It's a neighborhood thing

So, I'm fast learning the good and bad of Trastevere, my new neighborhood, kind of a Greenwich Village-y, artsy, touristy former working class district of Rome that still has tiny streets with laundry hanging and beautiful golden light. This piazza is Piazza Santa Maria Trastevere, one of my favorite churches in Rome, and it's about two blocks from my apartment. It's known for its beautiful mosaics, but actually I like it because the facade of the church is made of old Roman stones that have various writing on them--kind of like Roman graffiti. That's one of the great parts of the neighborhood. Also good is the liveliness (the downside is that it is VERY noisy, even at 3 AM on a Monday night--thank god for earplugs) and that there are a proliferation of American students here. All the food I've eaten so far has been great, down to the crema cornetto I had for breakfast (and I don't even like pastry with cream in it--it is the only one they had left. Had my first supermarket experience and for the life of me couldn't figure out which milk was skim. Ultimately, made it home, despite carrying four heavy bags and forgetting that hailing a cab is not very common. In any case, a great first day. My apartment feels more settled in already.