New Roommates Say What

Okay so, the highlight of these past two days has been new roommates but we'll get there, all in good time. Also, sorry this is long...but actually I'm not sorry.

So the reason I didn't blog yesterday was...I don't remember. I was probably just lazy and tired and had an early morning today. Yeah, let's go with that.

So Wednesday morning, we woke up with those of new roommates swirling through our minds. When would they get here, what would they be like, etc etc. But alas, class called our attention. Our cultural activity was a wine tasting. At 11 am. Needless to say, some of us hopped on the struggle bus a little early. We learned about and tried four different Tuscan wines: a Vernaccia, a Pomino Bianco, a Chianti Classico and a dessert wine, specifically Vin Santo. Surprisingly, I really liked all four of them, especially the Vin Santo. I'm really getting into wine over here...I guess it's about time.

The Vernaccia and Pomino Bianco are white wines that are more or less your stereotypical white wine: young, crisp, fresh, fruity etc. The Vernaccia is interesting though in that it's only made here in Tuscany and the specific one we tried was made around San Gimignano, which I've already visited. HAH. The Chianti, of course, was excellent, as most chiantis around here are. It's a lighter red, more fruity, so I'm definitely a fan. But, I have to say, my favorite of the four was the Vin Santo, the dessert wine. I think technically it's called a fortified wine since it's alcohol content is over 15.5% but I'm not positive. Anyway, the tradition in Tuscany is to take a small glass of Vin Santo and some cartucci, sort of almond biscotti-cookie type things (that are also delicious) and dip the cartucci in the Vin Santo. You wouldn't think it would be very good but man, it's incredible. The Vin Santo is very sweet so it sweetens the cookies and in turn, the cookies add an almond flavor to the wine. I think I'll probably be replicating this in the apartment and I'll probably even try to bring some back to the US, for those of you not cool enough to come to Italy (if I were in person, this would be where I toss my hair and look disapproving).

After wine tasting, me and Jessica (it's probably time to start using people's names), the one who I don't share a room with but is from UNC, went to the Mercato to get some apples (found the Pink Ladies, yesssss) while Liz (other UNC roommate and girl I actually share a room with) went to pick up flowers and back to the apartment. While me and Jessica were walking back, we were wondering if our roommates had arrived and trying to guess what they might be like. We walked into our piazza, saw that our windows were open and got excited. Liz doesn't normally open the windows, could it be them? We walked upstairs with bated breath, opened the door...and found Liz cutting flowers in the living room. Our roommates hadn't arrived yet...or so we thought. We then sat down, had lunch and mucked around for a while.

Then, around 2:30, after Liz had gone to class, our doorbell rang. No one was expecting anyone and we hadn't gotten any emails about people coming by the apartment so who could it be? I peeked my head outside and saw an old man that I didn't recognize standing outside the door. While I debated with Jessica on whether to open the door or not (after all, he was a stranger), he kept ringing the buzzer and eventually tailgated into the building and began ringing our doorbell. Jessica finally answered the door while I hid around the corner for a surprise attack if needed and it turns out it was our landlord's father who had come by to make sure the apartment was ready for the new girls. Phew. But really though, we couldn't have gotten an email warning us about this? Anyway, he started going through the apartment and asking us when the girls had gotten here and we said that they hadn't gotten here and we didn't know when it would be. Then he went into the other bedroom that we thought was unoccupied, only to come out and ask us who had been sleeping in there. We told him no one, we hadn't touched the room. After about two minutes of this conversation back and forth, neither side understanding what the other meant, I walked into the bedroom to find luggage on both sides. Our roommates had arrived and left sometime after we left and before we came back from class. Oops. We apologized, said we didn't know they were here or when the third girl would get here, and he left fairly soon after that.

After he left, me and Jessica hung around a bit more, waiting until it was time to leave for class when we heard someone attempting to open the front door. We knew it couldn't be Liz since she was still in class, so it had to be our roommates and it was! We got to talk for about 15 minutes before Jessica and I had to leave so we didn't learn much and once we got back from class, they were already asleep. So we just had dinner at the apartment (chicken tortellini with tomato sauce again - yum) and had a night in. Around 9, our third roommate finally arrived but as she had just gotten in, we said our hellos and let her go to sleep pretty quickly.

So that brings us to today. Goodness gracious. This morning, the UNC kids left before any of the others were up (understandable). Our activity was a tour of one of the suburbs of Florence, Scandicci. The suburb itself wasn't that interesting - there was a castle kind of thing that we saw the outside of and a really small outdoor market selling clothes, food, etc.

Castle thing

The real interesting part came after the tour was over. Our teacher showed us how to get to the Coop, one of the more interesting places I've been. Not because it was super historical or famous, but because it was a supermarket that looked like it was a shopping mall. Basically, there were several stores inside, like a mall but most of it was a giant supermarket. Like an American grocery store. I didn't have nearly enough time just to walk around and see all the neat stuff they have, so I'll probably go back. I really like looking around other people's grocery stores, but maybe that's just me. After the grocery store, we went back to the apartment and found the new roommates were still out at orientation. Had lunch, mucked around for a bit and then the roommates came back. They were still fighting jetlag so we talked for a bit and then they went to take a nap.

Then it was time for class. Jessica and I left early so she could stop and get a wax seal for letters (an interesting item to purchase but to each his own) and so we got to find the cutest little paper store. They had all these cool posters and stationary and all kinds of neat stuff, so some of y'all's souvenirs have officially been picked out muwahaha. Then it was our last Italian class - boo. I've actually really enjoyed Italian class - my professor is awesome, I really hope I have him for a class during the semester so keep your fingers crossed. After class, we all decided to go out to dinner and gelato together to get to know everyone. We ended up going to a pizzeria called Gusta Pizza and it was incredible. Like really incredible. I had a pizza with spicy salami, mozzarella and basil. It was amazing.

My delicious Calabrese pizza

And the place was cute! As a table, we had a barrel with glass top and in the barrel, people had put all these notes with their names or messages on them. I think I'll probably leave one before I leave so a part of me will always stay in Firenze.

Awesome table

After dinner, we got gelato at this little place called L'Antica. I had bacio, biscottino e fragola. Any guesses? Nutella, biscotti and strawberries. They were all just unfairly good. I think my favorite was the strawberry. It was so fresh but was still not like sorbet, it was still creamy or something. I'll have to keep you all updated on my favorite flavors. After gelato, we came back to the apartment and have just been hanging around talking and getting ready for our tests tomorrow.

So, here's the rundown of the roommates:
- Liz: girl I actually share a room with. From UNC. Has a boyfriend. Is super nice and doesn't mind if I leave my clothes on the floor.
- Jessica: other girl from UNC. Bio major, pre-med. Sophomore. Might actually be okay with directions if she paid attention to them. Also super nice.
- Jamie: girl who shares a room with Jessica. From Chicago, goes to Illinois State University (ISU). Sophomore. Has a boyfriend. Seems nice but quiet. Loves taking photos.
- Alex: Goes to UNCG but is from Ohio. Has a boyfriend. Nursing major. Is a bit of a slow eater. Seems nice and more outgoing.
- Erica: Goes to a school in Illinois and is from Chicago. Family is from Italy. Business and Administration major. Senior. Very chatty and funny. Seems awesome.

That should probably be all for this mammoth of a post. Right now, we're talking about going to Arezzo and Cortona on Saturday but who knows. Classes start Monday - yikes. Have my big Italian test tomorrow - double yikes. Eh, maybe if I just keep writing ciao and pizza I'll at least get a 50. Sound good?

Ciao!!

I Don't Know How To Say Happy Birthday In Italian

So today was both of my roommates birthday. One turned 21 and the other turned 20. And they're both from Wilmington. Crazy right?

This morning, our cultural activity was a visit to the Uffizi. Even though it felt like the visit lasted forever, I also feel like we barely saw anything. So I'll definitely have to go back. And we got our museum cards today. They're cards that give us free entry to some of the museums around Firenze. After the tour, me and one roommate stopped at the cafe downstairs to get lunch since we were both too lazy to cook. I had tortellini alla panna e proscuitto again...it's just so good!!

Then I had Italian class...nothing too special here. Our professor threw a piece of chalk (jokingly of course) at the other girl because she kept messing up the pronunciation. It was hilarious. I feel like I spend most of that class laughing.

After class, the roommates, me and two other girls wen to dinner at this nice restaurant called La Giostra. It was really good. I had torellini alla mugellana con ragout toscano - basically ravioli with meat sauce. It was incredible of course. And it since it was my roommates' birthday, they gave us free champagne and antipasto (appetizers) - how sweet!! After dinner, we all had gelato and then the roommates and I sat around the apartment drinking wine and telling stories. All in all, a good night.

Let's see, tomorrow our roommates arrive. That will be interesting. I wonder what they'll be like...I guess there's no point in speculating. I literally have no clue. As long as they're friendly, fun and interesting people, I'll be happy.

Okay, I'm super tired so I'm going to go. I haven't been napping here...it's really throwing me off.

Ciao!!

I Never Said I Was An Artist

Still trying to recover from this weekend but luckily, today was a pretty easy day.

This morning's cultural activity was fresco-making. Which would have been fun except that I have no talent when it comes to painting. Drawing I can kind of do but painting, no. But that was nice and relaxing. I might have to start drawing again, who knows. I was not too bad at one point.

After class, me and the roomies headed to the mercato to stock up on supplies. I got some pasta, chicken, tomato sauce, fruit and veggies. So tonight I had chicken tomato sauce pasta - which was also really good, duh. It's hard to mess things up when you're ingredients are fresh and delicious. Really looking forward to my cooking class.

Then it was time for Italian class. It was fine, as always. I really like my teacher - it would be awesome if he was my teacher for the semester but I won't find that out until later this week. And then we came back to the apartment and hung out for the night - really low key, definitely needed.

Tomorrow is both of my roommates' birthday so we're going to have to do something special. I think dinner at a nice restaurant and lots of wine sounds good, right?

Ciao!!

P.S. And I'm working on uploading pictures to Shutterfly, I just have so many of them it's going to take me awhile. And they're all in one album because I'm too lazy to sort them all out. So if you want to know where a specific one was taken, let me know and I can tell you.

Cutting My Legs Off Might Be Easier

Wow wow wow. What a weekend. I'm writing this on Sunday night and once you hear about my weekend, you'll agree that blogging was the furthest thing on my mind. And this is going to be a really long post.

So, let's backtrack to Friday night. All of us were pretty tired, and we had to get up super early the next morning for our tour, so we stayed in. I cooked, the way we had learned in cooking class, and made chicken pesto pasta using tortellini and green beans. That, plus an apple and some Pellegrino made for a pretty awesome dinner. Also, I'm super impressed with myself. I think this is the most I've cooked for myself, possibly ever. Actually, I'm sure this is the most.

My awesome dinner.

The next morning, it was up at 7:45 for the "Best of Tuscany" tour. It included visit and tour of Siena, wine tasting and lunch at an organic farm and vineyard, visit to San Gimignano (a small, medieval town) and a visit and tour of Pisa. It was a long day.

First stop, Siena. It was beautiful. The Duomo (which actually means Cathedral so lots of cities have a duomo) is incredible; it houses works from Michelangelo, Donatello, Bernini etc. But the most impressive thing is the marble floor which has been carved into. It's truly a masterpiece. The main square (Il Campo) where Il Palio (the horse races in Siena) is run is also beautiful. The square is set atop all three hills Siena is built on, so it's in this really unique shape that's hard to capture in pictures. And our tour guide was so cute. She was this probably 60 year old lady with the weirdest outfit: a feather jacket, jeggings and gold platform shoes. She was so funny. The most incredible thing about Siena, to me, was how different it was from Florence. It's all hilly and everything leads to a gorgeous view and it's a lot smaller than Florence. I definitely didn't have enough time there, but I'm not sure you could ever really have enough time there. Oh and I had my first hot chocolate or ciccolata calda. It was like hot chocolate pudding aka delicious. Here's some pictures:

Hot chocolate!

Our tour guide, Donatella. She was so funny and cute!

The main square, Il Campo. They turn this square into a horse track twice a year for Il Palio. That would be a sight to see.

The Duomo!! It's so pretty!

The marble floor!! It's so much more impressive in person, of course but you know. I can't transport you all to Italy with me!

Also, I have a lot more pictures. A lot more. I'll try to put them up on Shutterfly soon. I even have some ones with me in them (don't worry Mom).

Next stop, lunch. The wine and food was incredible, of course. Everything was made on the farm (except for the cheese). We had bruschetta, pasta al ragu, proscuitto and salami with pecorino cheese, and for dessert, these sort of almond biscotti things. We had a different wine with every course and by the end, I was more than happy to take a nap. Unfortunately, the day was only half over. The views were also incredible, I took lots of pictures of those too.

Bruschetta

Pasta al ragu

Proscuitto, salame and pecorino

Almond biscotti things

View (with yours truly)

After lunch, we made the quick hop over to San Gimignano, a beautiful old medieval town. It was basically deserted (what with Carnavale and all) but the views were beautiful. We only had an hour though, so we basically ran through the town, stopped and took pictures, and ran back.

View

View (with me!)

Example street

Their version of an Old Well

Me with the medieval towers that make San Gimignano so famous

So after running back to the bus, it was off to Pisa. Pisa, of course was beautiful. We tried to get those stupid pictures with the tower and we kind of succeeded, but the light was against us so I think we'll need to go back. I did manage to get one funny one and a picture of people taking that picture (kind of). We need to do our research and go back though. And the Duomo there is, of course, incredible. Everything seems to be beautiful here - it's really not fair.

Duomo

Inside view, looking up the altar from the nave

Some tower, I don't know, a lot of people were taking pictures with it

One girl holding up the tower and more people in the background

Holding up the tower with only a finger, no big deal

After a quick tour of Pisa, it was back to Firenze. We got in about 7:30 and man we were exhausted. After some downtime and a quick dinner of sauteed chicken (for me at least), we managed to get it together to meet some of the other students for a quick drink. By the time we managed to find them, they had been there for a while so we had one drink and then set off finding the secret bakery.

What is a secret bakery you ask? Well, it's a bakery. That's secret. See, all over the city, there are bakeries that cafes buy their morning pastries from. So these bakeries bake all night, so the pastries are fresh in the morning. And technically, they're not allowed to sell to people, but they do. So you have to know where one is (or know someone who does and is willing to tell you) because most people won't talk about it. The one we went to is on a random side street of a random street off a random street off a main piazza. So it's hard to find. And once you get there, there are no signs (except for one saying be quiet, because you have to since it's a residential area and it's late at night) and it's a glass door. You tell them how many and what kind you want and for one euro a piece, you get a fresh from the oven pastry. It's really cool and really good, so I hope I can remember how to get back there because we will be hitting that place up a lot, I imagine. I got a chocolate croissant and man, it was incredible. All warm and chocolatey...man now I want one again. For another night, I suppose.

So finally, that brings us to today. This morning, after a super long day yesterday, we slept in until 1 and finally got moving around 2:30. Me and the roomies went to lunch at this American diner (called The Diner) and it was really good. I had a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake. USA USA USA.

Milkshake from lunch!

After lunch, we met up with some other UNC people and walked up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, a piazza that offers a great view of Firenze, especially at sunset. We got up there, took some (well a lot) of pictures and watched the sunset and the city turn from day to night. It was beautiful. And there was a woman singing and playing guitar in the background, so it was fairly magical. We will definitely be back up there.

Sunset

Night

Me!

For dinner, I repeated my awesome chicken pesto pasta combo. And now I'm working on this and heading to bed. Oh and I did a load of laundry today. I think it went alright, my clothes are drying now. I'll let you know how long it takes them to dry...dun dun dunnn.

Tomorrow is fresco making and more Italian class. So here's to another busy day and another week in Firenze.

Ciao!!

It Was A What??

Sorry for two posts in one day but, this was important and I wasn't sure I was right until just now so I wanted to wait to let you guys know.

At 3:48pm today in Florence, Italy there were tremors felt from a 4.8 magnitude earthquake that had its epicenter in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. AND I FELT IT.

I AM REALLY EXCITED RIGHT NOW. I'VE NEVER FELT AN EARTHQUAKE BEFORE, NOT EVEN THAT ONE IN VIRGINIA. I WAS REALLY SAD ABOUT IT, BUT NOT ANYMORE.

Of course, it wasn't anything. I was sitting on the couch in the living room when I felt it shake once and that was it. And I looked at my roommate and I said, "Did you feel that? What was that?" And she responded, "Probably just a truck outside." And I laughed and said, "It was probably an earthquake." And she laughed at me.

BUT I WAS RIGHT.

So yeah, checking things off the bucket list (feel an earthquake) everyday in Firenze. Well, not everyday but. Close enough.

The quiz in Italian went fine, it was really easy. Tomorrow, we're booked to go on a tour of Tuscany, including Siena, a tour of a vineyard, wine tasting, lunch and stopping in Pisa. It will be a long day but I'm really excited!!

WOO.

Ciao!!

Still Singing That Song

Forgive me for not posting yesterday - I had a huge day and I have a quiz today so blah blah blah.

Yesterday morning, our cultural activity was a lecture on "Intercultural Communication." It was mostly just a professor talking to us about Italy. It was fun though, he's a funny guy. I don't have him for any regular classes but c'est la vie or I guess now that I'm in Italy, c'e la vita or something.

After the lecture, was (finally) our cooking class. It was so much fun!! We started off by going to the Mercato with our professor. He showed us all the best places to get stuff and who the right people were to talk to and stuff like that. And we got ingredients for the four recipes we were making that afternoon.

For our recipes, we made:
- Focaccia sandwiches with prosciutto, salame, pecorino (cheese), buffalo mozzarella and sage.
- Pasta with fresh pesto sauce, green beans, potatoes and tomatoes.
- Sauteed chicken with grilled eggplant, mozzarella and tomatoes.
- Chocolate tort with fruit.

Holy cow. This food was incredible. It was all fresh from the market and man, did it make a difference. There were only six of us in the class (the other UNC students had gone on Tuesday) so we got to really get into the cooking. For example, I basically made the chicken. And it was really easy too - definitely something I can do in the apartment, even without a stove. We even made the bread for the focaccia (well, the teacher had pre-made the dough but we rolled it and baked it and everything). And we made the pesto fresh, using fresh basil and cheese and all that good stuff.

I could go on and on about how we made all the separate stuff but a) it's pretty simple and b) I don't really have the patience. But if you're really curious, let me know and I'll put it up here. I don't have the recipes but I can tell you how we made everything. But I will tell you about the pasta, because it's so different.

So first of all, we put a pot of water on to boil. That's pretty normal. But then, we put snapped green beans into the water and let them cook for about 8 minutes then added cubed potatoes and let them cook for another 8 minutes before adding the pasta to cook only for a couple of minutes. Adding the specific veggies in the water helps starch the water, so the pasta is better, or some mumbo jumbo like that. So after all that is cooked, we put the pesto sauce in a big sautee pan, thinned it out with a tiny bit of the starch water from the pasta, added the pasta with green beans and potatoes, added the tomatoes and let it all come together. Bottom line: it was really good. When we finally sat down to eat, it was awesome.

All the food we made.

My plate (of awesome).

After cooking class, I had Italian class again, which was fun, like always. I have a quiz in class today though, so that's not exciting. After class, I just went and got some soup and stuff at the Meta (the supermarket right next to my apartment) and had that for dinner.

Okay so, this morning. Our cultural activity was a visit to Fiesole, a nearby town on a hill with some old Etruscan and Roman things, done in various art styles. I know a little bit about it, from AP Art History but it's really cool to see it in practice. We took a bus ride up to the main square, and then walked up a HUGE HILL to see the incredible views and the churches. So here are some pictures.

The huge hill (or one of them). It probably doesn't look that bad but man, it's like walking straight up.

A view picture. You can (hopefully) see the Duomo through the tree branches.

A view/surroundings picture. This was on top of the hill, with one of the churches. It really is beautiful, if not hard to get to and cold.

After the tour, I had lunch at a self-service place with some of the other UNC people. It's kind of like a cafeteria, but Italian so the food was pretty good. Then, me and one of my roommates went to mercato to get some stuff for tonight and the weekend. I bought some fresh tortellini, sauce, green beans, chicken and some apples. They have Pink Lady apples here, how weird is that?? Pretty nice though.

And now, I'm off to study for my Italian quiz. I'm trying to keep this up-to-date, and I will continue to try. For now though,

Ciao!!

P.S. And I'm still singing that some from yesterday. But not our terrible version, the real version. "Bella" by Jovanetti. Guess I know what the soundtrack to Italy will be.

Brutto Come VOLDEMORT

This morning, I was rudely awakened to go watch a film at 9 in the morning. Meh. It wasn't the greatest movie I've ever seen, but not the worst either. After the movie, me and the roommates got lunch at the bar beneath our apartment. I had tortellini alla panna e prosciutto (tortellini with cream and ham). Wow. It's really good. I've had it at another restaurant as well so I think it's a thing. If so, I might make it my mission to try it at as many places as possible...so much good pasta, so little time.

After lunch, we went to turn in our documents for our Permesso di Soggiorno (Permit of Stay), a pointless piece of paper that lets the Italian government know we're here. Utterly worthless. Except for the low low cost of 169 euros. Ah well, can't fight the government right? After that, we walked around the shops a bit and stopped in the H&M (funnily called the Ache e Emme). Probably will be back there multiple times so I didn't buy anything today but don't worry. I figured out that I can fill up a suitcase with souvenirs if I need to and still only check two bags. So, souvenirs for everyone (including me, duh).

After shopping, we came back to the apartment and hung around, reading and catching up on things, until time for class. After class, we grabbed dinner at a restaurant just down the road, which was pretty good. Liz (my actual roommate), got eggplant stuffed with rice and peppers, which was really good, so we'll probably be back to get that. I got an insalata (salad) con speck e formaggio (smoked proscuitto and cheese), which was fine. Nothing too special. Then we spent the evening talking and hanging out. Not too bad of a day overall. Tomorrow will definitely be a full day - culture lecture, cooking (which I'm super excited about) and Italian class. Going to sleep soon - need to be well rested so I don't set myself aflame trying to sautee chicken.

Curious about the title? Well today, in Italian class, we had to listen to a song and fill in the missing words. The song was all about comparing how beautiful this girl was to other beautiful things. So he would say she is beautiful like a clear morning or a ray of light upon his pillow, stuff like that. So, after having to sing it aloud (in a class of 2...), we had to write a verse, but instead of beautiful things, it was ugly things. Needless to say, our verse was pretty silly. I think it went like this:

Brutto come un porcellino
Come un ragazzo calvo
Brutto come Voldemort
Brutto come una donna que manga il cane
Come un tippesta qui massacra il bambino
Brutto come La Peste Bubbbonica e la morte de milione con pistole

I'm not sure if that's the right Italian but it translates (roughly) to this:

Ugly like a little pig
Like a bald man
Ugly like Voldemort
Ugly like a woman who eats dogs
Like a gangster who murders children
Ugly like the Bubonic Plague and the death of millions with boils

Yeah, we went a little darkside. But we had a lot of fun with it, even when we had to sing again. I think our teacher was more impressed with us than anything. Not too often a student references the Bubonic Plague, I'm guessing. Anyway, that's it for now.

Ciao!!

Va Bene

Today was a pretty lazy day. I didn't have a cultural activity in the morning (because I'll have two on Thursday) so I slept in until 12. Which was lovely. Then I got up and immediately me and one of my roommates went and met two of the homestay girls for lunch at a cafe in the suburbs. Had tortellini - it was really good. Then we walked around for a bit, including seeing another church I hadn't seen yet.

Then it was time to go to Italian class - but first, figuring out how to photocopy documents. Surprisingly, really easy. Just take them to a printing center and let them do it for you - perfecto! Class was fine - Italian really is coming back to me. I can read pretty well and listening is getting a lot better. Speaking will come with time.

For dinner, since I didn't make it to the mercato this morning, I went out and got a panino at this little stand right down the road. It was really good - salame, formaggio and other stuff. It was the first food I've ordered in Italy by myself and hey, it went great!! The more Italian I speak, the better it will go. That's what I keep telling myself.

Tomorrow is a movie, more paperwork and more class. Let's hope it's a good movie. And here are some pictures from my walking tour yesterday.

According to legend, this a profile of a man who was talking too much in line to Michelangelo.

Part of the gate to the city.

A boar that you're supposed to rub and drop money in for luck (see how it's nose is show shiny?).

A domani!

Did I Learn This?

Okay, I would have added pics to this post but I'm wayyyyy too tired for that. So yeah.

This morning, we had a walking tour of the Centro Storico (the city center) where we got to hear some of the more interesting history surrounding the famous monuments. It was really cool! And then I found out that the professor leading the tour is going to be my pre-session Italian teacher!! He's so funny and he doesn't seem to mind that my Italian is basically niente. My class is just me and one other girl, so I have a feeling I'll either sink or swim with this whole Italian thing. Let's hope it's swim.

Other than the walking tour, I walked around some shops with the roommates, hung around the apartment, went to class and made chicken for dinner. Nothing special, just sauteed some chicken with olive oil and spices. Probably going to go back to the Mercato Centrale tomorrow to pick up some more chicken and fresh pasta. Can't go wrong there right??

Ciao!!

P.S. Sorry this is so short - I'm so sleepy. I've gotten in the habit of staying up late here which was fine when I was sleeping in until 11 but not so much when I'm getting up at 8. Still adjusting to the time change I suppose.

P.P.S. Also my Italian is better than I thought it would be. So that's good. It's just going to be a lot of work. Okay, now I'm actually going to go. A domani!!

Tricksy Firenze

Today, we really slept in again. I was up at about 11 and I decided to sit in the living room and read again, with the windows open. It was just about heaven, especially when I got some Nutella to snack on. Then when the roommates finally got up, we decided to get moving and finally left around 1:30.

We were planning on going up to the Piazzale Michelangelo but it was raining and foggy so we decided to save that for another day. So today we just walked across the Ponte Vecchio and walked around on the other side of the river. And I took some photos (finally, I know) so here's some of them. I'll have all my photos uploaded on the Shutterfly site (theadamsfamilyescapades.shutterfly.com) but here's a sampling of them.

We walked around for a bit, seeing such sights as San Spirito and possibly old-time bath tubs. We also saw some beautiful views of the Ponte Vecchio and of the streets in general. Really, almost every corner or intersection is worth taking a picture of. We also walked through the market in Piazza

San Spirito, which is people selling homemade goods that's not as much food. We saw preserves, clothes, bread, soaps and tons of other stuff. And then, when we went to leave the market area, there was a wooden board set up for us (well not just us, obviously) to cross over the huge

puddle. Oh yeah, and it rained today. Early in the morning, when I was reading, it was pouring. Which was nice ambiance really. And even though the windows were open, no rain really got in the apartment. So, after walking around San Spirito, we walked up another street and came

upon the Palazzo Pitti, which I had never heard of before, but it's huge! We were so surprised and amazed. We, of course, took lots of photos, including silly ones of us. There was another weird lion fountain with an old bathtub that we particularly had fun with. One of my roommates even

dared to get close enough to kiss the lion, but after looking at the water, which looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the Plague, I decided to just pat the lion gently on the face. And when I struck this oh-so-clever pose, one of my roommates said, "Oh yeah, just being casual eh?" which is why I'm laughing in the photo. These girls seem awesome so far and I'm definitely excited to meet our other roommates in about two weeks. One girl keeps saying she hopes they're from Australia, which would be awesome!! But I doubt it. It'll be nice to have some new blood though. After

meandering around the Palazzo Pitti for a bit (including creeping on some tourists that were dancing for a camera in the middle of the piazza), we decided to wind our way back to our apartment and find a place to get some lunch on the way. We walked back across the Ponte Vecchio,

stopping of course to admire all the jewelry, and cut through the Piazza della Signoria, which is where a copy of David is. I have to tell you, David is incredible. It's hard to believe it's even real. Definitely excited to see the original. We ended up back around our apartment and found all these really neat things. For example, a panini stand that looks delicious, a kebab place (in case I get tired of paninis, pizza, and pasta) and a supermercato!!! I'm probably way too excited about the supermercato but it's so close and it's open every day and it's like a block

away from me!! We ended up grabbing lunch at a caffe right up the street (when I say up the street, I mean towards the Duomo) from us. Me and my roommate split a calzone (not the greatest thing I've ever had, but still pretty good) and I had my first Coca Cola. The Coke here is not as sharp or acidic as it is back home. Of

course, it's still pretty good. Let's see, I'm posting this before dinner so not sure what the plans are for that yet. Tomorrow our pre-session starts. Walking tour in the morning and Italian review at 4:30...yikes. I hope it comes back to me pretty quickly. I'm getting better at it, but mostly I'm good at vocab words. I've seemed to forget how conjugating things work and all that stuff. Hopefully, it comes back fast or else they might demote me to Italian 101 again. Eh, we'll see. No point in stressing about it right?? (Pfft who am I kidding I was built to stress out about things). Currently, I'm sitting in my living room with the window kind of open to hear the ambiance of the street. Quite a different experience than having the windows open in Chapel Hill, I'll tell you that much.

Well, I suppose that's it for right now. So far, I'm doing good on this blog. Let's see if I can keep it up.

Ciao!!

Am I in Canada?

I promise the title will make sense eventually, keep reading you complainers.

Okay so. Today we slept in. I got up at 10:45 and read for a bit in the living room with the windows open (you have to ventilate apartments here in Florence) which was nice. Cold but nice. Then I woke the roommates up because we were going to the Mercato Centrale. The market was really cool. So many different vendors everywhere. We picked up some fresh pasta, sauce, veggies, cheese, olive oil and bread for dinner tonight. Then we stopped at a traditional supermarket for other random stuff: paper towels, toilet paper, etc. And of course I picked up some Nutella because really, how can you be sad when you have Nutella??

Then we came back to apartment and we grabbed lunch at the cafe right outside our apartment. It was really good and cheap, and the people were super nice and spoke English so I have a feeling we'll be back there a lot. After lazing around for a bit, we finally went and got gelato and oh man. I am in trouble here. It is incredible. And there's a really good gelato place like two blocks away. And the English speaking bookstore is like right next to the gelato place. Heaven on a block, I swear.

Then we came back, lazed some more, and finally made dinner. We had tortellini with pesto sauce, gnocchi with tomato sauce, sauteed veggies, bread and some chianti. Man, it was good. And very impressive. Then, another student, who's doing a homestay, came over and ended up hanging out for several hours. He seems really cool and really wants to hang out and travel, so all to the good. And now, it's time for bed.

So I ran across something interesting on the Internet today. It had to do with the Hobbit but I think it applies nicely here. Here's what it said:

a Quest is a trip to accomplish a task.

an Adventure is a trip without a destination.

a Journey is when the trip is more important than the destination.

I'm definitely not on a quest. But I think I'm on an adventure and a journey. This experience is not about studying (but yes, that's a part of it). It's about living and changing and reflecting and being somewhere else. And traveling, of course. I just really like this idea.

Okay, finally the bit about the title, I know you're all dying to know what I mean. So you know the word "Grazie?" In America we pronounce it: grat-zee. But, it is actually pronounced: grat-zee-eh. So, get it? Eh, like in Canada? Maybe only I think that's funny but at least you learned something.

And I promise, pictures are going to up...eventually. I'm being lazy.
Ciao!!

Looks Like We Made It

Well, I'm officially here in Florence. The flights were unremarkable (except for a woman strangely wrapping cookies in individual bags...) and getting to the school was no problem.

The city is molto bella (very beautiful). It's almost unreal. The Duomo is incredible in person - pictures do not do it justice. And it's only 5 minutes walking from my apartment - score!!

The apartment is big but quaint. Mostly just like what I expected. Roommates are nice (so far...dun dun dunnnnnn) but we're getting three more in two weeks, so that will be interesting. I promise pictures will be up at some point, but not right now.

Today we had our orientation where we learned exactly how many times they can repeat the same information before you want to jump off a cliff. I know it's important, but really, how many times do you need to tell me to not take drinks from strangers?? I don't even do that in the US!!

After orientation, we grabbed lunch at the LDM cafeteria (really just a small cafe) and walked around the city. Saw the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio and other random sights (like the H&M). Yessss.

Then, it was time for the welcome dinner from LDM for the UNC students. It was at Acqua del 2. It. Was. Incredible. 3 courses: pasta, chicken and dessert. 5 kinds of pasta including spinach, broccoli, pumpkin, ragu and spicy tomato (with all different kinds of pasta), chicken with rosemary (delicious) and tiramisu, cheesecake, brownie and a kind of torto. And of course, no Italian meal would be complete with some nice Chianti. Definitely going back to that restaurant.

I think that's all for now. Tomorrow should hold more adventures, including navigating the market place...wish me luck!!

Ciao!

Here We Go Again

Once again, this blog is moving in another direction. Obviously, I'm back from Australia. I had an incredible time and if anyone who reads this hasn't heard me monologue about Oz yet, please, feel free to ask. Because I would love to talk about it.

But now, I am about to embark on another one of life's journeys. I'm studying abroad. In Florence, Italy.

I could wax and wane for pages about my feelings, nervousness, excitedness, etc., but that wouldn't make a great entry. The nice thing is, I've done this before. Not to the extent of leaving for more than 5 months, but still. I have done it before. So I can handle this. Right?

Regardless, I'm off in 9 days....asdflaksjfs. I'll try to keep this updated as much as possible. Until next time.
Ciao! (See, I'm already practicing my Italiano).