Getting Lucky

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So, I am sitting here in my new apartment which I was by some great miracle able
to get for 6 months rather than a year. Last night was my first night here.

It's all coming along pretty quickly. I can't believe I have a job and an apartment already. I wouldn't have any of it if there weren't all these amazing people helping me. I feel so endebted to so many people.

This woman Charlotte that i have been staying with has completely opened up her life to me and I have been staying in her apartment downstairs since my arrival on the 22nd of June. I am glad to finally be able to get my stuff out of her way, but I am still heavily reliant upon her for so many things. I need all of this documentation just to get a car, so she has to drive me anywhere that isn't around the corner.

Her boyfriend Alberto and his family have been bending over backwards to get me set up. They coerced the real estate agent to plead with the apt. owner to let me stay here on a short contract. They came with me to the signing of the rental contract. They got my electricity set up, my gas, my codice fiscale (like a social security card). They have offered me any housewares I need. They even were going to clean my apartment before i moved in--which is obviously ridiculous when I am an able bodied woman who is capable of cleaning up her own messes. I couldn't believe it.

I have been having just an incredible stroke of luck--the job is very well suited to my abilities and the professor for whom I am working is so so nice and reasonable. He is working on my visa documentation and seemed willing to pay us what ever we wanted--I don't know how that's possible, but i am just charging my normal rate so I don't know how far he would have actually gone. The work is for three months, but he seemed to believe that there is ongoing work for us.....and I can work at home which is perfect for living in another country where you want to travel. I could work from anywhere so I can go off to other parts of the country if I want.

Even the telephone hookup was a joy. When I called Telecom Italia, I got these two lovely young people who not only were really helpful, but also spoke english. The girl had lived in the US for a year and the guy was a techie who had visited a few times. I wound up getting two lines, one an ISDN for NO installation fee cause of this special they are havign on ISDN lines. It's going to wind up being cheaper to have these two lines than it would have been to have one.

Well, enough ranting. I hope I haven't bored you with all these details. I know that eventually my luck has to run out, but I feel so thankful for how things are going now.

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