California to Florence

What a day it is has been!
Around 4:00 am on the 27th, my sisters, dad and I packed into the car and headed to SFO. With a tearful goodbye, I left my family and headed to check in for my flights. I had three flights and one train ride to get to Florence today. My first flight was San Francisco to Newark. The flight was jammed packed so United checked my bags for free! I love when that happens so I don't have to haul my suitcase around with me. I thankfully had an aisle seat and wasn't stuck in the middle. I worked on homework for my one of my business classes this flight. I planned to work on more homework my last two flights but that didn't happen.
Once I arrived in Newark, I had to rush to my next flight because my connecting flight was in another terminal. I basically ran to the other end of the terminal I arrived at to catch the shuttle to the next terminal. I checked in at the gate and had a few minutes to sit and relax before getting on another jam packed plane. TAP Portugal had all the Harry Potter movies on their in-flight tv so of course I watched one! I watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
It felt like it took 12 years to get off the plane once it landed in Lisbon. I usually can sleep on planes pretty well but these past two flights I hardly slept.
I finally found my gate for my flight from Lisbon to Bologna and had to fight to keep myself awake while I sat at the gate. Thank goodness this flight was half full because I could have a full row to myself. I wanted to stay awake for this flight so I would be able to be in sync with Italy's time zone. But I don't even remember taking off or landing as I slept the whole flight.
From the airport in Bologna I took a taxi to the train station to catch my train to Florence!! It was a quick ride 35 minute ride to Florence and a quick walk to my Air bnb for the night. This place is so cute! I have a single room and private bathroom in a three bedroom apartment. My bathroom is purple! The couple who owns this apartment are so kind and recommended a bunch of places I should go and restaurants/bars to try.
Even with my nap on my last flight, I was still exhausted so I took a nap. I only meant to sleep for two hours but I slept for five. I woke up feeling so rested and hungry so I got changed and went to get some food. Before I left, I posted on my school's Facebook group to see if anyone else was already here. Two people are and I meant up with them after I had dinner. For dinner I had a tuna, kidney bean, potato, and tomato salad, gnocchi with cheese and tomato sauce, and sparkling white wine for dinner. It was a delicious first meal in Florence.
I walked to the Duomo and met up with the girls from my program after I ate dinner. They were both so nice! We got gelato and walked around for a little while before heading back to our places for the night. I'm going to meet up with them tomorrow to have lunch and explore.
I got to see two sunrises (one in San Francisco and one in Lisbon), been in three countries, and saw the Duomo today. Not to shabby of a weekend so far.