Jet Lag

Well, I made it. All of my flights were on time, no luggage lost, and here I am! What a long blur of a day it's been. Mopmop will be happy to know that we flew right over Cape Breton on the way to Paris. And even though I didn't have a window seat, I still got a birds eye view of everything because the plane had moniters displaying the landscapes it passed. The biggest difference I noticed once in Europe was that it is much greener and there really aren't any highways.

From Paris to Florence I had a window seat and we passed over the Soutern Alps (pictured below). All of the land was so green and beautiful (also pictured below) during the flight, and even though I felt exhausted, I couldn't help but keep my eyes wide open so I didn't miss a thing. Rivers coiled through the landscape and towns were spread far apart from one another.

Once I arrived, Rose and her son Lorenzo were there to greet me. There were also a few other students in the program that I met on the plane ride. So we fit one extra student in with us and the other three took a taxi. Driving in Italy is crazy. The roads are so narrow and the cars drive so fast.

When I got to the Villa I checked in and was assigned to a room. The Villa is absolutely gorgeous. The pictures on the website don't do it justice. Hopefully I'll be able to take some that capture its essence. Anyway, my room is pictured below. There is a bathroom and a closet right outside the door. My roommate is a really nice girl from University of Wisconsin. Pictured below my bedroom is the view outside of my bedroom window.

Dinner was served promptly at 7p.m. and was- as you might have guessed- pasta, salad, and bread- delicious. After dinner I walked around the garden with a few of the other students and took pictures. However, by the time I did this it was getting dark. I want to try to capture how beautiful it really is so I'm going to have to wait to post pictures of that- except for one that turned out pretty well; but remember, this is only part of the garden (my backyard).

Tomorrow is Orientation all day and then we are going into Florence at night. It also happens to be the Festival of San Giovanni, the Patron Saint of Florence, tomorrow and so there should be fireworks and big crowd for the event.

Wow! What a long day it has been. Florence is in the Central European time zone which means that it's 6 hours ahead of Michigan. This leaves an awfully tired Caroline. So, arrivederci for now, and hopefully I'll have time to post again soon!