I Primi Giorni

Ciao a tutti! I arrived in Torino yesterday and am comfortably settled in at my second of two hotels, despite suffering a few minor indignities along the way. I've traveled a fair amount in the last few years, but I've never experienced my luggage being lost by an airline until yesterday, which was a bit disconcerting. In hindsight, it actually worked to my advantage since it rained all day yesterday and I had a hell of a time finding my hotel, so it made the process a lot easier not having to drag my 80 pounds of luggage with me on buses and trains. The airline even dropped the luggage off for me at my hotel once they found it; a pretty sweet deal, if you ask me. I also got in a spot of trouble with the receptionist at the first hotel. Apparently the custom in Italy is to leave your key at the front desk every time you go out, so they know whether or not you're in your room. She told me that my mother called about a million times yesterday and she couldn't explain to her why I wasn't picking up, since I had the key, which was supposed to mean I was in the room. My bad, Italy. I think I rectified the situation, though, by being able to understand her when she spoke to me in Italian, which is apparently unusual. Score one for the foreigner. We've officially checked in with USAC, so I've already found out where I'm living (midtown) and with whom (three other girls- Becky/Caitlin/Michaela). I'm writing this from my hotel room before we leave for our orientation dinner, where we'll get to meet everyone finally! Not too much else to report so far. I've started to settle into a slightly more European schedule already, which mostly means that I am firmly committed to a four-hour mid-afternoon nap/break time every day. I think the Italians really know what they're doing in regards to il pisolino; the space between lunch and dinner has always seemed fairly useless to me, so this more than adequately resolves that issue. I haven't actually taken any pictures yet, so nothing to add to this post image-wise, but we're moving into our apartments tomorrow, so I'm sure that will be painstakingly documented. I'll also be sure to take a photo of the window in my hotel room--it seriously has a miniature porthole cut into it so a person can stick his hand out and flick the ash off his cigarette without opening the window all the way. How brilliant is that! That's all for now, but I'll update soon. Arrivederci!