First Day in Italy

This is a quick log of my trip. It's nothing special but more of something to remind me of what I've done. It begins with my first day in Italy. I'm here in Italy for 6 months to work for Whirlpool. It's a great opportunity and I'm really excited.

My trip begins with Dan's mom sending me off at the airport. I'm such a mess. I thought I had everything figured out, but turns they only allow 18lbs as checked luggage! On top of that, my backpack is too big and they'll probably want me to check it. It all works out in the end, but what a hassle. On the plus side, I got bumped up to business class! It's not as nice as Northwest's business class to Asia, but still quiet nice. I watch Marley and Me, have a meal of fish and salad, take a couple of NyQuil gelcaps and go to sleep. Pretty uneventful. My transfer's in Frankfurt. I can't imagine a more messy airport. I first arrive at a bus gate, get bussed to the middle of the terminals, then find my way through a maze of tunnels, through customs, security check and then to my gate. I've only got one hour, so I'm practically sprinting down the hallways. When I get to the gate, I find out the flight's 10 minutes late! better than 10 minute early, I guess.

I get on the second leg of my flight and relax. I've got a window seat and a rather large gentleman is sitting next to me. Great. Half way through the flight, he starts snoring. Even better.... That's all well and good, though. It feels like a normal flight. I get to the airport and cannot understand a word anyone's saying. That's a strange feeling. Usually I can pick up a few words. I wander around and finally find an older gentleman with a "Whirlpool Home Appliances" sign in his hand. Probably for me. He leads me to the car and opens the trunk. That instant, a lady appears standing next to my cart. My first thought is "Does she want it? She doesn't look like she has any baggage." I can't speak Italian and neither the driver nor her can speak any English. Finally, we find a common language, French. Who knew I would ever use that again. We ride from MXP to Gavriate, where I'll be staying.

The rest of the day is relatively uneventful. Practically everywhere's closed for lunch. That was a weird realization. I managed to walk to Carrefor (which is about 5-10 minutes away) and purchased some items. Instead of having big shopping carts moms can fill up for a week's worth of groceries, they have baskets with wheels you can tug along as you shop. Works well, I guess, since my fridge is the size of a mini-bar at a hotel. Probably not going to use that too much.

I get home, continue unpacking and take a nap. Amazingly, I'm able to wake up 2 hours later, just before dinner with Uday, who's already here. We all have a few glasses of wine over appetizers and small finger foods. What a day.... It sounds like this weekend we're going wine tasting. yay!

Tomorrow's my first day of work, who knows what that'll be like.