After getting a ride down to the airport Monday afternoon thanks to Mike "Las Vegas," we hung out with his father and mother for a bit exchanging witty banter of Vegas' seemingly lack of preparation as he carried around his pretentious Mac Book Pro box. Clearing security was a breeze however the need to remove laptops from my bag, and Mike's box was slightly annoying. Boarding began slightly later after an exchange of sign language through some glass and a level above some friends (Ray, Beth, Dom, and a 13 year old sister who thought i wanted her to call me) arriving for their flight leaving after ours. Boarding began slightly after scheduled after i managed to get my seat moved next to Mike. After sitting for three quarters of an hour the pilot got on the PA saying first in Deutsch and then in English that there was a "Kleines problem" ( i picked that up) "a SMALL problem" which they were addressing with a necessary component of the plane. He said they might be able to fix it but if not we would have to unboard. So, another three quarters of an hour later the pilot came on saying they could fix it and we would be underway in a half hour. Leaving 2 hours late wasn't so bad, the service was great by the Lufthansa staff, they gave us drinks and we had snacks we brought along which we barely touched since dinner was served almost immediately after the fasten seat belt sign went off. They ran out of entries for mike and I so they gave us business class instead. They looked better and were bigger so we didn't care. Seeing cities such as Philadelphia, new york, and Boston at night from above with a cloudless sky was unbelievable. After crossing the Atlantic at 37000feet and at 600mph (ground speed) the staff served us breakfast and prepared us for descent. Due to our late departure our arrival in Frankfurt shortened our layover and we immediately headed to our terminal clearing customs and another security checkpoint without a hitch.
And alas i must get ready for an orientation meeting and dinner so ill finish this later.
More and Photos to come....
The terminal in Frankfurt provided some great views of planes landing and taking off as seen in this photo...
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The flight to Roma from Frankfurt was just over an hour and a half and the plane was around 70percent full. I shared a conversation with the German fellow sitting next to me who was traveling to Roma on business. He explained some of the sights and cities to explore while in europe. As soon as we gathered our checked baggage and exited the secure part of the terminal we were aproached by temple rome staff who sent us on our way to our residence. Las Vegas and i parted ways as he was waiting for his roommates before he traveled to his residence.
The driver of our van careened through traffic with speed and skill. I have to admit my first impressions of Roma were horrible, to the point of doubting my decision to come. The cars were dirty, the buildings rundown, graffitti everywhere; i compared what i saw to images of the barrio in SA. These fears and disgusts were soon repressed for once arriving at the residence i immediatly changed my point of view.
My friend Jeremy had already made it to the residence as well as our roommate Ray (also a temple student, a film and entrepreneurship major)a. After exchanging greetings i unpacked and settled into the apartment attempting to set up my internet. That evening we went to the school to
Ill continue again late...
-Keith
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