Bowers Abroad: Finally Here!

Ciao from Italia! I am alive!

The flights went relatively well, minus the few screaming babies that are bound to be on any flight or the snoring neighbors who take up the entire armrest so you're stuck in the middle not really sure what to do. The food was eh (cold cheese ravioli), but at least American Airlines hooked it up with some complimentary wine! Holla

Pre-Flight

My layover in London Heathrow was short and sweet. While I was sitting at my gate to fly to Rome, an elderly man struck up an Italian conversation with me. I was able to create about two sentences that were composed of a mix of Spanish, Italian, and English and then just smiled and nodded, adding "mmm si" where I felt it was appropriate. He asked me where I was studying and how long I would be there. I was able to answer those questions. For the rest of the conversation, I really have no idea what went on. But he was such a precious old man and so friendly!

On the plane, I met a fellow traveler coming from Istanbul. We attempted to master the train system together and succeeded! I walked from the Termini station to my hostel, getting so lost on the way and turning a ten minute stroll into an hour and a half struggle. The hostel wasn't bad; I shared a room with three other girls (two from New Zealand and one from Argentina) who were all traveling throughout Europe. Despite there being no hot water for a shower, the rest of the evening was great. I walked around the city for a bit and it was gorgeous! A guy asked me where I was from and when I responded "California," he was so excited. He asked me if I personally knew "the man Snoop Doggy Dogg!" I immediately corrected him, saying he was actually Snoop Lion now, didn't he know that? Just kidding. We ended up having a conversation about how fantastic California is and In&Out was definitely mentioned. Also, I quickly became a huge fan of the water spickets in the streets! I had to take a pic…

Fontana delle Naiadi

First sunset in Italy!

I proceeded to sleep about 3 hours (thank you jetlag) and got up this morning to pouring rain. Awesome. I'm surprised I can still identify rain because lord knows none of that happens in California. I checked out of the hostel, grabbed my gear, and hopped on the train to Florence. The ride was absolutely beautiful! Italy is so, so green and the rolling hills of the country were really pretty. Also there were some cute mama and baby sheep grazing in fields near the train tracks. Awh.

When I got to Florence, you couldn't have paid me to walk anywhere with all my luggage after getting lost in Rome. I cabbed it to the study center and was given my host family arrangements, and then snagged a cab to their house. It is AWESOME… MY HOST FAMILY HAS A DOG! Her name is Megan and she's a yellow lab mutt. There are also two cats, one is small and the other is definitely large and in charge. When I first walked in, it was eating and didn't stop for 15 minutes; I'll probably look similar to the cat when I return from Italy in four months. The mom, Barbara, is so sweet and has two sons -- Andrea is 17 and Tommaso is 30. There is another student at the house, Carol, who is a fourth year at UCLA. The house is about three miles away from the study center so I'll be taking various buses to get to school during the week. There's a great park nearby and we are super close to the Arno so I'm excited to run around the area and scope everything out!