Monday, or Today I have mostly been getting lost near Flaminio

Not a great deal to report from my first day. Got lost on the way, obviously, but made it in time to take a test to see to what level my neglected Italian had dwindled. While waiting for my oral assessment, a preternaturally confident Brazilian bloke leant over to look at my paper.



PCBB: "British, eh? Cambridge? Does your father work for the University?"

Me: "Fuck off."



Not really, obviously, although the temptation was almost overwhelming. He turned out to be not that much of a tosser, actually, once that unpleasantness was dealt with (see how tolerant I am becoming as a result of Life Goal Number Three?). We were assigned eventually, and scuttled off dutifully. Class was fine, but for the fact that it is largely made up of talkative, aged Brazilian ladies. I am entertaining the idea of enlisting them as my personal entourage- given their impressive physical presence and obvious delight in making people feel uncomfortable, never again would I have to fear the casual lechery (or, I suspect, the traffic). No-one can get a word in edgeways, obviously, but for the moment this actually suits me fine.



Enlisted a kindly, willing soul afterwards upon whom to foist myself ("Be my friend! Oh won't you please be my friend!), who was good enough to tolerate my presence for an hour or two. I then engaged in what has become my new hobby-getting lost. It took me two and a half hours to find a pub which should have taken only thirty minutes (N.B-the Villa Borghese is nowhere near so fucking tranquil when you pass the Museo delle Belle Arte for the third time). And yes, I did say pub. What you may call failure to adjust, I call sensibly seeking somewhere comforting on my first day back. I used to come here when I was last in Rome because it was cheaper to buy a glass of wine and read their copy of the Guardian rather than purchase my own (and if that's not smart budgeting, I don't know what is). So, eventually, this haven is where I ended up, and I stayed for the evening. And to be honest I don't regret it- much as it is far from my intentions to join the ex-pat community, at that time it was exactly what I needed. Integration begins tomorrow (probably).