Sarah and Jaimie arrive! 4/7

The day after Sam left, Sarah arrived from South Africa!  I have been quite the entertainer lately but I love visitors because then I can show off my city to them.  Since I had class at the time Sarah was getting in, I gave her directions on how to get to my house.  As usual, things didn't quite go as planned with the transportation but she is a smart girl and she figured out how to get to me.  I was so excited to see my big sister!  She had lots of stories from South Africa so my roommates and I made some dinner and listened to a lot of them.  Jaimie didn't get in until Thursday so Sarah slept in the next morning to catch up on sleep and then I showed her around Trastevere, which is where my school is at.  We grabbed a book at found a great cafe to have a cappuccino and snacks at.  That night I took her to Campo dei Fiori, which is a big square that is lined with bars and restaurants.  She was a little bit in culture shock there because in South Africa there are many more rules about when you can go out and who you must go out with, for safety reasons.  For the first time in Italy, I got food poisoning that night.  Sarah was used to that kind of thing in South Africa and I was really upset because it is not like that here and she got a bad first impression of Italian food.  

The next morning we went to pick up Jaimie (our little sis) from the airport.  We got there smoothly and waited around for her for a while.  Sarah had described to her the airport and told here where to meet us, only there was one problem, Sarah didn't actually exit the airport before getting on the train and she told Jaimie to meet us at a place we weren't allowed to go.  Good thing Jaimie doesn't listen very well because she walked right out.  My mom was really worried about Jaimie coming to visit.  The night Jaimie took off my mom sent me a message saying " You call me the SECOND you see her face.  This is a big step for her....and me too."  So naturally I had to make fun of my mother so I called when we got Jaimie, which was 4am Michigan time, and asked her if Jaimie was getting in today because we had been waiting for a couple hours and we hadn't seen her.  (If you know my mother you will be laughing right about now.)  She started getting really worried saying that Jaimie should have been in by now, and trying to remember the flight number.  I couldn't let her get too upset so I told her that I was just joking and that we had Jaimie safe and sound.  She said some very kind words to me and then I told her we would call when it was later in Michigan.  

I had class right after we got Jaimerz and she was exhausted so Sarah and Jaimie took a nap while I went to class and then met me at my school afterwards.  Friday, the next day, we were leaving for a little weekend adventure so I wanted to get some site seeing in before we left.  I took them right away to see the Pantheon.  They were both amazed at how huge it was and I actually got to go inside for the first time.  Tourist season had started and Sunday was Easter so Rome was getting a little packed.  I soon found myself frustrated with tourists and then brought myself back to reality because I was basically a long-stay tourist myself.  We walked to Piazza Navona from there and saw all of the merchants with their paintings, toys and such.  We had all afternoon so we did a lot of walking on side streets to avoid the people, and see some new things.  We made our way to the Trevi Fountain and then the Spanish Steps.  We sat on the steps for a while and relaxed.  Afterwards I wanted to take them to a typical Italian dinner so we went back to Piazza Navona for a great meal.  Surprisingly neither of them wanted gelato and it was still Lent(so I was out of luck), so we headed back to my apartment to get some sleep because the next morning we were picking up our car and heading to Pisa!

Ps..

Mom- Don't get too mad at this...we thought all your instructions for Jaimie, and all the food you sent her with was great.  Thanks a ton for the Easter baskets!  I love my new shirt.

Dad- I'm sure you were laughing just as hard as we were when mom was doing all of this.

Uncle Ed- I hope you finally figured out how to work this.  My mom told me you were having difficulties.  Love you all and I hope you are doing well.

Kathy- Thanks again for everything you have done for me while I'm away.  Hopefully reading this gives you a little break from the chaos.