Buon Compleanno a mi!

As most of you know, yesterday was MY BIRTHDAY! I'm now officially 24, and, yes, before you say anything, I realize that to most of you that makes me a child. However, I like to gaze upon this less than momentous occasion (sort of feels like the birthdays stop being momentous occasion once you pass 21, but correct me if I'm wrong on that) as not simply another year gone by, but as my passing from semi-adulthood further into the adulthood which will envelop my being from here on out (that is, until some kind of mid life crisis when I feel compelled to purchase an Aston Martin Vanquish, but I digress).

To mark this celebratory occasion, we......got up and went to class. However, Erin made a lovely breakfast for Maia and I (consisting of fresh peaches, greek yogurt, bread, and fresh pressed coffee) first. Orientation was, much as many orientations are, a litany of rules, followed by the obligatory (though, in my opinion far less than necessary) scare tactics. Then it was on to Italian class. So, based on my limited instruction in the subject, "Buon giorno a tutti!" (that should read "good day to everyone" my spelling may or may not be both dubious and atrocious - we did mostly speaking, and I have zero concept of grammar so far). Following our first lesson, we all were taken to a deli in the Campo dei Fiori and told that we would all be ordering in Italian. We proceeded to do this, mostly with great success (though that might have had more to do with the butchers speaking fluent english than with the success of our butchered italian). Following lunch, it was siesta time, because anytime it is 100 degrees (or close) and 100% humidity a siesta is more than necessary. This resulted in our little law school group venturing back to our apartment in Trastavere to have some water and iced down Prosecco to celebrate my birthday. Post-prosecco, we went back to the Rome Center to help set up for dinner (it was a group thing, and totally included, so I'm good with free). Set up took far less time than expected, so Maia, Erin, and I basked in the glory of the single A/C unit in the room. It got downright cold. Dinner was lovely, replete with nametags (upon which most of the law students created Roman/Greek themed fake names), and followed by more unnecessary scare tactics, as well as the promise that we will be getting phones today (huzzah! See, mom, it'll be fine.).
After getting our assignments for our group project final thing (mine is Criminal Justice - hello, Amanda Knox), we all went out for a celebratory/much needed drink. Honestly, the talk post-dinner was rather depressing. So, we went out in law school fashion, bringing a poor, unsuspecting undergrad along for the ride. I think it is safe to say he walked away from our drinks at a cafe feeling rather jaded. That means we did our job. We headed home rather early (by Roman standards), had some girl talk (as us of the female gender do when living together), and then attempted to sleep. I was not entirely successful, but according to someone (whom I hope was not lying to me) it is supposed to get less awful. If you're not aware, awful is walking superheated cobblestone streets at all hours of the day (seriously, they don't cool off at night), when it's over 90 degrees (farenheit), and over 90% humidity. Awful. As in Italian class ended early because it was too freaking hot. Thank god for the makeshift cold compress I created. Otherwise there would have been zero sleeping. I took some apartment photos, which I will upload later. Right now is shove-food-down-throat-and-run-out-door-with-heavy-backpack-of-course-readers time.

Ciao, mi famiglia e mi amici! (again, probably both grammatically and spelling inaccurate)