Roman Holiday: First Day in Europe

Hello to everybody back in the US!
As I promised to many people, this is the beginning of my blog that I will hopefully have the time, energy, and motivation to update. And i want to apologize for any grammar and spelling mistakes cuz i'm way too lazy to reread and edit.

Plane ride (LAX-> Fiumicino Airport, Rome) :

Warning for all future travelers: go super early to the airport if you have a visa because the airport might not have it on file. Such as the case w/ me since when I got to the kiosk and tried to check in, the kiosk told me that I had to talk to a representative in order for them to clear everything up. "Length of stay is not authorized" or something like that. Needless to say, I was ignored for a long while until a person finally helped me (i was on the verge of tears cuz i thought my flight was going to leave in 30 minutes) and then I had to literally run to security check in and to my gate. I was among the last few people to board the plane.
There was a layover at Washington Dulles Airport. There, I found many of my peers who were on the same flight. I basically saw a girl that was the roommate of one of coworkers at Almare (gelato place in Berkeley). And she was sitting with a bunch of ppl.
In Rome, luckily, two of my roommates were on the same flight so we all took a taxi to our apartment in Trastevere (a region within Rome). Taxi fare= 45 euros. So only 15 for me which is great since i originally expected to pay at least 50.

Apartment:

It has a BEAUTIFUL courtyard- soo European. There's a big tree in the middle and the apartments form a sort of triangular shape around it. There's a triple room, a double room, and a single room. A living room with a small TV, wireless, kitchen, two bathrooms (YAY), and a washing machine (extra YAY). cept the washing machine is super super small and takes like an hour but hey, it's freeee!
I have 5 roommates: two of them are white (Caroline and Karen), one is half chinese and half vietnamese (Gloria), one is Mexican (Brenda), and one is half chinese and half white (Allie). We're all really different but I think we've been getting along rather well. Everyone is pretty considerate and generous. But with so many ppl, it's hard to make quick decisions like where to go to eat, when we can leave the house, and where to go for our breaks and weekends. but SOMETIMES, the more the merrier ;)

Dinner:

We went in search of a famous pizzeria near our place but in August, half of Rome is on vacation because it is SOOOOO hot here. For those who've been to Taiwan, you know what I'm talking about- humid, hot, and inescapable without AC.
We had dinner at a pizzeria and all of us had a glass of red wine. As a not so big lover of wine, it was actually really good because it was dry which is what i like. then we had some Blue Ice gelato which wasn't really good in my opinion. I guess i'm too used to creamy soft gelato back at home because this one was pretty hard and more ice creamish.