which takes roughly 7 hours, was easy, but this was not so. After tossing and turning for hours on the plane and after devouring both meals I was able to only get a few half hour cat naps in. After we arrived in Rome we took a bus, daringly though rush hour traffic, to the Mayfair Resort where we then checked in. It was pleasant to find that our room was already clean so after a bit of hustling and bustling we were able to check in. After a quick lunch with a few fellow classmates at Brancaleone Osteria – Pizzeria we began the highlight activity of the day: a tour of Rome with Aldo. This was our intense tour that involved around 7-8 miles of walking over a three and a half hour period and felt like it covered most if not all of Rome. It was a great introduction to the city of Rome and we were able to see and learn about many attractions in Rome. But this came with few problems. The first was the weather. We had beautiful weather today, around 75 degrees Farenheight and sunny, but it was also a little humid which made the tour seem very lengthy. The second problem was the lack of sleep among the group. Because most of us have only received a few hours of sleep over the last few days, the tour was a true test of patience with the group and was also a true test and realization of how much endurance we are going to need in order to make the most out of our trip to Italy. I do feel like the group was able to gain a lot of knowledge out of the tour though. After we finished our walking tour I went back to the Brancaleone Osteria – Pizzeria with a few other friends and we had pasta and pizza with a glass of white wine. It was a great way to conclude the first full day of our trip in Rome.