Roma, Italia

I am here. To all of you who were waiting for an email letting you know I arrived....Sorry. Internet isn't as easy to come by here as people said it would be. I'm now forking out a fortune for a mere hour of net use. Sad. So I'll get this out quick! I made it to Roma around 4 local time. Interesting airport. I never did actually go through customs.... Was I supposed to? I just sort of walked out without anyone asking me anything. Talk about a dirty place. It's interesting. People don't really seem to care, and that's alright. After walking around aimlessly for a good 30 minutes I finally figured out where to buy a ticket for the train, and then I waited another 30 minutes to get on the train. I ended up sitting next to an archeologist from Texas, of all places. He said he's been to Rome dozens of times. He told me some really cool stuff. He even showed me some cool stuff people usually miss riding the train in. The old exterior wall to the city and the aqueduct. And he showed me an old bath house and an arch on the exterior wall. The Baker's tomb or something. It was really pretty. After arriving at Stazione Termini I managed to haul my luggage a good distance to the Metropolitane and then had an interesting experience with that! I have to say though that it is absolutely amazing that Roma has a metro. With all the history buried here, you'd think they'd avoid digging a metro. Hm. So then I arrived at il Fontana del Tritone and I walked.... Much further than google had said I would walk.... to my hotel. It's pretty nice. For the price it should be lol. It's different. Oh those Europeans! There are things I like though. This is most definitely a new experience for me and it's good. So by now it's about 7pm here. I took a shower and decided to hit the streets. I just walked. And walked. I just kind of meandered around. I went to the Piazza Colonna and the Palazzo Chigi. Then I just kept walking and walked around a corner and WHAM! There was the Pantheon! Holy cow! I really wasn't expecting it. I've seen it in pictures and everything but wow. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing. It was really sad to see they have turned it into a church..... Way to go people. Ruin something good. But it was still beautiful. It just blows me away something that huge is still standing today, and that something that huge was ever built so long ago! I literally was in awe the whole time I was looking at it. I can't wait to go inside later this weekend, hopefully. So here is where the story gets interesting.... I decided to take a different way home. Of course, the streets are narrow, not labeled, and they meander in not so straight lines. Long story short and an interesting adventure later, I find myself almost all the way back to Stazione Termini. *Sigh* not the plan. I really didn't think I had wandered that far, but then I saw the Piazza della Repubblica and realized "whoa, this is quite far from my hotel." At this point it was nearly 11pm and I was thinking "I shouldn't be wandering the streets of Roma at 11pm all by myself." I did manage to see some amazing architecture though. I can't believe this city. It's so many parts of history all bundled together. It's like buying a really big value meal! Anyway, I finally made it back to my hotel, and here I am! I won't lie, I'm ready for the rest of the group to get here. I think I've had my culture shock experience for the trip. I need some comfort now. But I will take each adventure as it comes with the best attitude I can.