June 24, 2007
9:17pm Rome time (6/24), 2:17pm Houston time (6/24)
Today was an exciting morning followed by a lazy afternoon. After I got ready this morning, I caught the Metro to the stop next to St. Peter’s to try to catch mass at St. Peter’s or a church nearby. It ended up taking me about 45 minutes to get to St. Peter’s and was about 10:25 once I finally got there. When I got to St. Peter’s piazza, the line to get into the basilica was so long I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it inside in time for mass. My sister & I had gone to church near the basilica last time we were in Rome, so I just went there instead (thank goodness most Catholic churches have masses around the same time & they did have a 10:30 mass!).
After mass I headed to St. Peter’s square to see if I could catch the weekly greeting and Angelus prayer that the Pope does from the window of his apartment every Sunday. When I got there around 11:30 the piazza wasn’t that crowded so I could get close to the front, but by the time the Pope came out it was packed. Every time I see the Pope I’m always in awe that I’m even there. He does a greeting in several different languages too! I can’t wait to go to the mass he is celebrating on Friday!! We will be so much closer & it will be a whole mass.
Before the Pope came out I met a couple of tourists from Hawaii that just happened to come into the piazza not knowing that the Pope was to come out. I told them what was going on & gave them some info about what they can do in the basilica and some other helpful hints. I find myself just asking random people where they are from when I hear them speaking English. Even though I’ve only been here a few days, I like giving people any information I can to help them enjoy their visit to my new city.
After I left St. Peter’s I went to a pizzeria across from the restaurant we went to last night and got…you guessed it…pizza! So far I’ve been on the pizza & gelato diet! :-o Today gelato was for dinner! ;-) This was the first time I was at a meal by myself and seemed a bit weird. I was there for about an hour (you have to wait for them to make the pizza fresh and it’s rude to rush people in restaurants here so the waiters take their time). The time passed by so fast when I was eating and talking with Jody and Lil the days before, but sitting by myself it felt like forever! Hopefully I can make friends quickly here so I don’t have to eat by myself all the time!
After lunch I came back to my room and took a nap…a LONG nap (like 4 hrs!). I think the time change and going on 5 or 6 hrs of sleep for about a week caught up with me! I had to take a walk around the area around me just so I wouldn’t go back to sleep. I wanted to go around & figure out what’s all around me anyway…and got my gelato for dinner. Sundays here are so different than the rest of the week. Only a handful of stores and restaurants are open and many that are open aren’t open as long as they are during the week. And when I was on my ‘walk’ I saw many people walking around and sitting on benches just talking and some eating gelato too. It’s so much more laid back then in the States.
I was planning on studying Italian today so maybe I can at least converse some in Italian tomorrow in the office. But due to my long nap, didn’t get to it. I am watching TV hoping maybe I’ll pick some stuff up that way! (As I type this I’m watching “Numbers” that has been translated into Italian!) I am so worried about not being able to meet my partners’ expectations of my ability to speak Italian. I’m not exactly sure what they expect of me on day one. I’m suppose to be taking several weeks of Italian classes here in Rome, but don’t know when I will take those. I really have no idea what I’m going to be doing this week! I know tomorrow I’m supposed to get my computer and phone, but that’s all I know. I have no idea who I’m suppose to meet when I get there, what I’m suppose to do, if they will give me time off to look for an apartment, set up my bank account and do all that fun stuff. And within 8 days from when I arrived (so by Sat.) I have to do the paperwork required to declare my residency. I guess I will find out a lot tomorrow. Or at least I hope! I better get to sleep early today so I wake up in time for work tomorrow! One of my biggest fears is that I will oversleep! I only have a small travel alarm clock & was using my blackberry alarm, but the battery is running down on that & I can’t get it to recharge through my computer for some reason. Hopefully I wake up on time!
Thoughts of the day – tomorrow I start my new work life and as a manager…wow! This all has to be the most challenging thing I’ve done – living so far away from home, having to learn a new language (when I’ve never been great at languages), starting a new position in a different office…I just hope I can handle it all and do everything at least half way decent! Only time will tell.
9:51pm Rome/ 2:51pm Houston
(additional photos can be found at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31314&l=68e47&id=800405227 )
9:17pm Rome time (6/24), 2:17pm Houston time (6/24)
Today was an exciting morning followed by a lazy afternoon. After I got ready this morning, I caught the Metro to the stop next to St. Peter’s to try to catch mass at St. Peter’s or a church nearby. It ended up taking me about 45 minutes to get to St. Peter’s and was about 10:25 once I finally got there. When I got to St. Peter’s piazza, the line to get into the basilica was so long I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it inside in time for mass. My sister & I had gone to church near the basilica last time we were in Rome, so I just went there instead (thank goodness most Catholic churches have masses around the same time & they did have a 10:30 mass!).
After mass I headed to St. Peter’s square to see if I could catch the weekly greeting and Angelus prayer that the Pope does from the window of his apartment every Sunday. When I got there around 11:30 the piazza wasn’t that crowded so I could get close to the front, but by the time the Pope came out it was packed. Every time I see the Pope I’m always in awe that I’m even there. He does a greeting in several different languages too! I can’t wait to go to the mass he is celebrating on Friday!! We will be so much closer & it will be a whole mass.
Before the Pope came out I met a couple of tourists from Hawaii that just happened to come into the piazza not knowing that the Pope was to come out. I told them what was going on & gave them some info about what they can do in the basilica and some other helpful hints. I find myself just asking random people where they are from when I hear them speaking English. Even though I’ve only been here a few days, I like giving people any information I can to help them enjoy their visit to my new city.
After I left St. Peter’s I went to a pizzeria across from the restaurant we went to last night and got…you guessed it…pizza! So far I’ve been on the pizza & gelato diet! :-o Today gelato was for dinner! ;-) This was the first time I was at a meal by myself and seemed a bit weird. I was there for about an hour (you have to wait for them to make the pizza fresh and it’s rude to rush people in restaurants here so the waiters take their time). The time passed by so fast when I was eating and talking with Jody and Lil the days before, but sitting by myself it felt like forever! Hopefully I can make friends quickly here so I don’t have to eat by myself all the time!
After lunch I came back to my room and took a nap…a LONG nap (like 4 hrs!). I think the time change and going on 5 or 6 hrs of sleep for about a week caught up with me! I had to take a walk around the area around me just so I wouldn’t go back to sleep. I wanted to go around & figure out what’s all around me anyway…and got my gelato for dinner. Sundays here are so different than the rest of the week. Only a handful of stores and restaurants are open and many that are open aren’t open as long as they are during the week. And when I was on my ‘walk’ I saw many people walking around and sitting on benches just talking and some eating gelato too. It’s so much more laid back then in the States.
I was planning on studying Italian today so maybe I can at least converse some in Italian tomorrow in the office. But due to my long nap, didn’t get to it. I am watching TV hoping maybe I’ll pick some stuff up that way! (As I type this I’m watching “Numbers” that has been translated into Italian!) I am so worried about not being able to meet my partners’ expectations of my ability to speak Italian. I’m not exactly sure what they expect of me on day one. I’m suppose to be taking several weeks of Italian classes here in Rome, but don’t know when I will take those. I really have no idea what I’m going to be doing this week! I know tomorrow I’m supposed to get my computer and phone, but that’s all I know. I have no idea who I’m suppose to meet when I get there, what I’m suppose to do, if they will give me time off to look for an apartment, set up my bank account and do all that fun stuff. And within 8 days from when I arrived (so by Sat.) I have to do the paperwork required to declare my residency. I guess I will find out a lot tomorrow. Or at least I hope! I better get to sleep early today so I wake up in time for work tomorrow! One of my biggest fears is that I will oversleep! I only have a small travel alarm clock & was using my blackberry alarm, but the battery is running down on that & I can’t get it to recharge through my computer for some reason. Hopefully I wake up on time!
Thoughts of the day – tomorrow I start my new work life and as a manager…wow! This all has to be the most challenging thing I’ve done – living so far away from home, having to learn a new language (when I’ve never been great at languages), starting a new position in a different office…I just hope I can handle it all and do everything at least half way decent! Only time will tell.
9:51pm Rome/ 2:51pm Houston
(additional photos can be found at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31314&l=68e47&id=800405227 )
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