YAY!! we are HERE!

Wow, what a day that it has been! So as we left the airport in MSP, that was really tough but the security guy liked my rain boots from Fleet Farm, and saw Emma so it made me very happy. Easy flight to Atlanta, and Emma and I had some good grub. I ate Q-Doba since I figured Italy didn't have that, and emma ate a precious sandwich from an earthy restaurant. The most interesting part of our travel was the 8-hour long flight from ATL to Paris, which we flew Air-France and most of the men were well groomed with french accents. Anyways, while we were eating our dinner at 6, I figured it was only appropriate to have some wine. The precious beverage cart Frenchman came to our row and I asked how much the wine was. In a snappy, mature, and so very informative tone- "This is AirFrance, the wine is free." Emma and I both looked at each other, giggled, and enjoyed our free beverage. It even came in a little personal bottle to pour yourself! Anyways, that was quite amusing.

So we landed in Paris and saw the sunrise, all I can say is WOW watching that with fog and rolling very-green hills. Reminded me of the movie PS I Love You. 10 other people were there heading to Florence: 7 from ISU, 2 from Gustavus (Jeremy and Nicole, reminds me of my good friends from HS), and a girl from NYU studying anthropology. We chatted, giggled, and were slightly dilutional from traveling for 18 or so hours. We hung out for 2 hours, boarded our really tini plane and was made fun of by security for how I say Bonjour... just another thing to laugh about!

We arrived in Florence after crossing over the Apennines mountain range with not a cloud in the sky and it felt like 70! Even though it was only 55, but still, leaving the airport was amazing because it's all historical buildings with mostly all sidewalk and street between, with the occasional green strip of trees and grass. Mopeds zoomed everywhere, I thought I might die with how fast our taxi driver was going through the tini streets and between other cars. Finally arrived at the Hotel Garden, our wonderful 1892 "Queen Hotel". It's had a few slabs of paint put on the walls with a friendly Indian family running the place. So excited to see what breakfast is in the morning! We have 5 girls in our room, all with a bed: Ashley, Caroline, Megan, Emma, and I. We met up with the other group from ISU of 4 girls and left for dinner at 6. Since most restaurants are still on siesta at 6 and don't open until 7, we stopped at a Wine and Cocktail bar to spend the hour. It was so fun to just hang out and relax, talk about the craziness of traveling (Ashley getting her luggage lost, someone pickpocketing kates wallet at H&M, Emma's hair catching fire to take a photo, and Jessie tripping up the curb... not wine induced but definitely worrisome!)  But after that we went to a Mediterranean Cafe and had some veggie salmon pasta and some more wine. Definitely splurged a bit the first night but it was so fun! We walked so much, went to the Duomo, replica of the statue of David, walked across the Ponte Vecchio, and the Machiavelli Palace, looked through a lot of windows and did some people watching! Wow, this place is amazing, and can't believe the adventure I've already had the first day. Move in day tomorrow! Much love, AF