Mangio mangio mangio

Rome has already changed me. For one thing, I have stopped doing my hair. The Italians don’t seem to care much about their hair, and you know what they say: when in Rome, eh?

I have been living the dream. Everything here is amazing! I can’t believe we have two weeks to tour Rome. The fact that it can be this hot and humid and uncomfortable, and I am still having the time of my life is almost unbelievable. That’s how awesome it is here.

The food. Is. To die for. We eat breakfast at our hotel, which is a spread of breads (rolls, croissants, sliced bread), meats and cheeses, yogurt, and cocoa. And various other delicious, kind of strange little things. Then for lunch, we go out and find whatever we want. So far, I’ve had a few panini, some pizza, or bread and fruit. Then for dinner, so far we eat at our hotel. They serve us in courses – how cool is that! Our first course is usually a yummy al dente pasta or a soup. Our next course is meat, vegetables, and some form of potato. And then we have dessert. Most the stuff they’ve fed us has been delicious! And we keep our waiters well entertained… In a couple days, we’ll be on our own for dinner, though, so I’m sure there will be more foodventures.

Then there is the Great Gelato Debate of 2012. Basically, it boils down to quality versus quantity. Do you go with Old Bridge and get three large, yummy scoops for 1.50, or do you go with San Crispino and get a tiny, leveled off cup of the best gelato in all the world for 3.00? Or do you get both?

Just kidding, Mom. I have never gotten more than one gelato in a day. In fact, I don’t even get a gelato per day.

Today, we went to church! I wasn’t expecting the ward to have its own building, but they actually do have a nice little church building – the same exact layout of the one my family went to in Spain at Christmas. It was great meeting some of the members and the missionaries. Everyone was really welcoming and they had translators set up for those that wanted them. I tried to listen without translation, though. I understood surprisingly well in relief society! I was pretty excited about that. I think they tried to talk slower, haha. The other meetings were a little harder to understand, but I picked up bits and pieces. And I straightened my hair today!

This first week in Rome has been incredible, and I’m sure next week will be too. And then we’re off to Siena for some hard core learnin’!