Buongiorno from Firenze!

CIAO EVERYONE! I made it! Where to start...?  I woke up yesterday at 7:30. I got to the airport in sf 2 hours early and got on my flight at like 1:30. 

The flight was 10 hours exactly and went perfectly fine, but I was stuck 

in the middle seat between Carrie and this little old German woman who 

kept her little light on the entire flight to read and kept elbowing me 

in the ribs, no joke. Ow. And then there was the fat guy in front of me 

who leaned his chair back all the way til it pressed into my knees and 

then when he fell asleep completely let himself go and i was deprived 

of leg room. needless to say, I wasn't able to sleep. I tried really hard! 

But I couldnt. When we landed in frankfurt I felt sick and was exhausted

and germany just looked all gray and ugly and all around poopy. I was

yelled at by like 8 germans in security before i found a bathroom. By the

time i got to my 11:30 (Germany time) flight to Florence, it was 2:30 a.m.

CA time, and boy oh boy did i want to sleep. Sadly, I was told that my 

flight was overbooked, and I'd be on the 12:30 flight instead. This was ok

with me because as an apology for the inconvenience they gave me a 

voucher redeemable for 175 Euros at Lufsthansa (the main european 

airline). The flight to Florence went ok even though i felt sick and groggy.

When we started our descent into Italy we were flying over the Alps 

and it was soooo beautiful. And then we were flying over the hills of 

Tuscany with green stretching fields and green vineyard rows and 

red tile roof whitewashed villas and I started to get really 

excited!! Florence was MOLTE BELLA! However ... when we landed,

our luggage wasn't there. We were afraid it was lost until we realized

that it was probably on the flight we had transfered from cause it was

overbooked (me, Carrie, my friends Jon and Claire from Berkeley 

all had to transfer) so we checked on that flight, and it turned out to 

be delayed 2 1/2 hours. So we sat in the baggage claim area for another

hour and 1/2 and waited. When THAT flight arrived our luggage wasn't

there!! Then we finally checked with lost and found and discovered it

was still in Frankfurt. By this time we had missed our program's shuttle

so we called them, but they took another hour (literally) to get out to us

because of some car crash and it being peak traffic hours and the bus

workers being on strike (this is apparently common in Italy). Finally, 

we checked in and I got the keys to the apt and my new Italian cell phone. 

This is when my day started to turn around! Driving through Florence was 

absolutely gorgeous. Not exactly what I expected - it's a big and busy 

city, the roads are packed, and it's pretty modern-looking in a lot of

areas... but then of course you turn a corner and there's a medieval

church just sitting there looking pretty. And every road you drive down

has narrow twists and turns and is flanked by 4-story buildings made of

clay with balconies and flowers growing and little cafes and then you

drive along the river which was lit up by street lamps (it's now like 6

pm) and looked like something from a fairy tale. I wish you

could see it! Now here comes the best part ... after my long

long day (I've been awake for around 30 hours) we arrive at our little 

apartment building. Our apartment is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!! 

This is by far the nicest place I have ever lived or will probably ever

live, at least for the next 15 years or so. It FAR exceeded all of our 

expectations and wildest dreams. There's a big metal gate in front

that's locked (yay for safety, mom!). Open the gate (which has an 

intercom, shnazzy) and you're in the front yard which is grass

on both sides of the path to the door with beautiful big old magnolia 

trees on either side. Then... wait for it... we unlocked the front door

and it was pulled open for us. By our DOORMAN. He is super old and 

friendly and his name is Giovanni. Inside the floors are marble and 

there is a marble spiral staircase to the 4th floor. We of

course rode the elevator with Giovanni, though. Then we get out and

there's only 3 apartments on our floor all with big wooden sets of french

door. When we go in, there are vaulted ceilings, potted plants in the

corners and paintings on the walls... pause for effect... just in the

foyer. This leads into our amazing super nice kitchen, which opens onto 

our BALCONY with a stupendous view of the Tuscan hills. Follow the

marble into our 2 spacious and immaculately clean bathrooms and 3 LARGE,

cute, 2-bed bedrooms with bay windows and 6 LARGE individual closets for

each of us. More than enough room to hold all my stuff and one of my small

suitcases, mom! I know im ranting but this is seriously like the most amazing

amazing place. We all freaked out when we got there. Then I mustered up 

some reserves of energy and we walked down to this little restaurant(me and

my 5 roomies  and another girl) and shared 2 bottles of vino and some pasta. 

My roommates are all really very nice, by the way. Then we called it an early

night at around 10 cause we were very tired! Today, we had orientation

at a hotel down the street which lasted from 1-4. On the way there, I experienced

my first real difficulties with the language barrier... in attempting to order a

sandwich from this little trattoria. I don't know how to say "sandwich". Eventually

I was saved by pointing to it. Then in paying for it I was baffled by the Italians'

lack of respect for any semblance of a line. It must have taken me 5 minutes, and I

got cut by some old ladies! After orientation, we walked to the school and Carrie

and I picked up our luggage (finally), which had been delivered to the school's

office. Then we took a cab back, unpacked, and Carrie, Bekah and I decided to go

for a run. Bekah is my roommate and plays soccer for Trinity University, so I was

a little intimidated to run with her, but I was itching to see more of the city. We ran

across the river and through town a ways, and I saw all sorts of statues and pretty

buildings and was overwhelmed already until we came back and made our way on the

bike path along the river. THIS WAS GORGEOUS!! Everything was lit up and we were

across from the Duomo and the Palazzo Vechhio (the Campanelli) and the churches and

it was just beautiful. We made our way to the Ponte Vecchio and walked across and

marveled at all the shops. We think we're all going to head there tomorrow. I took a few

pictures today of the walk from our apartment to school, and the inside of our apartment,

which I'll share with you when I can. I hope everthing is going well in California! I miss

you guys. More later, when I get time. Gotta go shower and get ready to hit the town!

Arrividerci!