Happy Post!

Well I am happy to announce that I am no longer going through extreme culture shock :) The first few days were very hard but it helps to know that tons of people felt the same way. I am getting to know more and more each day and it has helped me to feel comfortable. For example, I figured out how to do my laundry with the crazy Italian machine. That was a big triumph, now I only have to wait a day or two for everything to dry on the rack.
Last night was the FREE welcome dinner for LdM and it was great. We had wine and talked the whole time. It reminded me of the first week at Binghamton when everyone wanted to make new friends and people are so nice. So that was fun and then Alli, my roommate Kelly and I went to Dublin Pub which is right down the street from my apartment. It was a cute little place where we were able to sit and have girl talk for for couple of hours. I love girl talks and getting to know people well. It makes the whole idea of being far away so much easier.
I got a good night sleep last night and I am excited to go shopping in the market today and cook dinner in my apartment tonight. I also have Wines of Tuscany today so that should be very fun.
The classes here are great so far! I am really impressed. I think that my Italian class is going to really help me. My professoressa speaks Italian almost exclusively which is scary but great at the same time. I think that these classes are going to be semi challenging but definitely useful. I loved The Venice Film Festival (class) yesterday. We are going to be watching many popular Italian films that have been screened at the Festival since its inception in 1932.
We are also taking a field trip to the cinema soon to see Atonement! Which is awesome. I think that being in class really helps me set up a routine and today walking around is going to be great. I think that we are going to go to Ponte Vecchio tomorrow and check out Tiffany's! so cool.
In a few weeks Kelly and a few of her friends are going to Rome and I think Alli and I will go with them. It will be very fun becuase Kelly's cousin's cousin (I think) has been living in Rome for five years teaching English to school children so she will probably know of good places to eat and go out.
There is a Beatles cover band that performs here in Florence on Tuesdays and I have been hearing great things about it so I think we will check that out :)
Overall, much better/happier!
Much love to everyone and I will have some pictures soon, probably after the trip to Ponte Vecchio and I also want to go to the top of the Duomo! I heard that the view of the city from there is absolutely incredible.

Ciao Ciao!