Sono arrivata! I have arrived!

Yesterday, I arrived in Florence at 2pm (10am @ home) to spend 9 months living here.

I cannot express how thrilled I am to actually be living in this city for an extended period of time.

When I arrived (with Alayna and 4 other Smith ladi

es), we wandered around Florence and found some dinner at a touristy place by the Duoma but our Smith program director, Giovanna, talked the owner into not charging us the cover fee (instead of a tip, there is a cover fee for most ristoranti!) After dinner, we walked to the Ponte Vecchio and along the Arno River, then stopped for gelato on the way home. I had a delicious combination of fragola (strawberry) and bacio (chocolate and hazelnut, like those little Bacio truffles sold in the U.S.).

Jet lag was pretty rotten.... Fell asleep at 10pm Italy time, woke up at 2am and was up until 3.30am and then woke up at 7.30am still fairly sleepy. That being said, I am ecstatic right now because at 2pm I hopped in a taxi with

my 80kg (over 100lbs....) of belongings and met my host mamma (Signora Luciana Dionisi - age 70). She is INCREDIBILE. Our apartment is stunning - marble floors, two stories, we (Ali, Julie and I) each have our own room, all of which are amazing. I have a dresser, armoire, couch, chair, desk and adorable bed. Lucian

a is the sweetest woman and she speaks at just the right speed and bears with us as we give her blank stares after asking us a question. She is said to be the best cuoca (cook) that the Smith program has ever seen and therefore I am rather psyched for tonight's big cena (dinner).

Tomorrow we meet lots of Italians our age who hopefully will help us learn to communicate a bit better, but only after meeting for a delicious pranzo (lu

nch) of foccacia and cheese and fruit with Giovanna and Monica (the program director in Firenze). Perhaps tomorrow night will be our first night going out in the città!

Baci e abbracci!

Check them out - More photos on Facebook!