Buon Anno e Auguri!

Happy New Year from Rome! Today was a bit of a sad day and a happy day. Early this morning I dropped off my family at the airport, but at the same time I was at the airport I picked up Dominic whose flight happened to get in the same time my parents left. Amanda has been here already for about two days. Amanda and Dominic are two of my friends from my UF days and for their graduations from grad school they decided to take on Europe together. They decided to be in Rome for New Year's. So even though Dominic was jet laggin, we still managed to have a Roman New Year. There really isn't a New Year's Eve thing on TV with a countdown, but the major importance of this holiday is to not be alone at midnight. So people gather together with friends or family to celebrate with a glass of champagne and wine. If we didn't know the time when midnight hit from the lack of a clock you would definitely know from the fireworks being lit off around the neighborhoods around. My apartment felt like it was under attack. Bunch of people set off Roman candles (fitting eh?) off of their terraces. My roommate Eugenio had some sparklers, and Amanda paid tribute to our city. (that effort was fantastic considering she spelled the mirror image of "rome" with no clue where she was in the air). We also gathered together (even Eugenio and his friend) to pay tribute to the year of the Gator!