First Day(s) in Bologna

I open the door to my room for the next 3 weeks and immediately start undoing the many
zippers on my 3 different bulging suitcases. I took off from Minneapolis St. Paul International
Airport a whole 14 hours before and had only thought of the comfort of a warm shower and a
cold bed since my feet had left U.S. soil. I had planned to beeline it for my bed once I finally
made it to my room in Bologna, but once I actually made it to my room, I didn’t feel a single bit
of the jet lag that everyone had warned me about. Maybe it was the adrenaline or the relief of
finally being able to move around after sitting in my nonexistent leg-space Delta seat for a total
of 10 hours, but I was on a roll. I totally had time to nap before my class meeting, but once I
started unpacking, I had no intention of lying down (even though the cool, clean, freshly pressed
white sheets were screaming my name). It took me a total of 10 minutes to arrange all of my
assorted clothing-filled packing cubes, 5 to take out all of my bathroom stuff, and another 20 to
figure out how to get all of my different charging cords to fit on the single power converter I
brought. I was planning on taking a long, hot shower, but it was minimized to a short,
room-temperature shower because of the screen on the shower head that showed how many liters
of water I was using and gave me a grade on how environmentally friendly my shower was. This
alone probably wouldn’t have deterred me from taking a well-deserved long rinse but the little
animation of a polar bear on a melting iceberg made me feel suddenly undeserving of a long
shower. Although the graphic was slightly depressing and all too real, nothing could deter me
from enjoying my first night abroad.
After finally feeling clean, I then got to do what I’d most looked forward to on my
arrival: getting ready in Italy. I know it sounds self-centered to say that one of my favorite things
to do is to dress up, but when I know I’m going to be walking around a gorgeous city, I just love
to put on a cutesy little outfit and do myself up. Unfortunately, I presumed that more people were
going to dress up for our opening program dinner, so I was slightly embarrassed when I arrived
at the class meeting as the only one in a long skirt (very glad I didn’t opt for the full-length dress
I almost decided on). As I listened to our guide Piedro go over the dos and don’ts of his
hometown, I couldn't help but let my mind wander to the forthcoming pasta dinner. I felt like I
ate a lot during the day because all of my flights had offered so much food and drink, but still my
stomach was growling at the idea of Italian carbs. Finally, as the class meeting drew to a close
and the dinner loomed closer, our group made its way towards the hotel front door and into the
streets of my home for the next 3 weeks.