Arriving in Riva

First Weekend: I landed in Milan, Italy around 9:30 in the morning on August 22. While I was getting off the plane it eventually set in that I was gone from home and Blacksburg for the entire semester. There was a group of about 30 of us who had booked a bus from Milan to our new home the, Villa Maderni in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland about an hour drive away. Once we had gotten there and settled in a couple of us went to the lake to hang out and get to know each other over a couple drinks. Later that night most of our group went to check out the town and ended up at the local bar, which turned out to be great time. Most of Saturday was spent in orientation and getting familiarized with the do's and don'ts of study abroad. Sunday rolled around and you had the choice of going on a day trip to Milan or hiking Monte San Giorgio, I chose the latter. The hike, in my opinion, was understated in difficulty but that could have also been due to the fact that I really familiarized myself with the town the two nights before. In total it was about a 10 mile hike but I have never seen a view as beautiful as the one I saw at the the top. We lucked out because it was a completely clear day and you could see for miles and miles. After the hike most of us went to the lake to relax the rest of the day and regroup before our first day of class on Monday.