Progress?

I'm directionally challenged. Really, it took me about 2 years to finally be able to remember how to get to Ted's house and the end of this summer, I was finally able to get myself to Main St. Bethlehem without an issue for the first time. Driving stresses me out mainly because I never know where I'm going.

Here in Rome, I never have to drive which is pretty nice- I can just rely on the A & B line metros to get me to my usual destinations. However, 3 of my 4 classes are on-site classes. This means that they generally meet somewhere in the city other than the Temple University building. Sometimes they are in really easy places like the Coleseum- get right off the metro stop and you're staring at it- but sometimes its a little more difficult- especially for the directionally challenged.

Last night, in preparation for class this morning, I glanced at the syllabus for the location of my sketchbook class. This is a direct quote of what it said for today:

"February 11
Meet at bar on the Tiberine Island (Take bus 23 from Piazza Risorgimento or Bus 280 on the Lungotevere towards Trastevere)."

end of instructions.

At first glance, this looks like decent directions- but let me disect it:

• take bus 23 from Piazza Risorgimento (I've never been to this bus stop. I had no idea where it was. ok not a huge deal, I consulted a map to find out. Looked like if I took the metro to Ottaviano- one stop up, it would be right down the street from there... Hopefully)
• Or bus 280 on the Lungotevere (this might be across the street from the campus building, a 20 minute trip in itself. However, I'm not positive)
• Towards Trastevere (well that would have been helpful if it said the name of a stop to get off at...)
• and assuming we find our way "towards Trastevere," where to we meet? Meet at bar. Now let me interject by saying that bars here are not the same as the US. A bar is a coffee shop- thats where you go for breakfast to get your caffe and cornetto (pastry) and there are at least 2 or 3 on every block in the main parts of town. So lets think about this as a landmark for where to meet- "at bar on the Teberine Island." So glad I have such a descriptive land mark to find!!

So there we were, about 8 of my class mates and I with nothing but these slightly ambigous directions, a map, and our past experiences. Luckily that was enough to get us there- we did end up in the right place by some miracle. One of the guys in the class had another class in that area the day before so we were able to pick up the 280 bus at the Lepanto metro stop which worked out really well and from there we basically had to guess which stop as we got closer to the island.
I guess the point to this story- aside from the slightly humorous lack of specificity- is that the thing I fear so much has become a daily part of my life. A lot of times its frustrating and stressful but the more I'm faced with my fear, the easier it is to handle the next time. Maybe one day I'll even be able to navigate Rome :-) (ok that might be a lofty goal)