First Impressions

The journey was long. I got my carry-on bag unpacked twice going through security. For some reason they were very concerned with the clock radio that I packed. Also, I did not sleep a wink on the eight hour plane ride from Charlotte, NC to Frankfurt, Germany. I was too busy watching the sun rise over the Atlantic - one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Other than the view from the air, this was all I saw of Germany:

 But I finally arrived in Torino, Italy on Tuesday February 22^nd. When I arrived, Massimiliano and Maurizio picked me and Ben up from the airport. Massi, Maurizio, and Sam are three ME students who studied at Mississippi State last fall semester. They were very kind to us and showed us around the city. At first I was so overwhelmed. Everything is different here: the language, the buildings, the people, the atmosphere, the weather, the lifestyle, EVERYTHING. I could not stop thinking “how will I ever survive in this foreign place if I do not even know the language.” However, thanks to the hospitality of the Italians and the other international students we have met here, I have begun to acclimate myself to this place and it is only my third day here. Luckily Joseph, one of the other students from Mississippi State, is from Columbia so he speaks Spanish fluently and because Italian and Spanish are so similar, he can communicate to some extent with the Italian natives. Also, almost all of the international students speak English. We have had no problem finding people to hang out with. Actually, it is quite the opposite. We have hardly had a moment to rest because there is so much to do.

Yesterday morning we went to orientation in the main campus building. Then Massi and Sam took us to the engineering building where we will have most of our classes. This building is a 15 minute bus ride from our dorm. It is such a beautiful building. It is actually part of an old Fiat plant that has been renovated since Fiat moved to another location. Part of the building is devoted to Politecnico (our university) and the other part is a mall, an art gallery, and Fiat corporate headquarters. On top of the building is an old test track that Fiat used when they produced cars there. The track is now used as a jogging track. They wanted to preserve this test track because it is somewhat historical. This is the view from the engineering building:   

The big glass ball on top is the conference room for the executives of Fiat and you can see the banking of the test track on the farthest side of the building.

It seems that everything is historical here. The dorm where I live was a barracks for the German soldiers during WWII, and Polictecnico’s architecture building was the Duke’s castle from 100 years ago. This is me, Joseph (to my left), and Ben (to my right) is the courtyard of the castle.

At first I was terrified of all the newness, but I think I am going to love it here. There is so much diversity everywhere I look. In three days I have met people from Italy, Hungary, Brazil, Columbia, Israel, Pakistan, Budapest, and China. 

Oh, and this is the view from my dorm room: