Upon Arrival

This city is beautiful. I love everything about it and I am already sure that leaving will be harder than I imagined. My flight here was smooth and came with a pleasant surprise. On my flight from Chicago to Frankfurt my Uncle Rob was sitting four seats in front of me on his way to a business trip in Germany. We discovered each other about an hour into the flight and he kept me company for most of the fight:) If I do say so myself that seems to be an awesome start to my semester.

The weather when we landed was nothing but beautiful. I stood outside in the Tuscan sun waiting for the taxi to come bring me to school in short sleeves with my jacket draped over my backpack. The taxi hurtled through the small streets at speeds fast enough to make the girl sitting next to me almost burst into tears. I however was perched on the edge of my seat grinning from ear to ear like an idiot absorbing as much as I could.

After picking up our keys and some maps I was dropped off at the end of a street by myself and told from what I could understand that my apartment was somewhere down this ally. I hitched up my backpack and two suitcases and set down the narrow ally peering at the numbers trying to find number 8. About halfway down the ally I met up with my door and after a brief struggle with the keys I was standing in a small entry way with a small steep staircase to my left and a little desk to the right. I called up the stairs and after hearing nothing but my 'buongiorno' echo back I glanced once more at the packet of keys. "Top Floor Number 7" was printed in big letters across the front and with another readjustment of my bags I set off on the climb. Seven flights later I slumped up against wall panting for my breath, but I had finally made it.

 Four of my roommates had already arrived and they greeted me with welcoming smiles filling me with even more excitement about things to come. I unpacked for a bit when our fifth roommate arrived. Her luggage had been lost and she needed to get some clothes for tomorrow so we set off with her in search of the H&M. Later that day all of the roommates and I went in search of a grocery store and to all of our relief we found one. I bought my first bottle of wine, it was 2 Euro and delicious! After eating an amazing artichoke pasta dinner and a glass of wine I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.  Despite ample warnings from a friend that I should try and stay awake until 10 I passed out around 8. And now it is 6:30 and I am wide awake. I showered, ate breakfast, and now I am typing my blog. I guess waking up this early wasn't that bad. I'll get used to it.

In a few hours I need to make my way back to school for orientation and then I think later tonight we are going out. I will report back later with more of my adventure!

Love from Italy,
Natalie