Benvenuti, Welcome to Italy!

Cooking class, gorgeous apartment, beautiful sculpture, and surprisingly awesome roommates. My experience abroad in Italy is surpassing all of my expectations. I've spent a few nights in a fancy hotel and was spoiled with elegant three hour five course meals. I moved into my apartment expecting narrow, winding stairs, small living space, and maybe a childs bed, excuse me cot, from ikea? I was pleasantly, no overwhleming impressed at how absolutely drop dead gorgeous our apartment is. We have overly large rooms and high cielings but my favorite characteristic of our apartment is the classic italian touches - tile floors, murals on the cielings, elegant molding- I'm still in disbelief that I'm this blessed to live in a place like this. Not to mention I couldn't have been paired to live with a better bunch! Two girls are from Massachusetts, which means we can continue our friendship at home, and two girls are from Washington but couldn't be more similar to us. We've bonded over our love of country music, wine, our favorite TV shows are all the same, and most importantly we all have the same sense of humor- silly with a touch of immaturity.

I've had a great time taking in all the scenary as we've been on many informational tours as well as getting lost and exploring on our own. It's been blue skies and sunny everyday and the food is so, so good. Our program we travelled with set us up with a professional cooking class and I think I may have found a new hobby in cooking! We made eggplant caprese (grilled eggplant, topped tomatoe slices, mozzarella, and spices), gnocchi (tiny potatoe dumplings in a meat and vegetable sautee), and tiramisu for desert. I don't like tiramisu at all, but lets just say I ate two. So yummy!

The next four months should be nothing short of amazing. My roommates make me laugh everyday, the city's beauty continually takes my breathe away, and I've already booked a trip to the Swiss Alps for next weekend and another for the Amalfi Coast for the Easter long weekend. The program I am travelling with, API, has made me feel really safe with self defense classes, multiple guided tours, personable landlords in good neighborhoods, and really helpful staff.  They're taking us to the ballet in a few weeks! I look forward to keeping you updated on all my adventures to come, count your blessings and be thankful for everyday, take a risk!

Caio!