Away We Go!

My flight leaves in 8 hours! I'll fly from LAX to JFK then from JFK to Zurich, Switzerland and then off to Rome! I'm about 95% packed and I successfully taught my parents how to skype. Now, I'm really tired but way too anxious to sleep.

I've been waiting for this day since I decided to study abroad in Italy. Originally I wanted to study in New Zealand, but then I had a dream I was studying abroad in Italy and it was a pretty awesome dream. After that my decision was made (I swear I'm not crazy).

After deciding to spend my semester in Italy I had to figure out what city I wanted to study in. I originally picked Florence. I'd heard great things about it and it wasn't as big as Rome. Then I met with my study abroad advisor. He asked me what I wanted to get out of my semester in Italy. I didn't really know what to say. I figured "a vacation under the ruse of 'studying'"was inappropriate so I answered "Oh, I don't know...It would be cool to be fluent in Italian" (side note: I have two years of Italian under my belt. Sadly I feel like I don't remember a thing. I'm optimistic though!). He informed me that I would become decent in Italian pretty much anywhere I went, but fluent wouldn't happen in Florence. He also pointed out that it's a big art history and studio art city and I told him that was probably a bad thing because I once drew a horse with claws. So he suggested some cities, but he was really excited about this Perugia program. So I left the meeting under the instructions to look over all the options and come back in a week with my decision. Siena looked cool, Ferrara had it's charms, but I was really feeling Perugia. So it was decided. I would spend the spring semester in Perugia, Italy.

Half the fun has been explaining to people where exactly Perugia is. It's usually the same conversation:
Me: I'm actually studying abroad next semester
Person: Oh that's so great! Where are you going?
Me: Italy. I'm so excited!
Person: That's great! Where in Italy? Rome? Florence? Venice?
Me: No, Perugia.
Person: Oh how fun...where's that?
Me: It's about half way between Florence and Rome. Right in the middle of the country
Person: That's so great. You'll have so much fun. You'll basically get to live off of wine and pasta.
Me: Yeah, that's the plan.
and on and on and on. Slight variations here and there, but mostly the same conversation.

Well, I'm going to try and sleep now. Hopefully I'll update pretty regularly with tales and pictures of my adventures.

Ciao!