Siamo Arrivatio! (We have arrived)

Ciao! (HI) from Italy! We had a very good journey from Missouri all the way across the atlantic ocean! The boys did really well on both flights, the best part was having Luke sleep all the way through the LONG flight! WOO HOO. We arrived in Venice about 8:20am on the 8th. Made it through customs and had our visas stamped and then we were off to grab our 6 pieces of luggage! Oh the funny looks we got toting our luggage through the airport!


It didn't take much longer than walking out into the parking lot at the airport for the culture shock to smack me right in the face! Of course I was dealing with major jet lag and having been up for 27 hours straight at this point. Venice where we landed is about an hour away from the base, so our sponsor picked us up and we were on our way. The Italians are some CRAZY CRAZY drivers, and I was starting to get rather spaventato (scared) by this time. I was really happy when we reached the base, and were around more americans than Italians. Around the base the Italians are not to welcoming to the Americans because they would prefer we were NOT here. However we have been told that when we travel north they are so much nicer and more accepting of Americans. I have to be honest that it all hit me pretty hard and at the end of the day I was crying in my husbands arms! He of course was very comforting and understood where I was at during this whole transition! It sure is a lot to take in and adjust to, especially for a first timmer moving out of the country! He just assured me things would get lots better, we just had to take things slow, breath and relax! So that is what we did....which was easier than we thought especially since the Italians are NOT in a hurry to get anything done! The only thing fast about them is their driving!! Clark got all of his in processing done, while the kids and I hung out a lot at the park! They met some nice friends and I got to meet some nice ladies. We bought a little BMW coop off of some airmen who were getting ready to PSC out so now we have transportation since our car won't be here for another month!



It is small, but it is great for blending in on the roads! You can always tell the American drivers, because their driving the big SUVs, minivans, and trucks! Clark hopes at the end of our stay here that he will be able to trade it in for a new one to ship back to the states! It took me a week to brave driving outside the base, but I knew I had to do it sooner or later. I have been honked at several times, and given some hand gestures, and been passed many many many times. It isn't uncommon for them to drive 30 sometimes 50 miles OVER the speed limit. Makes us feel like we are standing still!