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!