Friday, September 3, 2010

My First Day as an Adult, and I Spill My Sprite

This morning, Sam woke me up at 4am and we took a cab to the airport. As to be expected, it was basically dead when we arrived. The counter at which Sam could check in hadn’t even opened yet, so we waited. There was a McDonalds and Chef Express across from where we were waiting. Sam and I sat watching the women open the gate and ready the restaurant slowly. Too slowly indeed and after Sam checked in, we had to find something else. The only thing that was open was a small café, so we got some food and then went to security.

It was so difficult to say goodbye to Sam knowing I wouldn’t see her for months. Our trip was so amazing, probably one of the best thing either of us will ever do. And it was perfect because it kicked off two very important times in our lives – Sam is about to start several amazing projects and finish her master’s degree, while I would soon be living in a foreign country. I’m so glad we could share it, and I can’t believe that I would be able to see her until December. I watched Sam go through security, dried my teary eyes, and headed towards the trains back to the hotel. As I walked away, I thought that, now that I was alone, I would learn independence and finally become a real adult. I mean, look how well I maneuvered the airport…I found the trains just fine. Sadly, none left until 7am, which meant that I had to occupy myself for an hour in a nearly deserted airport. I went through the terminals and found almost nothing and the WiFi wasn’t free, so boredom came quickly. I looked through the bookstore DVD section. It was funny to see the different titles for movies.


("Love doesn't take Vacation" "Frankenstein Jr" "I hate you, I'm leaving you...")

Finally, I got on the train to go back to the hotel. I showered and went to the café for some breakfast. After breakfast, I watched some TV, then decided it wasn’t good to stay in all day – that’s not was an adult would do. So, I went shopping. One big department store in Rome is Upim. Hoping it was something like Macy’s, I headed towards their Trevi Fountain location. It was supposed to be on Via Tritone. Well, I walked up, down, and sideways on Via Tritone and no Upim. But no worries, I ended up sitting on the Spanish Steps and getting some ananas (Pineapple) gelato before going back to the hotel.

Then, I napped, blogged, and had a cheese plate and a glass of wine. Then, I again thought I should go out, so I decided to give shopping a try again. I wanted to go to this mall we’d found on Via del Corso, so I walked there by way of Piazza Venezia. On my way there, I stopped and bought a poster of a scnene from La Dolce Vita. It’s a picture of the Trevi Fountain scene. It’s Rome, specifically the Trevi Fountain, and a movie. Perfetto! Then I went to Piazza Venezia to go to the mall. Except that it wasn’t there. Crap. I changed my plans and instead decided to see the Coliseum at night.


It was great. It changed from the day time. Obviously, it’s always amazing. In the daytime, It’s epic and historical and you can imagine people thousands of years ago walking on the same cobblestones you walk on today. At night, the Coliseum is majestic and timeless. With a fraction of the people, it was serene. Thank God I don’t have to leave this…


I have an extreme prejudice against going to restaurants and eating alone. So, I decided to get McDonalds on the way back to the hotel. I know what you’re thinking – in Rome and eating McDonalds? But there are McDonalds everywhere here, so real Romans must eating it fairly often. When in Rome! So I went to Mickey D’s. I was going to bring it back to the Beehive, but then I realized I’d be bring my McNuggets into the all-vegetarian, all-organic hippie hotel. Half of me thought it disrespectful and tactless. Half of me was afraid they’d make me wear a red C on my shirt for carnivore. So I ate in. As I was sitting down, I misjudged the height of the table. I saw my sprite teetering and then SPLOOSH!

Fantastic! My first day as a full-fledged adult, and I failed to find the store, took a nap and spilled my sprite. Maybe this would be harder than I thought. Tomorrow I move into my dorms, which will be an ordeal in itself. Hopefully, I’ll be more adult about it….

1 comment:

  1. i'm sure your sprite spill was entirely graceful and think of it this way - an embarrassing moment is out of the way! miss you so much! sounds like your trip is amazing so far, i wish i could visit you! keep enjoying and letting me live vicariously through you ;)

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