Buongiorno Italia!!!!

After a long day of flying, walking, waiting, flying, flying, flying, bus riding, walking, unpacking, and more walking, we finally made it to our new home at the Santa Chiara Study Center in Castiglion Fiorentino.  We got all our luggage up the steep hill (with the help of a local's "truck," more like a tricycle) and had time to unpack and settle into our quaint little dorm rooms (emphasis on little).  We got a quick tour of the local hot spots in town, and then headed back to the study center for our first home-cooked Italian meal.  It began with a basket of bread and a bottle of vino rosso.  Next was the first course - real, live, Italian pasta. Followed by salad, chicken, and delicious little potatoes that looked like lemon slices, very odd....but delicious none-the-less.

After dinner, my roomies and I decided we should probably contact home.  I let Kelsey use my converter to plug in her laptop to Skype with her momma, and she felt the need to burn the entire building down.  A giant spark followed by smoke led to a successful shut down of the wireless internet in the entire building.  Apparently it overloaded and flipped the breaker and we lost parental connection until our RA reset everything.  There were no injuries except Kelsey is convinced she could have gotten shocked to death - what's new.

Here is my list of firsts:

First regret of this adventure: Not getting an Auntie Anne's pretzel before boarding the 9 hour flight.
First meal on an international flight: Manicotti, salad, peppermint brownie (I pretended it was an Andes mint and went with it), bread roll and apple juice (which Marissa and I found to have more sugar, calories and carb's than a pop, so don't worry mom I switched to water).
First movie on an international flight: The Social Network (followed by The Expendables after a failed attempt to sleep)
First words spoken in Italian: "Vorrei uno focaccia primavera per favore"
First thing bought in Euro's: ....uno focaccia primavera, a delicious little sammy for a truck stop!

First Italian graffiti seen: "Hot Boys" all over the highway...I'm hoping it's a boy band.
First Italian highway lesson:  Staying in your own lane is NOT relevant. 
First Italian person I waved at on impulse: Construction worker on scaffolding 60 feet in the air.
First Italian bar I was told to go to: Velvet Underground...sounds mysterious.
First thing I am going to buy in Italy:  BLANKET.  They only turn the heat on at one time of the day and it is during the hottest time of the day, which is still of course below freezing...Kelsey and I are sporting sweats, smartwool socks, and of course our robes in the mean time.

Schedule for tomorrow entails breakfast, orientation, seeing some more sights in town, and meeting the new students from Colorado State and Texas San Antonio!

Until next time,

Cara Marie