Orientation in Rome!

It was not was I was expecting at all!
I was expecting a beautiful grand hotel, a pool, very nice rooms, and great wifi. Buuut my expectations were a little high. The hotel was nice, but it was no Hilton.
The rooms were very plain, some with two beds and a few with three. Mine had three. I roomed with two girls from America, Zoe Bennett and Alexis Amada. We had our own little porch and bathroom, which was one of the only ones in the hotel that was pink.:)
The first night was very boring, we mostly just sat around and did nothing, socialized with the other students from around the world, had dinner, and went to bed.
The next day was all orientations. The group I was with walked to the school a few minutes away and brought bagged lunches with us. It was very hot. The school was so cute! The floors were all marble, and the walls were very tall! The classrooms had very small chairs (compared to the US) and the boards were mostly all chalkboards.
In the orientations they told us what to expect of our Italian families and some social aspects based on the area we were staying. (I was with one of the southern Italy groups)
We then played a few games, which were games I had never heard of before, and they seemed a bit odd.
Then we talked about our worries and hopes for the year, which (for the majority) were hopes of making friends and not being too homesick, and worries of not being able to communicate with people because of the language barrier. Others were generally social correctness, and learning what is and isn't normal in Italy. It was very informative, but long.
We then had a 2 hour break for lunch and a bit of socializing.
The bread was really thick and a little old, so the sandwiches were a little hard to eat. I sat with Abby, from New Zealand, and a few other USA students. We then went to the courtyard for some socializing and then headed to groups based on where exactly we were staying. (Sicilia for me, which was split into two groups)
We talked, played some games, went over more things, practiced more Italian, and had a test on our Italian to give the AFS advisors an idea of how much Rosetta Stone helped. (we were required to finish at least one level)
After that, we returned back to the hotel, where we had socializing time, dinner, and more socializing time.
Afterwards there was a welcome ceremony in a very big "tent-like" room. They called each country and we all cheered for our country. They gave us some words of wisom, and then dismissed us for bed.
The next morning I woke up and packed everything, and brought my things to the room which had every destination in sections. I socialized some more, and then, by 12:00, it was time for me to get on the bus to leave.
We finally got to the airport, and had to go through all the checking and such, which took what seemed like forever with 40 students.
Abby, Zoe and I went to the McDonalds to get bottles of water. From there we headed to the airplane.
We checked in, and were transported from a bus to the plane, which was one you had to go up a staircase to get on. (which wasn't easy with a big carry on)
The plane was so, so, SOOO hot. They couldn't turn on the air conditioning yet, so it felt like it was 100 degrees. It was so warm I fell asleep. I woke up just as the plane was taking off. I read Mockingjay the entire (1 hour) flight there.
Then we landed, and I headed to get my bag at checking!