CW #2: Next Stop -- Roma!

I wasn’t even aware they had served breakfast during my flight – I was passed out like a rock. Exhaustion had swept over me like an unexpected rainstorm in Seattle. I slept through the majority of my flight from Paris to Rome, but it wasn’t the best sleep.

A sharp pain piercing the inside of my left ear caused me to wake up before landing. Great…My ears were severely plugged up. Never had it ever been this horrible -- I could hardly hear my own voice as I spoke. I tried to ignore the pain and fall back asleep, but I couldn’t, even though my eyelids felt as heavy as a pile of bricks. My discomfort level was incredibly high and yet I felt helpless. The only remedy I could think of was to endure the pain, massage my ear and continue to swallow and yawn, in hopes that my ear would eventually clear itself up…What a way to enter Rome.

After finally landing and getting off the plane, the pain in my left ear subsided, but it was still plugged. Terrific, I was half deaf.

Mark and I arrived in Rome together, along with two other friends. We took a charter bus from the airport to Termini -- my first ride in Rome. It didn’t feel like I was in a foreign country yet because the interior of the bus looked familiar and I was riding with three of my friends. It was all too reminiscent of home.

It wasn’t until I had to part with our two friends at Termini that the huge comfortable bubble I found myself residing in during the past week in Paris popped – the last bit of home just left. However, I had only a second to worry myself with such thoughts because Mark and I had to make sure we arrived at the Rome Center before check-in closed.

Marching through Termini while I was delirious from sleep deprivation and intense hunger made the experience and Termini even more intimidating. Half the time I was practically running just to keep up with Mark and nervous about not being able to check into our apartments and consequently, didn’t pay any attention to directions or take the time to soak in my first glimpse of Roman life. Termini and its chaos were a blur of colors. Meanwhile, the other half of me tried to make myself invisible from the potential pickpockets, clutching onto my belongings as tightly as I could, walking briskly and keeping my eyes peeled for anything suspicious-looking. I tried not to stick out like a sore thumb – like the bulls eye in target practice.

When Mark and I finally made our way out of Termini and towards the taxi waiting area, the only things running through my head were Lisa’s words of caution about “fake” taxi drivers trying to lure gullible tourists by asking them if they wanted a taxi ride. Coincidentally, I saw a man who fell under that exact description right as I walked out, and it made me nervous because I wasn’t sure if he was going to be aggressive about offering us a ride or not. At first, it looked as if that was the case because he followed us, but Mark and I avoided eye contact with the stranger and ignored him. Eventually a trustworthy-looking taxi approached us and we got in. We told him we wanted to go to the Campo de’ Fiori Hotel. He started driving, and I began to feel a little more relaxed.

Seeing Rome for the first time from the backseat of a taxi wasn’t the most glamorous introduction, but it provided me with a quick glimpse of where I would be living the next five weeks. One of the very first things I noticed was how aggressive and fearless the drivers were, especially when the streets were incredibly narrow and crowded. Cars weaved in and out agilely and quickly, like my grandma moving her knitting needles as she knits a sweater. And even though my left ear was still plugged, I could distinctly hear the loud rattling of the entire car as it raced along the cobblestone road. Then, without warning, I remember shooting out from one of the alleyways and onto the main street. And that’s when I saw it – my first Roman monument. It was huge! Like a perfect castle in a fairytale. The front was lined with a row of columns, and large statues of men on horses stood proudly throughout the monument. I barely had enough time to process what I had just seen as we zoomed past it. I turned my head towards the back window of the taxi and let my eyes trace the outline of the monument before it was out of my view. Afterwards, I felt excited because if the rest of Rome was going to be full of such grand unexpected sights, I knew I was in for a treat.