across the sea.

I’m here. I made it. No more riding airplanes or buses, waiting at gates, and eating crappy food. After approximately ten hours of travel, I’m in my bed safe in Arezzo.

My flights were ordinary. Take off, landing, some cracker/pretzel stuff in a bag that kind of tasted like chex-mix but nowhere near as good, thirty minutes of a movie I’ve never heard of (September Issue) and three hours of much needed sleep pretty much sums it up. Customs was fine only after I realized that the Swiss man was asking me how long I was planning on staying Europe, not the Zurich airport (really, Lizbie?).

After claiming both of my bags, each weighing just under fifty pounds, I along with three other girls I met on my flight going to the same program, made our way to the meeting place where we would wait a couple hours before getting picked up by a charter bus to go to the villa. Greeted by a crowd of ten or so other students from various colleges, I was pleasantly surprised. As I expected, we all introduced ourselves knowing that there was no way we would all remember everyone else’s names… not yet. The whole situation was very freshmen orientation/first day of camp, which was comforting.

To be honest, I slept most of the hour ride to Arezzo instead of admiring the view. For the few minutes I was awake, it was gorgeous. It’s Italy. Go watch Under the Tuscan Sun if you want a visual.

The rest of the day was spent unpacking, showering, and napping. The whole villa is chilly since it’s such an old building, but my room is nice. I like everyone I’ve met so far. There are only eighteen undergrads this semester— nine dance and nine theatre. I’m already comparing it to CIT summer minus the life guarding and mountain climbing part (although there will most likely be metaphorical mountains, if you know what I mean). Bonding is inevitable.

Tomorrow and Friday we have orientation meetings planned. A few tours, common sense lessons about how not to get yourself killed or end up in jail, and a walk into town to explore and buy whatever we need.

As Penny Lane would say, it’s all happening.