Day 4! HO TROVATO UN'APARTAMENTO

I FOUND AN APARTMENT! I am so excited and relieved. I can't believe I found one so quickly, and it's such a huge weight off my shoulders. I have been on cloud 9 all day because of it. I called this morning and made an appointment, so Maria and I went to go see it at noon. I really liked it then, but asked if I could think about it and call tomorrow morning. But I acutally called back this evening and went back to ask a few more questions and secure my place. I just had a really good feeling about it from the beginning, and the more I thought about it, the more I knew that it's where I belong this year.
The apartment is on Via Righi, which is right in the middle of town and very close to the hotel and the BCSP office. It is on the 4th floor (technically the 5th), and there isn't an elevator. But I am used to stairs, having lived on the 4th floor of Collins for the past two years! The apartment takes up the entire top floor of the building, so it is quite roomy by Italian standards. There is a huge double room, where I will be living with another girl. My room faces south, and the wall is almost completely windows! There are two other rooms which are singles, a bathroom with a sunny window overlooking the terrace, a decently sized kitchen, and a HUGE, beautiful, sunny, perfect terrace. The view is so beautiful, and thanks to all the windows, there is so much light in the apartment. I really really love it. I will take pix as soon as I move in so everyone can see it!
My roommates are really really nice, too. Right now there is a girl Elena and a boy Giuseppe, and there will be another girl sharing my room, but I don't know who yet. Elena knows some English, and she is very good about being able to tell when I don't understand what she is saying. Guiseppe speaks much more quickly than Elena does, but speaking to him will be a good challenge for me every day. I really had a great feeling about this place even after just talking to Elena and Guiseppe on the phone to make the appointment. I just know somehow that this is the place for me!
Rodolfo, Maria, and I went to a little bar for lunch. I had a piadina (like a flatbread sandwich) with speck ham and mozzarella cheese. I almost wept it was so delicious!
Then we had to go back to the office for a meeting about our pre-session classes. We met the two teachers, Christine and Clara! They were really intimidating at first, but turned out to be sooo nice and easy to talk to. We all had to take a little placement test because we will be split into two groups for the pre-session based on skill level. I fully expect to be in the lower group, but that is fine with me. I need all the help I can get right now!
We had an "aperitivo" after the test with the teachers, Andrea and Danielle, and some really friently Italian students. Aperitivo (appetizer) is a thing that Italians do before dinner and consists of wine or other drinks with little snack type foods eaten standing up. This one was provided for us for free, but it's a really nice thing to have at a restaurant because you just have to pay for a glass of wine, and then you can eat all the appetizers that you want to! Anyway it was delicious of course! We had prosecco, which is kind of like champagne, and all kinds of little sandwich type things with ham, mushroom, zucchini, tomatoes, cheeses, and I don't even know what else, and then there were these little cream puff type things called bigne' and tarts with strawberries on top. All of the Italian students were so nice and super friendly, as well as patient with my limited vocabulary! I think it will be easier to make friends with Italians than I thought it would be. It's so funny because they are very stand-offish in public, like when walking down the street, but they really are very cordial, warm, and welcoming when you talk to them.
Well, it's going to be an early night for me. I don't really have anything else to do right now, so I need to catch up on my sleep!
xoxo

more pix!