Ciao, Firenze!

FLORENCE, Italy - I woke up early on my first morning in Italy and went running in the streets of Florence. The night before, my roommates and I - along with three other girls in our program - drank wine on the steps of La Piazza di Santa Croce and watched some of the locals play a game of nighttime street soccer (or football).

It's still a bit surreal, being here in Italy. Even on my fourth day, I'm still getting used to living in this moment. I guess I've gotten used to looking forward to this, and I'm still learning how to take it all in.

The journey over here wasn't too bad. After about 13 hours in the air - we had one stop in New York - we finally touched down in Rome at 9:58 a.m. Sunday morning.

Once we arrived in Florence, we each took taxi cabs to our apartments. They set us up in apartments in genuine Florentine neighborhoods. I ended up rooming with two guys, Chad and Dominick in a place on the side of the Arno opposite of the city's center, about 20 minutes away from school by foot. I lucked out, since I had no previous relationship with anyone in the program. By virtue of that fact, I got my own room when the guys in the program divided into uneven numbers.

All I can really say is that I love Italia, and I'm in a hurry to get to know the culture. I especially love Florence early in the morning before the streets flood with tourists and vendors. Perhaps on my next early morning run, I'll gather up enough courage to practice my Italiano with the Florentine residents, who become almost invisible later in the day with all of the tourists. Of the 26 people in my class, I probably speak the most Italian. There's still a hint of Borat in my Italian, however.

Molto Bene!