Benvenuto in Italia!

On Saturday I had finished saying goodbye to all my friends, and I was almost ready to go. The last thing I needed to do was finish packing. Despite my goal of packing lightly, everything I wanted to take still filled up my entire dining room table.


By Sunday (through some minor miracle), I had everything I would take for the next five months in just a suitcase, a duffel bag, and a backpack. I was finally ready to go.



Theoretical Travel Itinerary:
Sunday
12:40pm - arrive at O'Hare Airport
3:40pm - depart Chicago, sleep on the plane
Monday
7:15am (12:15am CT) - arrive in Frankfurt, Germany
8:40am - depart Frankfurt
10:00am - arrive in Bologna, taxi to Hotel Holiday
10:30am - Check-In to Hotel Holiday

Experimental Travel Itinerary:
Sunday
12:40pm - arrive at O'Hare Airport
3:25pm - discover 47H is the seat directly in front of the shrieking baby
3:40pm - depart Chicago
3:50pm - discover that my in-flight entertainment system "cannot load necessary fonts," so I can't watch any movies, tv shows, or listen to the radio. I can however get live plane altitude, ground speed, outside temperature, and ETA.
7:00pm - baby stops crying, I start a slow clap, no-one joins
8:00pm - baby resumes crying
Monday
8:25am (1:25am Central Time) - arrive in Frankfurt.
8:26 to 8:38am - mad sprint through Frankfurt's Airport and Customs
8:40 - seated on plane to Bologna (barely)
8:40-9:40 - de-ice plane
10:40 - arrive in Bologna!
"Quasi le undici" - ask an Italian dude what time it is in Italian, celebrate first successful use of Italian
11:40 - everyone left in the baggage claim realizes the airport lost our luggage
11:45 - finish 20th in the race to the lost luggage line
2:45 - after 3 hours (!!!!) of waiting, I struggle through filing a claim for a lost bag in Italian.
3:00 - get in a taxi to Hotel Holiday. Attempt to start a conversation in Italian, no response.
3:00-3:15 - almost killed in a car accident at least three times during taxi ride
3:15 - Check-In Hotel Holiday

I was hungry, tired, and in a terrible mood as I walked up to the table where my study abroad program coordinator sat. "Benvenuto in Italia!" (Welcome to Italy), she said when I sat down. I had been waiting to hear those words for a long time, and when I finally did, I remembered that I had nothing to complain about. I had made it to Bologna more or less on time, and I was about to have the the time of my life. I wasn't so tired anymore, so I spent the rest of the day eating pizza, meeting the other American Students, and exploring Bologna with them. When I finally went to bed at 8 (after being awake for 29 hours) my mind was at ease. This first picture is the view from my hotel room, and the second is my first glimpse of Chiesa di San Petrino (Saint Peter's Church) in the Piazza Maggiore, the main square in Bologna.