first thoughts of Roma

i know its been a while and should have gotten to this sooner, but i wanted to take it all in before i sat down and had to process it. its a long one, apologies in advance...

Roma: stop caring, start drinking.
that is pretty much is the bottom line to all the things i've learned so far. so let me start at the beginning...

i left philly airport sunday feb 1st with bursts of excitement running through me for what was to come out of my new adventure. a new country, a new culture, a new language, & a new way of life. i knew it would be overwhelming, but i dove head first anyway. when i arrived in london for my connecting flight, we were informed of the "bad weather" aka 4 inches of snow. we spent an extra hour in the air after the 6.5 hour flight, and then sat in a cargo area of Heathrow airport for another 5 hours. i know what you're thinking, so much fun right? meh, it wasn't the best thing that could have happen, but at least i was with ellyn & holly (2 girls from psu/in my program)

after being bused to the terminal, we found out our connecting flight was cancelled, along with every other flight that day. stupendous! luckily, we ran into several other IES students and a few more, and we somehow managed to reschedule our flight to the next morning, book a hotel, and get there in one piece. phew. we enjoyed a well needed dinner and a nice nights rest in a charming inn in Slough. the next morning, we spent nearly 2 hours in queue (yes thats right, queue not line ha) to scan our baggage tickets so they would be put on our plane since we did not get them back.

we arrive in roma on tuesday the 3rd and wouldn't ya know it, no luggage. long story short, i wore the same outfit for a week and refuse to wear it again for at least a month. good side, thank you british airways for my new dress, leggings, shirt, etc. haha the bill is in the mail =). bad side, they broke my NEW webcam. somehow the wire got split while in my bag was was hangin on by the outer covering. british airways, u'll be getting that bill too. but as my motto goes, i just stopped caring and had some vino.

the first weekend was fun, the program took us to assisi and perugia. not much to see other than churches, but the scenary was incredibly beautiful. unfortunately durin this time i did not have my camera since my stuff came a week late, so i'll just take other peoples to show u later haha.

the first week, ending today, was a week of intensive italian. i'm in the beginning class, but the more intensive one, so we just spend more time in class. i tend to mix a lot of italian with spanish, but so does half the class haha. the only thing that has really overwhelmed me here so far is talking. i've gotten lost dozens of times already, several times alone, and though most people in rome speak some english, a good amount also do not. which is expected. so tryin to communicate to people tryin to help me is really frustrating and made me feel really helpless at times, which i do not like one bit.

up side, my ISC Laura (italian student companian) is awesome. shes so good with helping us get adjusted and understanding the culture. when the ATM took my card yesterday, Laura argued with the evil woman who pretty much implied that i was an idiot and/or was lying. i mean i couldn't understand everything, but i got the jist of it and i was pissed. eventually she reset the machine or something and it came out, but not before ruining the strip/magnectic part cause now ATMs can't read my card. *sigh* good thing i have a back up. -- insert above motto here.

moving onto good news, i'll be starting an internship here in rome! it was unexpected since originally we were told we couldn't do one if we didn't have a few semesters of italian, but i suppose i was due for some good luck. apparently i'm pretty much the only technology related major in my program, and i was fortunate enough to get an internship dealing with websites (my interest, yay). i'll be working on the website habemuscasa.com starting monday =)

ok, this is getting long so i'm going to make a list of other things i've learned so far about rome/italy

1. in rome, no one obeys the road laws-ever- and esp not the ppl on motor scooters
2. pedestrians reallllly do have the right of way. in rome, you walk into the street regardless of who is coming at you, and they stop. its awesome, but theres no way i could get away with that at home ha
3. everyone drinks wine and coffee and smokes, if u don't ur weird. i don't drink wine or smoke, so i'm 2/3 weird
4. skim milk is hard to find, and juices/milk/etc are never drank with meals, but i do haha
5. coffee drinks are tiny, the largest thing u can get is a cappuccino and its portion is about the size of a childrens sippy cup
6. everything is beautiful and has a historical meaning that i'll never remember... but there is most likely graffitti all over it
7. cobblestones paths are only good for flats, and it still hurts ur feet
8. microwaves and toasters aren't common, so get creative
9. old men and women who work at small shops like tobacchi's are absolutely adorable and so nice
10. nothing is open past 8pm except restaurants and discos, its not so convenient
11. expect to walk, a lot
12. everything is cooked with oil
13. public transportation is never reliable, and thats even without strikes
14. don't ever expect anyone to be on time, people seem to work around their own schedule
15. when the first raindrop falls, vendors from bangledesh spring up like daisys in may, tryin to sell umbrellas, even to people holding one- its ridiculous

ciao for now,
caite

Adapter or Converter?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

ok now that i finally got that out, i'm less likely to harm someone. now, as you may know i'm going to be living in Rome for the next 4 months and of course i'm taking my laptop. so here's the dilemma, USA uses 110V and Europe uses 220V. if you plug in something like a hairdryer with only an adapter, well, that sucker is going to fry. luckily i'm buying all those annoying devices in italy. but, what shall i use for my computer? just a plug adapter or do i need a power converter (aka transformer)?

during my search for answers, i found out that people have no idea what the difference is between them and therefore use the words interchangeably. wow is that frustrating! so allow me to define them for you...

adapter
-A plug adapter lets you put your plug into the adapter and the adapter plugs into the socket. end. no conversion of volts happening, just slipping on a lil jacket for ur plug so it fits into the wall.















converter/transformer
-an electrical device that increases or reduces the voltage of an alternating current by mutual induction between primary and secondary coils or windings. aka that 220V coming outta euro walls turns into 110V for ur american device so it doesn't go boom!

Example: Using an adapter






























Example: Using a converter

1. Wall socket - 2. adapter plug
3. converter/transformer - 4. device

credit this pic to: http://www.walkabouttravelgear.com/elect.htm

NOTE: diagram picture is for when you use a converter and it comes with an american plug and need to use it in europe. that's where the adapter comes in.

my computer specs:
Dell Inspiron E1505
100-240V, 50-60Hz, 1.5A

1. according to Dell (the second call, and a manager thank god!) and to a bunch of online forums, articles, etc. all i need is a plug adapter because my range can handle the 220V and will automatically sense the higher voltage and adjust accordingly.

forums:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070811152320AA38jos
http://weuropetravel.suite101.com/discussion.cfm/6549
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=20513
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080702130348AA8qF7D

2. according to some friends, some who've been in europe, and Dell (the first call, which made no sense what they told me anyway. something about a 90 watt converter and a separate adapter to be purchased in europe? yea not so much)- they say i need a converter because my computer could overheat and get damaged.

now i'm not the type to take chances with my computer. i'm not just traveling to europe for like a week or two on vacation. so that plus people telling me to get the converter, i began to suspect that the adapter might end up doing damage in the long term. hense my confusion as what to do.

take the chance that the forums are right and buy the cheaper plug adapter?
-or -
don't take the chance and buy a transformer so that way nothing bad can happen? (hopefully)

----what is ur suggestion?

Happy New Years

So, Sarah inspired me to finally begin a blog. Yay Sarah!

Well happy new year people. Later today, PSU will be kickin some butt in the rose bowl. GO STATE! Props to everyone who flew out to Cali to see it.

In exactly one month I'll be on my way to Rome. I'm pumped!! But there's a good amount of stuff to do before I land in that beautiful city. Here's the list:

1. finish getting everything I need for Rome
2. pick up a salsa class over the break - its an addiction
3. visit my buds at PSU one more time before leaving
4. get a Project Management certification (I'm scheduled to take it on Jan 24th, so Auggie you'll get your book back after that lol)
5. learn Italian - yea that'd probably help

So, I'll be workin on this list for the next month. Probably not going to post again until its much closer to when I leave. I'll put it up on my facebook status or something.

Ciao,
Caite