Getting to Bologna was the easy part...

Hey all! I finally made it to Bologna! Exactly 24 hours after my plane took off from O'Hare I made it to Bologna. A four year old could not have been more excited than I was when I boarded the airplane. It was so hard to say good-bye to my family, and if I would have known how upset my little brother was going to get, I might have thought twice about going. And I am disappointed to say that I did not argue with airport security--they were really mean (but I did get the handheld metal detector search at Gatwick--I am so dangerous I knew it would happen sometime!) It hit me as I started walking down the ramp that I was leaving my family and friends and basically everything I'd ever known for four months. But then I got on plane. Can we say window seat!!! And no one was sitting next to me, so I had two seats to myself. Out of all of the movies I could have seen, I watched Wild Hogs again, the same movie that I watched with my (big) family on Sunday. I was cracking up when everyone else was asleep. On the other tv screen I had the map of where we were, and the sunset was amazing!!! So was the food, until the obnoxious guy ahead of me decided he was going to lean his seat back in the middle of dinner and keep it there until we landed (my seat didn't lean back). He was one of these crazy confrontational guys, so I just pushed my legs against the back of the seat which woke him up from his beauty sleep a few times. I didn't get much sleep, too much adrenaline. Over Ireland I played Madonna ("Like a Virgin" of course), some Nirvana to break up the quietness of the plane, and the Beatles as we flew into England over Liverpool.
For some reason, landing at Heathrow was like knowing I was going to see an old friend, don't ask me why. British immigration is pretty crazy! Even though my luggage was overweight, it made to London. I took a shuttle from Heathrow to Gatwick. Someone told me that Heathrow and Gatwick were relatively close together; yeah, right, one is on the northwest side of London and the other is on the southeast side way outside of the city. Upside of the hour long bus ride, the really cute guy sitting next to me. I had no idea that Gatwick would be so nice--or busy. As I sat in Gatwick, I realized that I was one of the only Americans in the place, and that was going to be how the next few months would go. I like the shopping in Gatwick much more than at Heathrow, though it's not like I did much of it. My flight to Bologna was 30 minutes late, and as I sat there listening to everyone, another blast of reality came my way; I had no idea what people around me were saying. My window seat (yep, I'm so wonderful) gave me the chance to see the still-snowcovered Alps coming through the clouds, Lake Geneva with its huge fountain, and the Appinnine mountains of northern Italy. Call me crazy, but I was really surprised when I saw all of the Italian villas outside my window; I guess I thought that was just the stuff of movies and the tourism industry. When we touched down in Bologna, I had another new experience, emptying the plane on the tarmac. (Not like it was a big deal, I'd just never done it.) The airport in Bologna is just a bit bigger than South Bend regional, and because I raced to immigration, it took me no time. The guy didn't question me, but it wasn't like I could have answered his questions anyway. In the airport, I couldn't find the directions to the hostel or which buses to take. I had to rely on my really bad memory to figure out that I had to take the airport shuttle to the central train station. Bologna is beautiful!!! It is red and rustic and I can't believe I'm here! But like I said, getting to Bologna was the easy part. I found an internet point and called home (for what I thought was a really good deal). I printed out the directions sans a map. But it was after nightfall, and the buses pick up all over an area of a square block, so finding the right one took me well over an hour--IN THE DARK!! I didn't catch a bus until 9:44, and the stairs were so steep that I couldn't lug my suitcase up the steps. But again, I really cute guy helped (I could really get used to that!). Thank God someone was getting off at the same stop that I needed, because I couldn't see a thing from the bus. Then I couldn't see the streetsigns, so I just started walking one way down the street. After nearly getting attacked by one of their dogs, two really nice teenagers helped me to my hostel. This was done my a lot of 'si's and hand signals. Everyone seems to speak as much English as I speak Italian--next to nothing. But they usually speak more English than I speak Italian. So I am getting by with lots of 'grazie's and 'mi scuzi's. Today I added 'buen giorno' and 'ciao' after I had to go to a grocery store to get handsoap for my room (which is really modern, especially compared with Le Mans, but trust me, the beds at SMC are so much more comfortable). Finally I opened the window (don't worry moms, it's on the third floor), laid my tired little self down, and let the noise of the Bolognese streets lull me to sleep. I have not had any jet lag thanks to a near constant supply of adrenaline, and after my full night's sleep and shower, I am feeling so much better and now I am going to try to find something to eat. Ciao! Mi piace everyone!