SBI

I am officially unpacked and settled into Saints Bible Institute here in San Lorenzo, Italy.  It's nice to be able to say that and not be dreaming it!  Whenever something cool happens, Mattea and I poke each other and say, "WE DID IT".  In reality, it was God who did it, but we are still marveling that He brought us this far across the world and placed us in the hands of such caring people.  After arriving at the Venice airport, Mattea and I sat for two hours until we finally saw a face that we recognized!  Samuel Spatola, the director of SBI, had come to pick all of the girls up but the other ladies didn't have flights until two hours after ours arrived.  So even though we knew he'd be late, it was quite a relief to see him.

After riding the bus for about an hour and a half, we made it safely to the SBI dorms.  I do have to say, you wouldn't believe how small Italian streets are!!  Our bus driver had much courage to round the corners so well; I thought for sure that we would have hit some of the tiles on a roof at some point!  I will confess though, I did hold my breath a few times but the driver never seemed worried at all.  There are so many round-abouts and weird little stop signs, and the pictures that indicate a school crossing are quite enjoyable.  Rather than our American signs with cutesy little children walking sedately across the tarmac, the Italians prefer to use the direct version: RUN.  Their idea of a cross walk indicator is to put a sign of a boy and a girl, running haphazardly across the street, carrying what are supposedly school supplies but look suspiciously like briefcases.  I think that it's really an example of how business men and women look while trying to cross a street during rush hour, but that's just my humble opinion. ;)

Anyyyyway.  We dorm in what is called the "Princess Palace".  It's a pukingly disgusting name and it makes it sound way too pink and fluffy, but it's really not; it ends up being just a normal, empty room except for the beds, dressers, bookshelf, and wardrobe.  I share my room with three other girls: Ashtyn, Olivia, and Lexi.  I've never had roommates my own age before, so this is a new experience for me.  Thus far, we all get along and I don't mind having roommates - at least they keep their quarter of the room clean!  We share shelves and the amount of clothes they have compared to the amount of clothes that I packed makes me look like I'm extremely poor.  I take up very little shelf space and somehow, (aka space vacuum bag thingys), these girls managed to bring the majority of their current wardrobes.  I happily gave up some of my space so that I could fit my peanut butter in my suitcase, which I feel was a wonderful replacement for the extra clothes I could have hung in my closet.  I also managed to pack two boxes of granola bars, fruit leather, lots of gum, and a small packet of gummy bears, courtesy of the lovely Mishala.  So essentially, I packed all of the necessary items, and they went for the luxury items!  To each his own, I suppose.

Right now, I'm sitting in what we call the "Lounge", which consists of eight couches, four tables and chairs for studying, and random comfy chairs like the one I'm currently occupying.  The wifi is strongest here because the router is right next to my head, so I'd say I have a pretty good seat!  They fixed the thermostat in here so that the only things that are frozen right now are my feet.  (Oh dear, the ends of those sentences just rhymed; how bad is that?!  It just goes to show that I'm still jet lagged.)  I rather like it here, even though it's been raining most of the day.  The lounge is comfy tonight, dinner was yummy, and bedtime is quite soon.  Speaking of food...

Breakfast.  I usually don't get hungry in the mornings, so I end up skipping breakfast most of the time.  But in Italy...I eat breakfast.  And I will continue to scarf it down, every single day that I am here.  They feed you fresh bread with jam or Nutella, fruit, yogurt, Muesli, and water.  That's it.  But somehow, it's fantastically wonderful and delicious!  I realize this might come as a shock to some of you, but I eat a lot of food here in Italy.  A LOT.  Garrett said it was fine because everyone apparently loses weight while they're here because of all the walking we end up doing.  So I figure I'm going to take my own advice and eat my way through the country of the famous boot.  I think it's a foolproof plan!

I would tell you about all of the super cool things that I've been doing, but I really haven't done anything worth writing about yet.  I went to a mall and yes, they have H&M here in Italy.  Whoop-dee-doo.  Oh, Italy is expensive!  One US dollar is only equal to point seven four Euros, which is pretty sad.  So it's like, if you were to buy something labeled twenty Euros, it would cost you somewhere around twenty-eight US dollars, which is a little expensive for my taste but I really don't have a choice.  It's a little weird to try and wrap your head around, but I'm told that it gets easier the more you do it.  Well, that's pretty much all of the interesting information that I have for tonight.  Until next time!