What were you grateful for this week?

I am grateful my travels here were safe. I was able to meet up with M in the Amsterdam airport which was great because I was already hit with culture shock there. I got off the plane, nothing was in English and everyone around me was speaking a different language which was kind of stressful so it was so nice to have her and figure out things together. I am also grateful for my kind host family, they gave me 2 books to help me get around Milan and Italy which have already been helpful. And of course, chocolate gelato.

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?Jet lag and culture shock are so real. I was warned about the jet lag but thought ehh I’ll be fine. Nope. Not fine at all, even after a couple Red bulls I still felt like a zombie. The culture shock also hit me like a train, I thought I’d be fine and that most Italians would be able to understand me but boy was I wrong, again.

Tell us about your week!My flight was great, I’ve never flown for that long but it went really well. I loved being able to watch the sunrise from the plane, the whole sky was pink! So I guess that was a plus of not being able to sleep the whole flight hahaha. Just driving from the airport to our house was amazing, I have never seen architecture so incredible. Thank goodness for Google Map, lets just put it this way, I don’t think I would be here typing without it. 

Milan is a very quick moving place, add not knowing Italian to that and bam you got a lost blonde who walked 7 miles in one day. But on the bright side now I justify eating gelato for my next 3 meals. The boys are great, it took a little while but they are starting to understand me (hopefully) and starting to use English a little more.

We went to the park, did a puzzle I brought them, read some books and watched Curios George.. theres a good chance I enjoyed that more then the boys ;). Simon Says was a little more difficult with kids that are still working on English then I imagined so we will be trying that again in a few weeks. I can’t wait to be able to go out and explore more of the city the rest of the week.