Hi, hello, I am in Italy

---

Ciao! Sorry for the absence. I have been trying to completely immerse myself in the Italian world that I am now apart of, which takes me some time because I am a little stand off-is at first.
My apartment is great, way bigger than I expected with a kitchen and even sitting room. It is walking distance to the school, and near a great super market. There are 3 sections that students live in: downtown, midtown, and school area. The different locations have made it hard to form a great relationship with everyone in the program, but I have come to find out that it’s probably for the best.
My roommate is amazing; she is from Santa Cruz and goes to Poly. Her name is Nikki and she is relaxed with quite and edge and has sarcasm and wit. We have instantly become travel buddies. The beauty of it is she enjoys museums and wants to see as much as she can with the time that she has, I think we are going to make the most of our time together!
After a week of moving in and trying to get situated, I am starting to feel comfortable in my little apartment.
I had my first class on Friday. There are only 3 people in my class, one of them being a professor auditing the class, so there is a ton of face-to-face time. I am sure that this will help accelerate the Italian learning process.
We did have our first day trip today to the Piedmonte (foot of the hill) countryside. We visited a castle where they host an annual truffle auction, don’t worry the proceeds go to charity, 1 single truffle can easily go for a million Euros. Normal.
We the got into the bus and visited a local winery, www.intinadelcavaliere.it, for a 3 course meal and wine pairings. Honestly, I am already happy enough with today alone to say that my trip to Italy was worth it. We had amazing homemade food, went through their winery and got to buy some of their wine and jarred goodies too!!
What I learned today was that Italians work to live, the do not live to work. I am slowly falling in love.
We made dinner tonight and have enjoyed our purchases from the vineyard.
Tomorrow we are going to Aosta tomorrow, a small town that is known for its Fontina cheese!! Gotta love that cheese ☺

---