Day 1: Today has been absolutely awesome. I left my hostel at 10:30am, because at 10:05am I woke up to the owner of my hostel standing over me telling me it was time to check out. boy was i startled. I put on my favorite dress and began my short walk to the train station to hail a cab. The taxi driver had no idea where to go, but he seemed convinced to find it. He left me out around the area of my apartment and told me to walk in what i now know was the wrong direction. lol. I finally made it to my apartment and met Helena, the housing coordinator. she was very sweet and showed me to my apartment. We are on the 4th floor, and thank goodness for elevators. When you first walk into the apartment, there is a large common room, with 2 couches and 3 tables. Helena showed me to my room, which I consider the best one in the apartment. We have two windows which overlook a gorgeous garden and also the river. because of the positioning of the windows, we get an amazing cross breeze going... when I say we, I mean my roommate Kelli and I. She was my roommate last year in florence, and this year she will be spending the month of June with me in Rome. Once I was settled into my room, more people started showing up, 14 others in total. There are 7 bedrooms, with 6 of them being double beds, and then the 7th with 3 beds. There are also only 3 bathrooms in the apartment, so it will make showering a little more difficult. So far, everyone I have met has been super sweet. We went around in a circle and told each other where we were from, our area of interest in art, and where we are in the art world. At 6pm, we met Carole in the garden and had an orientation about what the program is all about. We also got to meet our other professor, Jose. After orientation, we all got on the tram and went to Piazza Navona for dinner. It was of course delicious. We got to all talk some more, and enjoy our first night together as a group. Afterwards we road the tram back towards our apartment, and then most of us went out for a drink at a little bar. Upon my arrival back at the apartment, I took a shower and then spent some time on the computer. Tomorrow we meet at 2 pm in the garden again so that we may go on a walk about so carole can show us what is near us. I do really miss matt greatly, and I wish he could be here enjoying himself with me. I need to go to bed now, since its almost 4 am Rome time. My internal clock still hasnt reset yet. Hopefully tomorrow i can go to bed at a reasonable hour. tomorrow is also Saturday night Skype date with Matt :) Ciao for now