ITS HEATING UP....

...literally.

You'll see what I mean.

After the bit of orientation I had today (which consisted of mostly walking. Walking will come into play later), I was ready to go on the planned grocery/necessity shopping trip with my roommates. After meeting up with everyone we first set off to find an electronic store to get a converter for one of my rommies. We walked for quite a while and no such luck, so we soothed our poor american spirits with our first taste of gelato! (I had the teramisu flavor) After we had our fatty fix we headed back past where we were originally and a few blocks farther to get to the store. 

Once we were there, Rachel and I were on a mission. Having decided that our apartment would buy food indiviually with a few stock items for communal use, we went around picking out everything we need to make ourselves food. We also had to get some major necessities for the apartment, like toilet paper (like badly). Seriously, we spent AT LEAST and hour and a half in this store. And it wasn't because we didn't know how to read the labels; they had pretty pictures on the labels that helped us out. We just literally needed that many things. Fortunately this place is super inexpensive, which is what us broke college students need, and i only spent around 28 euro (including the joint items that I'll get reimbursed for). For as much as I bought, that seems like quite a steal.

Then came the joy of taking all of our heavy bags back to our apartment. It's not difficult to get to it from the store or that long of a walk (only about 10 minutes) but with all of those bags it was certainly exhausting. But as we got back to our apartment we see the repair-men in the apartment next to us. Pam and Megan came over when they heard us get in and told us that they had already gone into our apartment and turned on the heat. HALLELUJAH WE HAVE HEAT! That made my day like 50x better, except that I was already sweating at that moment from lugging the groceries back.

So after we got back to our apartment and unpacked the groceries, we had to set right back out to turn in a form to the agency that handles our apartments. It was just around the corner, so it was super nice and easy to do. Right after we got back, my other roommate had gotten home and told us about how she found a place to buy a converter for 3-pronged plugs. Since I didn't have any of mine (they were all in my suite case) and I would need one for the studio anyways, one roomie and I headed out for the store around the corner. We got there, and I knew just enough Italian to be able to purchase the plugs for the two of us, and we headed right back. As soon as we got back we both had wanted to charge our computer, so we plugged them in.

And then mine didn't work.

So we had to go all the way back, and switch them out. The man at the shop was super nice and just gave me another one, but I feel bad for whoever wants one next because he just threw the broken one into the drawer with all of the rest.

After that we headed back to the apartment to test out the new converter. and BENE! it works!

I then set out to the kitchen to heat up water and make myself a cup of my new instant coffee, since I've been lacking on my caffeine intake lately. As soon as I put the pot on the stove, Pam comes running over to tell me that all of our luggage just arrived at the school.

So not even getting a moments rest, I walk across the city to get my long-awaited-for luggage. Unfortunately we get to drag our 50lb bags back across the cobble-stone roads. Sure, we could have gotten a taxi, but it didn't seem worth the 20 euro (and I still stand by that). With a broken wheel on my suite case and the cobble stone roads, I was lagging behind my friends and thoroughly exhausted; even more so when you consider how much I walked around today (please also note that I live on the third floor).

When I was finally able to get my suite case all the way up to my apartment (big ups to Pam for being she-hulk today) I saw that my coffee water was still hot so I decided to still treat myself to that cup of coffee.

A+ to Italy for even have good, cheap, instant coffee. Seriously, this stuff is fantastic. Especially for instant coffee.

So with a cup of coffee and one of my new apples, I set out to finally move into my room. Since it is now officially homey, I took some pictures to show you all the my swagged out pad.

 Rachel would kill me if she knew I was posting this. Oops!

 Our beds face this direction, towards our little desk we share.

 Thanks for the converter Thomas, we're putting it to good use!

"So will there be a bidet on the way to the hospital?"

Roomie #2 cooking.

Then I went across the hall to bother my friends as they were making dinner. Well, Megan was.

 This was how I found two of the ladies, working real hard...on facebook. They had wine out on the table so I took a sip. Not recommended. T'was nasty. We'll have to work on finding a fruitier wine to suit my taste buds if I'm ever going to drink any.

 Then poor little meg-meg is slaving away of the stove (I'm being dramatic of course, guys)

So i decided to annoy them with one final picture before I left. ahhhh I'm such a good friend. 

Anyways, I went back, and finally cooked myself a meal; it happened to be my first meal of the day since I apparently was just so busy I forgot to eat. I made bow-tie pasta, cooked some sausage meat in pan, and then poured sauce over it all. I'm quite proud of how it turned out since I never ever cook at home. Thanks mom! 

Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Two more days of orientation left, one day off, and then school begins.

Ciao!