Ciao from Italy

Buon Giorno from the beautiful city of Bologna, Italy. The image above is the view we have from our apartment. This city is amazing. Today was our first full day in Bologna, so we spent most of our time absorbing it all in. We met in a cafe to have breakfast and go over some cultural norms that we should get familiar with. I managed to order my breakfast of "brioche con crema e cafe (cream pastry and espresso)." After the meeting we walked around the city a bit and then had lunch where I, again, ordered on my own. We finally got gelato and then took an actual tour of the city. Below this entry will be a few pictures from it. We then learned about practical needs while we are here, like groceries and such. Although we are the first group of students to come to Bologna, over the past year 3 couples on staff with Campus Crusade have moved here to get things started. They have been helping us out a lot with how to do things and whatnot. Tonight our group split up and went to their different apatments for dinner...amazing! At dinner we talked about our plans for the summer more in depth and it sounds very exciting. Tomorrow will be our first day on the campus so please pray for us as we go tomorrow that God will work through us. Below are pictures of the Alps as we flew into Bologna, San Petronio, part of the outer wall of Bologna from the Roman Empire that dates back to 400 B.C. and finally a picture of Bologna from one of the surrounding hills. And just a fun fact about me is that John Grisham is my favorite author and "The Broker" is my favorite book...which ironically takes place in Bologna. Well, I found out at dinner tonight that the room in the cafe that we had our meeting in is the same room and cafe that John Grisham wrote most of "The Broker." Needless to say, I will be spending time in that cafe. Until next time...God Bless. Ciao!