Buongiorno

Well, after a very long...and I mean VERY long eight hour flight that took us over 10,000 miles over the Atlantic ocean, we made it. I am in Italy. And already after two days I have plenty of stories to tell!

To begin, I arrived at Logan on Sunday and after a relatively depressing goodbye with my parents, I went through security to wait at the gate. There, my two roomates Josh and Chris met me, along with our other two friends Jake and Michelle. Thank God I did not travel alone! Our first flight over to Detroit had no problems, unless you take into consideration the flight attendant who looked like she wanted to slit her wrists during the theatrical presentation at the start of the flight (you know, the one where they show you how to buckle your seat belts like a two year old?) Our layover was full of waiting and midwestern accents, and when we got on the plane to Italy we were already exaughsted.

We were equipped with some television screens on the seat in front of us for the purpose of watching movies and tracking the flight. I must say, plane rides go SO SLOW when you have the ability to check where you are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, so the seven hour flight suddenly seemed incredibly tiresome. Two things stick out in my mind about that flight: the first being that I did not get a lot of sleep, and second was a very dramatic episode in which a man a few rows behind was unable to breathe. I did not realize this was happening until Josh began screaming for a Doctor, and the mans daughter (I assume) began losing her mind in Spanish (Ay Dios Mio, Dios Mio, Papa Papa!). It was a little scary, as it was something that seemed like it was out of at movie, but the man turned out okay and the rest of our flight went swimmingly.

Then, after what seemed like a lifetime, we landed...in Rome. Now, to understand Rome, you must imagine that you are walking through any other major American city (the only one that I can even think of that was close to this one is Boston) and suddenly a giant Ancient Roman monument appears out of no where! Here, our objective was to take a train from the airport and then walk ten minutes to the bus. After a few moments, Josh realized he had too many things to even attempt to carry, so he Michelle and Jake took a taxi, leaving Chris and I behind at our request to explore. Well, we discovered about six wrong turns later that we had no idea where we were going! It is bad enough getting lost in America, but even worse when you are walking through a city in which almost no one speaks English! My phrase book came in handy quite a bit in the time Chris and I wandered the streets.

Eventually, one of the aforementioned style monuments appeared before us: I large fountain surronded by a large circular building that housed a luxury hotel and a large, very busy resteraunt. I decided that, of all people, a hotel would have an English speaker that knew his way around, so I went in. Sure enough I finally got our way, and as we walked out I noticed something odd: this resteraunt next to the luxury hotel crowded with people was a MCDONALDS! Strange how, with some of the best food in the world, one of the most populated resteraunt was a McDonalds!

We finally found the bus, and Chris and I sat next to one another and promptly fell asleep. When we awoke, we were stunned. Any dreariness receded as we noticed were surronded on every side by mountains laden with trees galore. It was breath taking. It was even complete with large villages sticking out of the landings of the mountains with tiled rooves. It was mildly stereotypical, but mind boggling that such a place existed outside of an amusement park.

As we descended to the point where the most mountain were, I noticed the sign reading our destination name: Ascoli Piceno. When we drove in, it was mind boggling. The streets are all made out of a cobble stone, and the buildings look like they were built centuries ago. And sure enough, we discovered that they were: the tiles on the roof of our house are the originals from several centuries ago!

Our apartment is lovely. It is situated on a narrow street with cobble stone and buildings made of stones with big wooden doors. It was like walking around int eh 1500...with occasional grafiti. The foyer is made of marble and is very, very clean. Our house is small, with two bedrooms (Josh and I are sharing a room), but its quaint, welcoming, and complete with a balcony observing the street.

As we navigated our way to dinner, we were absorbed in the romantic aire the city had. lights line the streets in a way that is safe but dim enough for atmosphere. We thought we had seen everything...however, when we rounded the corner to the main piazza, we were stunned. Piazza del Populo is HUGE compared to the rest of the city, but it has such a beautiful feel to it it feels like you are in a house. Pictures and words cannot do it justice: like the rest of the trip, I have discovered until you see it, nothing can compare.

That night, although exaughsted, we had Italian Pizza. It was...good! very thin crust, and flavorful...but I did not see much of a difference in taste. That did not come until I tried my first glass of wine here. It has no nasty aftertaste and no dreary side effects. It is pleasent, and served with a bowel of potato chips! To them, this is like soda: one that you sip, however.

One glass in the piazza del populo lasted us a good one hour, over good conversation and a lovely night sky. Today, we saw the music school and the UNH satellite school: both our lovely, but the music school takes a good ten minutes to get to entirely up hill. For lunch, we had a traditional Italian meal buffet style: the most interesting thing to eat here is the Olive d Ascoli. It is a pitted green olive stuffed with meat and then deep fried in bread crumbs: delicious. And the cheese is wonderful! Then, for the second course, we had pasta. I have to say, they really do have us beat here. It has more flavor and a thick, hefty texture that makes you want to keep eating it, yet it still keeps you comfortably full.

Now, I write on a computer. Long update, I know, but a lot has happened. My pictures will be up soon, and there will be more streaming in weekly. I already do miss home, but I will say this:even through these past two days, this experience has been amazing, and it is only going to get better.

Ryan