Padova

After flying approximately 15 hrs, bus ride(30 mins) to train station, 2 hr train ride we finally arrived in Padova. We were exhausted, it was still yesterday in the US, and then it hit me.... I don't understand 2/3 of what's going on around me... Tanner and I had been studying italian on Mango for about two months, and I thought I was pretty fluent being able to say Buona sera, ciao, grazie, prego, un assagio per favore.....I could definitely read signs, for the most part, but my brain and spanish could not keep up with the words coming out of the Italian's mouths. But I tried to keep my cool as I watched Tanner communicated with others and as we tried to find our way to our apartment. We asked and asked, back and forth, where/how... Then we ran into LDS missionaries and we felt soooo relieved! Even though we didn't get much help from them, it was nice to speak english for a little while. It was comforting to know we were not alone. After trying to buy bus tickets and becoming extremely confused, we got on a random bus, no ticket, and got off, walked to McDonald's (I know, seriously, how American are we?)and ordered to McChickens. We wered disappointed to discover they didn't have a dollar menu. So we paid about $10-US dollars and enjoyed our sandwiches very much. We decided it was best to avoid getting on another bus, we had no idea where we would end up, so we walked. Yes, we walked and walked... And did I forget to mention it was raining?? We were soaking wet, toes were wrinkled and ready to fall off. It was only day 1 and sooo much more walking to come! We eventually made it to our apartment! We probably walked 5 miles, if not more. Anyway, that night we walked to Tom, Jerry  TiTTi and ordered pizza. yum yum we loved it! We booked apartments with airbnb and are glad we did. We now realize we wouldn't have it any other way. Having our own place, and at times staying with others, really made us feel that we were experiencing Italy as locals. We thank the traveling triplets for introducing us to airbnb!