In Lecce

It's real, I'm in Italy, and boy was it a long time to get here! We took the red-eye on Lufthansa to Munich, then a local airline to Bari, then a sweaty two hour bus ride to Lecce. Sweat is the word of the day (in italiano: sudore). It was in the mid 90s, which I had to convert from celsius. Conversions are going to be tricky these first few days. At the supermarket I just nodded when he asked if I wanted un centigram of salami. For all I know that could have cost €20,00 but thank god it was only €2.

When we arrived we moved in to little apartment suites in a local school. I believe they teach preschoolers here during the year, but for now we have it all to ourselves. The apartments are quite nice although sans air conditioning. We have two triples and one double, two bathrooms, and a shower room with four stalls (three of them have no doors). There is a small sitting/dining room, and a decent sized kitchen with a fridge and stove. Be it ever so humble, it's all ours for the next month!

It was so nice to unpack, we each got our own giant dresser, desk and chair, bedside table, lamp, sheets and towels, and our very own roll of toilet paper. After we unpacked we just laid in bed trying not to fall asleep and slowly chatting with our suite-mates. Around 4pm a few of us decided to explore the area a little and we ended up walking to the historic city center to see the Duomo and a lovely ruined amphitheater. We miscalculated how far we were going and ended up walking for two hours. Not really what the doctor ordered after 13+ hours of nonstop travel, but I will definitely sleep well tonight!

At six everyone met up in the courtyard for artichoke lasagna, caprese salad, fresh peaches and grapes, and warm Italian bread with olives and tiny cucumbers. After a completely silent dinner with everyone focused on getting food to mouth, we took a little stroll through the city with our directors to get our bearings. They pointed out all the fruit markets, bakeries, and gelaterias in walking distance and we stopped in a supermercato for our first grocery purchases! I bought apples, jam, yogurt, iced tea, salami, and cheese. I made friends with the man at the deli counter and liked him so much I kept going back to buy more things! Now a bunch of us are sitting in the darkened courtyard, using the only wifi in the place to check in with family and figure out how to access Netflix (success!). I'm about to head to bed for some well-deserved rest. First full day in Lecce tomorrow!