First “Day” Craziness – Rocky Hill to JFK

Alright, so I don’t even know how many hours I have been awake. My mental clock is all sorts of screwed up with jet lag, but I don’t care because I am FINALLY IN FLORENCE.

To back track for a second, everything went well on the trip down to JFK. Because the internship requires that I wear button down shirts and dress pants everyday (no tie or suit required but still necessary for specific events), my bags filled up quick. Like other international airlines, Lufthansa allows 2 bags that cannot exceed 50 lbs. Fitting 4 months worth of clothes and other stuff into 2 bags is easier said than done, so I ended up bringing another small luggage with the hopes of passing it as a carry-on.

At the airport there wasn’t a long line which was a miracle in itself. The guy at the check in counter was the coolest airline worker I’ve encountered in my life. He told me that these past few days, so many of the flights en route to Florence, Paris, and Rome have been filled with students studying abroad. He gave me great seats in the front of each plane, and even checked my big carry-on as a 3rd luggage for free!

Saying goodbye to my parents and my sister Sarina (who lives in Florida but made a little cameo appearance at JFK – long story) was tough, but I was more excited than anything else to finally get going.

Once inside the terminal, I checked to see where my gate was and then started checking everything out. My flight from NYC to Munich was at gate 6, gate 7 had an Alitalia flight to Rome, 8 to Paris, 9 to Athens, etc etc – it was awesome. There really were students everywhere, especially waiting for the flight to Rome. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself when I saw this one group walk by me as they headed for the Rome flight. There were at least 5 or 6 girls, all brunettes, all spray tanned, all wearing North Faces, all wearing leggings, and all wearing boots. Siete Americane? Ma certo.