After packing and re-packing over and over again I was finally ready to go to Italy. My last few weeks at home were really busy but also kind of boring because everyone had already left for school. I was really anxious to get to Italy. I think the fact that I would be spending 4 months in Europe finally hit me after I said goodbye to my family and went through security. It was a really weird feeling to know I wouldn't be back for so long since I have never been out of Colorado for more than two weeks and away from home for more than maybe a month.
My first flight to Chicago was decent. I had a whole row to myself which was really nice but there was a lot of turbulence and the guy across from me was really sick (which yes, eventually got me sick). We landed early which ended up being really helpful. When I got off the plane I was looking for my flight information but couldn't find it anywhere because the boards only had United flights which was really annoying. I finally asked someone and I had to actually leave the airport, get on the train and go through security AGAIN. The line was huge and I was starting to get nervous. Once I got through I actually had to run to the gate and was literally the last person there. When they scanned my ticket they said something was wrong and I ended up having to go to the counter which put me in a panic. I was convinced they already lost my luggage or gave up my seat. Luckily it was neither and they got me on the plane. I was pretty flustered at that point but the second I heard all the British accents I felt so happy. For a second I even questioned my decision to study in Italy rather than London. The flight to London went really well except for the fact that the entertainment system was broken. When we landed I met one of the girls from my program, Quincy. We had the same flight to Venice so it was nice to not be alone for the last flight.
Heathrow is a really weird airport but we finally got on the plane to Venice which was really quick especially compared to an 8 hour flight. When we to the baggage claim in Venice there was a HUGE group of students who Quincy and I discovered were other CIMBA students. We all got our bags and of course one of mine was lost. They told me it would get to me the next day but it didn't actually get here until a week later and two pairs of shoes and an alarm clock were missing. How that happens, I have no idea. Anyway, our huge group left the airport to get on the bus and the whole thing was actually really funny...20 students trying to figure out Italian transportation. We missed the first bus but got really aggressive to take the second one. We got to the train station in Venice to catch the train to Bassano and literally had no idea what we were doing at the train station. One really nice lady helped us but she didn't speak any English and went to find someone to translate. She kept checking in on us and making sure we were going the right way which was super nice of her. We all had to carry our bags up and down stairs (the one good thing about only having one bag) which looked absolutely ridiculous. We got on the train and all passed out.
When we got to Bassano there was a CIMBA bus waiting to take us to campus in Paderno. It was about a 20 minute bus ride and all we could talk about is how we wanted to eat, brush our teeth and then sleep. Little did we know they put us right to work with orientation and stuff right when we got there and classes the next day. It was such a relief to finally get to Paderno after 24 hours of travel. It is such a beautiful campus/town. It reminds me a lot of Colorado. That's all for now, I will post pictures in a later post.
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