The Beginning

What a whirlwind of a week! Well, technically it’s been 4 days but it feels like so much longer. The past few days have been unbelievable and I’ve already done so much in such a short time. I’ve toured the city, crossed the Ponte Vecchio, made pasta and had my first legal glass of wine among so many other things.

Day 1

After my awful time traveling, everyone in my program was bussed from the airport to the Grand Hotel Baglioni for a meet & greet and some food! I was in a room with my future roommates Bre, Michelle and Kayla. We all got along really from the start and have been inseparable since that day. We had a couple of hours to relax before dinner, so of course I took a nap. Dinner was a buffet on the rooftop of the hotel with amazing views and I had my first Italian pasta. Just a simple rotini with marinara sauce tasted so much better in Italy. It was the first time I had pasta truly al dente and it wasn’t bad. I usually like my pasta overcooked and almost mushy, but it was still delicious and I’m sure I’ll have to get used to it because we all know I’m going to be eating a lot of pasta. That night we went back to the room and read until I fell asleep. **The fact that I read a book to fall asleep just speaks for itself that I am already maturing!

Day 2

Despite falling asleep before 10 pm the night before, the 8 am wake-up call was still horrible. None of us could get out of bed, but once we remembered it was our first day in Italy, we were all instantly energetic. For breakfast I had a hard boiled egg and some green tea because the buffet was packed and I was too impatient and starving to wait in line for anything else. After breakfast we had a two hour orientation about housing then we got to go back to our rooms before a city tour. We all agreed that we didn’t feel jet lagged but when we got back to the room all of us instantly fell asleep for three hours. Luckily we didn’t sleep through the tour and still had time to get some pizza beforehand. The tour of the city was, for lack of a better word, awesome. It didn’t cover the entire city, but the biggest parts including the Ponte Vecchio which literally means “old bridge”, il Duomo, the fake statue of Michelangelo’s David and what I called the “fifth ave” of Florence that had Gucci, Versace, Armani etc. I learned a lot about the city’s history too and our tour guide was so cute! She spoke English well but had never been to America! I told her she should come stay with me in Massachusetts but she didn’t necessarily jump on that idea. At the end of the tour the four of us got gelato (mine vanilla with chocolate fudge) and then went to our cooking class. Cooking was so fun! We made four courses starting with an eggplant and cheesy apertivo (appetizer), two pasta courses and tiramisu. Don’t worry Mom, I got the recipes! After that we went back to the hotel and me, Bre and Michelle went out to a bar where they were playing American music!

Day 3

MOVE IN DAY! On Wednesday we moved into our Italian apartment! It is perfect! Complete with a rooftop terrace 🙂 The only down side is there is one bathroom and the shower is just a shower head and a drain with no curtain right and in front of the window. But we have great water pressure and endless hot water! PERFECTO! The place was stalked with lots of books including some books that I want to read for fun! Also, two of the textbooks I need for classes were left here so that’s convenient (and cheap!). We moved in at 8 am and that was an early morning for us so we all took the longestttt nap from like 10:30-5:30. It was so weird. I’ve noticed with all the naps I’ve taken (and there’s been a lot already) I go into a really deep sleep where my contacts hurt when I wake up and I have to change them. That night we all took turns showering and then blow drying our hair was a process because with the converters some of them don’t get as hot or as high pressure. Then we went out to a club that was really fun and I randomly ran into a girl I met from FSU my freshman year! What a coincidence! It was international students day at the club so we got in free and some free drinks! Go America!

Day 4

Today was another busy-ish day. We woke up and had to meet the group for school orientation. I still don’t realize that I’m going to be taking classes in three days and having to actually use my brain…it’s been a while! The first part of orientation was in a beautiful theater and the second part was at the school library. We got our class schedules and learned about attendance policies and other standard school things. Orientation got out at around 5 and we all came back and napped again (what a surprise!) then we got dinner down the street and I had delicious gnocchi! The real kind! I like how the meals are pretty small portions and simple/plain so its like I’m eating at home. Now we’re all back in the apartment relaxing because tomorrow we’ve decided is going to be a productive day with no napping! We’re going to finally go to the market and get groceries so we don’t have to keep spending money going out. I’m going to practice Italian with my roommates because they all speak it pretty well and have a placement test tomorrow morning and want to review.

Arrivederci!

 

p.s. I’ll post pics as soon as I figure out how to post a lot on here!