A Few Photos for everyone!

Flor, me, Taylor, Nora and James at the discoteca Millenium

View down Via Rizzoli looking at one of the due Torri

Piazza Maggiore

One of the more ornate Porticos, gorgeous!

This is the view from the balcony of my apartment :-)

Laundering in Italy... what an experience...

I think we've all had the pleasure of using communal laundry facilities, you know waiting until someone you don't know in apartment 4 is finished using it, or finding that the drier is still full of clothes 2 hours after it's finished drying? Yes we've all been there. And now I've entered a new chapter of laundering difficulties.
A) the washing machines are about the size of a cereal bowl.
B) Driers don't exist in Italy.
C) Italians will not remove their clothes from the drying rack until there is not an ounce of moisture left in them.
And so here I am. First of all, it took three tries to get the washing machine to work. Then I was told that the clothes on the drying rack are not ready to be moved, and there is not enough space for my clothes. So at the moment I have socks hanging in the closet, pajamas hanging on the closet door, sweater and jeans on the radiator and about six socks claiming an open space on the drying rack.
I was told when I left for Italy that I would come away with an appreciation for certain things they do here in Italy that are different from what we traditionally do in the States, but that I would also come away with a much greater appreciation for other things I once took for granted. This is one of those things. Never again will I take for granted the enormous washing machines, with self-explanatory buttons. And NEVER again will I complain about the drier taking an hour to finish drying my clothes! It could take 2, maybe three, and that would be just dandy with me!
But, enough about laundry! We started our pre-session class this week. I love my teacher, Clara. She teaches Italian at a private language school somewhere outside of Bologna. She showed us some pictures and it looks absolutely gorgeous (and absolutely out of any reasonable price-range!). The class itself is about a 15-20 minute walk from my apartment, but every morning I meet Flor and we stroll along the streets of Bologna to class, just as the city is waking. It's an incredible feeling to know that now when we want to go somewhere or have to go somewhere, we can find our way with no difficulty, and now map!
It's funny how things that seemed so scary and so new only a week ago, now seem so familiar, you wonder how you ever got lost.
I bought a bike today from our friend Keith from New Zealand. It's a lovely black bike, with a basket and bell. It will be perfect for getting around town. Keith is heading back to New Zealand after the weekend, and even though we've only known him for a week, it's sad to see him go so far away. But who knows, perhaps we'll all meet again sometime in the future!
My roommate Rosanna, cooked for Irène and I today. I'm not exactly sure what was in it, but it was heavenly to my tastebuds! Italians make throwing together a meal look so easy!
We're still thinking about doing some traveling soon, and I'm thinking that Florence will probably be our first visit, maybe next weekend. We will probably take a trip somewhere sometime in the first couple of weeks in February also because we have a week or more off before classes begin for the semester, obviously we must take advantage!
It's still hard to speak, but we're all trying and all trying to be too self-conscious and nervous about it, because if we don't try we'll never improve. All of the people I've met here have been extremely patient and encouraging, which is always helpful.
Well that is all for now! Flor and I are about to embark on yet another adventure: renting a movie from Blockbuster. It would seem such a simple task, yet when you have no idea how to go about asking to sign up for an account, it becomes so much more daunting and complicated!
Baci ed abbracci a tutti!

I'm Really in Italy...

I made the big move last night! I am now in my new apartment here in Italy! A group of us went out with my roommate and her friend last night and had so much fun! Everyone here is so laid back it's great.
We start our class tomorrow and I'm really excited about that. I don't know what level I will be in for this presession, but I guess it doesn't really matter to me. Whatever level that put me in is probably where I belong. I'll just be happy to be learning/speaking/reading Italian again. I actually excited to have homework!
It's going to be hard to get used to not really being able to do anything on Sundays. It's true that almost everything is closed... A friend and I went to the grocery store since we've both moved into our new apartments, but were suprised to find that the store closes at 1 pm on Sunday. And they mean business when they say "the store is closing please bring your things to the front." They might as well have chased us out of there with brooms! At least I do have a grocery store nearby though, one block down and across the street actually! That will be very convenient.
I'm still taking this all one day at a time. I think if I tried to do it any other way I might go crazy! There's so much to take in and I don't want to miss a second of it. I just need to start taking some pictures now!

My New Aparment

Well there is definitely a mixed bag of emotions going on here in Italy, but most of it is pretty exciting underneath (or right on the surface!). We were given the task a couple of days ago of finding apartments here in Bologna, which was a little daunting. I was lucky I came a few days early and had the good fortune of tagging along while Kelly looked for apartments, and we both had the good fortune of having Kelly's friend Simona be our guide through the process. Most of the other students are still looking for apartments, but it feels pretty good to have found one already and to be able to relax a little right now.
My apartment is in the historic center (il centro storico) and it is absolutely beautiful. I love it! I'll be sharing a room with a French girl named Irene who seems very nice, and sharing the apartment with an Italian girl, Rosana, and a Spanish girl (I haven't met yet). All three are students at l'Universita di Bologna too. They all speak Italian in addition to their first languages which is great. I'm so excited that I'm going to be living in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual apartment while living and learning Italian. I think its going to be a great experience. The apartment itself is very nice, lots of marble, clean, updated, lots of natural light, and its so close to everything (school, restaurants, bars, shopping) and its very close to Kelly and Simona's apartments and our friend Flor (another girl in the program).
Kelly, Flor and I are venturing out to Ikea today (very Italian, I know) to shop for our new places. All the apartments here come furnished, but we still need to add some homey touches, like sheets and pillows! :-)
On another note, we took our "pre-session test" today to be placed into the different levels for our pre-session course. It was a little more difficult than I anticipated, but from the sounds of it, I'm not the only one that felt that way. There is an incredible mix of abilities and skills in Italian among the participants in the program, which is great. It will be really interesting to see how everyone changes and improves throughout the next six months.
Things are really getting going now. We start our presession on Monday, go to get our "permesso di soggiorno" tomorrow, move in tomorrow and we go from there! Once we leave the hotel I feel like our Italian experience is really going to take off.
I'm thinking of doing a "scambia di lingua" here to help practice my Italian. I think it would be a great way to not only practice speaking, but to meet people and to learn more about the culture and social life here. I would help someone with their Italian and they would help me with my Italian, what could be better?!
The only thing I need to get going on is my pictures. None of us want to walk around like the American tourist, you know. We all want to pretend we're Italian through and through, but come on. Even if we can speak Italian perfectly, we will always be American here, so there will be some picture taking very soon.
A presto tutti!

Finalmente sono arrivata in Italia!

Ciao tutti!
I finally got to Bologna (on Saturday) and these last two days have been quite full! But first the story of how I got here...
First of all, my mom my dad, Ross, Griffin and I were sort of worried about getting to the airport in time and about my flight even leaving on time, but we got there with plenty of time to spare. Then about 3 minutes after getting in line at the Iberia counter, a lady stood up on the counter and announced that the flight was cancelled due to the weather in Spain, apparently they had two inches of snow. So then they rebooked me on an American Airlines flight to Frankfurt and a Lufthansa flight to Bologna. But, that would have been too easy. Our flight was delayed out of O'Hare because we had to wait for another delayed flight to arrive since there were 50 people who needed to catch our flight. We arrived in Frankfurt an hour after my connecting flight left. Then the American Airlines representative that met us when we got off that flight in Frankfurt told me to take my "flight interuption manifest" to the Lufthansa counter and they would rebook me. No problem, right? No, it took a half hour to figure out what was going on. but they finally rebooked me and I got to Bologna!
Now I'm trying to keep up with the Italian. The first couple days were really hard, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of listening and knowing what's going on. I'm trying to do my best with speaking, but I am so glad I arrived here early. I feel like I'm at least one step ahead of the other people in the program who arrived today.
My friend Kelly has been here for a few weeks and she and her friend Simona (who is an italian living in Bologna) met me at the train station. We stayed at Simona's apartment for 2 nights and she her roommates were so great, I can't wait to spend more time with them. They are so patient and helpful with speaking and listening and with helping us look for apartments.
This will have to be all for now, but I will do a more detailed update very soon! We start our actual program domani (tomorrow) and so I will tell everyone all about that!
Ciao!