Assisi!

Greetings from Italy! Wow!! Sorry I have not posted. I have had no internet since I left. Wow.. about leaving... well first I went to Chicago with my mom and dad and John. They all took off work and school to come with me. It meant a lot :). We got to Chicago and went to Sarah's studio. We then went out to lunch etc. etc. I met up with two girls Cara and Tayler. We then said bye to our families. It wasn't that hard. I got a bit teary eyed but it still hadn't hit me yet! Cara has a ten year old sister who was holding on to her and not letting go. That made me tear up even more! We then went to our gate and boarded the plane. Our flight was delayed 1 hour because of storms. We took off and for the first 20 minutes there was lightning all around us ! Pretty neat. I only thought I was flying with Cara and Tayler but it happened to be that there was 12 Saint Mary's girls on our flight. It was pretty cool. I sat next to Tayler and a friend Maddie. Tayler is from Coldwater, Michigan, Maddie is from Chicago and Cara is from Granger, IN. Throughout our flight I slept for about 6 hours. On and off. Very uncomfortable but oh well. We all had TV's and I had a map on my TV showing where exactly we were on our way there.

We landed, got our luggage, went through customs and found a woman with a St. Mary's college sign. We then waited two hours for all the girls to get there. It was a PAIN to carry my two suitcase, duffel, bookbag and purse. My arms felt terrible. By this time it was 2/3 in Italy and 9 am in America. We were all exhausted. The bus ride to Assisi was 3 hours. We stopped half way for bathroom and they were so interesting. No toliet seats, weird toliet paper, and grates as the floor. I was scared for the rest of Italy to have the same. By 6 we arrived in Assisi. Assisi is extremely mountainous and hilly. Our bus could not go all the way to our hotel so we got to walk. JOY! At the airport we put our suitcases in a separate bus so we didnt need to carry those up to assisi. We then hiked, and hiked and hiked and put our stuff in our rooms. We were put in rooms by alphabetical order... but I am in a room with B last names... not so sure how that worked!

Our room is on the 2nd floor so we don't have a great view of Assisi like the other rooms. Our bathroom is decent size but the shower is incredibly small. I can go in it but not move. Shaving legs is impossible. Way to enforce my Europeaness!! We then had dinner. It was 4 course meal - spaghetti, chicken and mashed potatoes, salad, fruit and white wine. I did not eat much I wasn't really feeling well. The flight took a lot out of me!  That night Tayler and I sat outside the hotel on the terrace, while she talked to her mom we got a little teary eyed thinking "why did we do this?" "why did we leave our friends and family" and we felt very alone. Then a few girls came and sat with us and we talked for a few hours and that feeling quickly went away. I'm glad  I felt that way because now I know I can overcome it. The next day we hiked to the top of Assisi and went to the castle. The walk literally killed all of us. We could barely make it!

Assisi is beautiful. It is all hills and the streets are lined with stone and little stores that look like caves in the walls. It is precious. Just looking around, it looks like the true Italy. We were told to bring 100 euro here, but the only thing I have spent money on was water and a few trinkets!

I have made a good group of friends this trip which is super exciting. I really like the girls I have been hanging out with. One girl is from Alabama! Also, the first night I got my first gelato!! It's called Stracciatella! It tasted like the filling of an oreo with shavings of semi sweet chocolate within it. So delicious. My friend Cara ordered the same and she is a blonde american and has the bubbliest personality. When she ordered straciatella the woman taking our order literally laughed. It wasnt a mean laugh but a funny one.

We went to St. Frances Basilica which I felt connected to since that was my old church. Also, he is the patron saint of Peace and animals. There. Are. Dogs. Everywhere. AHH!! I have literally had to pull people around me to shield me from the dogs. Scary.

The internet connection is not great here and wont let me upload many pictures. I will try but I will probably have to wait until tomorrow when I get to Rome. Also, I have left out a lot but so much has happened!!

Ok, internet's almost out- time for hanging out with the girls till dinner!!

More to come!!!