The first 18 hours.

Dear everybody,
Italy is awesome! I left CJ and my dad in the airport and was welcomed by many of my fellow Illinoisians. After taking pictures and eventually getting bullied by security to °CLEAR THE LINES°, we stood in a long security line, which confiscated my peanut butter. I was displeased. 2 hours later we boarded the plane, and despite my flight anxiety, all went well. 3 whole movies! 2 delicious meals (Milano cookies for breakfast? Free wine with dinner? Pesto lasagna??yummm, or as they say here mmmhhhh). We had a 5 hour layover in rome (which was very springlike) and were all incredibly tired. A short 1 hour flight to Verona left us in the care of our course director, Clauddio. He herded us onto a bus where we recieved cell phones (unactivated, oops), maps, and sheets and towels. The bus took us to our individual apartments, 20 hours after our journey began.

My apartment is beautiful!! We come in to a beautiful open courtyard, and have marble stairs or a tiny tiny tiny creaky elevator(open door, pull apart more doors, step in, more doors!) In the apartment; Wood and marble floors, 2 balconies, and tons of space. Theres a radiator (which id never used before) and a bidet (whattt!). Our balconies overlook the side street we are on. Its been raining consistently, so I havent used it much yet. Our shower is really odd: the stereotypical like hoselike contraption, 2 faucets for hot and cold (which mix, thank goodness), and this odd fold out shower curtain/door. Its beautifully decorated with paintings of birds and posters of foreign landscapes, and our armoires are covered with sunflower stickers. One girl, Natalie, shares the room (we each have tiny single size beds) and shes very sweet and fun. Our first of 2 italian roommates arrived 2 days ago: she works in a childrens school. She speaks no English. Our other roommate comes friday.

I miss everyone already: Family, CJ, NRP, ISR kids, Slushies...Next time I have time to post (which, lacking internet in my apartment, is essentially after school for 5 hours) Ill discuss our excursions for orientation, classes, the city(stereotypes abound!), grocery shopping, and my horrible botched Italian attempts (especially the ones with creepy Italian men, old and older, and attempting to get directions). Ciao!!