Is this real life?

We have arrived at our new apartment. After stuffing three girls, nearly 20 suitcases of varying sizes, and one frustrated Italian taxi driver into the cab, we were dropped off two blocks away from our apartment. It was my job to stand and guard the bags while two of my roommates took trips back and forth to move our stuff in. We had just had just been given a warning about how common stealing is in Florence so I was having a mild panic attack with every person that passed. I realize now that they were probably staring at me because I looked like a fool standing in the middle of the street guarding all these massive suitcases and not because they were plotting the best way to steal our belongings, but it was nerve-racking all the same.

We are on the third floor of our building but it seems like the sixth with all the winding of the staircases so we took turns shoving suitcases into the elevator that fits about one and half people. When we finally have everything upstairs we are let into our apartment. Unbelievable. Five 21 year old girls should not be able to live in something like this. First of all, we are about ten steps away from the Duomo, Florence’s center tourist attraction because it is the second biggest Cathedral in the world (only to the Vatican). Our private patio just so happens to have a perfect view of this Cathedral which you can access through our kitchen with stained glass windows. The whole apartment is two stories, three bedrooms, two baths, and entirely covered in black marble floor tiles. We have had a couple of minor setbacks however. One is that with only having three bedrooms and five people, obviously only one person is going to get their own room. This wouldn’t be a big deal if the single bedroom wasn’t the largest in size and one of the double bedrooms didn’t only have one large bed in it to share. Laura and I decided to take the downstairs double which resembles a cruise ship bedroom (approx 6x10) so we didn’t have to cuddle in bed together for the next three months. Even though our bedroom is smaller than the walk in closet we all share, we can’t complain because we have a massive family room with floor to ceiling windows and couch that is more comfortable than my bed.

The other minor drawback is that we have already lost power five times since we’ve moved in. We’ve now become very close with Igor, our neighborhood electrician, which is a good thing because apparently there is a big issue going on with our electricity and he’ll be here all next week trying to fix it. I’ll be posting some pictures soon for your viewing pleasure and also in hopes of enticing you to come visit me. Like I said, our couch is more comfortable than my bed.