The Beginning

Ciao! These last two days have been insanely busy...I feel like i've already been here for weeks! But to sum it up, it's been amazing.

The flight over wasn't too bad. It only felt long when I was waiting for the second flight out of Zurich- since my first plane got in early, I ended up having to wait about 5 1/2 hours...and in US time it was about 330 am. I was soo tired and ended up sleeping on a bench for an hour with my stuff under my head.

When I first arrived in Florence, I suddenly realized the other students all around the baggage claim..it was a little awkward at first, but slowly we started to introduce ourselves and get to know eachother. Then about 50 of us went outside with the person from Palazzo Rucellai, the school here, and this is when everything really began. She put us into pre-paid taxis with our future roommates and led us off to our apartments. Then she called my name and 9 OTHERS. Yes, there are 10 girls living here altogether. Anyway, the apartment is truly amazing. It's nothing fancy, but it's just big and in a perfect location. We are a 5 minute walk to school, the train station, the Duomo, the Piazza Republica, and the grocery market. It's on the bottom floor but we have two stories (we have noisy Italian neighbors above us) and my bedroom on the second floor. I share a room with Elissa, another Penn State girl, and she's really fun. We all get along already, which is good. We also all agreed that we want to travel as much as possible, and get really involved in Florence, so that means I'll always have a friend to travel with. Once we get our school schedules we're all gonna sit and figure out the long weekends. A few places we all agree on is Cinque Terre in Italy, Greece, and Paris...and about 10 other places! The apartment is furnished with a big dining room table, couches, desks, closets, and even a flat-screen TV! The best part of all, each bedroom has their own bathroom...which is extremely convenient since we all like to take our time getting ready.

On the first night when we arrived, 7 of us roommates went out to explore the city and get dinner. We ended up eating in a typical resturaunt, and it was really good...we all shared plates of pasta, tomatoes and crusty bread, and two bottles of wine. The chef even came out and gave us free desert, a little frozen custard, since we'd told them it was our first night. After dinner we walked down the River Arno and across the Ponte Vecchio, which is the famous bridge with all the shops. It's helpful that I've been here before, and since last time we had to read about all the art and the buildings, I've been somewhat of a tour guide for all the roommates. Not that I know too much, but I told them we have to climb the Duomo and hike to the Michaelangelo piazza where you can see the whole city. It's nice to think that we have so much time to really get to know Florence. It's so beautiful here- everyone just walks in the middle of the streets, the buildings are ancient and all different, and then in the back there is waves of mountains surrounding the city. I really love people watching, but they told us to wear sunglasses so the men don't get the wrong idea...if you make eye contact with a guy and you even crack a smile, he'll think you're being flirty! But I really love watching the old Italian men play cards and drink coffee, and all the kids running around in the street yelling things to eachother...

Anyway, on Thursday morning we all had to meet at the Santa Maria Novella train station...Palazzo Rucellai put us on busses and led to to orientation. I figured it would be similiar to any old school orientation, but it was really pleasant- they took us to Fiesole, a small town 10 minutes outside Florence, and we sat outside at a restuaraunt that overlooked Florence from above- amazing views. (pictures will up soon!) We met all the teachers, got basic instructions about the programs and the school, and had yet another fabulous lunch provided by the resturaunt...pasta salad with olives, basil and shaved parmesan, more tomatoes, an apricot tart and tons of different cheeses. By the way, I am officially obsessed with tomatoes. They are SO good here...we have been eating them like they're apples.

After we walked around Fiesole for a while, we came back to Florence and did some errands...I bought a cheap phone (which I still need to figure out how to work) got the Internet working, and went grocery shopping. We found a good grocery near us, and I can already tell I'm gonna love it. They have tons of fresh cheese and meats, olives, pasta, cheap veggies, and fruits. For dinner that night we literally just ate more tomatoes with olive oil and a baguette- we were still so full from lunch! (I just realized that this blog will probably mostly revolve around food...just to warn)

Then on Thursday night, the same 7 roommates and me went out to meet other kids from the program...we ended up all going to TWICE, the same bar that Mary, Mike, Kev and I went to last year! It was really fun, and I met a lot of the guys on the program who seem really nice. They played dance music and everyone had a good time.

And this leads us to today...on a bad note, I woke up with a stinking cold. It's the typical symptoms: soar throat, runny nose, constant sneezes. It's frustrating because I want to go out today and see things, but I just feel so burned out and sick that really I just want to lay down. Hopefully I'll get this thing out of my system soon....

That's about all right now! We are just leaving to try to buy "minutes" for our cell phones, and then we'll probably grab some things for dinner and have a quiet night in. I think after these two crazy days everyone wants somes peace and quiet for a little. Tomorrow we have a little more orientation, and then Sunday we have a free day. I'll blog again soon. I miss you all, family and friends, and I promise once I get settled in I'll be more available to talk online/onmyphone/etc.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo!!!!