American Family Part 1 - Waiting
This is going to be a VERY long story, but here's the very first part, basically an introduction. After I've finished the jounral-style story I'm going to write a few smaller pieces in a more stylistic fashion:

Ok, so, my american family came to visit and I’ve yet to write anything about it.

The first day after school finished, Dec. 22nd, I went into town around 11PM. I didn’t know what time they were coming, though I knew they were supposed to get to Rome in the morning, and so I got into town at earliest that they would be able to make it.
Margaret joined me for lunch, and we went to Gigi & Mena’s deli to get Panini, and something to drink. While we ate our lunch in the park at the center of town, I kept my hand in my pocket and on my phone. Eventually, Mom called me, and told me that they would be coming in late because they had to go through Milan. I got more calls with updates, and finally around two they called to say they were at Rome and they were coming. Ok, so I figured in two hours they’d be in town. Margaret and I joined some other SYA’ers and went into a cafè to warm up. Around four, I went to the Porta Romana to wait for my family. I had agreed to meet them there, but fully expected them to call me from a pain phone and I would have to come to find them. I could only hope that they would at least make it to the walls of the city, since outside of the walls i’m utterly hopeless. After about an hour and a half, Margaret and I were both sitting on a railing on the side of the road at Porta Romana, freezing our asses off and shivering. I told Margaret to go home and warm up (since she’s a little less habituated to the weather) but she insisted on staying. I suggested that after a few more minutes if they still hadn’t arrived, we could go to check into the hotel which was just down the street. We ended up doing that and almost immediately after we stepped into the hotel room my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. I nearly threw it across the room trying to get it out. I picked it up and asked Mom frantically where they were. She started telling me the names of the shops that she could see from the caffè they were in. I explained that I didn’t know all of the clothing stores, and asked for something else, like street names. I now remember that Italian streets aren’t labeled, and that I only know the names because people have told me. Anyways, after Mom couldn’t find the street they were on, I suggested that she hand the phone to an Italian nearby and I would ask him where they were. The man she handed the phone to was very very confused. It wasn’t a matter of my italian - it was just what I was saying. Translated into english, the conversation went something like this:
Him: “Hello”
Me: “Hi. Where are my parents?”
Him: “I don’t understand.”
Me: “My parents, my family, my mom is the woman with whom you just spoke.”
Him: “What are you saying?”
And then I heard mom in the background: “ce è questa” (which was her attempt to say “che è questo” but the bartender understood her anyways, and said “Caffè Cavour” - where I get my coffee every morning, right across the street from the school. I asked the man to put my mom back on and I explained to her very quickly that the bartenders name was “Augusto” and that I knew exactly where she was and I would be right there. I hung up and then Margaret looked at me and said “You’re going to run aren’t you”. I nodded and as I started to run out of the hotel faster than I’ve run in a long time, Margaret just shouted, “I’ll catch up later”. Luckily for me it was all downhill from the hotel to the caffè, and the pedestrian lights were all green for me. I got to the caffè and came in. and just hugged everyone, and picked shannon up and twirled her around. I said hi to Augusto, and thanked the patron with whom I’d spoken on the phone, and explained what had happened. I ordered everyone some coffees, and we waited for Margaret. I walked everyone back to the hotel, and Margaret headed for home. It was really great of her to wait all day with me.