Hi All!

Just bought myself an adapter so I can finally use my computer! My apartment miraculously has some wireless internet already (though I may purchase some to guarantee a better connection)! So I arrived last night after a long day of travel! My first flight went smoothly and I ended up making a friend who just graduated from Stanford who was on her way to Prague to visit her boyfriend. We ended up hanging out and shopping around together in the Zurich airport while waiting for our connecting flights. On the flight to Florence I ended up sitting next to an older Italian man who spoke very few words in English but we ended up talking with a few words here and there in Italian and English and using hand gestures. He was really friendly and was giving me advice on where to visit around Florence like the smaler towns. After nearly breaking my arms off carrying my luggage to a taxi I arrived at my aparment, well I should say the front door of my building because my apartment is on the 4th floor. But let me tell you the 4th floor is more like 5 or 6 floors up there are SoOOOO many stairs! I don't think I've ever sweat more in my life than when I had to haul all 4 pieces of luggage by myself up to the veryyy top. It was lovely. But when I got inside my apartment it was all worth it! It is HUGE! It is really spacious and clean! Our cielings even have frescos on them! They said our building is 700-800 years old!!! Natalie (my roommate) got us the biggest room and it is so great we each have a tiny set of drawers and plenty of cabinet space where there are rods to hang clothes on hangers! The bathroom probably has the best view of any room in our apartment! Literally when you are sitting on the toilet or baday( I have no idea how to spell it, but you know the thing that sprays your butt haha) you have the most perfect view of the Duomo! Literally our apartment could not be closer, like it is literally physically impossible to be closer! Its amazing! After unpacking Natalie and I went for a stroll around our neighborhood and literally anything you could ever need is close by. This morning we had orientation until about noon and our school is amazing as well! It is in the cutest Piazza that has its own Merry-go-round and an ancient obilisque (the Egyptian poles). Our group is 50 kids and they all seem great, I havent had much of a chance to talk to many but we have a Welcome Dinner tonight followed by a walking tour. I also bought my cell phone today so I'm glad to have that figured out my number is +39 331 2367893. After I bought it I attempted to find the Mercado Centrale (open air market) but didnt find it so I just wandered around by myself for like a half hour looking at everything and trying to get my bearings. Its pretty warm today like 95 but its just beautiful! I think I decided I want to stay in Cinque Terre for my birthday weekend since we have a field trip there on September 11th anyways. But I'm excited for tomorrow because we have a 1/2 day trip to Lucca where we are going on a bike tour! That's all for now! Love you all and miss you already!!!!

Ciao!
Kara