First days in Roma!

On the early morning of Sunday, 61 students eager to learn Italian and to discover interesting aspect of the Italian culture, landed at Fiumicino, the main airport of Rome. As soon as they reached the Eternal City, they met their Program Leaders and enjoyed lunch altogether. The first thing they ate was obviously… PASTA! Everyone filled their stomach with a traditional and really tasty pasta with pesto! 
After lunch, they headed to the orientation meeting held by CIEE staff. Students got an overview of the amazing experience they will have, a day-trip to Tivoli and Florence, a guided tour of Castel Sant’Angelo to a tasty gelato walk around the city center.
Lastly, PLs took the students to have another amazing dinner! Before going to the hotel to have a restoring night of sleep, the students were gathered together in the wonderful twilight of Rome to be divided into groups and assigned to their PL. Program Leader have groups of approximately ten students. Every student from each group participates in Italian lessons and enjoy the same activities, to make sure everyone gets into the Italian lifestyle. This is the most important part of language-learning!
During their second day in Rome, students had the chance to meet their Italian Language teachers: Ilaria, Floriana, and Marco. They had the academic orientation meeting where they were told what their Italian classes would be like. They also had the chance to walk around the neighborhood in which our hotel is located, Prati. It is a quiet neighborhood, filled with old buildings and ancient roads. It is really close to the Vatican, and therefore the PLs were happy to show the students that area of the city. We went to the Basilica di San Pietro and to Castel Sant’Angelo, an ancient building which dates back to the Roman Empire. The day after, they even got the chance to enter the castle, enjoying all the perfectly stored frescos and the view from the rooftop from which you can see the wonders of the city and the seven hills of Roma!