Home Sweet Home.

So far I’m having an amazing time back in Rome. My Italian has improved already, I’ve met some fun people and I love where I live. Turns out my landlady, Adriana, is a witch, the kind who can cast spells…so beware. A former housemate told me that Adriana once heard one of her tenant’s crying over a bad boyfriend and so she put a black stone in a bowl of salt under her bed. Months later, the girl was cleaning her room and found the salt, which had turned black with bad energy. She asked Adriana what this was and she said that she’d cast a spell for the guy to leave her alone. “So that’s why he left me!” she cried. I, myself, am turning into a vampire as it’s too hot to go out until night.

I live with Italian Adriana, her daughter, a Belgian and a French girl, plus three international guests this week. It sounds insane, but it hasn’t been bad at all. Last night several of us were supposed to go to Shakespeare in the Park, but some people were on Italian time and so we missed it. Instead, we ended up on Rome’s periphery at a random outdoor restaurant/festival. Our driver drank too much so we had to sober up at a cafe until 2 a.m. and then someone requested to go to a club. Normally, I would have been in bed hours prior, but I was wide awake. I have no idea why because I hadn’t slept in days. Perhaps it was jet lag; perhaps I just rested too much in the States. Anyway, after the club we drove to the Gianicolo look-out point, where we saw the Eternal City twinkling with electric lights at 4 in the morning. The view is as stunning as they say and I definitely plan to jog around up there if the heat ever breaks. 

All in all, we had a fun, strange, meandering night filled with crazy stories that I’m not at liberty to divulge here. But I’ll tell you when I see you. And after we got home, I was finally able to sleep!