Verona

I just got back from Verona aka "suburbia of Florence". I loved it there! But let me start from the beginning.

Our train was scheduled to leave at 4:30 in the morning. I was supposed to wake up at 3:30 but when my phone rang at 4 am because Kaitlyn was calling me I knew I was in trouble. We were supposed to leave 15 minutes earlier. I jumped out of bed, threw on whatever clothes I found, grabbed my bag and a banana and stumbled out the door. Luckily we made it there in time. We slept the whole way there and then when the train stopped in Bologna, we knew something was wrong because we thought we were supposed to have a one-way ticket, but apparantly we had to switch trains. Again, by luck, we were able to find the right train in time and got to Verona in an hour.

Once we got there, we took a taxi to our hostel. We were sooo nervous about this because hostels could be fantastic or terrible. When we got there and saw that we were basically staying in a nicer apartment than the one we had in Florence, we were so thrilled. We dropped off our stuff and went out for the day.


First we walked around and saw the beautiful downtown part of Verona. It was so clean and nice and the colosseum was stunning. There were so many street performers and lots of amazing shopping. Somehow I kept myself from buying everything I saw. Our first destination was to visit Juliet's House from Romeo and Juliet. If you've seen Letters to Juliet, it's very similar but the movie makes it look very different. Probably a hollywood made version. There was so much grafitti from couple signing their names in hearts and the number of tourists was outstanding. We had no elbow room but were able to get the picture of each of us standing by the statue of Juliet.
After that we ventured around the city a bit. At one of the vendors, we were trying on masks and apparantly the store owner did not like this because he snatched it from my face and yelled at me in italian. Oh well, he lost my business.
We then got some lunch and walked by the bridge overlooking the river. It was very calm there as not so many tourists walk around this city. It seemed they were all on buses or surrounding the colosseum in the center of town. The three of us like to venture out more and find unique places. I loved walking by that bridge because it was so peaceful and unlike Florences brown river, this one was beautifully blue. We sat down by the river and just enjoyed the view. It's really beautiful and relaxing there. After awhile we walked down the medieval bridge that crosses the river.

The bridge over there was very medieval and even had a moat surrounding it. We wandered inside and I found a well that had a grate in it so I decided to jump in. For awhile it seemed ok until I realized it didn't feel to stable and decided to climb back out.

Then we went back to the hostel to take a nap because we were absolutly exhausted. After the nap, we went to the recommended restaurant for dinner and let me tell you this place was perfect.

It's called the Grill and it's in a suburban area (I loved that). The menu was all in italian but the awesome waitor translated it all for us and gave us the recommendation of the meat selection. We got two plates of that and when it arrived, it was soooo good. Ribs, steak, sausage, ham, lamb, everything and with such good grilled vegetables. I haven't eaten that great in so long. I couldn't get enough of it. We then got dessert which was an ice cake, very different but so good with chocolate and whipped cream. The whole meal was to die for.
Verona is just a wonderful little suburban city. Lots of beautiful flowers and vineyards everywhere. I'd definatly go back if I could!

Italy: a city of smoke

It is absolutely disgusting how much italians smoke. All my professors do except my professor from England. Before and after class, during the 10 minute break, as they work, as they walk, everywhere. I'm bitter because it is causing me daily headaches. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy I get the opportunity here to see new places but I've learned so far that I'll never live in a city anywhere without access to fresh air.

FUTBOL!

Yesterday Britni, Kaitlyn, and I went to the Fiorentina Futbol Match! I've been wanting to do that forever and could not wait to get there. We had to take the bus for the first time and we're nervous we'd get on the wrong one and get lost but luckily when we got off we saw the swarms of purple all heading in the same direction and could hear the distant sounds of a stadium. It was all in italian and we didn't understand a word but once we hit the tailgate we knew we'd made it.It was like a college football game in a different language. Everyone was so pumped for the game vs. Rome. I couldn't wait! We had no idea which gate to go in so we had some of the workers directing us and we had to walk all the way around but that's ok now we know for future reference. The fans are nuts, they never sit in their seats and are constantly singing and cheering and getting into fights with the other teams fans. It was quite the experience. It was such a beautiful stadium too, situated perfectly with the tuscany mountains surrounding us. Very pretty. Unfortunatly Florence lost but we'll be going back soon!

Capri

Early in the morning, we all woke up and packed up our stuff to head off to the island of Capri. We ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel and then walked down to the ferry. The water there is so beautiful and so is the town. We got on a huge ferry and though we felt like herded cattle we enjoyed the beautiful view from the boat of all the water, boats, the islands, and the sun just glowing on the water.

The time flew by and in no time we were pulling up to the most beautiful island I've ever been to. It was tall and all sorts of buildings were built into the sides of the mountain and I've never seen so many nice boats. After being a waterfront intern for a summer, those boats got me very excited and I just wanted to drive all of them. But we got off the ferry and soon as a group jumped on another small boat for a tour around the island. It was so much fun and the island was so gorgeous, I could never describe it well enough and pictures do not do it justice.

As we came around the island we stopped at what is known as the "blue cove" aka the coolest thing I've ever seen. We pulled up and there were a ton of other groups waiting for a turn. Basically all these trained experts had these tiny boats that held four and they were going to row us under the cavetop and into this tiny cave with the prettiest blue water you can find. Literally the hole was about 3 feet when the tide was down so they had to time it so you go in right as the wave goes down. It's very dangerous but very very worth it. After waiting for what seemed like forever and watching an interesting group of chinese tourists dance around on their boat, Britni, Kaitlyn, myself, and Luca's nephew got onto a boat and made our way over to the entrace. We had to lay flat while we went in so we wouldn't hit our heads. I was extremely nervous but once we got in there, it was spectacular. All I could keep saying was "oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it's so pretty it's so pretty". I couldn't get enough of it. It almost didn't seem real. I wanted to jump in so badly but our rower was not a very nice man and didn't let us unless we paid him 10 euro. Nonetheless the experience was awesome and we then set off for the rest of the tour around the island.

The whole area was just stunning and I could try to explain it but it's one of those places you can't compare to anywhere else and just have to experience on your own. So once the tour was over, we had time to wander around the island. The group of us from dinner immediately went to the beach and for the first time in my life I got to swim in the ocean. There was no sand just rocks and as soon as I jumped in, the taste and the burn of the salt shocked me. But it was the clearest and bluest water I've ever seen. After working on a lake all summer, this was a totally new experience. I loved it, I could see the bottom and it was just endless. We got out as soon as we heard there was a group of jellyfish swimming around which was new to me, I'm used to lakefish but still exciting. We laid on the rocks and then we had to leave sadly to head home. The trip home was very long and we experienced some rude italian women at a food stop but the trip was well worth it. If I ever could afford it, I'd be back at Capri in no time.

Sorrento

After our tour in Pompei we jumped back on the bus for another 2 hours off to the city of Sorrento. We drove up a mountain to get to the other side and as the sun was setting, we got the most spectacular view of the island. It was absolutely gorgeous. We saw some 5 star hotels along the way and seriously considered spending our fall break there. When we arrived at our (4 star) hotel we were so excited for the yummy 3 course dinner we were about to eat. Myself and my 3 other roommates got all dressed up nice for dinner in the hotel. As we were waiting for our food to come, we saw two guys who were sitting alone and invited them to sit with us. They were both from Hawaii and absolutely hilarious. We drank some white wine and I ate the seabass and ate some other delicious good food and we just all had a fantastic time laughing and enjoying being in such a nice place. After dinner, Luca, our professor/tour guide led us to a limoncello shop to taste some limoncello. It was the most disguisting stuff I've ever tasted but it was a great experience. I guess limoncello is very popular in that area. Afterwards we all went out for a night in Sorrento which was so much fun. We found a place called the English Inn which was an outdoor bar in a garden. It was really pretty and I got to know some more people in our group. Then headed in for the night. We had to wake up very early again to head off on a ferry to the island of Capri.

Pompei

So this weekend was my first field trip to the southern parts of Italy! On saturday morning I woke up at the crack of dawn (actually it was still dark out) at 5 am to walk to the bus which we left on at 5:30. I am still experiencing some jet lag so since I was so excited to leave for the weekend I didn't fall asleep until 3 am. Needless to say I was exhausted but I got some sleep on the 5 hour bus ride until we reached Pompei.

The sight of Mt. Vesuvius was incredible, it's so big and I remember learning about it in a few of my geography classes. We started off on a tour by one of my professors in the ruins that was hit by the volcano eruption years and years ago. It was very very hot but it was such a beautiful day and all the ruins were so interesting to look at. I saw so many things I've seen in pictures in lectures before and heard about, it was really cool to put two and two together and experience it in person.

We got pretty silly after an hour and a half (of what was a 3 hour tour) and were dancing around in the ruins which was a lot of fun. At one point the large group of us were in a tomb and there was another tour of elderly french people behind us who were extremely disrespectful to my professor and were making fun of us americans, saying "you americans don't even know what country you're in". We just laughed and kept saying "where can we get some american fries and how far were we from new york?". Even our professor said he "hated the french". It was very amusing. There were also a ton of stray dogs running around and at one point I guess one of the dogs were racist because we saw it barking and scaring an african american family which was the same dog we'd been playing with earlier. It was bad.

But nonetheless by the end I got an amazing freshly squeezed orange juice slushie and headed off for Sorrento.

Trips, Statues, and Food

I haven't blogged in a few days and I have so much to update on. One, my mom sent me some recipes so I can be a grown up and finally start cooking my own meals and I must say I'm quite a cooking success. I've made ravioli, spaghetti, fiesta bean dip, applesauce, and french toast. All very delicious by the way. I have more to learn but I have the basics down which is exciting to me.

Classes are going to be difficult but since I don't have tv and I do have a 4 day weekend it should be fairly easy to keep up (or so I hope). After my first classes I have about 200 pages to read total for my classes. There's just going to be a lot of reading. I started reading the Iliad for my "Age of the Heros" class which is confusing but interesting. I ventured out of my apartment yesterday to read out by a statue (as there are many in Florence) on a park bench. I got distracted a few times by people watching. Let me tell you there are many guidos in Florence, which I didn't really expect but there here. It was nice to sit outside and get some "fresh" air (a lot of people smoke here) and just be apart of florence. I'm pretty sure I ended up in about 50 tourist pictures of that statue.

But anyway, yesterday Jess and I went to talk to a travel agency about our plans for fall break. We don't know where we want to go exactly but we know we have a budget and that limits us. We were thinking Paris and one of the trips offered through the travel agency which would be very safe and secure goes from florence to prague, prague to amsterdam, amsterdam to paris. We would have a tour guide, stay in 3 star hotels, and get the most for our buck but it's a little over what I wanted to spend. So I tried figuring out some ways to do it on my own. I looked up flights for madrid, madrid to paris, and paris to stockholm. That was pretty inexpensive, but the tricky part is figuring out the right hostels to stay in. If I go that route I'm probably going to be visiting the travel agency a lot to get some tips. There are two many choices and I wish I could do it all but let's face it I'm not a millionaire.

I'll just figure that out sometime later and prepare for my exciting journey to capri, pompei, and sorrento tomorrow! I can't wait to go on my first field trip and see some southern parts of Italy. All of ISU is going so it'll be fun to get to know some of the other ISU students that are here as well.

Yesterday Jess and I went for a walk to see if we could find the river which led us on quite the adventure. We took a wrong turn and stumbled upon the "quad of naked people" as I like to call it aka the quad of famous statues. It was a place where I've never seen so many statues before in my life and that was pretty funny to see but exciting that we could. I took many pictures and they are all on facebook so check em out! We then kept going and finally found the river...right at sunset. It was beautiful and so breathtaking. The clouds looked fanominal and the sun was setting just over the buildings that it looked stunning. I also found out thats where most of Florence goes for a run, perfect! I've been looking for places to go run! So then we walked across the bridge and walked around on that side of town which is just as beautiful and way less touristy. I also found my intern friend, Anna, a smooshed penny for her smooshed penny collection. When we walked across another bridge to head home, we found a very pretty spot with live music playing. All sorts of couples were over there and it was just a beautiful time. We then headed home for the night.

Later on, the neighbors, Kaitlyn and Britni, came over and asked us to go out for a night in Florence with them which we couldn't resist. It was fun seeing the city at night without the million tourists roaming around. Well I've written a lot and now I'm off to find the park and do some more reading! Ciao!

Festival of Lights!

None of my professors speak good english. Not one. I now know what it feels like to be a foreigner. I can sypathize with all my spanish speaking students one day because it is so difficult to understand a two and a half hour lecture in a horrible english accent. But I'm managing...

So I was inturrupted in my blog writing by the loud noise going on outside my window. I had earlier closed it when I heard singing in the plaza and was trying to study my italian. I was about to yell "silencio!" out the window but was stopped dead in my tracks by the sight I witnessed. The entire florentine population was walking down the streets singing with the bands playing, people were dancing, parents were holding up pretty lanterns lit by fire, and everyone was heading towards the plaza. I yelled and yelled for Jess and the neighbors to come look. It was incredible. People were waving and children were playing as they marched down the street. I kept saying "it's the festival of lights, it's the festival of lights!"

After watching for a few minutes and noticing that the parade had stopped in the plaza and it seemed they were going to hang out there for awhile, we decided it looked safe enough by the number of police cars and firetrucks so we headed out in our pajamas and all. We asked a man along the way what it was and he told us it was a festival for the children who would be ending summer and beginning school. He then asked us if we were going to go play futbol by the attire we were wearing. Laughing at the fact that we were silly foreigners who completely stood out in the crowd, we practically skipped down to the plaza to a wonderful sight. Families were everywhere and each group had their own handmade lantern. A group of old men in red and white costumes were sitting up front playing the trumpets while a man who seemed to be in charge talked in italian. We had no idea what he was saying but the whole crowd was listening so we pretended to even though we didn't have a clue what he was saying. I was more distracted by the food everywhere. It all was so different but looked so good. And the best part (well my favorite part) was the children with spitguns who thought it'd be great to "shoot the americans". After getting hit a few times they grew tired and starting shooting the wads at the lanterns. We guessed (and later found out we were correct) that the kids were trying to put out the flame with their spitguns. It was like a warzone. We just kept saying they'd never let kids do this in America! The festival was an amazing experience and one of the true first florence experiences we had with all the people who live here. By the end of the night the children would gather around fallen lanterns and finish off their spitgun wads while the firefighters stood by and enjoyed the sight (but also in case one of the children caught on fire). We watched for about 10 minutes as the most adorable 2 year old girl played with a lantern and tried to pull away at the last minute when older kids shot at the lantern. It was an incredible experience.

Buongiorno!

So my classes today weren't terrible. In fact I enjoyed them a bit. Both of them only had about 7 students which will make it easier to get to know the professor which I love. My italian class is going to be difficult. The professor doesn't speak english well at all. She talks in italian the entire time and none of us know a word yet, this should be interesting. My writing class will take me on lots of trips through the city which I'm thrilled about. In my italian class I sit next to a girl from Holland, very cool! I made 3 trips to the market today because otherwise I couldn't carry it all to my apartment so the cashier probably thought I was crazy but I got everything I needed and made my first delicious meal today of raviolli with some delicious sauce. Tomorrow I will attempt to make my mom's fiesta salsa and maybe some homemade applesauce. It all made me feel extremely independent and I was proud when I didn't ruin the raviolli and was able to find the zillions of ingrediants even though they were all in italian (with a little help from some friendly italians). I also found a great bookstore that sells american books so I purchased my first read for the semester called "the appointment". It's very reassuring when I'm able to find my way around a different city with a completely different culture and succeed. I did make one mistake though by buying a water bottle that was carbonated but no biggy, I'd rather it be that than something else. Well I'm off to watch a movie to keep myself american. Ciao!

Superbad!

While walking down our street yesterday, Jess and I saw out of the corner of our eye our first celebrity, Michael Cera! At first we kinda said to each other "hey that guy looks like..." then both did a double take and it for sure was the skinny guy in Superbad and Juno! We then proceeded to somewhat stalk him for about 10 minutes to either a) get the courage to say hi or b) (which was the case) to get the best stalker picture of him we could. It was a lot of fun and very exciting for us. We then wandered around through the shops for a bit looking at the merchandise they had for us and they had a lot! We also stumbled upon the bus & train station which was very fortunate because we will need to know where that is eventually. Later on we came home, relaxed a bit and watched the movie via rental on itunes "The Back-Up Plan" which is a horrible romantic comedy but we enjoyed it. I got pretty homesick after that because I was thinking about too much and it all came to me at once. One I'm missing just America and some of the great things we have day-to-day like Chipotle, two I was missing the family, which led me to miss football and home-cooked meals. Then I majorly started missing Castaway and the amazing community I was surrounded by all summer which then led me to realize I am truly on my own at this time. I don't know anyone but my roommate Jess and I am wanting the wonderful support system and community I had at Castaway and home. I hope I find it in some people I meet in my classes today. Wish me luck! Ciao!

Today felt like I was in a Disney movie

Ciao!

Today I got to sleep in until noon. I haven't done that in almost a year, it was great. Last night when I tried plugging something in, it blew the power in the apartment. So being the detectives we are, Jess and I figured out where the switch was to turn the power on. We felt like adults after that haha. We're experiencing a lot of growing here and today I think we discussed for an hour how to budget so we'd get the most out of our time here. But anyway, after breakfast we headed out for a day of unknowns. We went down the street towards the market that was going on. They had tons of goodies, clothes, applicances, etc. We had fun people watching and looking at all the fun booths. Then we went on quite the adventure to look for the David. After heading in the wrong direction for awhile, we asked for help and found out we had to go about a football fields lenth back. Laughing at ourselves, we walked in the right direction to discover once again that it was swarmed with other tourists trying to get a peek. So we decided to put it off until a later date since we would be here for another 4 months. So we went back to the apartment for lunch. Then we decided we'd try to climb the steps of the Duomo. We got lucky as the line was moving quickly today and we were in in under 10 minutes. We had no clue we'd be climbing 463 steps to the top otherwise we'd wore different shoes, nonetheless we made the trip to the top. We were behind a woman the whole time who made us cling a little tighter to our bags. Once we made it to the top we were awkstruck. It was absolutely stunning. We had the greatest view of Florence up there and even parts of Tuscany. I got camera happy and took over 100 pictures in the little loop you make around the top. I didn't realize how big Florence was nor how beautiful. And I must thank my mom for buying me that camera it made me very happy to get some of those shots. (check them out on facebook). After the first loop around the top, I decided to make another and put the camera away. I breathed in the fresh air and just took it all in. It was incredible, I was at complete peace. After some time up there, we decided to start our descent back to reality. At one point we ran into a stop where we saw what was a very small collection of the tools used to build that place. It was like nothing. They took over 200 years to build that place and we were amazed it was still there. They definately knew what they were doing back then. After our little adventure we stopped at yet another gelato shop and I got some yummy strawberry gelato while Jess got a delicious crescant with chocolate gelato. We sat outside and people watched for awhile. It was fantastic. This is where I reflected on how that adventure we just took reminded me of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and how I wanted to watch that movie terribly soon. Then we headed back for a short break. After a few hours rest, we decided to head out and check out the shops and find some school supplies. You'd be surprised to know that Florence is very difficult to find school supplies. But we did eventually find two shops that had some notebooks and pencils. The first shop had cute notebook designs where I purchased two very unique notebooks while the next which was tucked away and we were very happy to find had more supplies that we'd need throughout the semester. Then we enjoyed a lovely dinner at the OK Cafe outside. While we waited for our dessert I noticed some gypsies running off with what looked like a sunkist and some chips while the other asked the people sitting next to us for a cigarette. That reminded me of the Hunchback again. I got the most delicious spaghetti and toasted bread with lots of oil. It was so good. This was the moment that made me think of Lady and the Tramp due to the checked tableclothes, the candlelight, the spaghetti, and the waitors all dressed up fancy. This whole day made me want to watch classic disney movies which I'm about to do right now. I miss everyone at home and castaway very much today. Well ciao friends!

Canolis & the Baptistery of San Giovanni!

Imagine a perfect starry night...in florence. A flaky canoli shell, with creamy canoli center, topped off with powdered sugar & chocolate chips while sitting on the steps of the Cathedral. That was my night tonight. After some wondering we settled down for a delicious dessert on the steps and did some serious people watching. A gypsy came up to us and asked us for change, some couples canoodled nearby, some tourists like ourselves were taking pictures, bike riders everywhere, dogs walking, and children playing. It sounds like a movie. After some leisure time, we walked just a few steps to the Baptistery of San Giovanni. We had no clue what it was just that it looked pretty inside. For 4 euros we were in and it was soooo worth it as Jess put it. Inside that beautiful place was gold, beautiful pictures, an alter, and some incredible statues. We were in awe. A million pictures later, we left and walked around the Duomo. It is quite beautiful at night. The city was alive tonight and it was amazing to be apart of it all. Ciao!

Orientation Day

Ciao!

Today was orientation day and so much information was thrown my way. We got up early and headed over to the Odean Theatre where we waited for an hour before it started because apparantly italians take there time to do anything. We learned about things to avoid and to do in Italy for a safe stay here. We also met our advisors and after 5 hours of information thrown at us, lunch time. Jess and I went over to a pizzeria and sat down for a nice lunch. I got bruschetta and let me say it was some of the best bruschetta I've ever eaten while Jess ordered a delicious cheese pizza. Not your typical Papa Johns, much better! After lunch we wandered threw the streets in between all sorts of outdoor shops where they sold purses, leather jackets, souveneirs and more. We saw some of the crime we were told to avoid in orientation such as the guys from Africa selling purses from the black market and we even saw gypsies! We also walked by a gorgeous cathedral. I commented to Jess how I felt like I was living in a museum. We went over to meet our advisor with the other 300 students we'd be sharing her with. She talked for about 3 hours from a packet we all had in our hands. The whole time I was thinking "doesn't she know we can read english, it's the italian we don't comprehend yet!" but it was over soon enough and we got to meet the two professors that would be leading us on our field trips! They are two of the greatest old italian men I've met. Very humorous and very intelligent. Needless to say I'm very excited to have them lead me threw pompei, capri, sorrento, arezzo, cortona, montepulciano, and pienza! The first field trip is next week and I cannot wait. This afternoon Jess and I have been discussing our travel plans for the semester. We're considering going to Germany, France, and Ireland for our Fall Break but we're going to speak to a travel agent first. I also looked at some of the day trips they offered on the site and let me tell you I am obsessed with that site now. They offer day trips to Chianti for wine tasting which I must do. And the other one I must do is a 3 day trip to Interlaken aka the Swiss Alps! That trip offers a ton of outdoorsy stuff that I can't pass it up. It also had a blog on it where past Florence students wrote about the places to go and I took a ton of notes. Well I'm off to a free dinner with the LdM students. Ciao!

Ciao Bella!

Tonight I made my first home cooked meal with Jess in our apartment. We made pasta with peanut buttered toast haha. It was quite a success and we were very pleased with ourselves. We've been looking into train passes for travel and are getting very excited about planning some trips soon. We just got back from a very funny experience. We were on a mission to get some gelato. The first place we went didn't feel seem like the best so we traveled a little further so a place just outside the duomo. As we waited for the gelato, one of the guys working there was very flirtatious. When he asked where we were from, we said Chicago and he asked how the Bulls and Michael Jordan were doing! Then as we were leaving we got our first "Ciao Bellas!"...let me say Jess and I were very excited. I'm off to bed. Buonanotte!

I'm in FLORENCE!

Hey everyone! I'm officially living in Florence, Italy and it is amazing to say the least. I got here yesterday around 8 am your time, 3 pm here. Let me describe my journey from the beginning.

Arriving to the airport, I was feeling a bundle of emotions, excited, scared, nervous, anxious, etc. My mom started crying as I went through security and I was just ready to leave. I'm so grateful to both of my parents for making this happen for me. The flight was very comferable, I watched Shrek 3D, the Joneses, Friends, and played sudoku all on the little tv included in my seat. I slept very little and it actually went a lot faster than I thought it would. We landed in Zurich, and switzerland was beautiful. The plane to Florence was tiny and we even walked down the stairs out of the plane, yelling "we're in Italy!". We got our luggage and got in a taxi with no problem. Driving from the airport to Lorenzo de Medici was indescrible, but I'll try. It was sunny and perfect outside, the buildings are just beautiful and so artsy. The streets are all cobblestone and everyone drives mopeds. We then took a taxi to our apartment and were thrilled when we saw a beautiful and large door with only one flight of stairs to climb. I was amazed when I walked through the doors of the apartment, it was more than I ever thought it would be. Beautiful tiled floors, nice wood furniture, extremely comfy beds, beautiful artwork, a lovely kitchen with all the supplies, and my favorite part was walking into my room, dropping my luggage, and pushing open the two large green shutters of the windows and looking up and down my beautiful street. I look one way and see the Duomo, then look the other way and down the street is the Statue of David. It's like I'm in a dream and won't wake up. They call this the honeymoon stage I guess but I hope it never goes away. We unpacked everything and got situated, then went to eat dinner at a cute cafe down the street right next to the Duomo. I got a margherti pizza which was absolutly delicious. We then stopped and got some gelato which was to die for. As soon as we got back to the apartment I passed out around 9 pm here and slept til 11:30 am. I was sooo tired. Around midnight though I woke up because of the noise outside. I looked out my window and saw a parade of dressed up young italians walking towards the duomo. I'm guessing the night life. My roommate, Jess passed me some earplugs and we slept for hours. This morning we woke up and walked downstairs, got a huge orange from the market and made that our yummy breakfast. I was still in shock at how beautiful the apartment is. We then ate lunch at a cute little cafe just below our apartment, where we had ham and cheese sandwiches on some delicious bread. We just sat outside at a cute little table as we people watched for about 30 minutes. When we got back up to the apartment, we rearranged some things to make it just a bit more comferable and now there is nothing to complain about. Our apartment is perfect. After some rest, we then ventured out to find where our classes were. Thinking we'd only be gone for an hour or so, we were surprised to see the masses of tourists roaming around buying souveneirs, trying to get into the duomo, etc. I won't lie I was taking pictures but it was funny to see so many tourists. We found our classes with ease and then went to the market. Luckily nothing was to difficult to figure out and we got enough food for a few days. Jess and I discovered why Italians are so thin because carrying two bags of groceries the 10 minutes back to the apartment is quite the work-out. I'm in love with this city and can't wait to see more tomorrow after orientation. Missing everyone at home. Ciao!