Finally Arrived in Florence

Me and the airport - nervous before my trip but it went pretty smooth and I met a couple interesting people on the flight over.

Zach and I on the drive up to O'hare, missing him already...

Well I just got into Florence and I am loving it already, considering there really is not much that you can dislike about a place like this anyway.  On the flight over from Switzerland I sat next to a very nice, talkative, Italian man named Alexander, he talked to me about everything and told me to try everything.  It was nice to talk to talk to someone who knew the land so well and he spoke English so that was a plus.  The flight was supposed to only be an hour long but Tyler, Erin, and I did have some trouble on the flight concerning the wind in Florence, so we had to land early in Bologna, which is about an hour and a half away from Florence.  Since we had to wait longer for a bus to arrive to drive us to the Florence airport I had time to purchase my first euros, they are pretty compared to the US dollar.  Since our flight was running late we were not able to get to our hotel at the correct arrival time, so I asked Alexander, the man on the airplane, if he could call the hotel for us and tell them our problem.  Once we arrived at our hotel we finally got settled in and went out for a walk in search of some dinner.  We went to a cute little pizzeria called La Lampara and enjoyed our first real Italian meal.  The water is all bottled here in glass bottles and is not free, not cool but I think I will survive.  One of the waiters there, an older man, was really sweet and bought us all a shot, can’t remember what it was called but it was very tasty.  He gave me a 15% off card too for the next time I go in there.   

Missing home a little bit, not seeing my sisters, dogs, and parents will be hard but I know they love me and support that I am here, so that helps a lot.  It has also just hit me that I won’t get to see Zach till October..hurts my heart because I usually talk to him everyday, its also nice to know that he supports my decision to study abroad.  I still cannot believe I am here.  Sitting in our hotel room, with the door to our balcony wide open, listening to people outside and being here, calm, its just amazing and surreal. 

Love-Jess