Ciao darlings,

As I am writing this, I am sitting at my desk in my new home for the summer and listening to the lovely sounds of birds chirping outside and feeling the sun on my skin from my open window overlooking the countryside.

I am absolutely ecstatic to be here :D

After 12+ hours of traveling, my body is finally back in somewhat of a normal mode. I can wakeup at a decent hour and will start following a more regular schedule this coming week.

So what was I up to my first weekend? Well, I got to see a friend from college who is also living in Italy for the summer! She just recently graduated from my college and is definitely giving me an idea of what post-grad life will be like. What are the chances?!

I hopped on a train to Bologna, a very popular and central Italian city, from my little town and decided to explore the city this Saturday since I had never been to Bologna when I lived in Florence apart from leaving to England from their airport.

For starters, I am living in a small town near Verona and do not have huge stores to get to so I decided to take advantage of going to Bologna, join civilization by getting an Italian number, and not try to live off of Wifi while I'm here.

I went to a Vodafone to buy a SIM card (which was hella cheap for 3GB, 3000 texts, and 1,000 minutes for the month -- 25 Euros..HOLLA), although my phone still hasn't been unlocked thanks to AT&T -_-

So apart from the fact I couldn't understand everything the man at Vodafone was telling me, I apparently didn't take his advice on putting the SIM card in my phone and shutting it off although I asked if I could use my phone while it was activating. And I quote, just imagine a loud Italian accent, "WHY YOU DON'T(A) LISTEN TO ME!". And then I preceded to shut my phone off and thanked him as I laughed out the door.

Apart from getting a SIM card, we explored, chit chatted through the markets, went out for lunch (I FINALLY HAD PIZZA WOO), and walked around until our train rides home.

Asinelli Tower of Bologna Fun Fact: These towers were distinct to Bologna--considered like the modern day Manhattan of the time