Finally, A Familiar Face

I have finally managed to get over the jet lag, and am thankful to be back on a regular sleeping schedule. Today my program officially began, and I said farewell to my tiny, single room in the Hotel and would later be assigned to share a double with another girl in my program in the room adjacent to the one I just moved out of. I met with Danielle, the assistant to the Director of IU-BSCP, Andrea Ricci, after packing up my things and relocating to the lobby. She talked with me for a few minutes, going over some important things about the program and giving me a brief lay-out of what we would be doing for the next few weeks. I was then able to meet my roommate for the next two weeks, who unbeknown to me, had arrived yesterday morning. Her name is Allie and she is originally from Chicago, and goes to Indiana University. She is really nice and we get along really well. Since we were the first to arrive and check in, we ended up heading out to explore the city before some of the other students. We bought our phones, which will be officially up and running tomorrow, and spent most of the day wandering around the city searching for places where we could find an assortment of different things that we realized we needed (watches, toiletries, a microphone for my lap top, etc). We grabbed lunch at a caffe that seemed to have a bit of a hipster feel for it and continued to bond over a delicious pizza and piccole bicchieri di birre (small glasses of beer). We literally talked non-stop, about half in English and half in Italian. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and even though I just met her this morning, I feel like I already know so much about her. Plus, it turns out that we have a lot in common - running being one of them. Allie actually just ran the Chicago Marathon. Suffice it to say that I think I may have found myself a running partner :]. For the rest of the day we continued to meander through countless streets and shops, and we even decided to check out an "Erboristeria," which is essentially an herbal or alternative medicine shop. We headed back to the hotel around 5 since we had been walking around all afternoon, and have since been relaxing on our beds, lap tops open. We're meeting with some of the other students in our program at 8 to head to dinner. It's kind of funny because this summer when I was interning in DC, I became really good friends with the girl who I sat next to and her name was Ally too. It's a really nice feeling to feel like I have a friend here, and even though I was initially hoping to be able to room with one of the other girls from UNC that I met prior to arriving in Italy, I am so happy that I was paired with her. We seem to be on the same wavelength with a lot of the things we chatted about, and what we are hoping to gain from studying abroad. I truly enjoyed her company, and am secretly happy that I ended up strolling through Bologna with her instead of the big group that left shortly after us. I believe I am witnessing the blossoming of a new friendship.