In Italy

Hey all! I am in Italy, and I have finally found an internet cafe.

So my trip thus far -

On Thursday morning my mom drove me to the airport and we said goodbye. I was sad, but I generally am whenever I leave home to travel. Terminal E in Atlanta now has a bookstore which is great! It didn't have very great books, but I still managed to get some. Then I got on my flight to Paris. It was nice - I had an aisle seat. I've discovered that my ipod shuffle is very useful in drowning out screaming toddlers. I couldn't really sleep though. I lost my headphones, so I ended up making the lines for He's Just Not That Into You. It also turns out the Airframe is not about disease on an airplane, but is instead about crashing airplanes. North and South is wonderful... I am almost done.

When I arrived in Paris the next morning, I got to re-remember my extreme dislike for the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. It sucks. I hate it. It's confusing and no one wants to help you. My flight was delayed by an hour. I was determined to not fall asleep on the plane, but I didn't even make it past lift off. When I woke up, I looked out my window - we were over the Italian mountains, and they were BEAUTIFUL! Firenze seems bigger than it is, and it was so beautiful to look down at. Since my flight was delayed, I ended up getting there with a CAPA group, and so I didn't have to figure out my own transportation. This was great, by the way. I hate having to deal with taxi drivers (and dad wanted me to take a taxi.) I am absolutely convinced that all taxi drivers want you to die. They are terrible at driving, and I am scared the whole time always. Also, there seem to be some very limited traffic laws in Firenze, which only makes it worse.

No one was at my apartment when I arrived. My phone was instantly helpful in this, because it meant I could call CAPA. The director of the program drove out to let me into the apartment, and then he carried my bags upstairs and showed me where to get food. He was really nice, and he taught me how to say "Grazie!" In the US, everyone says, "Gratzi" but it is pronounced just the way it looks - with an "e" on the end, and no "t" sound at all.
I explored for a while, and then I met Renee, one of my flatmates, on the street. I had the most delicious lunch ever - an herbed bread stick with green olives inside. Then I went home and took a nap.

Our apartment, by the way, is adorable. It was not at all what I was expecting. I have my own room too. It's a little cold at night, but my landlord put a purple flannel sheet with cows on my bed, and there were extra blankets in my closet.

That night, when all the girls had arrived, we had dinner. I made up spaghetti (or spaghetini) and sauce, and Laura added in peppercorns to the sauce, which made it absolutely delicious. Renee had bought white wine, and so we had a cozy dinner together in our little living room. My other flatmate is Gina.
Later we went out and met up with friends of Renee. We wandered around and ended up in a bar. We were just sitting at the table but then they started playing Grease and we decided to become as American as possible. We all got up and started dancing! Apparently we started a party because a whole bunch of Italianos got up and started dancing too.

Yesterday was orientation and a walking tour. Emily and I agreed that even though all the CAPA kids talked, there was no real "clicking." Hoepfully that will change. That night I fell asleep at six. The girls woke me up to ask if I wanted to go out again, but I was too tired. I woke up at 2 30 when a loud Italian man started yelling on the stairs, and then everyone came home. I got up and ate dinner and fell back asleep. I had the strangest dream - I had just been married in this dress I passed in a store yesterday, and apparently I was Jewish because Mrs. Ervin gave me a Jewish ring. It sort of resembled that ring from the X-Files episode about that Jewish man that was murdered and then rose from the grave. Then I went across the street to where Rob was parked with Courtney, Nikki, and Caroline, and asked them if they were coming to the reception. Slowly, Rob's car kept getting bigger and bigger and more and more friends appeared inside of it. Then I ran across the road to get back to my mom and called Duncan to chastise him for not coming to my wedding. Courtney said something about how I looked like a princess with my wedding gown hiked up around my knees. It was strange.
I woke up, so I don't know how that dream ended. My landlord was buzzing to be let in. He wanted copies of our passports. He doesn't speak any English, so I gathered that he needed them for the law, that it was cold outside, and soemthing about a machine. I only understood that much because of Spanish. I had to wake up Renee, who is the only one of us that speaks Italian. We all gave him our passport copies and then before he left he asked Gina and I if we had Italian boyfriends. He expects fast work I suppose!
They all went back to bed. I made lunch and I've spent some of today exploring. That's how I found this place. I think my flatmates have managed to get internet in the apartment, but I couldn't get my adapter to work this morning. I'll ask them about it later.

I hope this wasn't boring! I haven't done a lot of exciting things so far. This is the only day I've been truly awake at all.