I'm In Florence!

After a long 2 days of traveling, I am finally in Florence. I left from Newark at 5:30 on Monday, and landed in Florence at 9:30am. Unfortunately, the Alitalia airplane we were on was very very old and there was not a single tv on the plane. I of course had a minor freak out when I first got on the plane when there was a girl sitting in my seat, but it turns out she just wanted to sit with her friend because she gets major anxiety on planes. It actually ended up working out perfectly because the girl I ended up sitting next to was the one person I had been facebooking with before I left! We are now rooming together in the hotel for 2 nights with 2 other girls. There were 80 people from my program on my flight, and only 8 of them were guys! Girls definitely outnumber guys in this program. I was only able to sleep an hour on the plane because my back was hurting from the seats, but Lauren and I talked a lot and then I watched a few tv shows. When we got to Rome I met a lot more people, and even became friends with 3 out of the 8 guys! We bonded over trying to find our way through customs and to the gate which was 10 minutes away from security. I ended up sitting next to the girl who said she had anxiety on the first flight, yet she did not freak out at all. (She switched with another guy to sit next to her friend). I think she just wanted to sit with her friend, which I would have switched for too! I definitely got a little homesick on both flights, and was worried because I hadn't eaten because I wasn't hungry, but I was getting lightheaded. Luckily, thanks to my generous Mom, I now have international bbming and could let my parents and Jeremy know when I landed. It has definitely helped a lot being able to talk to them today. Other people have even benefited from my blackberry! A few of my friends emailed their parents from my email to let them know they were safe in Florence. See Mom, this all worked out! :)

Florence is gorgeous. It was very cloudy when we got here so I couldn't see well into the distance, but I could see bits of the gorgeous villas on the side of the mountains. It has been a very long day - once we got to Florence and got our luggage (None of my bags got lost!!), we only dropped our bags in a storage closet at the hotel and then went to the Villa Rosa, which is the main building on the Syracuse campus. Its pretty cool actually - the campus is gated in, and there are 3 separate buildings: the Villa Rosa, the Villino, and the Anex. Which house offices, classrooms, and the library. We also have a garden and a porch area which is nice. We spent 5 hours learning about Firenze, getting keys and museum passes, and filing for a Permission of Stay. Italy is very intense - we have to submit all of this paperwork to the police, and then we have to go to a scheduled appointment to give them passport pictures and fingerprints! And then we have to go back for a 2nd meeting! The funny thing is, this process won't be completed before we leave in April! Even though I had to pay 50 euro for a museum pass and key, I am very excited. With this museum pass, I can get into every museum in Florence for free AND can jump to the front of the lines!

Tonight my roommates and I hung out for an hour before dinner, and then I met up with one girl from F&M who is also here and ate with some of her friends. Its very overwhelming because I was just starting to get used to the 80 people from my flight, and then we have to meet 3 more flights of people plus independent travelers. I have also realized I am terrible at remembering names, but luckily so is everyone else!

Alright, thats all for tonight! I will hopefully be able to post this tomorrow (I am writing this without internet). Miss you all! xoxo

PS. I was able to get internet set up on my laptop for the SUF campus. (A lot earlier than expected!!) I still don't know if I'll have it where I live though.