Now is the Start

After everything, I am in Italy.

It started sinking in at 1AM Saturday morning when I was wide awake from jet lag, and freezing because the dorm room I share with Kayla, Hannah, Rebecca, and Alexandra isn't insulated well. Lying there in bed in the dark, under the two blankets I had room to pack, I thought about everything that had happened the past six months, but particularly the past 36 hours I had experienced without any sleep.

Our flight left from Elmira, which is where both my family and the Hinterberger's said goodbye to Mikaela and I (SBI bound) and Josiah (L'Abri bound). All of our flights, from there to Philadelphia to Frankfurt to Venice, went smoothly. All of them were on time, and we never had trouble finding our way around the airports (surprising to me, because I'd never flown before and I had this conception that the whole flying process was just a nightmare). So, no chasing after planes speeding down the runway without us. The only chasing that I did was right before I left home. I was sitting in my car, saying bye to Harry. Without warning, both of our other two cars, driven by Mom and Dad, left the driveway. We were taking two cars to the airport, and evidently each driver thought I was in the other car. So I jumped out of Harry, backpack slung haphazardly over one shoulder, and ran after Dad screaming "wait!" at the top of my lungs and laughing in between because what was happening was too ridiculous.

He was almost out of the driveway before he noticed me. It took me a while to catch my breath I was still laughing so hard.

I hoped the hilarity of that moment would carry me through the rest of the trip, and it did. It was an enjoyable, memorable time. Landing in Frankfurt at midnight Eastern time, 6AM German time, was exhilarating. Also, being pulled aside going through customs. The friendly German lady who searched my carry-on immediately pulled out my Living Language conversational Italian handbook. She asked me what I was doing and I replied that I was going to be a student in Italy for about 3 months. She acknowledged that, but handed my book to her coworker. He flipped through the book some, then motioned to follow him. He lead me to a group of security personnel at the back wall. They all muttered stuff in German, glanced me up and down a few times; but mostly just went through my language book over and over. Finally, he gave it back, said okay, and turned his back on me. I took that to mean I could go, so I did, confounded language book in hand.

I spent the rest of the time in that airport occasionally spouting German phrases into the air from my very limited knowledge of that language, and sweating because it was a long hike down to our gate.

From there Mik and I said goodbye to Josiah and claimed the last man-hugs we're going to get for a while.

Landing in Venice, buying apples (due mele per favore--it was so much fun to buy them!) with a few of the Euros mom had given me before leaving, and then sitting on the cold metal bench near the door for two hours waiting for Samuel to pick us up was all surreal. Mik and I were both out of it by then, both of us dizzy from lack of sleep and low blood sugar. The floor still keeps moving beneath both our feet. But it's a small price to pay for being here.

Here. Italy.


From my room, I can see the alps. The first thing I noticed when I walked in my room were the rafters and slanted ceiling. Just like my room at home. I found it beautifully ironic because the one thing I told Josiah I was going to miss most about home was waking up under my rafters and hearing my family's voices downstairs. Of course, no family here (at least biological; I think we'll all be family in a short amount of time). However, I do get to wake up under the rafters! 

This morning, after our typical breakfast of fruit, yogurt&muesli (like home!), and fresh bread, we had church in the lounge. After that and doing some paperwork for the Italian government, we had lunch and walked 4k to the train station in Casarsa. From there we went to Pordenone and walked around the centro/main shopping district as kind of a cultural study. The whole thing was...well, it's Europe! Need I say more? (Well, yes, I do, because there will be more blog posts whenever I have time :).

After walking around we stopped at a bar (coffee shop, here in Italy) and got drinks. The left is a picture of my first coffee ever in Italy. I ordered a latte macchiato per Andrew's recommendation.

Sitting there in a little cafe with Alexandra, Kayla, Elizabeth, and Caitlin (the staffer who was in charge of our little group), I realized again how blessed I am to be here in Italy at school with all these girls...and how glad I am that I'm here. I miss my family and it's not necessarily easy, but I know this is right and that God has me here for a reason, just like everything else happens for a reason. In a way, this is all frightening, but I have a deep, deep peace that keeps me from actually being scared like I might be--because I know God is in control.

I'm also still immensely thankful that I even got here in the first place. Yeah, I worked my butt off to raise money and get everything together, but I never could have done it without God's provision and working everything out so perfectly. It's grace upon grace.