Buon Giorno!

I'M HERE!!! the traveling was sort of rough. on the way to the airport, our car hydroplaned and we ended up spinning across two lanes of traffic and ending up in the grass on the side of the interstate. somehow we didn't hit a thing, but that wasn't a good start to my travels. checking in at the charlotte airport was super easy, and once kelly got there i felt a lot more comfortable. the man i sat next to on the flight to frankfurt was french and had no idea what the flight attendants were saying, so i tried to help him out as much as i could.

note to self: never check in online before arriving to the airport if it is not a direct flight. i had to go find where i was supposed to get my next boarding pass when i was in frankfurt germany, and that freaked me out so much. the layover in frankfurt was so long (at least 3.5 hours), but kelly and i kind of walked around for a while. the flight from frankfurt to florence was relatively short compared to the rest of the traveling, about an hour and ten minutes. however, i feel like i could have walked to italy and gotten there sooner than i did because of that layover.

at the florence airport, kelly and i met 4 other girls in the program, and we collectively split 3 taxis to the school. after a brief orientation we all left to find our apartments, but we made plans to all meet back there at 7:30 to walk around and have dinner together. i'm proud of myself for being outgoing!

the apartment is so nice! i have access to wifi, though we may end up paying for a secure internet service- not having one may be why i haven't been able to make the calls with my skype subscription. i'm trying! there are just 3 of us here now: katie, who i met at the airport, and katherine, who was here when we got here, who also goes to UNC! two other girls who are living here go to UNC as well.

after we all freshen up we're going to wander around some and figure out our phone situations. it's about 4:00 here, so we have some time before we're meeting everyone for dinner.

i'm really comfortable with how well planned and thought-out this all is. there was someone waiting for us when we got off the plane to give us slips of paper to give our taxi drivers with the address of the school. we had printed directions from the school to our apartments. i feel very safe! and not afraid.

love and miss you all! hopefully future posts won't be as sporadic. i don't know what i'm doing still.