here's a real update...

Ciao!

 

So I have officially been in Italy for a total of about 3.5 days, but it feels like its been forever (in the best way possible!).  I immediately came into a great living situation with 2 other girls (Sarah and Kristen) and have met some other great people as well.  It has been a jam packed few days, but the non-stop life is making me sleep like a baby (even more so). 

 

After I arrived at the hotel on my first day (with all my luggage!) I unpacked, changed clothes and went out to explore/grab lunch with my roommates.  We finally found an internet café so I could let my dad know I made it to the hotel safely only to find out later that we could get internet in the hotel.  Oh well, its not free in either place (so I probably won’t be online too much until I get to Parma) so it wasn’t a waste of money at least.  I met up with Nate, a friend I have known since freshman year, outside of the Duomo that afternoon and he gave us a quick tour of the city.  I have since come to know my way around the city pretty well, although I’m sure I still have a lot to learn.  If you need to know how to get to the Duomo though, I’m your girl.  That first night was pretty uneventful, after a dinner at the hotel we ended up going out for a quick stroll around the closest piazza and then we were back in our beds asleep by 9:40 pm.  I hadn’t slept but 5 hours in the 48+ hours surrounding my traveling so I was in dire need.  I passed out and didn’t wake up for another 11.5 hours.  It was amazing!

 

Day two started with me feeling much more refreshed from my long night’s sleep and excited about getting to know this city.  We had breakfast at the hotel (the do have granola and yogurt!) followed by a meeting led by our coordinator, Caterina.  After the meeting on cell phone options we all went and used the public bus system for the first time (all of my practice on the BC buses definitely had me prepared).  We met our art history teacher and had our first lecture of the semester.  The class is going to be absolutely wonderful!  The instructor, Rocky, is originally from Rhode Island so there is no issue with an accent, but he has been living in Florence for the past 14 years, so he knows his stuff!  Every day before class starts he gives us a machine that we plug our headphones into and then are able to hear him clearly give the lectures since all of it is outside and mostly in very touristy areas.  The first day was pretty low key as we only visited two piazzas, but he made sure to pack in the information. Rocky gave us our syllabus (including plans for day visits to Pisa and Siena!) so that we would know all that we will be seeing in class and can make plans to view everything else on our own.  After our first class, we grabbed lunch and then headed back to the hotel for some chill time until another orientation meeting at 3 pm.  We finalized our classes and then went and got cell phones at a store just around the block.  I got one just to call people in case of emergency, but it will also be nice because with the plan we all paid for (for only 8 euros a month) that gives us 2,000 minutes we can each spend calling each other in Italy as well as 4,000 texts (no worries, I’ll be able to keep up my mad texting skills).  After a relatively chill afternoon we had our welcome dinner at a local restaurant where they served us our first 4-course meal complete with veggies/brushetta, pasta, all different kinds of meat (fried chicken, pork, chick peas) and a dark chocolate dessert.  Oh, and our first Tuscan wine!  It was a great night, but in true Italian form it took us from 8 until 10:15 or so to eat.  The timing was actually nice to be able to space out all of the food and then have some good conversation as well.  I think I can get used to this lifestyle. 

 

Today has been filled with activity as well, although we’re realizing how much free time we have in Florence with our minimal class schedule.  We typically have class either two to three hours a day, 5 days a week and other than that, our schedule is up to us.  Its nice, but me being the planner that I am, want to have some sort of structure to my life. I had planned on sticking around the city this weekend since its our first, but with all the free time we have decided to take a day trip to Fiesola (a near-by city) tomorrow to have lunch in a park there and visit a museum.  It is supposed to be gorgeous and very relaxed so I’m excited for our first trip!  It is going to take us about 30 minutes on a bus, that we already have a month pass for, to reach the town so it’s a very reasonable day trip adventure. We’ve also tried to start planning other weekend trips, but have gotten quite overwhelmed with all the possibilities.  We are toying around with going to Octoberfest next weekend in Germany, or perhaps Rome if that doesn’t work out, then Cinque Terre the following weekend, as well as a vineyard biking tour, Asissi, Venice, Verona, Alps, Paris, London, and Milan thrown in there as well.  It seems like we are jumping into things so quickly (given that I have only known some of these people for a couple of days), but we are realizing how quickly our time here is going to fly so we’re ready to start all of our trips ASAP. 

 

Today we did the tour of the Uffizi (and no I did not use their restrooms, although I did snag a picture) in 2 hours and then were on our own again.  Tonight we’re planning on going out to some local pub to hopefully just chill out and hang out at some of the local places in town.  With people not eating dinner here until 8 or so, they don’t start going out until much later either so it gives us plenty of time to get ready afterwards and maybe even get a quick nap.

 

I’m so unbelievably excited for what this semester has to offer and feel SO blessed to already have met some great people.  I will try and keep you all as updated as I can, but like I said the internet isn’t free so I am actually typing out all of my emails in word and then pasting them online so I am charged for less internet access.  I would love to hear from you all though and will be sure to get back to your with an e-mail soon.

 

Buona notte!