Yesterday me and my three roommates were given the keys to our completely dazzling apartment. We have a view of the Italian countryside; rolling panoramas of hill after hill sprikled with tiny houses and trees. There are two bedrooms with huge windows, one with a balcony, ours without. Each have cute little shutters and overlook more of our little town as well as a small tennis/volleyball/soccer/basketball court. AKA: Attractive Italian Men. We have a lovely, huge tub with a polka-dotted shower curtain, small, cozy kitchen, and even a living room with a TV and lots of cushy couches (Like a mini Gryffindor common room.) Our beds are single with cute patterned comforters that look like something a grandmother would buy for the spare room. I'm not talking the crazy kind of Grandma that collects teddy bears in human clothes and loves lace and frills, just the kind that bakes you cookies and makes you feel at home. The four of us girls are going to get along great, I can already tell. Last night, after unpacking, to christen our apartment we set out through a shortcut between the park (YES, we do live across from a park) and the tennis court to the Supermercado where we bought supplies for a lovely dinner as well as for cheap meal options other times. Brooke, Vanessa's roommate made us a delicious spicy pasta dishe with basil, pepper flakes, olive oil, and about a million fresh tomatoes. We shared a bottle of sparkling white wine to toast and red, made directly in our region of Italy. Both bottles together only cost about 3 Euro! The wine with meals tradition is lovely, because it's such a social thing. After we cleaned up, we sat in our living room and talked about our lives while I played the guitar softly in the background. It was magical. Today was our first official day of classes. I started learning Italian basics but it's really frusturating. I want to be at my level of Spanish RIGHT NOW with it, especially because I find myself thinking and speaking in it so much here. Italian is just so close to Spanish that when I run out of words in Italian (which is basically as soon as I've said Hello. or if i'm ordering food 'vegetariano') I speak in Spanish either by accident or because it actually helps me talk to people here. You would not believe the bug bites I have EVERYWHERE on my body. Italian mosquitos are like WIZARD mosquitos. they have avada kedavraed my whole body. Luckily I am a giant to them, like Hagrid so they just bounce off with little repercussions (which just happen to be super ridiculously itchy.) I start my radical theatre and art history (which I am auditing) classes today which is very very exciting. Tonight I am having dinner at Deb's which should be incredibly lovely. Ciao Ciao!