Chapter One: Feeling Prepared

Doesn't exist. Here's how the day was planned:

Arrive in Italy after a long, seven hour sleep on the plane, without any jet lag because I had slept so soundly on the way. Next, we would take the bus to our hotels, where we would relax and then meet up later. Next, we would have a nice dinner, hang out, see Como, get our phones and take the bus home, and upon arriving we would have a full night sleep.

Here's how it actually played out:

Italy is gorgeous! Although, as comfortable as I am with the language right now, adjusting isn't easy. The weather was very dark and rainy and cool, but despite that, the lake was the most beautiful place I've ever seen.  However, only getting two hours of sleep on the plane ride over certainly didn't set us up for a completely successful first day... (but hey, we are in Italy, that's a heck of a silver lining).  We arrived in Milan, but did not see any of the city because the airport is far outside of the city center and we immediately got on a bus for the hour ride into Como after landing. The first stop was for two purposes: to drop off the professor who had planned and organized the whole trip for us, and to scare the living daylights out of all of us as we went to go meet our hoteliers without an introduction.

We were, however, pleasantly surprised and happy to find out that one of the Italian students who was at Niagara in the fall, Federica, was also there to take us to each of our hotels. Unfortunately for a very tired Elizabeth, Bellagio was the last stop, preceeded by an hour long bus ride through the winding, bumpy, road that, in my opinion, we were going way too fast on.  After we set down our bags, we got right onto a boat and went back to Como for a long, cold, and beautiful ride through the city.  It was amazing, but it was raining, and we hadn't slept in over 24 hours, when we got on the bus to come back to Bellagio. 

The bus. 

This was easily the worst three hours of our trip. The four other students in Bellagio and I got tickets for the 7:45pm bus to Bellagio, but, at 7:45 when the bus came and we boarded, it turned out to be the wrong one.  At nearly 8 at night, right before all public transportation stops completely, we found out we were headed in completely the wrong direction.  After explaining ourselves (with the help of a very nice Italian man) to the driver, were pointed in the right direction and got on the right bus just in time. We were all beyond upset and frustrated when we got back to Bellagio, an hour and a half later.  Now pouring rain, we had a mile walk back to our apartment.  After 36 hours of being awake, all I wanted to do was sleep.  Instead, we stayed up for four hours, hanging out and playing cards with out neighbors, who are awesome. Several of them speak English and several do not, so I got good practice translating and speaking Italian. 

The next day, I woke up feeling a little sick, probably from not having a good meal since noon the previous day. There was also no time for breakfast when we met up with our professor and the rest of the group to go on a tour of Bellagio, and the Villa Serbelloni.  We then got on the boat for Como!  After arriving, we went to the University of Insubria to meet the president, the Italian students who went to Niagara last year, and the ones going this coming year, and then presented ourselves in Italian. After the ceremony, I got a ride back to Bellagio in a friend's Audi, going 120 km all the way through the winding roads back to Bellagio. It was probably the most terrifying experience of my life.

As I am writing, I am sitting in a local sporting club with four Americans, a German girl I met at Niagara two years ago and ran into here, and the son of the owner of one of the hotels here. We are eating, drinking, and having a wonderful time. I can't wait for tonight, as we are going to a club here in Bellagio called "Lido," with all of our new Italian friends. 

I think, on a final note, it's also worth saying that I've clearly never had pizza, pasta or ice cream before, and the views here are beyond my ability to describe.