First day in Europe

I left LAX this morning at 7:45AM to connect for a flight to Washington D.C. to transfer to Frankfurt and then finally Florence. The D.C. Dulles airport was nice in the sense that it had a smoking lounge conveniently located next to my departure gate. However, I had MAJOR difficulties with the Frankfurt Airport. And by major difficulties, I mean that the airport employees were mean and extremely unhelpful. They told me to go to this gate and when I went to that gate, they told me to go to this gate and so on. I also had a couple of employees literally make fun of me and laugh in my face. That, plus running around with a messenger bag filled with six books and a laptop was not my idea of my first impression of Germany-- or Europe in general. I eventually missed my flight and was ready to throw in the towel. But many nervous breakdowns and chainsmoking sessions later, I was able to get on the next flight to Florence.

Despite feeling like a sardine packed in a can (that's economy class for you) on approximately a 14 hour consecutive flight, I arrived in Florence complete with my luggage and curious about my new environment that I would call home for the next three months. I met one of my roommates, Appolonia, who had already been in Europe since August. She and I walked around Florence; we grabbed a snack, compared cell phone rates, and overall discussed what we hoped to get out of our trip. We explored the open-air markets and made note of the future events and art exhibits we'd like to visit.

I am currently sipping on some grappa complimentary of the very nice waiter at the hotel bar. It's still surreal to me that I'm going to be living here. Also, I miss my cats. But in any case, I can't wait to see what else is out here.

Arrividerci,

xx thip