Va bene!

Well, I am finally in Florence!  This is my second full day in Italy and I managed to sleep through half of it :(  I set my alarm for 8 am and proceeded to sleep for 4 more hours.  Va bene (oh well/it's okay)!  Eventually my body will get used to the time change and I'll be able to function like a normal human being again.

    My flight(s) went better than I had anticipated.  Each one was on schedule. I didn't have to pay an extra fee for my luggage weighing more than 50lbs. per bag (although there was a $75 fee for having a second bag which my parents, very lovingly, paid for... thanks Mom and Dad!), I got to watch 3 movies that I've wanted to see, and going through customs in Amsterdam was a breeze!  Once I arrived in Italy, Andrea (my Italian roommate) met me at the airport on his lunch break to give me the keys to the apartment.  It was nice seeing a familiar face.  I think he was glad to see me, too, until he saw my luggage.  I believe his exact wording was, "Whoa, you have a lot of stuff!"  (Okay people, I'm MOVING to Italy not coming to visit for 2 weeks!)  Thank God he offered to meet me at the apartment to help me get all of my 'stuff' up the 6 billion stairs to the 3rd floor.  He literally ran both of the large suitcases up the stairs while I struggled to get my small carry-on to the top.  I have a feeling that my fitness level will be increasing in no time after a few trips up and down those puppies!  Once inside, I met my other roommate, Kathryn Irene.  She is an American from Washington D.C. area.  We haven't spent much time together, but it's comforting to have another female and english speaker in the house. 


    Around 7 pm my new friend and fellow blogger, Sally, came to collect me at my apartment.  Sally is actually the person that I can thank for getting to live in such an awesome place!  She also lived with Andrea when she first moved to Florence in August 2010.  She now lives just down the street.  She has been very generous with advice and in helping to ease some of my fears about living abroad.  She has also proved to be an excellent tour guide!  Anyway, the two of us set out to find a place to eat.  On the way, Sally introduced me to some friends of Andrea's uncle.  Fabio and Luca own a furniture restoration shop just a few blocks from where I live.  I was almost taken-a-back when Sally carried on a conversation with Fabio and Luca in, what seemed to me to be, perfect Italian!  I am so jealous, but now hopeful that I, too, will be able to speak the language of my adopted city.  We ended up eating at a restaurant called Il Muna Cielo (I think), and feasted on pizza, meatballs with marinara, bread and vino of course! 

    After dinner we met Andrea at Piazza Santo Spirito for some evening cocktails.  With a little coaching from Sally and Andrea I was even able to order our second round of drinks all by myself!  Yessss!  Unfortunately, I had forgotten how tired I was and may have had one too many... needless to say my tummy wasn't 100% the next day.  After sleeping in until 12:30pm, I got up, got ready and went be-bopping around Florence with Sally while she ran a few errands.  I even stopped at Apartments Florence www.apartmentsflorence.com so I could meet Christine Dickert (another fellow blogger).  Christy has also made herself available to me for advice and reassurance about my move.  I ate Gelato, saw Santa Maria del Fiore (The Duomo) for the first time, visited Stazione Centrale di Santa Maria Novella (train station), and went grocery shopping.  Then, to end the day on a high note, Andrea and Sally prepared a delicious meal of pasta with sausage, crostini with pate, fresh cheese and vino.  Oh, and then we went down to the corner gelataria for dessert (my second helping for the day)!  All-in-all a fabulous day. 

Today, I went exploring for the first time by myself.  I was a little scared, but now that I know I can leave the house and find my way back on my own gives me a sense of relief.  Oh, and my friends, Kendra and DJ, are currently living in Perugia, Italy.  They called me today to check in and to invite me to spend Christmas with them!  Kendra said that there is the possibility that we may get to go to evening mass at the Vatican in Rome on Christmas Eve.  Yes please!

Alright... ciao for now!

P.S. uploading images from my iPad to the blog is proving to be problematic. If you are friends with me on facebook you can view all my pictures so far! Thanks for stopping by!