Our first week and change as wannabe Romans (Fauxmans?) was an interesting experience. We’re staying in one place for the first two months, followed by a second place in a different part of town for the remainder of our stay (it’s a long story not interesting enough to be worth explaining). Our first place is in the Celio neighborhood, very close to the Colosseo (we can literally see it if we lean out the window). It’s the area of Rome we’re most familiar with, as it’s home to Capo d’Africa, the hotel we’ve returned to several times since we originally honeymooned there over 10 years ago. That familiarity has been a considerable boon, as much of the week was spent just getting ourselves established, trying to figure out our routine, and battling jet lag. One of the biggest challenges has been simply trying to figure out how to acquire some of the basic items we need but didn’t seem worth packing; as you might imagine, there’s no Target within a stone’s throw of Rome’s historic center. Example: It took us five days to figure out where to get a spray bottle. Likewise, we needed to ask the concierge at Capo d’Africa (who remembers us) for a favor to help us inquire about where to get a dog crate for Pancake to sleep in; it’s one of those things where our word for it doesn’t necessarily translate (the concierge referred to it as a “dog box”).

There’ve been other adjustments to make, too. The language barrier has been about what I’d expected thus far; challenging on occasion, but rarely a full-on road block to getting things done. Most Romans are pretty well-versed in English. I still have a long way to go with picking up Italian though. Our second apartment will be further away from tourist hubs, and while I imagine English is still spoken by a lot of the locals there, I hope to not be as dependent on it (and Google Translate) by the time we re-relocate.

Other adjustments have been little things I didn’t fully anticipate, like needing to weigh produce before getting to the grocery store checkout, or when I ran the washing machine with washing machine cleaner instead of detergent. Whoops. More on adjustments and surprises in the future, but for now, some more photos.