Paderno del Grappa

I am running on two hours of sleep. Joy and I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and booked it to the metro that would take us to the train station. I was really starting to get worried I would miss my train to the airport, thus missing my flight to Italy. Fortunately, I made it with a few minutes to spare. Unfortunately, I didn't get to have a thorough goodbye with Joy which was sad. I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, got through customs with no trouble, and was on the plane to Lyon for my layover. Normally I book an aisle seat so I can have some leg room and be comfortable, but this time I was in the window seat. I normally don't get airsick but for some reason, the fact that I was scrunched up into a ball uncomfortably made me sick for the first time in awhile. The major turbulence didn't help neither. But I touched ground without upchucking and then I got on the plane for Marco Polo airport in Veniza!

After arriving in Venice, I took a long bus ride to Mestre Train Station where I was met by a resident assistant who helped me buy my ticket for the train to Bassano del Grappa. I met up with some fellow classmates and we had an amazing time piling all our luggage into a cramped train. I am sure the Italians are loving us Americans already. After an hour long train ride, we arrived in Bassano del Grappa where we boarded the bus that would take us to our final destination: Paderno del Grappa.

Upon arriving in Paderno del Grappa, I received my room key and headed up to my single room, luckily on the first floor of the dorm. I know I may seem introverted in getting a single room, but being one of few U of I students here, I didn't want to take the chance of getting a lousy roommate. My room is quite nice, small but nice. In my opinion, the bed is smaller than a twin size, but I have all the accomdations I need and I get my own bathroom which is nice not having to share. And I don't have to worry about anyone complaining about the messiness. After settling in and getting situated, we had dinner at the cafeteria which was pretty good for cafeteria food, but I am sure I will get sick of it soon enough as I did with Burge my freshman year at Iowa. We then had orientation which only lasted about forty-five minutes which was good for all the people who were jet lagged to hell. Fortunately for me, I have already been in Europe for about a month, so I am through with my jet lag :)

I felt alone here, being one of the only Iowa students, so I forced myself to meet some other studnets. I've learned that the majority of the students here are from Kansas University. But that makes sense since CIMBA, the program I am studying abroad through, was based in KU until this past fall semester when they moved to U of I. The guys I met were all from KU and all pledged together in the same fraternity. But instead of being cliquish, they were really friendly and we started hitting it off smoothly. We all went to the local bar and got a few drinks along with all the other students which was pretty fun. But with an 8:30 class tomorrow, I figured I better lay low and head back to get some rest.

So tomorrow I start classes, and we have more orientation meetings for the week. Next week we do CAP which is a leadership training camp kinda thing. I've never done anything like it before, so we will see how it goes!

(I know I normally have a picture posted, but my camera is dead, and I am still figuring out how to get my battery recharged without blowing it up, but I will update this blog with a pic at some point).