Italia 2006

I arrived in Firenze, Italia on September 5, 2006. After a plane ride of no sleep, no food, and 2 cups of coffee, I was feeling terribly sick. I got off the plane ran to the bathroom and from there...I guess you could say, I was the first one to vomit on this trip. Although the flight here was a trip from hell, I was fortunate because I was one of the ten that actually got my luggage. 50 students were left for two days with no luggage. It was hectic, but luckily I didnt have to worry about that. The past two days we have been at orientation at our university, Syracuse Florence. The days are long and feel like they are never ending, but the nights have been alot of fun. Last night I met my home stay mom, Signora Diodorri. She is a young, 51 year old, widow and is so much fun. She speaks absolutely no English, which I am so excited about. She is an amazing cook and we live in a two story home with the downstairs all to my roommate and I. The only fault is that there are alot of bugs and the water pressure and heat is horrific...but it can't all be perfect. Last night our host mom made us an amazing dinner and took us to the piazza where the Duomo is. There, we walked in a parade for the birth of the Madonna. It was amazing! As the Italian children held lanterns and walked down the streets, the band played and everyone sang. The sights were amazing and our host mom was so thrilled to have us there. Today we registered for classes and I am taking 3 in Italian and 2 in English...just to balance it out. Overall everyhing has been great and I could not feel more blessed to be here and to experience the beauty of Firenze. This weekend our host mom is taking us to the seaside, I am sure after this weekend I will have much more to write about. Until then I look forward to the adventures that await me.

09/04/2006

My journey begins. The day started this morning bright and early. I spent the morning with one of my closest friends, Britt, enjoying my last American Starbucks coffee and Noah's bagel. As we drove to the airport in her mini cooper, my pink Barbie luggage squishing me against the window, I realized...there is no going back. I absorbed all the San Francisco sights as I thought about the journey ahead of me. When I arrived at San Francisco International airport I was greeted with familiar faces. Ten of my sorority sisters stood in line waiting to check in their luggage. Although we were all filled with excitement, the look of terror spread across our faces. Of course I was the only one with two huge pink pieces of luggage, matching of course. After checking in my Barbie bags and getting my boarding pass, our group of 40 met together and checked in with our escort. We passed through security and arrived at the gate, where we sat anxiously awaiting the call for boarding. As we were waiting a man came on the speaker , "Miss Tamara Lugliani please come up to the podium please." I walked up to the podium and find out that my isle seat (which I was so looking forward to) had been changed to a window seat. Instead of panicking, I hoped that I would have friends around me...little did I know that I would be sitting (once again squished against the window) next to a little old German couple, with a screaming baby in front of me and kid kicking my chair behind me. Rather than using this as a bad foreshadowing of my next four months I just took it as it was and thought I would use it to entertain you. Right now I am sitting here in the most ghetto airplane five hours into the flight watching a movie on a screen that barely works...let me tell you, MY ADVENTURE HAS BEGUN. Only four more hours to go and I plan to use those hours to get some sleep. Tomorrow I will be in Italy and my semester abroad will begin. Until then...arrivaderci.