I slept from 3:15pm-4:30am and then fell back asleep until 7:30am after we got off the plane, since my roommate wanted to "nap" for an hour. I'm counting day 1 as day 0. Our program is exactly 100 days but mine will be 99.
Day 1
We had to drag ourselves to orientation. It was cold and rainy and confusing but we got there early and stopped in a cafe for breakfast. We went to sit down and someone yelled my name. I looked up to see my roommate from fall semester coming in for a bear hug! He introduced me to all his roommates and I introduced my roommate. I'm cheap and didn't get anything. We went back to orientation and before we sat down I realized I didn't have my backpack... with my passport and important documents and money in it... I sprinted back to the cafe. I checked under the table where it should have been but it wasn't. I started to walk out and the woman at the counter saw me and immediately handed it to me. I realized that actually I'd had the money and passport with me in a special pocket but nonetheless I will be eternally grateful to her. And also feel stupid.
The orientation was boring but informational and hopefully I'm legally allowed to be in the country now. We also took a walking tour of the city but it was kind of a rainy day so I hadn't brought my camera. I'll be here long enough to wait for the best weather and to think about the right angle and when I'm not not on a tour, I can take my time.
It's so weird to think that I get to live here. Most people come to this city for a day or two and take their picture ofthe Duomo and get back on their way. Most times when I visit a tourist city I am the one that comes for a day and takes my pictures and gets back on my way. But for once I get to take my time and get to know the city and discover its culture. I get the authentic experience. (Minus hanging out with mostly Americans and taking classes in English)
On Saturday (still day 1), I also got to see the school for the first time. It was really different from schools in America. Then I went to get a SIM card with an Italian number, as required by my program. I listened to a presentation by piccell and talked to wynd and finally the whole group of us decided to go with TIM young. It was by far the best deal at 9€ for 1000 texts and 1GB of data. For an additional 3€ I added a second gig and had the option to add 200 minutes of calls for 5€ but I hate the phone and will only ever call if it's an emergency. Then there was a 5€ activation fee (usually 10€ but there was a 50% off promotion) for a total of about 17€. Overall, I feel like I got a really good deal by annoying people that work at phone stores.
We also went to the San Lorenzo Market (I'm pretty sure that's what it's called) and while we didn't get groceries like we expected, we did find Italian Flag and Penis Pasta.
Then we accidentally walked into one of the most intense wine store experiences I've ever had. 3 bottles for 5€! 
Walking home, we got kind of lost but it was fun so it I guess it wasn't really lost. It was just an adventure. We explored the new city we were about to call home. We saw what seemed to be a castle and crossed through a piazza that was pretty busy for how late it was and so we just sat and listened to the strains of conversations in Italian and thought about how great our lives had suddenly become.
As we were intentionally meandering through the strange pattern of streets, we stumbled on a supermarket which was a lot like an American grocery store. It had pretty much everything we were looking for, although it was surprising to see an octopus for sale right next to the chicken nuggets. 
We also found a dollar store where everything was actually a dollar (or a euro or whatever) and that was pretty frickin exciting. We bought toilet paper.
Later, I met up with my roommate from last semester who lives across the Arno river and we got pizza at supposedly one of the best places. It was surprisingly cheap (a whole pizza and wine for 7.50€) and really really good. People think there's something wrong with me when I say I'm not super excited about Italian food but this made me reconsider. Afterwards we went to his apartment and met up with his italian friends (who he met BEFORE HE EVEN MOVED IN!) and then headed off the bars. Unfortunately, as usual, the plans didn't really work out flawlessly and we ended up waiting around for some more friends, then looking around for the first group of friends in different bars they might have gone in, and then going home. And then I fiiiiinally got to take a shower since I hadn't had one yet in Italy.
All in all, it was a great day.
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