Aviano, Italy Bound!!!

Alright, well the big day finally arrived! October seemed so far away for so long...and all of a sudden, whoa...IT'S HERE!! We left the day after Blake and Andrea's wedding and that was really a good thing. I had a lot going on that week and it kept me occupied and busy. I also got to see all my closest friends and say goodbye to them on Saturday night after the wedding.

On Sunday afternoon my parents took me to the airport and we said our tearful goodbyes :(. Thank goodness my friend Brianne was leaving for Canada at the same time and we planned to meet up at the airport. I passed her in the check in line on the way to security so I waited for her to keep me company while I was going through security. That was very helpful to have a distraction after having to say goodbye. So Brianne and I hung out and our friend Sarah met up with us as well (she was leaving for Michigan) before I got on the flight to Baltimore. I was so exhausted by the time I got on the plane that I fell asleep in a middle seat, sitting straight up, with my arms crossed on an hour and a half flight to Baltimore!

Taylor met me at Baggage Claim in Baltimore and we lugged our huge suitcases and overstuffed backpacks across the airport to the international terminal and recieved tickets for the military chartered rotator flight over to Europe. As Taylor said on his Facebook status, "met Katie in Baltimore and she wasn't crying...that's a good sign!" After saying goodbye, I only had a few tears on the plane with Taylor when I got out my blanket to sleep on and it smelled like home. And yes, I have my baby blanket with me. I don't sleep with it every night, but if I'm upset, it is still very comforting! My mom asked if I was taking it with me...I said..."Am I taking it with me!?!?!??!! It's going in my carry on...I'm not even taking a chance of checking it!!!"

Anyway...We waited for about an hour and a half in Baltimore before boarding our flight at midnight to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. It was a 7 hour flight to Ramstein and I slept at least 5-6 hours of the flight! They served dinner about an hour after we took off...at 2am...and then breakfast about an hour before we arrived. We had a 3 hour layover in Germany on base and then headed over to Aviano. It was less than an hour flight and we got in around 6:30pm local time. The following pictures are when we were approaching Aviano...we were about 10 minutes from landing on base...

Tired, tired Katie...showing all 18 hours of travel fatigue in that picture right there!!! Taylor was admiring the Alps we were flying over...

Here we are approaching the mountains...we believe this is Austria.

BEAUTIFUL. Click on this picture to make it bigger...it was so pretty, and this is through a plane window!!

This is now in Italy within minutes of landing. The mountains no longer have snow, they weren't nearly as tall. These are the Dolomite Mountains, a part of the Alp range.

This is about 30 seconds from landing on base. The mountains almost border base. They are very foggy right now and probably will be for quite awhile, from what I've been told.

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So that's all the pictures I have right now.

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After arriving on base we checked in the Mountain View Lodge (the Air Force Inn) on base. We have a room until the 27th, after that we'll figure something else out. We called family and got a shower and bed!!! We're still battling the jet lag and have been keeping some odd hours lately, but we're working on that!!

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On our first full day we toured around base with our sponsor, Mike. He is great and very helpful. We got cell phones set up and looked at a couple car places for Taylor to buy his car for work. We then went to dinner with the officers in his squadron and their wives. It seems like a very fun group and Taylor is really looking forward to working with everyone. He said the atmosphere in the office and among the officers is so much better than it was in Korea, which will be very nice for him, and for me, because everyone hangs out together a lot! Although from what we've heard, the job is gonna be tough!! The wives seem very nice and very helpful. Everyone is around the same age...mid-late 20's I would assume. A couple of them work at the youth center on base and told me about a possible opening coming up soon...so there is potential for a job. It would be part time, but I would be able to sub with the job as well and get acquainted with the school. It will probably be a few weeks before I start on all that, but I'll keep you updated what happens!

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We ate at a local Italian restaurant called Casabianca (or something like that). It was delicious. I had pasta carbonara...it was spaghetti noodles with cream sauce, ham, and egg yolk...it was so good! And even better was the parmesan cheese they have with the olive oil to dip your bread in before the meal! Yuuuum. One of the girls ordered us sgroppinos after dinner. It is an Italian cocktail. It was like a lemon icee with a bit of gelatto in it so it's like a smoothie with citrus vodka...it was delicious as well!! Anyway, it was a fun dinner and Taylor and I are both excited about everything coming up!

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Today we looked at some housing areas. Mike's wife, Jenny, took us around to see some of the different areas for housing. We went to their house to get an idea of what to expect. They live right at the base of the mountain and Taylor and I really liked the area a lot. The only down part is sometimes the internet isn't as great over there because it's close to the mountains...but there are other options. I just want to be able to use Skype...that's my big thing...but the area is just so gorgeous! We have an appointment tomorrow at 4pm to view a house in Cordenon, which is about 10-15 minutes from base...not far at all. The area that we are interested in is Budoia, Italy and Polcenigo, Italy...both in the mountain area. Buuut, it will all depend on what is available!! So, more on that later!

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Anyway, we are now hanging out at the hotel and we start a Right Start program tomorrow. It gets you familiar with base and gets all of your paperwork taken care of. We are going through it a bit backwards bc it's supposed to start on Monday, but we're doing the second half first...but no big deal. Tomorrow is Benvenuti Cultural Adaptation Class and Friday we go on a Benvenuti Tour and take a train and I believe we go to a vineyard and do a wine tasting!

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Anyway...I've babbled for quite some time now, so I'll let you go if you've made it this far!!! I'll update later!!

Ciao, ciao!!