Well things did start off a little rough for me today. I foolishly decided to work the day before I leave, giving me little time to pack and sort through the things I would want to take with me. I still had more errands to run so I thought it would leave me with plenty of time to get to the airport. I first had to get my phone switched over to the global plan, which meant I had to travel all the way to the mall. My first trip was a failure since I thought the mall opened at 9 instead of 10; what a waste of a drive. Once I got home I finally started to pack. I managed to get one bag done before I had to head out again. This time I was getting my haircut so that I could look my best in Italy. You should all know too well how appearances here are very important. Afterwards I had to travel up to the mall again to get this phone problem fixed. It took the guy at least an hour before I had the ok that my plan had been changed. Between the unnecessary questions and goofing off with his coworkers was he finally able to send me on my way. It took way longer than expected which left me with less time to pack and head off. Finally reaching home around 2:30 was I able to continue the decision-making process. I started to say to myself that I was now in the clear and didn't have to rush, but I was wrong. I quickly got distracted by visitors and had to make quick last minute decisions as to what I really need and what could stay. Even right now as I sit in my room do I think that I might have forgotten something that I would rather have than something I brought with me, but oh well that's life.
I thought my problems would be over once I got to the airport and could board the flight, but I was wrong again. I didn't have any problems with visa stuff this time, but just my luck the stupid plane I was about to board had some technical difficulties. They announced over the speaker that they would begin boarding within 5 to 10 minutes. Of course they were lying because it was 2 hours later that they finally started to call passengers to board. During these two hours it was difficult to keep myself awake since I didn't have the chance to nap before heading to the airport. I wanted to stay awake just in case something changed about my flight. I figured that I would be able to sleep on the plan because it would board on time, but I was wrong about that one. Isn't it a coincidence that my layover happened to be 2 hours, so I bet you can guess what happened next. If you said that I missed my flight from Portugal to Rome then you win a gold star. After waiting in a line to get a transfer and then having to wait in an even larger line of people waiting to go through customs was I able to board my next flight. But it would figure that my troubles would not end there either. After boarding were we told that we could not leave for another hour due to so restrictions. Now I had to sit in a tiny plane next to a bunch of people with little breathing room. Luckily due to my lack of sleep was I able to fall asleep fairly quickly just to wake up to us landing in Rome.
After going through the hassle of trying to find my bags and my ride was I able to arrive at the monastery. I believe I have met all the monks who stay here and have some idea of what to expect in the future. I got a little acquainted with my surroundings, the monks, and my volunteer part who is also named Matt. Since it would be kind of confusing to call us both Matt, the monks decided to give me a different name, John. For those of you who do not know that happens to be my middle name, so it works out somewhat perfectly. I just now have to get used to people calling me John along with speaking only Italian. The monks up here all speak Italian but very little English. I thought I would be somewhat prepared due to the lessons I was taking, but had a hard time following along with them. Luckily Matt and Andy were here to translate for me. Looks like I have my work cut out for me in the next few weeks. Hopefully I will be able to actually have conversations without having someone else to translate for me.
Since this was my first day I am sorry to say that I do not have any pictures right now, but I will try my hardest to get some up quickly. Expect something in the next few days. Ciao for now
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