Leaving on a Jet Plane

First of all, I finally know what Jet Lag is. It means you're really really exhausted, but you can't go to sleep or you'll be messed up for the first week of your trip. The D.C. airport was full of people, and I went up to a United desk to ask the woman where my gate was. She was not very happy with me for some reason and seemed to think I was an idiot for not "checking in," whatever that means. How am I supposed to check in if I don't know where the gate is? So eventually I found the gate, reunited with all my friends, and was very happy to note that Shelley, my roommate from last year, was the owner of the Twilight book sitting on a suitcase, and that all the other girls were Edward fans. Parts of the flight were interesting, flying over Maine and Canada was really cool. After that there was nothing to see but clouds that changed shape every time you looked out the window. I couldn't sleep, though I tried, and even used my eye mask. Leatherheads is not that great of a movie, I wish they'd been showing Kung Fu Panda. So finally we saw Italy from above, it's pretty, but weird to see, looks like it could just be some farmland in the US in parts, but there are strange trees and differently shaped electrical towers in others.
Now I've never been out of the States before, but I thought that everyone had to go through customs. Well, none of us had to go through customs. We tried to ask an airport employee if we needed to get in the customs line, but all he would say was Prego (which in this instance meant "you're welcome to get out of the way of people who know what they're doing) and he didn't understand the word customs. So we just went on through, not having to do anyting but show our passport. My luggage arrived safely, and we were driven to the campus by a crazy bus driver who tried to run over the teeny tiny cars here. Oh, and Rome is COVERED in graffiti, the streets, the highways, the doors, everything. Anyway the cars are funny, I saw a Mercedes van, and there was a cute little Hyundai... oh, my Hyundai. I pine for you. There's also this car that's popular here with a lightning bolt insignia. I'll have to find out what that is. And then...we got to the campus. Pictures will come soon, and you'll see for yourself, that it is amazing!