I'm In Love.

Ciao Stranger,

You read it right: I'm in love! With whom you may ask? You don't care? Well too bad, it's my blog. For those that do, her name is Roma. I've only been here for 4 days and I'm already falling deeply in love with this ancient city. Yes there were things here that took me by surprise at first but I wouldn't change any of it. I was warned of the bureaucracy and the unavoidable long queues that was bound to drive me mad swearing profanity but honestly, all my paperworks went smoothly with no problems. I don't know if my expectations of the system was too low caused by hearing numerous horror stories or I'm just a genius with incredible luck (#2 seems far more probable) but what should have taken me 4 full days of dreadful waiting took me a total of an hour in the span of 2 days.

Another reason I'm having the time of my life right now is all thanks to my room mates. They've made my transition here so smooth I really have nothing bad to say (and I'm not writing this because they may or may not be reading this). When I told people my plan was to live with 4 local Italian guys, the reaction I got were either people congratulating me on my bravery, calling me mental for wanting myself murdered or fearing for my safety and telling me to buy tasers/locks/pepper sprays. Regardless of what others thought, I made the impulsive decision and boy oh boy do I not regret it (at least not yet). Reasons why:

1. Our place is spotless. I've never lived in a cleaner apartment (I don't know if all Italian guys are like this but I ain't complaining). No piled up garbage, no plates in the sink, not a single thing out of place. Truly amazing.
2. They ask me every lunch/dinner to eat with them and will cook amazing food for me (I'm going to get fat soon).
3. They force me to write down Italian vocabs to memorize so that my Italian can improve (I'm pretty damn good with my kitchen items now). 
4. I feel safe. I have 4 bodyguards living with me. Try coming to my house to hurt me. Just try.
5. They're quiet at night. Notice how I specified night because when they gather together during lunch & dinner, chances are they're either watching football, or having a heated discussion/argument about football. Hands will start moving and I just sit back and enjoy the show.
6. No one smokes. Thank goodness. I didn't realize this before but many local Italians regardless of their gender smokes. A lot.
7. I have a question, they answer it. Saves me the trip to Google.
8. Need I say more??? 

In the future I'll post pictures of my golden boys. Girls, my room is available in August ;)

Aside from being incredibly lucky with the documentations and housing, Rome itself is a spectacular city. Yes there are graffiti everywhere, but you soon learn to enjoy the artwork, especially on the subway station.

It's no Canada Line that's for sure. The interior is far from classy and it moves at an awfully slow rate but hey, it gets me from point A-B so meh. Feeling generous? Tip the musicians who will regularly jump onto a compartment and perform a song or two. I was too cheap. And when you get out of the station, you'll be amazed at what you may find. I'll get into that in my next post where I'll take you around to the places I went to so far :)