Arriving in Italy

 

We (finally!) arrived in Italy yesterday, on January 3^rd 2013 around 4:30 pm. Troy and I were both out of it. Sleep is hard to come by on a plane. Everyone realizes the “recline” button is a joke as you watch your seat move back about a centimeter and realize you’re still sitting upright. Our plane had left Baltimore on Wednesday around 8:30 pm. We made a stop in Germany before arriving in Italy. We’d been up nearly two days. We’d had a mini naps, but they didn’t seem to make much difference. I was also in a lot of pain. Sitting has been killing my back and the plane chairs are very uncomfortable and offer you no wiggle room.

We waited for our luggage, grabbed our bags and headed out of the building. We were greeted by a ton of people in uniform. It was so kind of them to meet us and they were all so friendly and doing their best to be helpful, but honestly my heart sank. People? We hadn’t gotten to shower in ages and I was both hungry and exhausted, in no mood for being social. I felt like a zombie as numerous people introduced themselves to me. I knew they were important by the way they introduced themselves and the rank on their arms, so I did my best to be friendly as they were probably Troy's bosses and superiors. I don’t think I absorbed a single name, and at the time I only saw them as a hindrance keeping me from getting to sleep sooner. 

Then we got to meet our sponsor family. Our sponsors are lovely! At the time I didn’t absorb their names, simply crawled into their car and let them drive. The wife was very sweet and began to pour out advice I knew was valuable, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t remember it. It took all my concentration to simply keep my eyes open and nod at the appropriate times.

They gave both my hubby and I cell phones to borrow, so we’d be able to get stuff done and contact others and each other. They helped get us set up at temporary lodging and offered to give us a tour of base and grab us food at the store. They were lovely, but I knew there was a bed screaming my name and nothing else could beckon me from it. Thankfully my hubby was also exhausted and knew the importance of getting me sleep as well, so we declined the food shopping and base tour and went to bed.

            We woke at around 2 am that morning ravenous, as that is equivalent to 5-8pm in the states, the average dinnertime. The only food we had on us was some leftover sandwich from the airport, some squished fruit, and a box of Bodmin’s Gourmet English toffee. We ate what we had and then went right back to sleep, sleeping in rather late.

            Today Troy had some business to take care of, but thankfully there was little I could do to assist him with and I was able to rest and sleep some more. The base looks great so far! Then again, we’re coming from Luke AFB and the desert wasn’t our thing. Compared to the vast amount of dirt and cacti we had before, this is amazing! Below are some snaps of the base I took with our awesome new camera! (Thank you Uncle Tom!)

The mountains are much taller, but they disappear up into the clouds. I was too tired to stick around and see if they'd move so I could get a better picture.

I believe those are the Prealps in the background. Don't quote me on that, I'm tired. Will verify this later...

It looks like a beautiful place and so far everyone we've met has been super nice and helpful! We are eager to start the in-processing and eventually explore Italy. I'll work to keep everyone updated on our progress and life events :) Until then, we'll both be working to adjust our sleep schedule -_-