A new home

Wow. I have no idea where to begin. The last I don't even know how many hours (because of the time change) has been a crazy whirlwind. I apologize in advance, but this will be a very long post. Obviously since I am writing, I arrived safely in Florence (Firenze) without any problems. I was picked up by the Super Shuttle Tuesday morning and was at the airport within a half hour. I was expecting there to be a few other passengers to be picked up so I wanted to allot myself enough time. Well there was only one other passenger, which meant I ended up at the airport 4 hours before my flight was to leave. I had checked in (luggage was 48.0 lbs) went through security and had gotten lunch all within the first hour, leaving me 3 more hours to kill. I went to my gate and sat down and people watched for most of the afternoon. I met a few very nice people that I had some small chat with while sitting around and waiting. Finally it was 2:30 and they started boarding our plane. The flight was pretty uneventful and the food was good. I watched a movie and managed to sleep a for about an hour or two on and off, before I couldn't sleep anymore. I'm not sure if it was nerves or the fact that I was sitting up in an airplane seat that kept me awake. Anyway, I still have not slept more than that since I left Minneapolis and even though I had a few hours now to take a nap, I knew everyone wanted an update, so I willingly sacrifice my sleep for you all. I hope you enjoy it! :)

Amsterdam. Interesting. We got off our flight and none of us expected to be immediately going through security again to get to the next gate. Being unprepared many of us had liquids out of our little baggies and it was quite a bit of chaos. My bag got stopped because I had filled up my water bottle after going through security in Minneapolis. I was afraid they would throw away the whole water bottle, luckily they just dumped it out. So after getting through security our group ended up clumping together and we found our gate, at which point it was 5:40 am in Amsterdam (our flight got in almost an hour early) and we had about 3 hours to kill before our flight to Florence. Luckily this gave us all some time to get re-acquainted with each other since we had only met once about a month ago. There were quite a few laughs, which may be due to us all be half asleep and not knowing what was going on, but either way I can tell our group is going to be fun this semester. Finally we boarded our final flight and arrived in FIRENZE!

Upon arriving at Firenze and collecting our luggage we met 2 representatives from our school (The Accent Center) who gave us some important instructions for the next few days and most importantly the KEYS  to where we would be living!! Out of my group I probably live the farthest away from school, but let me tell you, it is SO worth it! One of the representatives got me sent off in a cab to my house. The airport is pretty much on the other side of the city from where I live, so I got to have a wonderful drive through the city. Quite the view! Finally we arrived on my street. Yes, those dumpsters are there, but that is not where I am staying. I walked up to the building, found the name of my family and I rang the buzzer and was let in. I made it probably 10 steps into the lobby at which point a LARGE golden lab comes running down the stairs and jumps on me!! It was quite the warm welcome! A few steps behind the dog was my host Mother, Barabara, and her two sons, Thomaso (30) and Andrea (18). Yes, you read that correctly. I have BROTHERS! I've never lived with boys before, so this shall be fun! Although my mother did inform me that the main bathroom will be just for me, so I don't have to share with the boys. Which is very considerate. Also, in addition to the two brothers, and a dog, there is also a cat! According to my coordinator this is a great family, and I can tell already. So after the initial introductions I was instantly offered some food. Good thing too, because I was starved! It was DELICIOUS! I had some penne pasta with a wonderful sauce along with a salad that had prosciutto and thin slices of cheese in it and some focaccia bread. I have died and have gone to heaven. The home is absolutely beautiful. I want one just like it! My family does not know very much English, and currently my Italian is pretty rusty. Which I know will change quickly! I think it will all come back to me out of necessity! Well, I must finish getting all of my belongings situated and then freshen up. We have a welcome dinner tonight. Across town. So I have to get ready and allot enough time to get there.

 My beautiful bedroom!