I met Haley on Monday morning at DFW airport, we were supposed to fly from DFW to Philadelphia, to Frankfurt, to Florence. We had no troubles until we were on our way to Frankfurt, when we had to suddenly land in Canada because one of the passengers on our plane had a medical emergency. So we stopped at the tiniest airport I've ever seen and doctors came on the plane to help the person. They wouldn't tell us what happened, but I think the person is okay and I really want to know what happened! Anyways, that took about two hours and then we were off again. I was trying so hard to get some sleep but we happened to sit behind some guys talking a bit too loudly across the entire aisle. Because of the delay we missed our flight to Florence but they booked us on the next flight which we almost missed with trying to get our boarding pass in Germany and stuff! But we made it to Florence at last, after about 23 hours of travel time.
We were then taken to the SAI (Study Abroad Italy) offices where we checked in, got our cell phones & apartment keys, etc. and then were taken in a taxi to our apartment! Pictures to come soon - our apartment is soo much nicer than I thought it would be! Except for the bathrooms, it is quite spacious and we have a nice kitchen and stuff. I think out of everyone I've talked to that we are in like the bestt location and there are only 5 of us which is nice. Our roommates are really sweet, and after we unpacked and stuff when we arrived (on tuesday) we explored a bit. Our apartment is maybe 10 blocks from the beautiful Duomo which is uh-may-zing and there are a bajillion Pizzarias and shops nearby! We got about 10 men saying "ciao bella" and other creepy things as we walked by but thankfully we weren't in danger or anything. Exhausted we went to bed around 10 pm. Our apartment is FREEZING at night though, and in general, I think that was part of the reason I woke up a couple times. Got up at 7:00 and went to a really nice hotel where we had orientation stuff from 9:00-1:00. Most exciting thing that happened was a guy gave away a free trip to Morocco, sadly I didn't win it, but I did get to talk to him about possible photography internships for the travel agency he was working for!
We then signed up for our free mandatory field trip to Rome, and had a lunch break. Haley and I found a good cafe (spinach & cheese ravioli for me) and it was cool to get to use some Italian! We then had more orientation and a free program dinner at a 15th century palace! I could not believe how nice it was, and tons of amazing food catered in, with crostini, risotto, liver, pasta, etc., and my favorite the tiramisu. I'm so mad I didn't take my camera with me today! But hopefully I will take some pictures and upload them soon!
Now I am sitting at our kitchen table with my roommates, drinking a bit of vino rosso. I feel so so so blessed to be here, it's just beautiful and amazing to just walk by the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo and the Piazza Santa Croce. God is good! Well, thanks for reading and hopefullyy I'll update again soon! Ciao amici!
~ Elisa
