In Italy!

Hi Everyone!  So, after a lovely night at Amherst on Tuesday, a frenzied drive back to Boston on Wednesday morning, a long night flight to Heathrow on Wednesday night, a bus transfer to Stansted on Thursday morning and a plane to Pisa this afternoon, the past few days have been kind of hectic.  But I thought I would post a quick update to let you all know that I am in fact (mostly) fine and finally in Italy after all of the travelling.  As many of you predicted, my worst fears about my baggage problems did not materialize (although Ryanair did make me check my big backpack and my huge suitcase was *gasp* 70 lbs) but everything made it to where they needed to be, and I didn't miss any connections.  I'm staying here with family friends who are being amazing and hosting me and my picky appetite for 2 weeks.  They are so sweet and I'm super glad to see them.  For one, I haven't seen them in something like 10 years, but for another, I realized today in the Stansted airport that I am completely alone here and since my supposedly european cell phone wasn't working, I had really no way of contacting anyone, so it is nice to feel like a part of a family again.  Tomorrow I'll begin to explore the city of Florence and hopefully get my fill of Renaissance art!  More updates and pictures to come, but for now just know that I miss all of you already and hope things are going well wherever you are!

Here's a picture of the view from my room: