City tour by Bus???

Yesterday was completely uneventful which is why I never posted. Sorry all. I talked to my parents via Skype as well as Crystal for about an hour each, which was totally awesome to talk to them both. I did decide to go for a walk yesterday but I think that the thunder knows when I am going outside because the moment I went out it started raining. I was determined though to walk around so I was out for about an hour in the poring rain then decided to go home. Was about 1/2 a block from my house and then rain stopped and the sun came out. lol go figure! Oh well.

Today I met my new friend Emma at the train station. She was my wine tour guide on my Birthday and we exchanged email addresses then. We went to a nice little place and each ordered pasta and a glass of wine. Still not used to drinking wine (especially at lunch time) as it hit me pretty hard and I was kinda wobbley for a bit. lol After lunch though we just walked around for about 5 hours. I bought a key chain and ended up buying a phone! YEAH It is a pay as you go one which should work out ok. I don't plan on putting the number on here but if you want it, please email and I will give it to you. I think with sasktel it costs about 45cents a min to call here but it depends on the plan you have. Other then that though, I am not sure on the rates. I think the texting works all over the world and I don't think there is a charge, but again, I'm new at this also, so I could totally be talking out of my ass here. ;) Still havn't figured out how to get the phone to work though, but my roomies say it probably just takes time to activate so proabably tomorrow it will work.

I dropped off Emma at the train station to catch her bus and then headed over to find mine. The bus 17 that I always take from my apartment to get downtown is what I got on again to get back home. Well, it does/did take me back home but I saw a nice view of the city as well. I caught the bus at 6:15 and I finally made it home about 7:40. lol On a happy note though, I can now say that I have travelled most of the city and I now which bus to take to get home (even though I am moving on Wednesday).

Beg, Borrow & Steal???

Had a very unproductive day. I'm still trying to figure out how to use the washing machine. Seriously, I should be able to figure it out, but its a front load tiny version of ours and has about 30 different settings on it (totally not kidding). I did a load yesterday and it took about 2 hours to wash. Isn't that strange? Then today again I did another load and after 2 hours I went to check on it and it still wasn't done. I finally just moved it to the spin cycle and took out my clothes. Very few people have dryers in Italy so everything has to get hung to dry. Because I have a balcony on my room, I decided to hang everything outside. I was finding it very strange though when I went to hang my underwear up. I tried to hide it in the back so that people on the street or people in the apartments across from me couldn't see them. I also want to thank Crystal for forcing me to buy new undies before coming here. If not, everyone would have seen my Sunday best ;) instead of new undies. lol

So, yesterday as I was down at the train station, I seen someone steal something. I didn't really know what was happening until it was to late and about 20 other people seen it also. There was a guy that put his bags down in the train station and then went outside to have a smoke and talk on his phone. As he was doing this though, this very creepy lady ran over to his stuff, reached behind it and grabbed a white bag and then off she ran. I realized afterwards that it was food in the bag. So, on one had, it sucks that this guy had his stuff stolen, but geesh, watch your stuff and at least it wasn't anything of value. So then I was thinking though, should I have said something because she ran right in front of me or shouldn't I have. I decided the later because I didn't want to get involved, which sounds horrible, but I still don't know how things work around here and figured that I better not cause any trouble.

Their is also this lady that I have seen now about 3 times. She is always at the center somewhere and is always begging for money. Now obviously I have seen people on the streets before, but this one caught my attention because she is an older women and she is pregnant and always wore no shoes. The first time, I felt sorry for her, and the second time I was just annoyed. The third time however was yesterday. She was sitting outside the McDonalds when I was there. When she got up, with no shoes, yet again, I saw her readjust her belly! She isn't pregnant! I then realized that this woman is horrible. If she is in need of money that is one thing, but to pretend that you are pregnant so that people give you extra money, COME ON! I was totally P.O. when I saw that. Especially because there is probably many people out on the streets that are actually pregnant and in need of shelter and a some money. I just couldn't believe how low some poeple are sometimes. I guess it was just me being nieve again.

Mcdonalds, Maps & Permits

Slept in until 12 today. Boy was that nice! My two English speaking roommates helped with my residence permit forms. We finally finished about 3 hours later and I was on my way to the post office. I had big plans (because today was the deadline and the post office closed at 7pm) to get on the bus, get there, send my papers away and get home. Well there I was 5pm, It was thundering and pouring rain and the buses weren't running because they were on strike for one day. lol How does that happen?!? Anyway, so I was walking, yet again. It took about 25min in the pouring rain to walk to the train station were the post office was, and of course, just to tick me off, the sun came out just as I was entering the post office. ugh Waited in line only to be told I needed to have my passport photocopied....not just the passport picture page and the visa page but every single page, including the cover. So I found a place that photocopies and headed back. It took about 20min of me standing there while he muttered stuff to me in Italian, 80 euro's and a few signatures later and I was finally given a date in which I can hopefully go back to the place I was at yesterday where there was over 100 people. Its July 29th! Seriously. They make you go through this crazy process of filling out forms and photocopyig documents, hand over 80 euros and then they still may or may not give me a permit card. I don't get it. Why make the big fuss about the 8 day rule then? Oh well, now I wait unil the end of July, and see what happens. I am just glad that it is done for now and I have done all that I can.

Ate at McDonalds today. I don't really need to say more than that. ;) The food has the same goals as it does back in Canada. Its a filler. Something to get you to your next meal. Why so many people eat it and love it, I will never know. I had the chicken burger, which is actually chicken here as opposed to ours which is processed chicken. Very tasty though. They also have curly fries here so that was cool. Super yummy!

On my way home, I didn't have to use my map once! YEAH ME! and to top it all off, when I see people that speak English that need help, I have been trying to lend a hand (not that I can off much help yet), however, I helped an American couple at the post office as well as another couple that was on the side of the road wondering aloud where the river was. I stopped and showed them on my map and they headed off. It actually felt pretty good that I can offer some assistance already and without my map in hand, people actually think I know what I am talking about. ;)

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! What a great day! :)

Well, here I am another year older but still having a great time. Today was a prime example of that. I woke up around 6:30 this morning and put on "Hey Mickey", this song that I dance to every year on my birthday. I got ready to go and was at the train station by 8:30. Found the office where I get my residence permit (yeah!) only to see about 100 or more people lined up there. ugh! I talked to the nice guy that was directing all of this traffic and he told me that I needed to get a kit from the post office, fill it out, return it the post office and then they make an appointment for me. So maybe the 8 day rule is just a suggestion like everything else in Italy. There is no way that a person could do all of that in 8 days. Sucky part is, the whole thing (about 20 pages of stuff to fill out) is in Italian. Yeah me! lol

Met Sam (my tour guide) at the train station at 9:30 only to see that I was going on this vespa tour with a family of 5 from Virginia. We headed out to the vespa's but on the way we stopped at Piazzale Michelangelo where Sam swore had the best view in Florence. Well he wasn't wrong. It was beautiful. From there we headed to Chianti were we were taught our first lesson on how to ride the Vespa. Ok, I should add that by this point I was minorly freaking out. lol We were all given a lesson which was about 10min and then we were off. Does anyone remember first learning to ride a bike and having your parent/grandparent/aunt, let go of you and you have no choice but to do it or fall in the bush? Well that's exactly how I felt today. By this point, I was officially scared shitless! Yup, that's right. Totally freaking out! We got going though and went through some of the most gorgeous area's. Well, I am sure they were gorgeous from what they were telling me. I was so focused on the road and the cars that were whizzing by me, that sceanery was the last thing on my mind. ;) We drove for quite awhile and ended up going through about 3 small towns. It was crazy. My Vespa only stalled on me twice (because I think I was going to slow....lol) before we made it to the vineyard for the wine tour and lunch. We had lunch, which was very good. I had a barley salad with a pesto sauce and it had tomatoes in it. Then for dessert, Sam ordered just me a cake. I totally forget the name but it was baked creme (that's right, I said creme!) Mmm and everyone sang happy birthday to me. We had some wine, told some stories and I was genuinely made to feel at home with the Henderson's. We then got back on our vespa's for the ride home. I was much more relaxed on the way home. Perhaps from the wine...but I doubt it. ;) We stopped along the way were Sam treated us to gelato. The owner of the place we stopped at was ranked 7th in the world for gelato makers....cool huh? It was so yummy. I think I am going to get addicted to gelato. I am sure glad that I waited until yesterday to start trying it. I might never stop now though. (eeek) In the picture above, I am the second from the back. I would have been last if Jim hadn't stayed behind me to make sure I didn't get lost or fall over. lol We made it back safe and sound though and Sam was nice enough to drop me fairly close to my apartment so that I didn't have to take the bus or find my own way home.

I threw in this last pic because I thought it was cool (minus the big head in really pink helmet) hahaha It is showing a vineyard right behind me with a view of Florence far in the background.

So I am still trying to find a place to put all of my pictures so far to date. I was hoping Flicker but I'm not sure I can figure it out. I also thought Facebook, but not everyone has facebook. I'll figure something out and let you all know when I do. Sound good?

Anyway, my last note is to say thanks for all of the Birthday wishes. I love reading everyone's emails and blog comments.

The Nightlife

Well, this might be short and sweet as I have to get up in 6hours and see about my Residence Permit and then I am off to learn how to drive a vespa! SOOOO EXCITED!!!! I went out tonight to see the fireworks that were going on down at the Arno (the major river in Florence). I ended up walking all the way down so I could have the best view and I think I did pretty well. You can see from some of the pictures that there were probably about a million people there. If you look in the picture to the right of the Ponte Vecchio you can actually see 2 rows (looks like one on top of the other) on the right hand side of the picture. That is thousands and thousands of people. I wish I was joking but it was NUTS! So Glad I went though. My Knees/back/ankles are finally starting to catch up with me. Walking on cobblestones all day is hard on an already screwed up body but I'm managing. And the fact that I just got a little older (well by my clock anyway) I can see my body deteriorating before my eyes. lol Just kidding. 30 hasn't been so bad so far. ;-)

Tried gelato tonight! YIPPEE!! Ok Jacquie, you are right. The best thing in the WORLD! I had a mix of chocolate (OMG) and bumbleberry. Boy was it good. I definitely will be having that again soon.

Random thoughts of today

First off, totally forgot to say that I saw the funniest/strangest thing yesterday. While I was walking along the Ponte Vecchio yesterday I came across a dad with his son. He was standing in a corner (but very much in public) and he was undressing him so the little kid could pee, right there in the middle of the bridge. Seriously, would you want to be the 3 year old that peed on the most famous bridge in Florence? Come on now!

Went out today again for another walk. Was going to bus it but then remembered that I had to get my permesso di soggiorno (Residence Permit) before Friday. So I headed out to the police station only be told that it was the wrong one and they were closed already for the day. Tomorrow is a holiday here in Florence so everything is closed and then Thursday I am heading out for a day of fun. I signed up for a Vespa/Wine tour (the same one my friend Lisa took while in Florence 3 weeks ago). I figured why not spoil myself as it is a special day. ;-) Which means though that I am trying to get my residence permit on Friday morning. I sure hope all goes well.

I found a purse today. Pretty pumped about it. I agonized for about 2 hours as I walked through the different street vendors. I tried on and looked at about 20 different purses. The one I chose is nice and big. A wise person once told me, the bigger the purse the smaller your butt looks. So I think I made a good chose. All leather of course, however no name brand. Oh well, I guess that just means that I am holding out for the real big one. ;)

Toilet seats.... So I knew it had to happen sooner or later. I went to a restaurant for supper and had the ham and mushroom pizza. It was pretty good. Can't complain. However, they don't tell you that they charge you just for sitting there as well as for the food and the drink. ugh! 17euro's later I was full and on my way. I did use their bathroom though while I was there. I went into the ladies room and actually thought I had gone into the wrong room as there was no toilet seat on the toilet. Ok, seriously, if you are going to go to the trouble of buying a toilet, why not spend the extra money and buy a seat? Seriously! Anyway, needless to say that was an interesting experience...

Loving the supermarket... if I could only find my way around in them and know what I am buying it would be even better. However, I stopped there on my way home from the center and bought 4 things. Margarine, sugar, spaghetti sauce and bananas and you know what it cost me? 2.78 euros! Ain't that great? Even with the exchange, it would be about $4. That's crazy!

Brand name stores....Ok, so two days in a row now I have walked past stores like Gucci, Dolche & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton and the list goes on. I keep looking in the window in hopes that I will one day walk inside. To be honest though, I'm scared to go inside them by myself. What if they look at me and give me the "you could never afford this beautiful stuff" look? then what? So, I have only window shopped. I have also realized today though that it would be great to be rich and a size 6 because I would seriously give Sara Jessica Parker a run for her money. Wow are the clothes gorgeous! The accessories not far behind. I fell in love with window shopping all over again today ladies. I also have decided that when (not if anymore) I get a job, I am putting it all into shopping. That's right! I am going to work so that I can shop! You only turn 30 once and since I am doing it in the fashion capital of the WORLD, I need to start looking the part. Goodbye baggy sweats and holey tops (I wish I was kidding here) and hello good clothes! They may not be designer clothes, but still, I hope to have a few decent (fashionable) pieces of clothing before I come back to Canada. Is that so wrong?

Did I just make a new friend?

So, I headed out today on foot to meet my new soon to be roommate for lunch. I was supposed to meet him at the the Piazza della Republica at 1pm and was going to take the bus again but Vale, my roommate now, suggested I walk. So I started out on which was supposed be a quick 20min walk, very soon turned into a 40min walk (gotta love ankles and knees).

So I met Mario at our meeting spot and he told me that we were going to have lunch with a few of his friends. So, I followed, not sure what to expect. We went into this little tiny restaurant and ordered from the 4 selections. I tried my hand at the lasagna yet again (WAY better this time). Anyway, we get into the restaurant and there are 8 other people at the table. 5 guys and 3 girls. About half of them spoke some English and the rest just smiled, like I did to them. We were there for easily an hour and a half. Lunches over here are long and very relaxing. Everyone was very nice and it was strange because of the 4 people I talked to at the table, non of them were originally from Florence. 2 were from Italy, one from Mexico and the other from California. When it was time to leave, everyone came to me and gave me kisses on the cheek (one on each side). It was so European and it made me feel like part of there group. One of them even asked if I was going to come back and eat lunch with them which I think is a good sign that I was liked.

At any rate, I had a great day, exploring the center of Florence and even took in the Ponte Vecchio (the most famous bridge in Florence). It started to rain though and I was only in a tank top, but I didn't care. It was still really hot out and I was touring around. I went to see the Piazza della Signoria where I snapped a couple of pictures and even wandered past the Duomo. By this point it was raining pretty good I thought it was a good time to check out the inside of the Duomo, totally forgetting that you can't have bare shoulders going into a church, so out I went back into the rain. By this point it was raining pretty hard and my knees were killing me, so I headed home. Made it home around 5pm which means that I was walking for about 4 hours toay. Yeah me! About 10min after I got home the rain stopped, but isn't that always the way it goes. ;)

Didn't buy my purse yet, but there is always tomorrow :)

Size matters

I have been noticing lately how small everything is here in Florence. Starting with my hotel room on day one and then moving on to everything else. The place that I am staying in (which is starting to feel more like home today) is small. Its probably about the size of the upstairs in my house but it is squished lengthwise instead of rectangular. So imagine my upstairs with 5 bedrooms, one bathroom and one kitchen...that's it. Its crazy. Because there is no living room, everyone just hangs out in there bedrooms. So that begs the question then, how does anyone get to know each other?

Ok, on to the kitchen, the fridge is a small apartment size fridge so we all have one shelve. We all have are own cupboard (but just one) and the stove is small to. It has 4 burners but its a small stove....very weird.

I think I have taken on the roll of 'housewife' in the house because I don't work and it gives me an excuse to leave the bedroom. :) So, today I washed all of the dished in the tiniest sinks known to man. My plate just fit in the bottom of it. To top it all off, everything else is small too. Cutting boards, pots, the sizes of bottles as well as everything else. Shampoo, soaps, paper towel, bread, you name it, its small!

I guess we all just take size for granted. Knowing full well that we can jumbo size this and super size that. To have a Costco here just wouldn't fly. How would you get your Jumbo pack of tp home with you? Carry it on your shoulders? Strap it to your bike? I totally see why it is done this way though. Especially after making that first trek home yesterday myself. 6 Blocks later and 5 floors up to my apartment (no elevator) there is no way I would be buying a jumbo hand soap that ways darn near 10lbs.

So, after being here only 4 days I have definitely seen how size really does matter! ;)

"Cut the Pickle...Tickle, Tickle"

Woke up at 7am this morning. I had an appointment at 10am to see yet another room. I went downstairs, back to the dreaded restaurant for some breakfast. I have to say though, what they lack in supper quality, they definitely make up in breakfast because wow has it been good though both mornings. So there I was sitting stuffing my face with cheese (lots of it), yogurt, croisant (sp?), etc... lol and I was people watching. I learned this trait way back when from my grandma. I have always been a fan. ;) anyway, I was watching an East Indian family a couple of tables away from me as they ate there breakfast. They did speak english but it was hard to understand them at times. (yup, thats right, I was listening that intently to them). Well the 2 kids (boys) must have been about 10 and 12 were fooling around. All of a sudden I seen them do the 'punch it' thing with each other. I chucked to myself but kept watching. Then, I seen them do it again but this time they actually made and said the following..... "Knock it, Lock it, Cut the pickle, tickle tickle" I couldn't contain myself and I did giggle outloud to that one. I immedialty thought of my wonderful 3 year old niece (and I am sure I have told some of you this story before) but Chloe does that exact same thing. However, she is 3 and I think Terry taught it to her, but wow it is the funniest thing when she does it. So, to be sitting in a restaurant in Florence and hear two east indian kids saying and doing the exact same thing, was definitely weird.

I headed out to my 10am appointment, by bus of course, only to get stranded at the train station bus terminal. I couldn't find my bus anywhere. I decide though to jump in a cab and made it here at exactly 10am. So I looked around a bit and decided that yes, I was going to take it. She is charging me 200euro's for the 10 days that I will be staying here and then I move on yet again. This place is available after that but I really liked yesterday's place and Mario seemed so nice that when I emailed him to tell him I was taking it, he responded back with a "I am so glad, I am glad to have you!" so that made me feel good. He has a gf girls so don't get any crazy "is he cute?" ideas. I will be going there tomorrow sometime to pay him the deposit for the place. So back to this one. I like it, its decently sized (about the same size as my hotel room was) and everyone seems super nice. There is one girl and 3 guys living here. The girl (Valentina) speaks English very well and I guess one of the guys does as well but he is gone until next week. The other 2 guys don't speak any english and Val tells me that they are shy so she doesn't think they will talk to me that much (if any). I'll work on them though. Who wouldn't want to talk to me?!? ;-)

I made my first trip to the supermercata (supermarket) today. It was about a 10min walk which was fine going but sucky coming back because I bought 2 full bags of groceries. It was actually pretty easy and what I thought was relatively cheap. For example, I bought a 4 pack of pepsi (355ml bottles) and it was 1.35 euros (so about $2). A bag of pasta was about .70 euros. Pretty much everything was like that. In total I spent 20 euros...a steal of a deal! Made spagetti for supper and Val laughed at me as I put Ketchup on my spagetti. I can't help it, I love my ketchup. :)

"Get in my Bellllyyy"

Ok, so it has been a crazy day filled with many firsts. I had a great sleep (12 hours). woke at 7 and started my day. Its still weird to think that when I wake up you all are just going to bed. Went downstairs for breakfast which was very good. Tried Pineapple flavored Yogurt...yummy! Headed out to my first apartment appointment about 12:30. I didn't want to be late and I was taking the bus. The bus system is so well put together but wow, they were packed. It also only costs 1.20 euro's which is nice. Found the street with the help of a non-english speaking lady. She was very friendly and told me "get off here...walk there" so, that's what I did and I found the apartment no problem. Mario, the guy that lives there showed up a few min later and I looked around. Small, but nice. I think so far I am going to take it. I looked at another place tonight that I went by cab to see, and I have to say it was a waste of my money, as it was super small. I'm not even joking. It was a closet that she had converted into a room just to make a few extra bucks. There was no window and the closet you actually had to climb a ladder to reach. Ya right! I don't do ladders...especially in bedrooms. seriously lady! Anyway, She didn't speak a lick of English so that was a fun experience. I realized that pretty much every waking moment I have I really should be studying Italian. Either that or I need to take another class. So, the last place I have to see though is tomorrow morning. She tells me she has two rooms available. I spoke with her on the phone a little while ago and she speaks some English. :)

So, as far as the busses go. Other then them being crazy crowded, everyone was super helpful. On my way back from the first apartment at lunch, a lady sitting across from me saw me staring at my map about every 2min trying to see where we were. She spoke English and told me when to get off. Tonight also seeing that I took a cab to my 6:30 appointment I wanted to save some money and bus it home. the bus drivers don't speak English but there is always someone close that when you say "mi scuzi, parla inglese?"(excuse me, do you speak english?) someone will speak up and they don't even look a little bit ticked that I you are asking, so that is good. :) If it wasn't for them, I could still be riding the bus as we speak. lol

So, I got back to my hotel about 7:30 and figured that the restaurant in the hotel had to be open so I asked at the front desk. She had to phone down to check witch I thought was odd. Oh well, I headed down. When I walked it, the lady was right at the door telling me to pick something from the menu that was stuck to the door because they don't have menu's at the table. Ok, so this should have tipped me off to turn away, but instead I picked something and headed in. As I walked in I realized that I was alone. Thats right, the room was empty except for about 20 tables, the waitress/cook/cleaning lady (all the same girl), a bug in the flower glass on my table and me. Nice! Either way, seeing how this was my first actual sit down meal I figured it would be ok. Then, I heard the microwave start and I thought to myself. "you have got to be kidding me" lol nope, she arrived about 2 min later with a lasagna square and 4 buns all which were heated in the microwave. I took a bite of the lasagna and had to spit it out. Frozen in the middle. again I thought, "nice!". so she cut it up in front of me so it would re-heat (again) better. I started eating the buns. Well these things could kill someone they were so hard. lol I wish I was kidding, but after I got my lasagna back and went to take a bite of a bun, I had to pull so hard that it actually flew out of my hand and hit my shoulder! LOLOLOL At this point all I could do was chuckle to myself and say out loud (but quietly) "Get in my Belllyyy!" I was thinking that if Crystal were here to enjoy this lovely meal with me we would have been laughing and cracking jokes the whole time. It really was that comical. :-). So, 12euros later I am now back up to my room. I think I am going to watch some Italian tv and then go to bed. After all, it is already 9:40. lol I know, I seem old, but I am blaming the jet lag. I also managed to squeeze in a 1/2 hour nap before 5. lol

I know I am laughing alot but its either tell you all whats happening and laugh to myself as I do it, or start going crazy and talk to myself. I figured that you would all get a kick out of it, so here
you go. Also, please don't mind the really bad grammer. I forgot to spell check and proof read yesterdays blog and when I re-read it today was pretty shocked at how bad it was for spelling and grammer....sorry y'al

One more thing, to say. When I went to grab my shampoo, etc from my bag this morning, I realized that my Vicks cough medicine had leaked all over everything. Boy am I glad that I put all of my liquids in a zip lock bag. Note to you all when travelling....Vicks liquid doesn't handle the altitude very well.

Well I am out of here. Keep up the comments and the emails. I love hearing from everyone. Sorry if I don't respond right away but I'll do my best.

~Bonnie~

Day 1

Well here I am. I made it safe and sound I'm just utterly exhausted. Up until today I thought I was a good flyer. The flight from s'toon though to Toronto had a bunch on Turbulance so I am really glad I had those Pepto pills to chew on. Thanks for the B-day gift Mom! lol ;) Made it into Toronto at about 4pm local time (2pm our time). Oh, I guess I should also add that I didn't have to go through Frankfurt...Yeah! When I arrived at the airport yeasterday morning, the lady said she could put me on direct which I was soooooo pumped about. Anyway, shopped around a bit (only bought a magazine) because already my main suitcase was 49.9lbs lol and my carry on's were over by 3 pounds but she let me take them through anyway. So, my flight was out of Toronto direct to Rome at 8:25pm. Shortly before the flight I met a really nice couple that befriended me. They were from Minnisota and would you believe didn't even know that Saskatchewan was a province little own one in Canada! lol to funny. They were really sweet though and we chatted until we boarded. I also realized during the 8.5 flight to Rome that I figit. Ok, so a side note to any of you girls that have gone to movies with me..do I figit that badly? I just couldn't keep still on the plane. Between reajusting was ever needed to adjusted and getting up to use the potty 3 times (yup I did it) I'm sure that my seat mate wasn't overly happy with me. Oh well. We talked pretty much the whole time except for the 30-45 min that I slept. It sucked but wow I think I had the best view ever last night. I seen the sky go black as we headed over New Foundland and then not even an hour later the sky just opened up and it was the most beautiful sun rise I think I have ever seen.
So, I made it off the plane and customs was a breeze. I looked at them as I walked by, smiled and kept on walking. I found the baggage claim and would you believe my luck (because its been shitty lately) that my suitcase was the third one off the plane! I grabbed it right away and got the heck out of there. Getting on the train in Rome wasn't overly hard, except for the fact that I had to run to it, I through/heaved/forced my suitcases up the stairs only for the conductor dude to tell me to get off because he needed to see my ticket first. ugh!. I showed him though and we were on our way 1min later. on the Rome train downtown to the Termini station, I had a girl sitting across from me take a pic. Ok, so I am sorry about it, this is me, no makeup (cause of course I was a bawly mess this am) and then travel for 24 hours and get 30min of sleep. This is what you get. ;0 Anyway, got downtown, and then I couldn't find my Rome train that was going to Florence. He gave me an hour though, which was great because I needed all of it. After talking to about 4 strangers (all non english speaking) I got to were I needed to go and I way we went. Took a pic or two on the train. Here is one I liked. To be honest, they all up to that point reminded me of home, which was kinda nice. Made it to Florence just fine and another couple took me under there wing and he helped bring my bags off of the train which was really nice and helped me fine the taxi stand. Taxi dude showed up (really cute btw...nothing like our creepy dudes back home) and brought me right to the hotel, unloaded my bags and I was set. Got into my room and had to get help about 3 times from the concieage (sp?) guy who is super nice. Phoned mom and talked to her for a couple of mins and then I went dowstairs to get some grub so I could go to sleep. Well, I totally forgot that restaurants don't open until 7 so the front desk guy told me a place I could go. I headed out, found it, the nice Italian man behind the counter made me a sandwich, kinda like subway, but not at all lol and here I am. I just headed out onto my balcony which is the same size as my room and took a couple of pics. Here is one of my Room (sorry for the caotic mess) and here is the view I have from my balcony. The room pic, I am actually standing in the bathroom taking this. lol Anyway, thats all for now.

Getting Sleepy

Ok, so I am down to 35 hours before I leave. Super excited but nervous of the unknown at this point.

I had my last Italian class tonight. Lily is a great instructor. So much fun, she made it easy to learn. I will miss her.

So, I still am not totally packed yet... I have big plans to pack tomorrow. lol I know, I know.

I have already made plans to look at a couple of places when I arrive. Hopefully one of them will be calling out to me. :)

So much to say, but no time. sorry all.

I promise to blog more once I am there.

Ciao,
Bonnie

Almost Surreal

Its hard to believe that it has been almost a month since my last post. Sorry to my 7 loyal followers. :) lol I promise I will post more as soon as I am off on my adventure.

So it was weird waking up this morning thinking that 2 weeks from today I would be leaving my home, family and friends for a world that I know hardly anything about. Its almost surreal. I can't complain though. I think this will be just the adventure that I need at this time in my life. I am so looking forward to it and everything that lies ahead. Will I miss my friends and family? YES! I love them all so much. Will I miss Maggie and Joey? Are you kidding me? They are like my children. Of course I am going to miss them.

So mom and dad got the internet hooked up today on the farm. Crazy. I have to be honest, I never thought I would see the day. However I am very happy and thankful they did because now I will be able to talk with them when I am in Italy. One of the first things she did today when she got 'hooked up' was check out my Blog. Hey Mom!

Does anyone have Skype? I have an account and that will be the way that I will be chatting with people when away. If you do, let me know and we can get connected. I also have msn but I don't know how often I will be on it.

So I was going to gripe for a bit about Velocity/Home Depot and the never ending door saga that is and has been my life for over a year now, but no. I decided not to give them the satisfaction of being in my blog (even though they technically are now) :-| . Just let me say, I would never recommend the Home Depot's installation plan to my worst enemy.

Ok, on to bigger (well technically she is pretty tiny) and way better things. Jacquie (my BFF) and her husband Mike had their first baby on Sunday. Little Olivia Jane was born and she really is the most beautiful baby I have seen born this year. I can't wait to see her again.

Ok, well that was truly a mixed bag of nuts. Night to all