Gyped by the Gypsies

When people told me to hold on to my bags in public areas and on the buses in Rome, I took it to heart but never pictured it happening to me. Thankfully it didn't happen to me, but it did happen to my roommate yesterday! We were having our final orientation for Accademia Italiana at 11am so my roommates and i jumped on a tram that takes us right up by our school. After a few stops the tram was jam packed with people on all sides. Looking around i noticed a man with a small baby, which really was just not that cute. The man kept sort of cooing at the baby and seemingly distracting everyone around him from the lack of personal space everyone was experiencing. It seemed odd to me that this man was on a tram in very casual clothing on a monday morning going into the city with a small baby so i began to hold my small wallet clutch a little closer. As we got off the tram my roommate, Kristen burst out in a furry of anger about the wife of this man trying to steal her wallet. The purse she was carrying was a small over the should purse that had a flap and a zipper. The woman managed to get Kristen's flap and zipper open and it wasnt until the woman had her hand in Kristen's purse did she begin to notice a tug on her bag. Kristen turned and saw the woman's hand in her purse, grabbed this woman's hands and shook them to make sure she didnt manage to take anything and then pushed her away. Luckily Kristen walked away with everything she got on the tram with and a little pride knowing she just killed this nasty family's mission of distraction and stealth. Unfortunately as we got to school my other roommate, Jessica, noticed her wallet was missing. By the end of the day after searching all over the apartment, we concluded this family's small boy must have gone in her purse (which was similar to Kristen's) without her noticing. So, the family did win in some respects. Luckily all she had in her wallet was a few euros cash, her credit card, and her bus pass. She was able to cancel her credit card and get a new bus pass by the end of the day before anything was charged by the gyspy family. It was beyond scary and nerve-wrecking to see this happen to people i know and were standing right next to on the tram. Its a hard way to learn a lesson but from now on i am only carrying necessities and in areas no one could get to without my noticing!!

After that whole extravaganza we had a small orientation at school. My classes sound interesting though. I am taking Beginning Italian, Master Pieces of the Vatican (where we will actually take class time to go to the museums of the Vatican and study the art), Italy Today (which studies the history of Rome and how it has changed politically and economical throughout time), International Business, and Photographing Rome.

I only have class monday through thursday and I have each class once a week for 3 HOURS!! AHH! With the exception of Italian which i have every day for 2 hours. This is going to be rough.

Later that day we were split up into groups and were given short walking tours of the city which was nice except that my group's tour guide was the Cinema professor at the school and I am still not quite sure how he is allowed to teach any classes in english. I could not understand a word he was saying and it was raining so it was not very much fun. But i did find out one interesting fact: the level at which Rome is built is not actually the level of the city. Because of this Rome has a real space issue for parking and such because instead of building underground parking ramps they are forced to build up. The level at which the city really is at is where all the old ancient Roman ruins are found.

I am beginning to really find the beauty in this place instead of just wanting to cry that I'm not at home. I think this will be a very challenging semester for me personally but something Im sure at one point will truly charish. For now, Im just waiting for the feeling of loving where I am and what I am doing.