Registering With the Police

I apologize for not writing for such a long time, but as I finally get into the swing of things, I'm realizing that I'm finally out of the "honeymoon" phase. Things are finally starting to get on my nerves, I'm tired of showering sitting down, of our hot water heating not working half the time, of how I've been acting.

Yesterday we went to the police to finalize our registration of permit of stay. We left our apartment at 8 AM and met the rest of the USAC group at Porta Nuova in the midtown area. By 9, we were at the station. The first step was copying our passport and waiting in line. I didn't get to the next step until about 12 PM. Once we entered into the antechamber, we had to give them all of the paperwork and have our fingerprints scanned in a laser thing. They had to do my pointer fingers about 3 times each because it wouldn't register for some reason. Then, we were led into a sitting area that was elevated in the same room, but caged up. Once we entered the antechamber, there were no bathrooms and no places to get food, not even a vending machine. The only thing I'd eaten since the morning was a single chocolate brioche (croissant). By 4 I was finally called up. I'd probably had to go to the bathroom for about 4 hours by now. I was led into another room where my fingerprints were scanned again, this time including my palms. I was then measured for my height and they checked my eye color. After all this was done, there was nobody left to travel back with, so I was on my own getting home. I missed my entire Italian class in which we were reviewing for a test that I just took this morning. I got back just in time to have 15 minutes to go to the bathroom and pillage my kitchen for some type of food to take while walking to class. This is not an easy task when many things must be prepared and not much of the food can be thrown into a microwave (not that we have one anyways).

I made it through my next class, and went home to study for my test last night. By the time my head hit the pillow, I was out.

This weekend, I'm headed to Venice and Verona. I'm really excited to see the canals and possibly ride in a gondola. There's a carnival going on there right now, so the atmosphere will be intense.

Please pray for me as I go through this period of homesickness and struggles with the culture I am in. Numerous times this week, I've just wished to go home.