roma (Rome) i

It's 2:48AM in Lecce and I just hacked into the internet. Seems like some things never change.

I'll write in here briefly and give a more detailed account of what's been going on tomorrow. It's Sunday, anyway, and literally EVERYTHING is closed except for one store from 9AM-1PM and you can bet your butt I'll be there. But other than that, there's nothing to do. Stephanie and I will probably walk around and she's going to give me a brief cooking lesson (thank God) before I try it out. It's amazing the convenience we have in America. There have been a couple of times I just assumed something would be done for me or be available for me and it wasn't. You have to ask for the check. Everything will be closed on Sundays and this Tuesday. There might be an elevator, but you have to take stairs to get to it. Et cetera.

I arrived in Rome an hour late with only 3 hours of sleep under my belt. After running around like maniacs for the past two days (all of which I will go into detail about later), all I can say is this:

I am a very, very happy girl.


Thanks, US Airways.


Thanks, Daddy.


Hello, Rome.

MORE PHOTOS AT: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollygoestoitaly/

l'inizio (the beginning)

T-Minus 17 hours to take off. And then I'm gone. Off to Rome.

I'm sitting on my floor in Blue Bell amongst random piles of shit - my old Italian text book, headbands, Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros, sunglasses, earrings. It's all waiting to get sorted and packed into my various bags (so far I've kept my packing fairly minimal - I'm pretty proud of myself). There's still so much to do! I need to visit Aunt Sally, and finish my letter to Tim, and pack my toiletries, and pick out what movies I want to bring for the plane and get my watch fixed and maybe eat/sleep/drink. All that good stuff.

Instead I'm sitting here writing. I was on the phone with Naomi Barsky (a friend of my mother's) earlier today and she told me to make sure I kept a journal so that "25 years from now you can look back at this and smile." Here's a picture of the journal I'm bringing:



Lisa gave it to me for my 18th birthday. The inside cover reads:

"I wish you inspiration in your next journey and that these pages become filled with the jewels of your heart and mind."

Gee, me too.

Back to the main point: I'm hoping to not only write in my personal journal, but update this blog around twice a week and post to my flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollygoestoitaly/) and youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/mollygoestoitaly) accounts. Also, I'm available to talk to on skype at human_trampoline so if you see me on (probably around 2 or 3 EST) please feel free to call! I need to figure out a cheaper alternative for the phone situation - right now it's basically an emergency only plan.

So the general plan for tomorrow is
01. Wake up.
02. Visit Aunt Sally.
03. Do various last-minute errands.
04. Get on an airplane.
05. Land in Rome.

And from there - who knows? I'm getting picked up by Arcadia people at 8AM Italian time so I get to spend the day in Rome doing some orientation things! Hopefully I'll get some time to explore on my own, too. I'll also need to do things like a) get money out and b) figure out my phone. Busy, busy day planned.

I guess I should quit while I'm ahead here. It's now T-minus 16 hours to takeoff and I need need need to sleep!

I love you all.



Andiamo!