From Idaho to Roma

On May 16th I headed to the airport to begin my long and arduous trip to Rome. I was excited to get to Rome, but knew that I would miss my family and friends. I said goodbye to my loved ones, and boarded a plane to Portland where I would meet up with three other students.
We all met at the gate in Portland where we waited around with the other two or three hundred passengers to board the plane for Amsterdam. Some how I was able to secure great seat for the entire 14 hours that I would be in the air on the three separate flights., and did not have to deal with anyone reclining into my knees. We arrived in Amsterdam where the group broke up again. I had just an hour to make it to my connecting flight so I said goodbye to my fellow students and headed off as quickly as possible for customs, and yet another security check. I made it with plenty of time, and boarded the final plane that would take me to Rome.
The first tragedy of the trip was one of my two checked bags. Apparently there was some problem with in Amsterdam loading bags of the passengers who had come from Portland because there were a large group of us that went to visit the lost baggage counter that had come from Portland. I filled out the paper work, and hurried to out to figure out where the others would be so that we could meet up and take the train in to meet with Matt. I made my way over to the other terminal where the other students would be coming from, and began to wait for them. When an hour passed I began to think that I must have missed them because the baggage claim had taken so long. I made an executive decision and went to the train, and went to meet Matt at the Termini station where I assumed the others would be. I was of course the first one to arrive so I stayed at the train station with Matt and waited for the others to arrive on the train.
We finally all met up and took a taxi to our apt where we would be living for the next two months. Tim showed us a great place to eat for our first meal in Rome. After dinner we went to one of the best gelato places in the city.
The next day we finally got ourselves out of bed around noon, and met Matt around 2:00 for a walking tour to get us oriented with the city. Matt met us at our apt, and we went by the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popolo, Piazza Navona, and many other sites of the city. We ended out tour on the Palitine Hill over looking the city. We retraced our walk around the city and started to get a glimpse of the size of the city that had shaped so much of history. We stood in awe of the city that we were going to live in for the next two months. I know that this city and all of the history here will change my life, and the way that I think about architecture.