First 24 Hours

Ciao a tutti!

I have been in Siena now for just over 24 hours and I'm loving every minute of it. We arrived yesterday in Rome after an 11 hour flight from San Francisco (we had a very brief layover in Frankfurt, Germany). We then had to take a 3 hour bus ride up north to Siena. Once in Siena we were called one by one off of the bus and immediately greeted by our host families who rather rapidly whisked us away to their houses. My host family is absolutely wonderful and I don't think I could ask for a better living situation while I'm here. My host family consists of a mom and her two sons: Monica, Lucio who is 18, and Davide who is 16. I was very excited when I found out I have host brothers. I get my own bedroom which is fairly spacious, I have my own desk and a very large closet/dresser. It is extremely comfortable. All of the family members speak English which has also made this transition quite an easy one. In all honesty, I think I have the most anglocized family out of all the potential hosts. My host mom and I get along great already, as well as myself and Lucio. Davide is also very nice but very allusive and spends most of his time upstairs in his room. Lucio and I have a lot in common and he was very excited to find out that I know martial arts because he recently started studying Krav Maga, an Israeli mix of self-defense and street fighting. He wants me to help him with his kicks which I'm super excited to do and am so happy that we have something to bond over/have fun doing together.
Today, being our first full day in Siena was mostly an orientation day. We took a tour around the city center (historical Siena, where our school is located. I actually live about 5 minutes outside the city walls), took an Italian language placement test, and learned much pertinent information to our living here for the next four months. Right now I am extremely excited and in a kind of euphoric state. Honestly, I don't think it has even fully sank in yet that I'm living in Italy. Everything is so beautiful, all I want to do is take pictures! Tomorrow is another day of orientation including our first Italian class, then tomorrow night I get to go out and experience Siena's nightlife!