Day 4 5/23/10 Florence

This afternoon at 1:00pm Italy time we made it into Florence. I was asleep so I missed it on the flight from Munich to Florence, but Caleigh took a gorgeous picture of the Alps as we flew over them, I hope to add that soon. [Credit goes to Caleigh Trottier] So we landed in Florence and I immediately saw some sort of mountains. They were gorgeous. We stepped off the plane and had to ride a bus to the terminal. Once we were there the Florence CCC director was there to help us get to the Hotel. We missed the 1:30 bus, imagine that? We seem to be late to a lot of things, I love this group! So we went to the ATM got money out then by the time the majority of us got Euro we were ready to get on the bus. We keep joking that Euro is play money because it is so pretty. Ryan continues to express how it’s easier to spend because it feels like monopoly money. So I’ve been very careful already [you’re welcome daddy].

We switched buses and had to walk about a block and a half to the next bus. After we got off that bus we had to walk 10 blocks to our hotel. I insisted upon taking my Nike duffle bag which has a one strap so I had to carry a 32 pound bag 10 blocks, and according to the director Gary was the hottest day yet. I am still glad I did because everyone else struggled with their rolling suitcases on the narrow brick sidewalks. We finally got to the Hotel Arizona. [Yeah, odd huh?] Then we went to our rooms to shower and relax. In my room is Caleigh, Kim and Kari. The other girl room is Whitney, Sarah, Cenia and Kat. Then the guys are all in one room Ryan, Pat and Ross. Yes my room is guilty we all fell asleep for a nap. The beds are so comfortable. When we woke up we went to dinner.

We met the Florence Stint team who work alongside the permanent team in Florence. They were extremely encouraging because a few years ago they were in the same place as we were. They explained how international projects have 4 phases.

Phase 1: Summer Project [realizing the spiritual need and beginning to plant seeds]

Phase 2: Stint team [ a temporary team to work in the country to continue networking over a greater period of time]

Phase 3: Permanent Team [a team moves to the destination and develops the organization in hopes of finding locals to take over]

Phase 4: International team [a local team, in this case Italian, join staff and begin crusade such as we now have a Purdue]

Milan is in stage 1, and according to the stint team [one of the girls was in one of the original trips back in 2006] they are in stage 4! They are so proud of all the work God has done in Florence and is continuing to do. They have an Italian couple taking over when they leave here in a couple months. Stint teams still exist even during phase 3 & 4; at least that’s what I got out of it. The restaurant was fantastic. I had penne ala pesto. Definitely no olive garden and so much better than I could have imagined! Everyone is so curious so we shared a lot of our foods together. I took a picture of Ross’s Alfredo; I can’t remember what it was called. We left and got gelato. The stories are true, I have a crazy sugar rush right now! I got a 2 ‘scoop’ [more of a 2 spoonful but it seemed like a lot more]. I had hazelnut and berry. The hazelnut was basically nutella flavored ice cream but so much richer and the berry was indescribable the texture even had the berries real seeds in them. [Kind of a pain] Now we are back for the evening and going to bed. Exhaustion is beginning to overwhelm us all. Tomorrow we are going to the Florence office; we got to see the outside of it today one of the pictures is at the bottom.

Arrivederci! - Britt

---- i'm going to post pictures on facebook, its a lot quicker than this. atleast for now while we're in florence.