The trip from Boston was long but went without glitches.  We met the two NH Institute of Art professors and eight students here and there; they seemed like a nice group.  Frederica (our local coordinator) had separate buses for them and for us from the Milan airport so that we could all get settled in as soon as possible. We sat together as a group on the planes, and the students have been very good to stay with the group in the airports.  There has been remarkably little whining today, especially after so little sleep.  We are trying to stay up until a normal bedtime tonight so that we can wake up and be on Italian time. We met with Alessia (a Verona student who was at FSC in the fall semester) and she gave us a short tour of the university, showing us the internet access and where the cafeteria was (unfortunately, it did not open until 7:00 p.m., so we did not stay to eat there.)  We ended up shopping in that little market close to Il Viccolo.  So we all have food for tomorrow, which will be a holiday for San Zeno, the patron saint of Verona, and most of the stores in Verona will be closed.  (I might have to visit that church tomorrow to see some of the activity.)  The churches here are glorious.  Some students wondered if they could find a Catholic church for services.  ALL the churches are Catholic!

The Il Viccolo apartments have the only internet.  It also has a completed lower double bedroom with beams, and the four girls love it.  I'm across the hall with the red kitchen (with an oven!) and the boys are happy in the apartment I had two years ago.  We set up Alex (who is bound to a wheelchair but gutsy as all get-out) in her hotel.  I saw the nice double set-up for the San Fermo boys.  The only apartments I have not yet seen are the San Tomaso apartments, but Terri is happy.  Many of the students got set up with internet accounts at the university library tonight. Tomorrow we will do a longer orientation with the major plazas, the phone guy, etc. I am trying to use my Italian as much as possible, and I think Prof. Thomas and I will both begin classes with some discussion of the language, tell them a few phrases to use, etc. I think that's it.  I'm pretty beat, so forgive if this doesn't make the best sense.  I think I've been up for about 32 hours straight, with just an hour or two of sleep here and there.  Time for bed now!