Living in foreign country is one thing, moving in a foreign country is entirely another. Yet, here I am, settled into my new home in Rome after moving from Bologna last week.
The process of transporting all of my belonging from Bologna to Rome began when I went home to the US. I knew I had too much to bring with me for the summer, so I did my best to identify what I could live without, crammed my suitcases full, and dragged everything through the Bologna airport back to Chicago. I did a decent job of packing in the States and only brought one not-quite-full suitcase back to Italy for moving purposes.
However, I may have underestimated the amount of crap I left in Bologna. Meaning I had to stuff a suitcase, a carry-on, a tote bag, a shopping bag, my backpack, and my purse full of everything I had left in my room. Although I lived about ten minutes away, six bags were a lot to carry to the train station. With the gracious generosity of Shelby and Alyssa (thanks, guys!), we managed to get everything onto my train.
After a relatively quick two and a half hour journey, I arrived in Rome! Miraculously, I got all of my belongings off of the train on my own and somehow made my way to the taxi stand to get a ride to my new apartment. That’s when things got interesting. As I waited in line for a taxi, a man came up to me asking if I needed a cab… I tried to wave him off but he was rather persistent and when I finally admitted to needing a ride, he grabbed one of my bags and said, “Follow me.” I felt I had no choice but to follow my luggage, which I did, around the corner to a small white car with no taxi sign and no meter. I watched as the little old man hauled my baggage into his tiny car and figured, if he was trying to do me harm, he could have left the heavy bags behind. (Sorry, mom…)
Never fear, I made it to my apartment safe and in one piece, after a too-expensive cab ride.
In Rome, I am living on the south end of Trastevere with my friend Christina, with whom I studied in Bologna, and another Notre Dame girl, Katie. So far, so good! We live below an INCREDIBLE bakery; I cannot express how amazing this bakery is. It has weird hours (or maybe no hours… It’s possible they only open when they feel like it) but the brioche and bombolone are to die for. We like to say we live below heaven.
The apartment itself has had its fair share of problems thus far. We had a hot water issue, bug infestation, and broken washing machine. I think most everything is squared away but we shall see. The good news is, it’s only a few weeks.
Other than that, I haven’t been doing too much. I start work on Friday at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace under Cardinal Turkson.
Con affetto,
Sara
The Wandering Blondie 