Culture Shock Part Two? Or Three? Not sure what we're up to by now

There are five days left until I fly to the Hague for the Model UN Conference, and I'm starting to freak out a bit. I'm prepared, but I'm still freaking out. Because that is what I do. At least that hasn't changed.

On another note, I am starting to miss the US more and more. I know it's the culture shock, the spiral that happens before it's time to leave, but apparently knowing that is the reason isn't enough for it to stop. I miss having my own car and driving. I miss grocery stores that have everything, so I don't have to stop at four different places to get everything I need. I miss stores that are open past 8pm. I miss Castleton, badly. And most of all I miss my family and my friends.

But enough of that, because in three weeks I'll be home, and then I'll start missing Rome. I know I'll miss being in this city, having all this freedom to do almost anything I want. I'll miss my friends here, and those in the ISA program, since most of them are spread all across the US. I'll miss being able to fly to another country for a weekend, without breaking the bank or being on a flight for 7 hours.

Week One of the Four most stressful weeks of my life (up to now) is over. I have my Italian Presentation, Italian Oral Exam and Italian Final exam left. I have a final exam in Intro to the EU. I have a final paper, an extra credit paper, and a final exam in IR Theories and Cases. And finally, I have an extra credit paper and a reflection paper in the MUN class, after the Conference.

Today was supposed to be the trip to Ninfa and Sermoneta. My roommates Hannah and Hannah were going with me, on the ISA trip. We had to meet ISA at 9:30 by the school, about a ten-fifteen minute bus ride once the bus shows up. We intended to leave the apartment at 9AM, to make sure that we were there on time, but no one was ready yet, as we were eating breakfast and making sure cameras, Kindles, etc were charged for the bus ride. We made it out the door at 9:15, got to the bus stop at 9:20, and proceeded to wait until 9:45 for the bus to actually show up. We got to the school at 10:00AM on the dot, and ISA had left. None of us had cellphones to call them to let them know we were running late, and even though we had said we were definitely going, they didn't wait past 9:45 for us. It is very frustrating not having a cell phone here, for that exact purpose. I'm mad that we didn't leave early enough, that we missed it. I was so looking forward to just spending the day in a huge garden, and I wasn't able to go because we were late.

Hannah, Hannah and I went to get pastries after words, because it's hard to be sad with an Italian pastry in front of you. While we were sitting and eating, this woman was walking her huge, fluffy white dog, who was very interested in us because of the pastries we had in front of us. She let us pet him, and we were attempting to talk to the dog in Italian. A man was trying to get by us and the dog on the sidewalk, and the dog either really doesn't like men, or just that one in particular, and tried to tackle him to the ground. It was so strange, because he was so calm and sweet with us, and then so vicious the next second. He went back to being calm after the man got away and the owner apologized. We had to leave to catch the bus, which of course showed up right away this time.

Later that day, another roommate Cassandra and I went to Campo di Fiori to do some shopping around that area. There are tons of boutiques and shops, with really nice clothing and shoes and jewlery. I needed a pair of black ballet flats or basic sandals, to wear at the conference, because I forgot mine at home. I mistakenly thought I was size bigger than I was, so I didn't get anything because I thought they were too small. But I'll go back on Monday after class. While we were waiting for the tram to go back to the apartment, we saw another dog, who was a mix and was so sweet. The owners were closing up their flower stand, and let us pet their dog. His name was Rocco, and he was so sweet. He just loved being pet, he sat right down between me and Cass and was so excited. We had to leave because the tram showed up, but I was so happy I got to pet two dogs today! I miss my chocolate lab Cali so much, so it was nice to be able to get some dog therapy in.

Until next time!