omigosh Firenze

HELLO EVERYONE!

I'm so so soooo sorry it's been so long since I could update you on my life. I only got internet a few days ago and have been scrambling around getting groceries and getting ready for class and so on and so on. It's nearly impossible to recap the last week and the awesomeness of it into a reasonable sized account, but I can do my very best and promise to keep you update much more frequently as I continue my adventures here in Italy and beyond!

First of all, Italy is gorgeous. Or at least Florence, which is really all I've seen so far. But don't worry, traveling is all over my plans for my semester here, so you'll hear about all kinds of great places. Anyway, the first few days here we were oriented to the city with API. After meeting our roommates, housemates, and new friends, we had a dinner together on the rooftop restaurant at the hotel. The views from all over were breathtaking, and we didn't even care when it started to rain. The next few days were a whirlwind of tours, meetings, and delicious meals together (we knew we were going to miss that when it came time to cook for ourselves). We got a tour of the historical district of florence, where we live, and of the areas across the arno river, which have a lot of fun things to do and places to eat.

Friday we moved into our aparments. This was no easy task for us girls (my aparment building is all girls from the program). We each had at least 2 suitcases and a backpack to carry up the huge stone steps (and for my roommates and I that meant 2 floors up). Nevertheless, we made it and were SO SURPRISED at how amazing our apartment is. Each one is a little different, but we loved ours the most of course. I'm trying to find a way to upload my videos. Blogger isn't doing it for me, so we'll see what I can come up with.

The weekend was spent doing orientation activites like more tours, dinners, academic orientation, and meetings, plus going out and exploring all that Florence has to offer. Now that orientations are all over, classes have started and we're beginning to get inot a routine. I have clas Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I know that seems like a joke but it's a decent amount of class time. T/W/Th morning at 8 am I have italian 202, where the professor speaks only in Italian. I think I'm getting the hang if it though (until it comes time for me to speak to her haha). Tuesday after Italian I have oil painting for 5 hours. Gah! It feels like I'm really going to love that class though. Today (Wednesday) I also have Food and Culture with my roommate and a friend, and later Sociology and History of the Italian Mafia (I know, can you believe it?) Yesterday I added a course to my schedule, because I felt I could handle the extra work and thought maybe taking only 12 credits was a bad idea, so now I'm also registered for Psychology of Crime on Thursdays after Italian.

So that's my story so far, or at least what I can tell without boring you/writing a 3 page book up here. I've already got the wheels turning on a new post, so check back soon and I'll have it (I promise it won't be a week from now). Remember to check my twitter and facebook for updates and pictures. I'll post a few at the end of this post too. I'll be sure to let you know how the first week of classes finishes up, and check back soon for some fun treats including: differences between Florence and home, what I miss about home, what I love about Florence, my AWESOME upcoming schedule of events, and much more!

Ciao! -Christine