It’s day 3 over here. Wait 3, is that right? Ah yes, day 3!

My biological clock has been so off that I need to look back and count my days; they all seem to run together at this point. But nonetheless, I’ve been in Europe for 3 days!

I first arrived in Berlin, after a quick layover in Paris. I must say, the flight over wasn’t my best work… Everyone told me bring things to help sleep on the plane, but pshhhh of course I didn’t listen. My idea was to make friends with the person next to me and spend the next 9 hours in deep, wine-induced conversation. This method has proven to work for me during my last two long-haul flights, why not now, right? Well naturally this time, my neighbor didn’t even give me a second look. My attempt at making conversation quickly ended with a one-worded response and a move for his headphones. So long story short, the flight was lengthly and the movie selection was subpar and that’s that. Although it was fun practicing the little French that I know!

Fast forward a few hours and I’m in Berlin!

You want to know the quickest way of getting acclimated to a new city or country? Hop on their public transportation; that oughta do the trick. This is where it hit me; holy shit, I’m in Germany and I don’t know a damn word of German! My entire time from the airport to my hotel in central Berlin was me just winging it and seeing what happens. I honestly had no idea what the hell I was doing but I was loving every minute of it! The city was moving at such a rapid pace that just trying to keep up subdued the post-travel exhaustion. But alas don’t you worry, it surely returned when I locked eyes with the bed I was to sleep in that night.

I arrived in Bologna yesterday where I’ve come to realize that this is a lovely place to recover from jet lag. The pace of this beautiful, red-tinted city is slow and gentile. I spent a large part of my day yesterday people watching, sprawled out along the steps of La Basilica di San Petronio and strolling the narrow alleyways.

I gotta say, I’m catching on to the Italian language quicker than I anticipated! Surrounding myself with Italians & Italian culture, and practicing the language that I’ve been learning for the past two years, really excites me for what’s to come here.

Cheers to the unknown!