We'll the plane didn't crash and I don't think anyone had swine flu(sorry WHO, H1N1). The fast pace of the Fiuminacci(sp?) airport made me uncomfortable at first, then I reminded myself that I was on vacation and I had no where that I NEEDED to be. I normally don't get very nervous traveling but it may have had something to do with the strange mix of foreign languages, a lack of sleep, and police officers carrying AK-47s. The flight went pretty smooth besides some issues once we landed and I got to catch up on some new movies.
I arrived at the hostel around 10 am after taking an overpriced taxi to find out it was only 4 blocks away from the train. I met a couple from Tampa who arrived around the same time and we all agreed to head to Colosseum(after all we couldn't check in until 2). It was only about a 20 minute walk from our hostel and was amazing. It's tough to imagine the magnitude and beauty of it through a picture alone. From there we checked out the Palatino, Arco de Costantino, and Roman Forum. I think I enjoyed the mix of old and new the most. By 3 we were all pretty exhausted and took the metro back. On the way back, Jessica wasn't able to get off the metro in time and almost lost an arm. Apparently Italian train doors don't have sensors to let them know when someone is in the way. She had to ride to the next station and ride back to meet us. Sorta sucked for a few minutes, but we ended up laughing about it later.
When I got back to the hostel, I met some of my room mates Josh from Michigan and Lauren and John from Chicago. Me and Josh decided to go grab some dinner down the street and ended up exploring the city for a while. We decided to go check out Vatican City tomorrow and maybe Pompeii the day after. Our other room mates from Argentina just arrived, I think we're all gonna go to a pub crawl shortly. Internet here sucks, I'll post pictures later. I'll try to post in again in a day or two.