I'm Here!

Just as my nerves were getting to me as we pulled up to LGA, I had a wonderful “surprise” waiting for me. Well, more than that, I was scared out of my wits and Joel pounced on me even before we were able to check in! I think the person behind the counter was getting annoyed because I wasn’t even paying attention to her because Joel was there but I don’t really care – he made me a t-shirt! :)

It was the perfect way to start off my trip and made me feel a lot better about everything. Thank you Joel, you stupid boy/BeSt BoIfRiEnD EVah! (No, it was actually pretty romantic...)
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I tried to sleep the whole flight over from Boston to London to fight premature jet-lag but was just kind of in a daze, as it was about 6-12pm. The moment I got on British Airways, though, my Anglophilia immediately started kicking in. Soon after I got off the plane, though, I could have sworn I started hearing some Italian and awkwardly started following this family, because I’m so eager to hear the language and wanted to prove that I’m right, but I was probably primed or something. Whatever! I just need to be patient for a few more hours so decided to revert back to the obvious anglophile I am. It really is a sad existence.

Susannah! I wanted to tell you that I was fortunate enough to land in terminal 5 in Heathrow. It really did have a nice, clean look, but I have to be honest with you, I don’t really remember what this airport looked like the last time I was here. I share your enthusiasm though and it looked like they were making efforts to make it eco-friendly which is nice for such a major airport. The funny thing is, I didn’t really get to enjoy it because I kind of got stuck on the ground-level where I didn't see anyone for a good half-hour and got a bit nervous.

Mom, Dad, and Julie, right when I got out of customs and got past security, the first place I saw was Wagamama! That was one of my favo(u)rite restaurants that we went to in London but I remember how expensive it was (not like that’s different from any other place in England). I had to take a picture of it though because that was such a fun place to eat. I also was extremely happy to see Harrods, Boots, and HMV right when I got past security. Really, why do you need to go into London at this point? (kidding, of course…)

LONDON! I will miss you but will be back in May (but maybe not to Heathrow because I’ll be flying to Gatwick on the way back but we will see).
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I just got to Roma and am so, so grateful that I have all of my bags. I have to say that I'm a little let down that I didn't hear Italians applauding once the plan landed and then stand up before they're allowed to take their seatbelts off, resulting in a lot of unnecessary yelling, but this is British Airways after all.

My first test was to go through customs without looking like such an American but my Italian performance was pretty cringe-worthy. Still, Italians have a good sense of humor and the guy jokingly told me that he's studying Italian too to make me feel better (or at least that's what I think he was trying to tell me). I have to say that I was very relieved to see someone from the Umbra Institute and now that that's all done, and I've met a few students, I feel pretty comfortable and awake, surprisingly. We'll be here for another hour and a half and then we'll take a 3 hour bus ride to Perugia. It seems that no one really knows what's going on these next few days so yay!

I'll update soon.

-Kara