Oh hey Italy!

I made it! I'm exhausted but I made it!

My flight to JFK was spent nodding in and out of sleep. I met a delightful woman who was on her way to Egypt (and I thought I had a long day of flying). Once in New York I was left to move my 3 bags from one terminal to another. I rented a luggage cart, loaded it up and headed for the airport tram. One stop later and I was in the international terminal checking in for my flight to Zurich. Once I checked in and made it through security I had about 4 hours until my flight boarded. I walked to the gate and saw a group of college looking students. They noticed me awkwardly staring and asked if I was heading to Perugia. I answered yes and we all introduced ourselves. Then I promptly forgot most of their names (I blame lack of sleep). My friend Laura from Villanova arrived and we had Panda Express for dinner and hung out. We spent the time until our flight chatting with our future classmates and trying to get to know each other. After what seemed like days we were boarding the plane!

Let me say that if anyone ever needs to fly international, Swiss air is not a bad way to go. It was so nice. I never want to fly domestic again. Or until I have to. Whichever comes first. There was a nice plaid motif going on with the seats and blankets. I had an aisle seat (thank god!) in the last row of the plane. After we took off I watched a few TV shows on the personal TV in the seat back in front of me (for free! Take that Delta Airlines!). We were served a pretty decent dinner and the drink carts came by what seemed like every 15-20 minutes. After dinner the flight attendants passed out eye masks and ear plugs and I passed out. When I woke up it was morning. I almost missed breakfast, but I managed to shake down one of the flight attendants for a croissant and a cup of coffee. I spent the rest of the flight listening to my ipod and reading about Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds romantic New Years Eve.

We landed in Zurich and made it through customs (My first passport stamp! I'm still not sure why no one else was as excited as me). The only parts of Switzerland I saw were through the windows, but wow, it's gorgeous. I mean, it's stunning. We could see the snow covered mountain tops and I think I saw the Matterhorn (note: I didn't. Let me have my moment). I was hungry so I bought a sandwhich and a bottle of water. It was pretty much daylight robbery as far as I'm concerned, but I was hungry so I paid for it. Then we boarded our flight to Rome. It was only a short hour flight, so before I knew it we were in Rome! CRAZINESS! I still haven't comprehended the fact that yes, I'm in Italy and yes, I'll be here for the next four months. We grabbed our luggage and met the Umbra (the school I'm attending) staff. We ended up waiting at the airport for almost an hour because there were several students with flight delays who were supposed to be on our bus. I spent the time hanging out with Laura and playing the airport game (making up back stories for the people in the airport. Thanks Modern Family!) and chatting with my classmates. I converted my U.S. dollars to Euro and when I came back we were mobilizing to the buses to leave for Perugia. It was about 4pm when we got on the bus. I tried to stay awake to look at the scenery, but nearly 24 hours of travel had taken its toll on me and I passed out. When I woke up we were in Perugia.

We stayed in a hotel last night. I shared a room with my the girl who I'll be living with all semester (shout out to Kylie!). Our other two roommates were in the room next to us (hey Lauren and Melissa!). I squeezed in a shower and we rushed down to dinner. We were kind of late so the four of us sat in a table in the corner by ourselves. It allowed for roommate bonding so we didn't mind. We had pasta, salad, roasted chicken and DELICIOUS potatoes for dinner. Unfortunately I was so tired that I was pretty full after the pasta, so I didn't eat much of the potatoes or chicken (what's wrong with me? I'm always hungry). However, I did make room for dessert: chocolate mousse. which was fantastic. Perugia is known for its chocolate. They have a chocolate festival every October and are famous for their version of a Hershey kiss (I can't remember the Italian name for it, I'm still learning). After that my roommates and I spent some time playing cards and drinking wine. It was quiet night. I fell asleep around 1am because I was wide awake for some odd reason.

This morning I had breakfast with my roommates (the coffee is fantastic here, as to be expected). In about an hour we're leaving to go to our apartment. I'm excited to see how it looks. We've been imagining it in our minds. So far we think we all have our own master suite, a walk-in waterfall shower and a personal butler named Massimo. Sadly, I think our fantasies will be far from filled. The street we live on is called Via Bella or Beautiful Street. I hope the Italians don't enjoy ironically naming their streets, or I'll be screwed.

This afternoon I'm taking the placement test for Italian. I'm hoping I get a chance to study a little beforehand because my Italian is rusty. The rest of the weekend is filled with walking tours and orientations about Perugia and city life. I'll be getting a cell phone on Sunday afternoon (Mom, I'll call when I get a chance). Classes start on Monday, but the first week of classes is all intensive Italian. Grammar in the morning and functional Italian in the afternoon. Thank god, because I need all the practice I can get. Regularly scheduled classes start on the 17th. My class schedule is pretty sweet! I have time for a siesta everyday!

That's pretty much it for now. I need to go pack so we can meet our ride to our apartment. Pictures to come, once I actually take some pictures. Internet access might be spotty for a few days, but I'll be so busy I don't think I'll have time to do anything but settle in.

Here's to the start of a great adventure!

Ciao!