Bongiorno Lugano!

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I made it!

I just got back from a walk with the group downtown... lugano is so pretty! its a lot bigger then i thought it was and i swear it looks just like disney land or something! I've just been bouncing inbetween talking to people, i'm trying really hard to be nice and put myself out there but its been a little hard since i am beside myself with tiredness. We landed in Zurich at 7:55. It was cute because when we landed the pilot gave the score of the orange bowl since he knew so many tech fans were on the plane! Then i got my luggage all by myself (with a little help from a push cart) and loaded it onto the bus. I was planning on sleeping on the bus since i couldn't on the plane (i was sitting in the absolute last row) but I couldnt because it was SO pretty! I wonder if he wanted us to fly into zurich just to show off how pretty switzerland is! We were driving along these windy roads along the swiss alps and there were really green grass and snowy mountain tops and really pretty houses right out of snow white! We kept going through these super long tunnels like through mountains and during one tunnel (it was litterally like 15 minutes long) i dozed but then i was woken up when we came out of it because it was a bright white snow storm! After that I fell asleep for maybe 30 minutes and then we were in lugano! it was snowing/raining and we crept to the bottom of this slushy looking winding hill that he said led to our hotel and the bus was going to drop is off at the bottom and we were responsible for our luggage. i thought he was joking but turns out the bus couldn't make the turns so i lugged all of my bags up a 90 degree angle in the ice. Aren't you proud of me Bruce? and trust me other people packed WAY more than me!

We got to the hostel which is really cute and i will send pictures once we unpacked. unfortunately we aren't on the floor i wanted with a balcony and window, but its kind of cozy in a different way. I'm lucky because we each get like these double beds that are kind of built into the wall, and we have a sink and four like locker/shelf things for our clothes. And my bed is right under a sky light which is kinda cool. Raleigh has been really nice so far and i'm happy to be rooming with her. After we got our rooms we rested for a few minutes and i have blisters in my hands from lugging up all those stairs. We went and had lunch at the hotel which was good: breaded chicken, scallopped potates and vegetable medly (bon's fave!) and a dessert. Then we had a little lecture on rules and things which i could hardly stay awake for, and then i got all sleepy and exhausted and called mom which was nice to hear her voice! its too bad the weather is so terrible right now, but when it gets better i'll take loads of pictures and send them your way. Its raining/snowing which is pretty kind of but annoyign when you are trying to look cute for swiss boys and walking what seriously feels like straight vertical up and down a mountain! after brinberg showed us around the piazza and were he usually gets lunch/dinner and where our classes are we split up. most of the group went straight to a bar but a bout 6 of us agreed that if we had a sip of alcohol we would drop dead from sleepinessso that was refreshing to know that io'm not the only person here with some sense hahaa.

This weekend should be fun, tomorrow we have a day off and raleigh and another girl were talking about exploring the piazza more and shopping around and stuff.. we both want to get blankets or a pillow or something because our bedding is a little.. modest haha. i really really just want to sleep i nright now but it will be fun to get settled and organized! sunday the university of lugano students have organized a trip for us to go up to lucerne (maybe locarno? i can't remember)and go iceskating! monday we are taking a tram up this mountain side and tuesday we start classes! on mondays wednesdays and fridays we have class from 9-12 and on tuesdays and wednesdays we have class from 9-12 and then again from 1-4. we have classes on friday for the month of january he said so that he could contain us a litttle at first so we stay kind of close by. he also doesn't want us to activate our eurrail pass for a couple of weeks to make sure that it will last us for the whole 3 month span, so i'll have to be buying a seperate train ticekt. Tonight we have dinner at the hotel again at 7 ( 1oclock your time!) andi'm going to try to stay awake until then and after dinner i'm crashing hard!

love love love you and i missss you!!!

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