So what if I maxed out my Visa?

Okay, so it is a little freaky that I've managed to annihilate my savings, but I've got my ticket to Italia!

For anyone who has an interest in my comings and goings, I leave America May 2 and will return on the evening of July 5 (a week and one day after which is my 20th birthday).

I almost thought I had bought plane tickets for the wrong day when I glanced over my itinerary last week. Eva at the BYU Travel Agency had grilled me on the importance of having cemented dates before I finalized the deal by shelling over my credit card and I swear I read and reread the details of the itinerary before I resolutely declared, "Book it, baby." Actually, I didn't say baby, and I probably wasn't stunningly resolute, but it made for good literature, or not. Anyway, a few days later I was looking at the final itinerary Eva printed for and saw that there were completely different departure dates and my stomach disintegrated. After a desperate phone call, Eva assured me it was just a typo on her part and my dates were fine.

But another random error I caught before I left the travel office was the spelling of my last name Scheidleer. I should go by Roni Scheidleer. It almost has a snootiness to it, like I'm trying to make my name sound French.

Due mesi più!

So, I'm going to seem a little desperate to leave composing this 2 months (minus 3 days) before my departure, but in making this a true representation of my Italy experience, I feel documenting my preparation is warranted.

Truth is, I'm already starting to have those "I forgot something" nightmares. A few nights ago, I dreamed that I was suppose to leave but had not purchased a ticket. I kept saying, "I thought I had two months!" I woke up with a skewed sense of what day it was and a firm resolve to get my blasted travel arranged!

Also, the lectures about coping with those Italian casanovas have already begun to pour in. Actually, they've been raining down on me from the day I declared I'd be studying abroad in Italy. On Christmas, I was wearing a ring on the ring finger of that notorious left hand, and my grandpa suggested I leave it there, at least until after I get back from my trip. My friend Lacey had plenty of stories to tell about friends who'd gone to Italy and wound up pregnant or married, and, in some cases, both. The resolution that Lacey, my friend Jessica, and I came to was that if I do find myself with Giuseppe's baby, I have to come home anyway. I just love imagining how BYU officials would handle my deviation from the university's stringent standards. Fortunately, I don't plan on letting myself be wooed to bed by Italian uomini, in case anyone was worried. I won't be transforming what will be an educational experience into a lovefest

Now for whoever will actually be interested in this blog, I guess I can fill you on the itinerary of my trip. Although, I don't really want this to become I lame travelogue. Once I actually leave, I promise to write of the eccentricities of my trip, and with the luck of the Scheidler, I'm bound to have all sorts of madness follow me.

So, on May 2nd, I fly out to Rome where I'll spend about a week.
Then, (I think) I'm off to Florence (in Italian, Firenze) for a week.
Then, I spend the remainder of my study abroad time in Siena, where I'll be engaged in some kind of internship.
Then, around June 21st, I'm meeting my family and will be the unofficial guide as a whole slew of my relatives set foot on Italian soil for the first time.
I should be back home roundabout July 4.