One week into my study abroad trip to Italy, I felt complex emotions. What follows are my initial thoughts from that first week. It has been an exciting voyage, through seas at times turbulent.

It’s Sunday night. Curled up in bed at my host family’s apartment in Siena, I have a full stomach after a delicious home-cooked meal. I’m tired after a Saturday spent dancing in a Discoteca we had visited in Bologna and worried about my then-new cigarette habit. I love it here.