Let me step back for a second. I spent the first week in Rome in fretta -- in a hurry. Always in a hurry. My first week was filled with anxiety. I fretted that I could not possibly do everything I wanted to do in just two weeks.

That changed after I went to a lake near Castel Gandolfo with my seminarian friend, Gregers. We stayed at a lovely villa called Palazolla -- a religious retreat. There, an hour out of Rome, I had no choice but to take a contemplative moment, or two. I realized, of course, you cannot possibly see everything in Rome. I returned to the city much refreshed and ready to embrace not tutto but certainly "the moments."

I had dinner with friends in their homes, I went to obscure little museums, like the Palazzo Spada, where I spotted paintings by Artemesia Gentileschi that I'd never seen. I helped one of my friend's kids with his subtraction homework.

Rome will be there forever. And, of course, I will return.

Not everything is about fountains, churches, pizza bianca and gelato. Well, maybe gelato. But, that's another dispatch.

One night I took Gina, my former landlady -- la padrona di casa -- to a lovely Calabrese restaurant in the historic center. Dinner started at around 9 o'clock, as is typical in Rome. By the time I got back to my appartamento, it was about midnight.

Sated from the incredible meal and tired, I was ready to hit the sack. But, when I turned the key, the door would not open.

Allora! I tried and tried, but it didn't work. I called the apartment owner and this was when the "fun" began. You see, I had yet learned the Italian phrase for "the key will turn but the damn safety lock is stuck in the floor." Mi dispiace, I began. I'm sorry. But, "la porta non è funzione." I THINK I was saying, "the door does not work." After about 10 minutes of this clumsy conversation, he announced he was coming over to help.

He ultimately figured out the door was not funzione-ing. Apparently, there is no such thing as a locksmith who is open for 24 hours a day in Rome. Or, at least, he couldn't find one. So, I ended up staying the night with him, his girlfriend and her two daughters. I spent an exhausted night in the tiniest bed in the world, residing in the smallest little room.

Be careful of what you wish for, girl. You're the one who wanted to live like a Roman!!