Day 1: Arrival and 1st day

So I arrive at the airport …way early and ready to get it goin. Eventually everyone piles in but not before I start to worry about being at the correct gate. We get a late takeoff and I know im bot going to be able to sleep at all during the flight…as usual. I do luckout and get an empty seat next to me which allows me to stretch out slightly/curl into a ball and pass out, but I don’t luckout because im right next to a bathroom and there was a meal served on the flight…distinctive smells reoccurring throughout the night…$5 beers also served on the flight…why would anybody ever buy a bud light for 5 bucks? The chick next to me did, twice.
We arrive in Rome and get a taxi to Piatza Navona. One word to describe the taxi ride – dangerous. Seems common over here though, dangerous drivers all over the place. But there good at it. We bring our stuff up to our floor, which happens to be on the 3rd floor and is a hike to say the least. The elevator is also sub-par and will rarely be used by anyone. We took our first journey to the studio, not a bad hike, and right past the pantheon. We end up making the trip about 5 times due to housing mix ups. We finally get set up and everyone is exhausted from not sleeping the night before. We get some lunch (get ripped off) at a pizza place by the pantheon and chill there for awhile. Later Tyler, Doug, Tyler and I decide to wander around looking for Circo Maxima and the Colleseum. On the way we mistakenly wander through what appeared to be the gay-axis of Rome. It looked like the remnants of a former zoo, now accommodating only males wearing tight yellow shirts. We get to Circo Maxima and will probably go back to play futbol at some point. Its pretty run down now though. Then we make our way northeast to the Triumval Arch /Colleseum/Ruins of the ancient city. We really didn’t know all the history and are looking forward to seeing it again with our professors showing us all the intricacies. We wander back, get some Italian dinner, and head back looking to get some much needed sleep and plan out our next 6 weeks.