Saturday night

First of all, I must say that the food here is fantastic but I think you would have already guessed that. Italy is beautiful and if you can visit, you should.

This is the first time I've had wireless internet for days and it is stolen from the apartment next door so this may be brief because I think it's fickle. I just got to my homestay which is with an older woman named Fulvia. I thought there were going to be other american students staying at her place but I guess it's just the two of us. She seems pretty nice when I can understand what she's saying.

These past three days I've spent with the other 10 girls in the program (it's not as weird as I thought it would be to not have boys in the program). So far, everyone seems friendly and there are no weirdos (besides me). They're from many different colleges like Oberlin, Wheaton, Williams and Swarthmore and live in many different parts of the country(not just the east coast like I thought).

For orientation we all went to a agriculture turismo near Pisa/ Lucca, a sort of retreat complete with rolling hills and sheep. The food at the turista is amazing. They make all their own cheeses, meats etc. Everything tastes super fresh and far better than any Italian food I've eaten previously. There were also three amazing dogs that were free to roam around where ever they like. One looked kind of like a corgi (but not) and two were the shaggy type. All three of them made me miss Henry.

Today we went to the Fortezzi di Montecarlo near Lucca and although it was rainy and a bit foggy, the view was still amazing. I'll post some pictures soon. I think it dates way back to around 1400.

Also, they keep the indoor temperatures a lot cooler here so I'm a bit huddled over my laptop but it's generally a lot warmer than NY. I can't wait to start classes on Monday. Where I live is about 10 minutes away from Siena walls and I have to take the bus over. Hope I don't get lost/ probably I will/it's okay.



Hope you're all well and I miss everyone

ps: my skype name is amandajhu if you want to skype
if you want to call, contact me for my italian cell #