And so it begins..

Benvenuto a tutti! The time has finally come for me to jet off to Europe for a few months to study Italian. Living the dream. I'm not exactly sure how to start off this blog, I feel like I'm writing the introduction to a book and if it's not good no one will read it. A friend of mine told me not to do a blog because only 40-something Star Wars nerds have blogs--so I'm doing this to spite him. But also for myself, so that I have a reccord that will help me remember every part of my trip. And finally, since I couldn't fit you all in my suitcases, this is for my friends and family back home who I wish could come with me.

To avoid packing, I've spent the last few days scrambling around getting ready, which translates to shopping more than I have in the last year. The challenges for today were a mountain of laundry and getting all of my "necessities" into 2 suitcases. Thus far, I've done 4 of 6 loads, have one bag filled and another that looks as if it will only be half full. Being the serial overpacker that I am, that's better than I could have hoped for...

So for those that don't already know the itinerary, here are the basics:
Italian Studies is taking a group of about 40 students to study Italian for spring quarter. We'll be living in apartments while in Rome, and taking 15 credits of Italian classes at the UW Rome Center. While we're doing this, our prof Giuseppe has hooked us all up with internships at the Mayor of Rome's office--still not sure what that'll entail. Then at the end of April we're all moving to southern Italy, to a town called Rogliano in the province of Calabria. In Rogliano we stay with host families (who speak no English) and continue classes. The program ends June 5th, but I'm staying to travel until June 21st. You can look forward to hearing about all of this!

I'll do my best to keep in touch, you all can reach me on here through comments, facebook, email, skype, whatever. I'll post pictures primarily on facebook, but maybe flickr too.
Arrivederci!