Buon Giorno a tutti!
I'm sorry I haven't been updating since I arrived, but as you can imagine, it's been incredibly busy and hectic. My semester began on my plane ride over when I met a girl named Katie, who was on my flight all the way from Chicago, and accompanied me through my layover in Zurich, and the small little plane that took up to the Florence airport. Surprisingly enough, a group of 3 boys from the Chicago area were on our flight as well and they ended up being my neighbors here!
Anyways, after the flight, which I was able to sleep through most of, I packed all my luggage (which is WAY too much) and got on the program shuttle. We were dropped off in a piazza on the Arno river and proceeded to check in at the SAI offices, get our apartment keys, and student cell phones.
After a lot of intense luggage maneuvering I was dropped off in front of my building on Corso dei Tintori. My front door, which is about 12 feet, heavy, and wooden, took me fifteen minutes to open, and when I finally did my roommates Emily and Christy were there to help me up the stairs. I live on the 2nd floor of the building, which is seriously amazing. It's from the 17th century and has a gorgeous little courtyard in the center where everyone's window looks out onto do. When I walked into my apartment my jaw dropped. The ceiling are 12 feet high, and each room has an ornately hand painted ceiling. The apartment seemed to go on for miles as I dragged my bags through hall after hall. We have three bathrooms, three bedrooms, a lovely little kitchen and dining room, another sitting room, and every room is tiled and unique in its own way. I was so surprised with out enormous the apartment was. I was thinking I'd get a small little european apartment, and instead I got an incredible 6 person suite!
After I settled in me and my roommate Danielle, Emily, Erika, Brooke, and Christy went out into the streets to explore a little. I can't even describe how amazing I felt walking out that front door into the Italian street that is quickly becoming my home. Corso dei Tintori is right off the Arno and around the corner from the Santa Croce cathedral. The cathedral is the burial place of Michelangelo and a seriously gorgeous building. I still can't believe I live right around the corner from it! The piazza that accompanies the church is always filled with people and shops.
After walking around, we met up with a few other girls from our program that go to school with Emily in Nashville and all went to dinner. My first authentic italian meal was a little hole in the wall pizza place which amazing servers who didn't laugh when we attempted to order in Italian. We got the house wine wine and lots of yummy pizza with great toppings. The restaurant ended up being a short walk from our apartment on Corso dei Tintori so when we walked back after dinner it was still relatively early. The rest of my first night was spent unpacking and getting to know the roommates- who are all amazing.
Each of us are SO different, but I think we'll live well together. We were all nervous about sleeping our first night in a strange place, but with all the traveling and jet lag we passed out. I couldn't have asked for a better first night in Firenze.
Ciao for now...
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