We no speak no Americano.

Ciao from Firenze!

I wanted to start this blog to keep my friends and family up-to-date on the latest and greatest euro-adventures. So here it goes:

I made it to Firenze safe and sound, but just mildly scarred from the whole process. The fact that I'd be leaving America for four months didn't set in at the airport when I had to say goodbye to my mom or even as I waited for my plane to board (waited for 4 hours, that is, due to my time OCD). It didn't set in when I met Emily and talked about how surreal the whole thing was, nor did it set in during the 7-hour plane right across the Atlantic. The plane ride surpringly went smoothly, despite the fact that I couldn't sleep so what do I do instead? I watched movies: The Switch and what better....Taken. I know, I would.

We arrived in Paris at the Charles de Gaulle airport around 7:45 am to cloudy, rainy skies. Emily and I (thank God I wasn't alone) wound up walking in circles trying to figure out how to get our next boarding passes. Neither of speak French so it was definitely challenging. But we made it to Gate G2, after nearly boarding a bus to Disneyland Paris by mistake...oops! It's definitely a different culture entirely over here.

We waited, waited, and waited until finally we flew on a little plan from Paris to Florence. I was so paranoid that my luggage would get lost but it did not and I quickly found my oversized luggage with the Dora ribbons. We were greeted by 2 Palazzo guys and divided into groups for taxis. My luck - I get sent in a taxi by myself. The car ride to our apartments was pleasant - but very silent - and the driver literally dropped me off outside of our building and left me with my luggage. No idea of how to get inside, I decided it's a great idea to press all of the buzzers. It didn't take long until an Italian lady - very mean looking, ps - stuck her head out of the window and proceeds to curse me out. Another one actually came down to the door and yelled at me face to face. What a welcome!! It worked out because the other girls arrived at our apartment, as well as one of Palazzo's girl, Katie, to let us into our wonderful home.

The low-down: There's 10 of us in one apartment. FML right? No. All of the girls are super nice and up for whatever, which makes for a very interesting first 48 hours in Florence. Five girls from UCONN, and five from PSU. My room is gorgeous: high-vaulted ceilings, window facing the street and this bed is comfier than my bed at home (not at school though..). It's been a blast getting to know them over a bottle (or five) of wine, which is so exciting to buy. We have a microwave and stove, but no oven so I'm looking forward to baking in May back in the states. No funfetti here. I really do love our apartment, it's just gorgeous and so much different than my State College one (although I miss my roomiez lots!). Only negative: we have 8 hours of heat, although it's really not terribly cold in here. Also, the showers are extremely tiny and can barely fit my right arm and leg in it. It's a process, definitely, to shower here.

So we got settled into our apartment and decided to explore a bit. We wandered around very aimlessly and unaware of our surroundings. We stumbled upon a little sheets and towel store so some of the girls could buy stuff. Then we spent the next hour trying to find a restaurant and failed. Instead, we purchased little sandwiches from a corner cafe near home and a bottle of wine. We came back, played "Story of Your Life" game and got to know everyone a bit better. We decided it necessary to all get ready and ignore the jet-lag that we all were feeling from nearly a day of travel. Again, we wandered about the Piazzo del Repubblica looking for bars that seemed fit for us and ran into our Palazzo students. So, a group of near 30, walking about the streets was no good. We ended up at Lion's Fountain, an Irish-American bar on the other side of the city.

My very first bar...I'm growing up so fast! It was a lot of fun, but expensive (I never want to turn 21 for real and have to buy my own drinks). I ran into Alex and Steve from school and it was the most pleasant surprise. It was nice being around people speaking English but I felt a little guilty for not trying to go outside of my comfort zone. Baby steps. Had Irish car bombs, which were delicious and deadly which I realized the next day. The pub was so entirely fun and entertaining. The bartender was extremely friendly, there were American universities' shirts hung all over the ceiling, fantastic. Just like the states. We left the bar later than expected, but I'm not entirely sure how Emily, Jess, and I made it all back in one piece. We're invincible, honestly. I think I was craving McD's because obviously drinking makes you hungry. Oh, and this morning when I opened my latop two webpages were up: McDonald's in Italian, and a Google page with the search "Florence Food delivery." Our life is a fail. I love us. It was a fantastic first night. I'm still debating about the best part: Emily passing out in the hallway, finding her pants in someone else's bathroom, or finding Jess's clothes in my suitcase. It's all such a mystery.

Onward: Day 2, a struggle. Orientation today at the Piaggo. The building was gorgeous, as all buildings are here. Everything is so picture-esque, which is also a sure sign of being American. They call it "the Disneyland effect" where we walk around with gaping mouths and deer-in-headlights face. I am guilty. I can't help it. We learned a lot of stuff during Orientation but only a few things I can recall: to keep the gypsies away you must stick out your hand and say "STOP! Get away gypsie!!" very sternly. I hope this works. I've been practicing, I'm getting good. Also, we must save the American reputation here in Florence. Apparently it is not very good and it is our responsibility over the next four months to embrace the Italian culture and adjust. For example, Italian men are notoriously forward. Here we have learned that we must embrace our "inner ice queen" and as our one professor said, "ice queen rocks." Again, I hope this advice pays off. It was a very interesting lecture none-the-less. I struggled to sit still in the forty-below freezing room but at least I kept my eyes open most of the time, unlike some who were outright sleeping. We had a break with catered snacks and then later we had a catered lunch. I'm up for trying new foods, so I'm excited to eat fresh foods from the market.

After Orientation, the only thing to do after a crazy night is sleep it off so we all came home and napped for a few hours. We had a house check in to learn how to use our washing, stove, and other basic items in our apartment (they're so different than US!). I decided it was a good idea to unpack, finally, and did that. I can't wait to really cozy up in our room and decorate. Tonight we planned the bar scene (instead of repeating last night and wandering the streets for hours...) and walked in that direction. A lot of the ristorantes were expensive until we stumbled upon a gem nestled in a courtyard. The ten of us sat down for dinner around 9:30 (because that's normal here) and ordered bottles of wine, dinner, and dessert. One of the waiters came over with a bottle of champagne and when we said no no no, he told us it was on the house. So free champagne and free bread. Woo! It was absolutely wonderful.

Fast forward a bit since I want to sleep (it's 3 am here): we found the bar we actually intended on going to, Naima and ordered drinks since it was happy hour. Rum and coke = 90% rum, 10% coke. I got to see Alex and Steve again, and somehow we manged to make Italian friends, Cosimo and Piedro. We all (Italian included) went to another bar, after sight-seeing a bit of the city. It was fantastic and Piedro bought Jess and Emily roses. How Italian! To sum it up: Tonight was fabulous. Great dinner, great drinks, and of course, great company.

I love the Italian life, at least so far. I expect my heart will further melt into this gorgeous city. I cannot wait for it.

I will try to update this as often as possible, but just know: I miss my dear friends in America but I will be keeping it sassy over here in Firenze.

Buonanotte!