Killin' time...

Back in Rome, but with nothing to do because I’m sick. I’ve been this way for about two weeks now, since I left Rome. Hmm, maybe that’s the problem. At any rate, I felt pretty lousy and it never takes me that long to get over a cold and since I wanted to get on with things here I decided to see a doctor. I made an appointment and got in a couple days later. Dottoressa Sepe was nice, and yes she spoke English. I explained my symtoms and told her I actually felt a bit better that day and she jokingly told me she likes to make patients wait a day before she sees them, that way they will either feel better or die before she has to do anything, Roman humor I guess. She decided I wasn’t too bad and prescribed some stuff that I was to take for 10 days through an inhalator. So I spent a week sitting in a hotel room in the center of Rome waiting to feel better and just going outside to eat and walk a bit. Not fun. I did get a chance to send off an email to Daniela to see if she was around but I didn’t hear back from her for a few days, and when she did write she said she had just received it and had to leave the next day so there was no time to meet. That sure didn’t make me feel any better, but oh well, maybe someday when I’m in South America visiting the Brazilians I will pop over to Chile too.

After a week in the hotel I was able to go back to my original house with Anna and Evi. This time I stayed in the apartment downstairs, which is basically a studio with a kitchen and bath plus another large room. It’s really nice and it was a good place to hang out for a while, but I still didn’t feel any better and the medicine didn’t seem to be doing a thing for me. This is why I never go to doctors, it just costs me money and I get nothing for it. All that medicine did was make me cough a lot while I was trying to breathe it in. I spent about two weeks in the apartment still waiting to feel better. It really wasn’t a good time, but I did have a few highlights.

One Sunday while I was walking around the center I decided to see if the Pope was out that day, and I got there at just the right time to see him. He stands in a window of a plain looking building behind Saint Peter’s Square and adresses the masses over loudspeakers placed around the square. You can barely see him but you know it’s the Pope so it’s still pretty neat. The square was full of people most likely from every country, and before he finished he greeted everyone in about five different languages before going back to Italian to say arrivederci.

Tom also returned to Rome after spending two weeks in Sicily. He was here for a few days and we got to spend some time together so that was fun. Jenna was with us as well, and also Marianna, the last remaining Brasiliana. Tom returned to London after his last few days here, only to stay there a month and then he’s going to spend a few months in Vietnam and Cambodia, he’s having a good time. I also had to say goodbye to Arno, my French buddy, who was going back to work in Romania. I will miss him too. He was the first person that struck a conversation with me at school and we have always gotten along really well, he’s a good guy. Then Marianna left to go see Venice and the visit her cousins in Naples. She is really sweet, but she can’t speak English and her Italian is mixed with a lot of Portugese so it was always more difficult for me to have a conversation with her, but we still had fun together.

Last to go was Jenna. We got to spend a day together before she left and we had a good time taking a long walk around the center, starting at the Vatican to see the Pope one more time, but we only cought the last two minutes of him. We went from there and headed along the river past Trastevere and all the way to Aventino. We saw the Bocca della Verita, mouth of truth, a small tourist attraction, and then ate lunch in the Campidoglio. From there we found a very interesting church on the hill behind the Vittorio Emanuele monument. I didn’t even know it was there before and it was very beautiful inside. There is always something new to see here. After that we went around the side to the monument and found a great place to view the city and the Coloseum before taking a walk inside the monument, which is one of my favorites. After that we walked through the Roman Forum and around the outside of the Coloseum. It was a nice time and it felt great to be out in the sun all day.

So now pretty much all of my schoolmates have moved on, leaving only me and Evi at the house. The only thing left to do now is get ready for my motorcycle ride down south to Sicily and back. That should keep me entertained for a while.

Dammi il casco!!