Settling In

I have arrived! And it feels amazing! The plane rides for the most part were uneventful… fortunately (shame my lack of adventure). My roommate and a bunch of other students had to take a plane to Bolgna, then a bus to Florence, because Florence was super foggy when they were supposed to arrive. However by the time my plane arrived, it was beautiful and sunny! It is currently 38 degrees Fahrenheit with a battle between clouds and the sun outside. This weather is something I can definitely get used to!

I am also keeping a travel journal, so will be writing excerpts from throughout this blog to give you all a realistic idea of how I feel at those specific times.

“1/25/2011/Tuesday/6pm
I am currently waiting in the KCI airport for my plane(s) to take me to Italy. It still feels slightly surreal, like I’m not actually leaving, it’s only a dream. In fact, it’s been a dream, as my mom just reminded me, that I’ve had since I first decided to study art. Speaking of dreams, my head last night was filled with a variety of anxiety dreams, not about Italy or flying, but I think my emotions were made pretty transparent by them…”

Well, It no longer feels surreal and I am sleeping like a baby. I haven’t recovered from jet lag yet because we had orientation early this morning. Half my apartment is napping now, but I am saving my sleep for tonight. I am already discovering my own way around the city. However, I’ve decided I don’t like flying over the ocean. Most of the time while we were over the water I had a splitting headache, so bad I could hardly eat any dinner. I finally got to sleep, and when I woke it was much more manageable, so I watched The Social Network… entertaining, but not worthy of the Golden Globe best drama.

Now, I sit on the coach while the others nap to recover from jetlag. I have yet to recover, but am saving myself to crash tonight. We had an early morning orientation, so we are all still messed up. Speaking of “we,” I really like my apartment mates and roommate. It’s amazing how well we get along. True, time will be the real test, but at the moment I am very content. Their names are Kate, Catherine, Katie, Veronica, and Meghan (my roomie). Our apartment is quite roomy, with bare walls but warm. Somehow Meghan and I lucked out with having the biggest bedroom, which we found out later had our second bathroom attached to it. (Pictures on facebook -http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042413&id=1192710987)

I just experienced my first couple bites of gelato, so kindly provided by my apartment mates, and have purchased cereal and milk for my mornings. I am definitely going to have to be more creative with getting protein here. Tomorrow our house is going shopping for real groceries, crossing over the bridge to explore, and find the supposed best gelato shop in Florence. We haven’t really been up to just exploring, so this weekend is going to be free and fun-filled

I now have an Italian phone! If there are any emergencies you can call me (with no charge to me-I am not sure how it charges you, once I experiment I will let you know). I know I get free texts, but it costs me to send or call. Either way my number is 011-39-377-1686218. It’s comforting to have a phone again. Amazing how dependent we are.

Scariest part of my trip thus far was definitely walking from the housing check-in place to my apartment with all my luggage and only map-quest directions. Needless to say, I got lost several times and earned some juicy hand blisters before finding my place, where I had to climb four flights of stairs with my luggage. That was the point when I was glad I had packed relatively light. Some people had 3 suitcases!!! Me: 1 suitcase, 1 backpack, 1 purse…. But then again, I did forget to pack all my shorts… oops!

P.S. Sorry this is so scatterbrained. I am still jet-lagged and have had a myriad of emotions. Next time will be clearer/more organized, I promise!

-Posted 5 hours later then written on my neighbors’ Internet. Hopefully next time I post we will have Internet too!

Song of the post: "Plane" - Jason Mraz, and "Leaving on a Jetplane" - John Denver