Orientation and More

Yesterday we had orientation all day. We met in Odeon Cinema, an old theater where they show movies and performances. We had a break for lunch and went to the market to get amazing sandwiches where they dipped the bread in this soupy sauce...yum. More orientation, where we met another girl who was also doing a homestay. We figured she would be pretty down to earth and we were right. She is a Mechanical Engineer going to Iowa State University! I did not think we would meet another Engineer here, let alone an ME from Iowa!

Afterwards we took our placement test. I was a bit worried about it, but it was not bad at all. We were still placed in the same class! Before I turned in my test, I noticed another girl get up to turn hers in. I thought she was wearing a particularly short "dress" (more like a long shirt), when she bent over to pick up her bag and she mooned me because she was wearing nothing underneath. It's incredible some of the things the Americans wear here. They advised us on how to stay safe in Florence during orientation because Americans stand out. Well, this is another reason why some Americans are such easy targets.

Later, LdM hosted a dinner for us, where we met some more cool people. After dinner, we walked around looking for a dumpster for our trash (they told us in orientation to take out your trash every day). Today was pretty lazy, but we did walk to a big supermarket to pick up a few things and finally got some gelato :)

Now, onto the pictures!

My Room

So when we got to Italy yesterday, Kristen and I had to take a taxi. The cab ride to the apartment was CRAZY. I seriously forgot how people drove here (the signs are foreign to me as well, I'm glad I don't have to deal with it). It's so disorganized, everyone is constantly changing lanes (most without using their blinker and those who use it put it on while they are swerving), but somehow everyone looks out for each other and it works. I wish I took a video of it. There were so many tiny cars too, that drove through tiny alleys that were just big enough for the one car. People were walking everywhere, including in the streets. At one point we had to stop for an ambulance that barely squeezed past us and another person trying to turn left.

The apartment we are staying in is really nice, and an extremely short walk from downtown. Everything is small here; we got into the elevator and there was only enough room for us and our bags. Our host mother had to take the stairs. We live at the top of the building, on the 6th floor, with a beautiful view.

The jet lag was messing with us today. We went to bed early last night, and still slept until 1! I did take some pictures of my room though:

First Day

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to post a quick first note. I made it to Florence safe and sound! Pretty good first day: I met my host mother, Graziella, who is "a very good cook and is funny and hip", unpacked my stuff, picked up my cell phone, walked around downtown Florence, took an intense nap, and had an amazing homemade dinner. I am looking forward to living with a family, I'm getting much needed practice in Italian (we speak almost no English) and 4 more students will be coming to live with us next week!

That nap didn't cut it, so I will be getting to bed early tonight. I will try to post pictures of the apartment and downtown tomorrow (my battery was dead when I unpacked it, so I couldn't take any today).

Ciao!
Caitlin