Getting to Florence

So this is my 1st time doing anything like this, forgive me for being too detailed or just random lol. If anyone asks, Faith made me do it lol :)

So 1st, got to the airport around the time I expected to, but I wasn't expecting to be bombarded with hugs, handshakes, and good lucks from extra people lol. Thought it was just gonna Faith, Camille and my parents, but grandparents and uncles were there too haha. It was cool though, I wish Auntie and the Kids could've been there. Get to baggage claim to check my bags, thinking it would be around $35 per bag, no biggie. The lady gone say it's free for the 1st bag, $50 for the 2nd and $200 for the 3rd, + $150 for bags over 50lbs. Needless to say, had my crew with me, so we fixed it so I only had to pay $55 and carried my bag of toiletries like a purse lol (don't judge me). Got through security fine (got complemented on my ps3 and excellent packing skills haha, stinkin wife) and boarding my 1st plane traveling overseas. 1st stop- Amsterdam!

The plane was HUGE! I was seated in the middle of the plane, in the middle row, but thank God I had an aisle seat so at least my left leg got to breathe. Sat next to this black lady too, I thought that was pretty cool. With my luck, of course, the little circlely (don't judge me) fan at my seat didn't work, so she laughed and told me I could use hers because she gets cold. Naturally ended up making small talk, her name was Star and she was a pediatrician from Cali traveling to Nairobi to teach with some Harvard doctors, showing people how to use ultrasound machines. I thought that was pretty cool. She wasn't bad looking either, so I got her email address (watch out TC!). I randomly noticed every seat has it's own personal screen and remote control, and there was a map showing where we were (when I discovered this we were just over the coast, about to hit the water, music, movies, games like Bejeweled, and even email- which was the only thing we had to pay for. I went to the movies section thinking it was gonna be some lame garbagy crap like The Devil Wears Prada or with my luck Deep Impact, but man they had Ninja Assassin, The Green Zone, Kickass, and the Karate Kid, among others! Karate Kid was funny and actually pretty good, I was hype then a mug watchin Ninja Assassin while everybody was sleep, dozed off during Kickass and didn't feel like rewinding and got through half of Green Zone before we landed. The food was trife as expected lol, and I tried this bitter red wine that tasted like cherry nyquil and vodka, but the water and juice helped keep me full since security threw away my Bob Evans's turkey club wrap my dad bought me :(

The Amsterdam airport was pretty standard, nothing extravagent but still better than Detroit. They had some pretty interesting stores that kind of reminded me of a mall, had a lot alcohol and tobacco shops, and their signs were funny (toilets in restrooms and lifts instead of elevators). Found the gate to my next flight ok; they speak english over there but with an accent (throw sounds like "trow"). I heard it and like naps. Took a couple pics but didn't have much time between my flights to really hang out and see some stuff and people watch around the airport. Next stop: Paris!!

......I slept through this entire flight lol. I pulled my bags up top, put on my seatbelt, and before I knew we were landing and I don't even remember taking off. Terrible......

The Parisian Airport is the biggest I've ever seen in my life! Their terminals were so big, I actually had to take a shuttle bus from where I landed to where I had to go. It's easily like 4 of Detroit's airports. No exaggerations. Got my boarding pass and showed the lady at the gate. She said some gibberish French junk and smiled, so I politely smiled and said "Merci" and kept it moving lol. Got to the end of the little walkway thinking I'm about to board the plane, we getting on a bus to take us to the plane! Bumps dude.......after like 15 minutes of riding around, we finally made it to the plane. Once we got on the flight, I was starving, they served some nasty egg sandwich with peppers on it. I ate the banana, drank the O.J., snuggled up with my Shekinah Glory banging on my PSP and went to sleep. And woke up in Italy......

Because my seat was like row 8, I actually got off at the front of the plane like they do in the movies. That made me feel important for a hot sec, lol. When we got off, the 1st thing I will never forget seeing is the mountain of Florence in the distance. I immediately grabbed my camera and snapped a couple shots. I unknowingly sat next to this white girl on the plane that kept smiling at me. I started to fart to turn her off.....thank God I didn't. Her name is Christina and she actually goes to U of M and is in the same program as me. Her Italian is a little better than mine, so we helped each other get our luggage, exchange some cash for some euros, and we shared a cab to the Villa. The cab driver spoke no English, but he was nice and understood the situation. Got to the Villa safely, checked in, paid this dumb 80 euro deposit that nobody told us about, got a little mini tour, and here I am!! Met my roommate, pretty cool white guy from Wisconsin-Madison, name is Chris. Room wasn't quite what I expected, but I mean that place was built in frickin 1502, and they made some modern updates like to to the bathrooms, plumbing, Wi-fi and stuff, but most stuff here is pretty old. It's gonna be death on a stick trying to unpack this crap, but I got a nice view though! Until next time!