Week 5

This past week has been such a great one! The weather has been so much nicer, about 60 degrees, which has gotten all of us to go out and explore more. I'm pretty sure Monday was uneventful, I had no class as usual, and didn't really do much all day. Tuesday was Mardi Gras, and Meghan's friend Mike from home, and Margo's brother EJ were visiting so we decided to start off our night at Salamanca, then went to Kikuyah for some Dragoon, and then to Eby's, and finally to Twice. It was a pretty fun night, and I ended up Skyping when I got home.

Church of San Miniato al Monte

Wednesday, I had my Wine Appreciation class again, and this time the class wasn't so terrible because our teacher actually gave us a better understanding of which terms we are supposed to use when analyzing the wine and stuff so it doesn't seem so confusing anymore. We also tried three great wines, Chardonnay, Riesling, and Pinot Noir. In my next class, Art History, our teacher actually took us up to see the Church of San Miniato al Monte to show us what Gothic and Byzantine influences can be seen in it's architecture. It happened to be a beautiful day and I was even wearing my new leather jacket so the walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo wasn't bad at all. And I don't think we ended up going out that night again, which was fine for me since I have my 9 am class on Thursdays.

 So Thursday morning, another beautiful day, I ended up going on a wonderful gastronomic tour with my cooking class around Florence. Our first stop was right next door to my class, a place called Fedora where Apiscious students actually bake pastries and sell them to customers. They gave us a chocolate cookie as well as some white chocolate covered thing with nuts, and some hot chocolate.

We then walked through Mercato Centrale, where they have fruit and vegetable stands and all kinds of meat and pasta assortments. Then, we went to this place called Procacci where we got to try i panini tartufati, which was surprisingly delicious!

Forgot which wine we tasted, but the bread was great too!

 

 Our teacher then took us to Enoteca Alessi, a wine shop where we got to taste two wines. The woman explaining the wine to us was talking to us in Italian for some reason, and I was actually able to catch most of what she was saying when she started talking about the proper way to taste wine! There happened to be two girls in my wine class who are in my cooking class so we all thought it was cool that we could follow along. Lastly, our teacher took us to Gilli, a bar where we each got some coffee, which was extremely strong. It was really nice because my teacher told us about other places we should check out as we were walking around, such as this rooftop restaurant we could go to called Rinascente in Piazza dell'Repubblica. After class was officially over at 11:30, I decided to go check out the Synagogue so I could write my paper for World Religions. 

When I got to the Synagogue, I found out that we were not allowed to bring any electronics or our bags inside, so I had to place it in a locker. I did bring a sheet of paper so I could take notes though. 

The Synagogue is beautiful! It has a green dome, and the inside is just gorgeous. There is a Hebrew School right next to it and there were Orthodox Jews sitting on benches outside. I went to both levels of the Synagogue (women sit on the upper level) and then went to the Jewish Museum that is upstairs as well. The Museum told the history of Jews living in Italy and there was even a room in memory of the 400 Jews who were taken to the concentration camps from Italy. There were also displays of ceremonial objects such as the decorations for the Torah, and the typical Shabbat dinner set up and more.

That night, Meghan, Mike, and Melissa came over again and this time we played Kings before going out. We went to Bigallo but by the time we got there, it wasn't crowded at all, so we just got some drinks and then left to go to Twice.

On Friday, we met up with Meghan and Mike and climbed the Duomo for the first time since we've been here. It was such a long climb filled with spiral staircases and a few resting points, but the final steps were so steep it was unreal! The view was also incredible.. it was such a nice sunny day so we ended up just sitting down and taking in the view for a while. I didn't want to leave, it was just so peaceful. I realized then that I really feel like I'm truly living in Florence, and I see now that it will be extremely difficult for me to leave in May.

After climbing back down the Duomo, Meghan and Mike decided to get gelato and go to San Lorenzo, while Katie, Ashley and I went to find a new restaurant we haven't been to before and eat lunch outside. We ended up wandering a little past the Duomo and found this cute restaurant called Trattoria Guido I believe. We ordered a pear, honey, and cheese appetizer and it was delicious! I ordered gnocchi with tomato sauce and mozzerella, Ashley got lasagne, and Katie got some spicy pasta dish. I think this was one of my favorite meals and we were all very satisfied with what we ordered. That night, we were so full from our lunch that I only had a salad for dinner. Katie didn't really want to have a late night out since she was going to pick up Ariela from the train station the next morning, so Ashley suggested we go to Salamanca for some drinks. We ended up ordering two pitchers of Sangria which was delicious, and then went to get Mr. Pizza to go. Ashley and I ended up watching Glee, and then I went to sleep. I got really hot the next morning and I ended up skyping at 7 am. 

Katie ended up getting Ariela later than she thought, and when Ariela got here, they went to get some lunch, while Ashley and I went to Pino's for a panino. We met the two of them on the steps of the Duomo afterwards and then climbed up the Belltower, which was significantly shorter of a climb than the Duomo was- 414 steps.. I'm not sure how many steps the Duomo was. The view from the Belltower was beautiful as well, but there wasn't really room to sit and hang out, so we didn't stay up for long. It was nice to be able to take pictures of the Duomo from that high up though.

After the Belltower, we walked around the San Lorenzo market and I bought three scarves, and Ariela ended up buying a leather jacket! She got a really good bargain and even helped me with my scarf purchases. 

We then walked around Piazza dell'Repubblica and Ariela, Katie and I went onto that rooftop restaurant to try to get coffee and sit... we did go up there, but ended up just going back down. I was pretty tired so I went back home afterwards, while Katie and Ariela went to Billa to pick up groceries for dinner that night... which ended up being fritatta and chicken with tomato sauce and mozzarella (pretty much chicken parm, which I missed). We made a wine run, and then got ready to go out to Space, which is the biggest nightclub in Florence and is a 20 minute walk. Space was soo crowded but the music was great. We all had a great time, although since we had gotten there close to 1:30, I got pretty tired quickly and we ended up getting home close to 4!

The next day, we all woke up pretty late, and went to see Michelangelo's David, which was much bigger than I had imagined. I found it interesting that his hands were just so big and disproportional, as well as his feet, but the details such as the veins in his arms were done so well. There was a sign that said that there is special technology helping to keep David's cracks from growing larger, as well as technology that would keep him stable if something such as a minor earthquake were to occur.  After the David, we were going to go to Piazzale Michelangelo and see the sun set, but it had rained while we were in the Museum, and got a little bit chillier, so we instead went to a Cafe and then went back home for a little bit. At 7, we met up with Meghan and Mike and went to Gusta Pizza again where I tried the Pizza of the Day, which was ricotta, spinach, and mozzarella ---- sooo so good! We then ended up having a chill night and went to Salamanca for sangria again, and then went right next door to this hookah bar called Darvish (it's right across the street from us and we hadn't been there yet). It was chilly, so Ariela and Katie ran upstairs to get some fleece blankets, and we had some humus and pita, and got free olives with our hookah. We were like the only ones there until these older Italians started talking to us as we were getting ready to leave and we ended up having a conversation pretty much in Italian! (basic stuff, but still..) 

Today I woke up pretty late and didn't end up going with Katie and Ariela back to the Synagogue. Katie also took her to Piazzale Michelangelo and now it is 4:30 and I have to type up my paper about the Synagogue before going out for dinner and going out for the night. I can't believe it is the start of week 6 already! I will definitely get back to updating my blog more often since this post is extremely long. Ciao!

End of Week 4

Friday morning I woke up early to pick up Anna and Allison at the train station at 10:45. They were the first people to visit me so it was nice. The three of us and Ashley went to Cafe Michelangelo so they could both get some caffine and then went to Pino's where I finally learned to order my sandwich completely in Italian (finally..) Afterwards, we walked around and went into some cute stores before deciding to get gelato. It was such a beautiful day, and we ate our gelato on the steps of the Santa Croce. We then hung out in our apartment and ended up watching The Phantom of the Opera dubbed in Italian on our TV---which we had never previously turned on. I was pretty tired from Thursday night, so I took a nap before dinner. Ashley found a cheap flight to Paris, so we booked it! Katie was on a day trip with class, so when she got home, we took Anna and Allison to Oibo, their first aperitivo.. which was delicious as always. I got a strawberry daiquiri this time instead of trying something new. We ended up leaving our apartment late to go out and we went first to Salamanca, then checked out Red Garter which was not fun, then took them to Eby's for an Eby's shot, then to Kikuyah, and lastly to Full-Up. I just really wanted them to see the places we like to go out to and since everything is in close proximity to each other, it wasn't very difficult to do so.

Saturday, we slept in till 1 and went to the San Lorenzo market for the first time. I was really excited because I wanted to buy a black leather jacket. At first, we just walked down the tents looking at what was being sold, and the people at the tents were just aggressive and trying to get us to try on their stuff. One guy even stopped me to show me a jacket and told me it was free, and when I said no, it isn't, tried to get me to go with him into the store. As if American's really would believe a coat is free. Ashley and Katie ended up coming with me into some of the actual leather stores which was a much better experience. The first store I went into was nice, and the guy gave me a really great deal on a jacket, except it was pretty thin and I didn't think it was the best quality. It was more for the style than for warmth, and I did want a jacket that would be a little warmer, so I kept on looking. The guy did say if I came back he'd give it to me for the same price, so that was nice. The next couple of stores went the same but I didn't find anything I liked. I finally went into this store called BiBi and found a jacket I really liked. I was able to get about 50 euro off but wasn't sure if he would take 10 more off, so I just kept it at that price and bought it! I do kind of want to get a bag, but I'll have to look around more. I haven't been splurging on other clothing and I haven't really been shopping much so it wouldn't be bad if I did get a bag. I'm going back this weekend to look for scarves because they have really great deals and cute scarves and I only have one with me now. Ashley ended up buying black heeled boots which were really nice, and a cross body bag as well. Anna, Allison, and Katie ended up buying scarves too.

My new leather jacket!!

  Afterwards, we went to check out the Chocolate Fair again so that Anna and Allison could buy some since it was the last day of the fair. They bought chocolates and they both took chocolate shots out of chocolate shot glasses. Allison also bought a chocolate covered waffle which looked amazing.

For dinner that night, we went to Gusta Pizza where we finally signed the receipt with our names on it and placed it under the glass of the table, where it will (hopefully) stay visible for a long time :)
 

That night, we went to Kikuyah and started talking to these Italian guys who were pretending they were American and Spanish and Ashley and I ended up playing Jenga with them. Katie, Anna, and Allison ended up joining us and it was really fun. We all ended up going to Twice which was pretty fun as well. Apparently all you need to do to play Jenga is just ask the bartender for the set.

Ashley, Katie and I had signed up to go to Viareggio for their Carnevale that Sunday, so we unfortunately didn't take Anna and Allison to sight see. They ended up going to Piazzale Michelangelo, as well as the Santa Croce. The carnevale was sooo amazing though! I didn't really know what to expect, but when we got into the enclosed area for the parade, the first float we see is this giant dog float that was growling! The floats were so intricate and amazing, and they moved! People were on the bottom of the floats dancing and throwing confetti which was so much fun. Half the floats appeared to have a political meaning, and seemed pretty inappropriate. It has started to rain when we got there but ended up clearing up while the parade was going on. Here are a few pictures:

yes, the neck was moving the whole time

weird and possibly political float?

"The Phoenix" my favorite, though its eyes are closed.

After such a long weekend, we were happy to get back home, cook, and have an early night.

More to come about this past week soon! (I promise..)

Week 4

I'm pretty sure we didn't really do much on Sunday because it was just so cold and because we were tired from Carnevale. On Monday, despite not having any classes, I once again did not do anything productive.. except my World Religions homework. Meghan, Margo, Melissa, Ashley and I went to YAB that night and it was really fun.

Tuesday after class I had Katie come with me to the Billa for more groceries. When Ashley got done with class we decided to finally go see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo since we finally found Cinema Odeon which plays movies in English dubbed in Italian. It was a really cute theater, and tickets were only 6 euro or something... way cheaper than the 15 dollars I pay in the city. The movie was soooo good, much better than the Sweedish version and definitely more intense. Afterwards, we walked around the chocolate fair and I finally got to buy some delicious chocolate! I was feeling really tired from being out late the night before, so we didn't end up going out.

My next Wine Appreciation class on Wednesday happened to be better. He finally explain the technical terms we need to use in order to analyze wine, and it's so complex! I need to know how to recognize viscosity, clarity, brightness, aroma, soft versus hard tastes, balance, and more! That night Ashley and I tried to go to Club Twenty One but it was pretty lame and no one was there even though it was midnight, so we tried going to Astor near the Duomo, but got freaked out by some sketchballs who think they're funny asking us where the Duomo is when we're right in front of it. I thought they were following us, so we ended up going back to Via Verdi and went to Kikuyah where we had a nice Dragoon before going back home.. I also thought I saw my Wine Appreciation teacher at Kikuyah by the bar, but did not really want to see if it was actually him.

Thursday I made Coccole and Bread with Rosemary in Cooking class, and since only half the class brought their (ugly) aprons to class, I and 3 other people made all the food while the others had to watch. I need to start bringing my camera to this class to show what I made, but I do have pictures on my phone which will have to be uploaded when I get home in a few months. That night for dinner Ashley and Katie and I went to Cesarino which we've heard good things about, and it was such a cute inn-like place. We got vino della casa and I got risotto, as did Ashley, while Katie ended up getting fried chicken or something, which was also good. Katie didn't want to go out with her cold still so Melissa, Margo, and Meghan came over and we went to Salamanca for a quick shot before going to Eby's and Kikuyah (again) and Twice. Melissa found out about Mr. Pizza which is right near us and serves really great pizza (in slices if you want) and these amazingggg fries! I got prosciutto pizza, which was so delicious.

I'm going to finish up the rest of the week tomorrow because it's 1 am here and I have my cooking class at 9 am. Be back soon!

Venice Carnevale!

So Saturday we woke up early to go to the Santa Maria Novella Train Station to go to Venice. I don't think I was prepared for how cold it was there. The bus ride was 4 hours and they played The Mask for us, which Ashley later figured out was because of the masks we were about to see in Venice. Clever.
They took us on a water bus to Piazza San Marco where the main celebration was, and the three of us right away found a restaurant where I got tea and lunch. Afterwards we started looking for masks. Ashley was pretty quick with her decision and bought a really nice red one, while it took me a couple more stores to find mine, which is gold and has a black feather.. Katie ended up going back to the first store to buy a blue one she knew she liked best. Afterwards, we walked to find the music and watched the people all dressed up come down through the parade. It was interesting, but not very exciting. I expected Venice Carnevale to be crazy with people drinking all day and dancing in the Piazza, but the cold weather was just not doing it for the majority of the people there I think. We tried taking a water bus to Murano to watch a guy blow glass but by the time we got there, after 4:00, everything on that island was closed, so we walked into a glass store and I bought a bunch of things for myself including a picture frame, bracelet, and earrings. Everything in there was so nice, I just kept wanting to buy things!

We took the water bus back to the Piazza, which by the way took almost an hour, and were SO cold that we ran into the first restaurant we saw---which happened to be somewhat fancy and a little overpriced. So unfortunate, since all I really wanted was pizza. This random guy tried to come into the restaurant and one of the waiters tried to tell him all the tables were "reserved" and the guy got angry and punched the door before leaving... it was a bit frightening. After dinner, we walked back to the Piazza and tried to have fun, but we were all so cold and I was feeling a bit miserable and not in a celebratory mood. Ashley and I had bought little bottles of wine because we are allowed to drink openly but we didn't end up buying more because everything was just so expensive. The music at the Piazza wasn't even that great, so we just wandered trying to find a bar where people seemed to be but then took the water bus back to the bus stop. I did take really nice pictures of Venice because I knew I'd regret it if I didn't. We also missed out on going into the Church in Venice because I learned about it in Art History and the inside is all golden mosaics and supposed to be very beautiful! The lines were sooo long though to get in, so we just didn't bother. On the way home, we ended up getting to see The Shawshank Redemption which I had only seen once before in high school so it was nice watching it again. Our bus made a rest stop so we didn't end up getting back home till 3ish! We were so tired and went to sleep right away after snacking.

Here's some pictures from Venice:

some of the more intense costumes

our masks!!!

End of Week 3

So, I officially reached the point where I've begun to slack on blogging my experiences. I have still written down what I've done each day so I can remember to write it here... and now I just have so much to talk about!

Soo back to Thursday February 9th... we did end up going to Oibo again... it's just so good, they have at least 2 different types of pasta as well as potatoes and veggies and more carbs. This time, I decided to try an Old Fashioned to drink with my meal, which turned out to be so strong and a little difficult to drink, especially since I didn't get a straw to mix it better. When I finally got to the bottom of my drink I noticed all the sugar just chilling there- too bad I didn't realize that when I first started sipping it. Ashley, Melissa and I then went to Red Garter that night for the Dave Matthew's Band cover sung by Italians. It was pretty good, but pretty crowded, so we ended up going to Kikuyah for our usual Dragoon, and then to Eby's where we ran into this British guy with two friends who were visiting him. We decided to sit with them because they took the Eby's shot with us, thinking they were nice. The British kid then decides to rant for a good half hour about how much he hates Americans and our accents and I was getting really annoyed, and his friends didn't know what to do with him because he was apparently really drunk. The three of us finally left after trying some of the Mexican food in Eby's and we then decided to take pictures in this black and white photobooth that is right on Via Verdi, for only two euro! Afterwards, we went to Twice and since I haven't updated this blog in almost two weeks, I'll just say it was fun and maingate-y as usual... till it wasn't and I wanted to leave. I'm pretty sure I skyped that night till late also.

The next morning was our visit to the Gelateria Perche No for a gelato tasting at 10 am. Since Ashley and I were out late, and Katie was still feeling sick, we were sooo close to just sleeping in and skipping out on it. But, we signed up for it and made ourselves get out of bed. I would have regretted not going because the gelato was soo good! The owner even gave us all a pamphlet telling us exactly what we tasted--- which was so great because I keep as many mementos as possible. The first tasting was pistacchio and sesame honey. I was skeptical because I had never tried pistacchio anything, but the combination was really great, and I would have never tried the pistacchio! The second tasting was mandarin and chocolate--- my favorite out of all three. And the third one was cinnamon and mousse di caffe (a semifreddo/mousse instead of the colder gelato). The cinnamon was good, but I didn't particularly enjoy the semifreddo part. After the tasting, we were shown how banana gelato is made and even got to taste it afterwards! And the best part is that when it was over, the owner let us try as many of the flavors as we wanted! I even tried the hot chocolate here, which is too thick for me, I didn't really like it.

We all had such a sugar rush and needed to eat real food afterwards so of course we went to Pino's, and then took a nap. My nap turned into just sleeping away my afternoon while Katie and Ashley went to H&M and the Chocolate Festival. I was disappointed I missed out, but I just couldn't get out of bed. Later, we made dinner, and then I went out with Meghan and Ashley to Lion's Den where we met more friends, one from Westchester, NY! andddd then there was a sudden blackout in Lion's and Katie called to tell me that our apartment lost power too. It wasn't even snowing that much. Eventually the lights came back on, but so many people decided to leave Lion's so we went with these two guys next door to Eby's and showed them how to take the shot, then told him about Dragoon and took them to Kikuyah. We decided to finally find Secret Bakery and the guys followed us there too. I couldn't tell you how I got there again because it was just dark and I wasn't paying attention but basically we waited by this door and ordered chocolate croissants and we each paid a euro. While waiting for our food, the guys we were with were just getting too loud and ignoring the sign saying to be quiet. Ashley and Meghan suddenly got a bucket of water thrown on them even though they were not the ones being loud! It was ice water and it was still really cold out, so they were not so happy. Our food came and I kind of stole the boys' bag of croissants and we ran back home. It was an interesting night, and we had to wake up early to go to Carnevale the next day. My next post will describe Carnevale and then Week 4. Taking a break. Ciao.

Week 3

So Saturday we were going to try to go to the San Lorenzo market to shop around for scarves and leather jackets, but it was just so cold and windy out that we ended up staying in for most of the day. We were going to try to find a movie theater to go see Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but couldn't find any that weren't dubbed in Italian. We did end up going to our first aperitivo at Oibo which was delicious! We each bought one of the drinks on the drink menu (the cheapest was 8 euro) and I got "Bronx" hehe. The 8 euro also bought us unlimited appetizers from the buffet table in the other room of the restaurant. The food included potatoes, rice, two types of pasta, salad, etc. The plates were really tiny so we all ended up going back for seconds and thirds, piling as much as we could onto our plates at once.

Making the Eby shot...

After dinner, we changed and had some wine before checking out Lion's Den. But again it was wayy too crowded and it wasn't fun at all or worth it to stay so we decided to find Eby's bar which I've heard so much about. At Eby's I tried their well-known "Eby's shot." I had no clue what this guy was doing when he was making it and how I was supposed to eat it. Turns out, its for 3 people and first you dip the orange in the cocoa and sugar till he gets the shots ready all while he's making a commotion saying "Mangia, Mangia!"

How cute!

After taking the shot, I still didn't know what I was supposed to do, but the bartender then informed us to eat the banana (also with sugar on top).Although I don't think I'll ever know what was in this shot, it was such a good combination and I can't wait till I take it again.

No one else wanted to try the shot besides Ashley, and so afterwards we went to Salamanca for a little. I ended up going home with Katie, while Ashley went to Twice with Margo and Meghan.




Sunday we wanted to go do something touristy since we hadn't wanted to explore and walk around Florence because of the cold weather so Katie, Ashley,  and I ended up going to the Santa Croce, which ended up being free. It was nice because during my first Art History class here, my teacher took us to the Santa Croce and explained some of it's history to me so I knew that there are famous writers and painters buried inside. I have to say that my favorite tomb is Michelangelo's. Here's a picture:

 That night, we made another delicious dinner of penne with bolognese sauce and salad. Except, I haven't been the one really cooking so far, it's mostly been Ashley and Katie..

We had bought tickets to see the Superbowl at this American Bar called "Blob." We originally tried to go to Red Garter but they had sold out, and we ended up being the first 10 people to buy tickets for Blob.. and I was ticket #1 and we got to sit on a couch instead of chairs and we all got a free drink. I was so proud of myself for actually following along with the game; however, when it was over everyone in the place kind of bolted... I'm not sure if they were trying to get somewhere else, or if they all wanted to get to sleep because it was 4 am. I ended up not going to sleep till noon actually which was fine since I didn't have class on Monday. All I did Monday was laundry and my homework. However, we did have another issue with our door because when Ashley had left for class at noon, she locked the door behind her, which we've done before, but she ended up locking us in! Katie had to be late for class because we had to get a locksmith to come open the door for us and tell us not to lock the door from the outside unless we're all going out and now we have to pay 30 euro for this :(  Ashley and I ended up making little pizza things for dinner out of thin pita bread type dough, tomato sauce, and mozzerella.

Tuesday after class we all went and got Pino's for dinner and Meghan, Ashley, and I then tried to go to Red Garter for Beer Pong night, but it was so empty so we went into Kikuya where I tried a beer called Dragoon, and then walked to Astor. Afterwards, we decided to check out Niama, but it wasn't fun at all. I was pretty tired so I went home, but Ashley and Meghan went to Twice for a little bit longer while I ended up skyping and staying up late as usual.

Yesterday I had Wine Appreciation again. This class seems like such a waste of my time, the teacher went over ONE PAGE of the textbook twice! It was about the life cycle of a grape... I could have fallen asleep but then finally we had an hour left and we tried three wines again. Pinot Grigio and two others.. I forgot. Afterwards I had to walk really fast to my Art History class which got moved to Corso Tintori- a half hour walk and I only have a half hour to get there. Fun fact by the way is that this awful trek to class actually comes to a little over a mile- one way. After class I was craving Pino's again so I stopped by to grab another panino before going with Katie to see Swan Lake in this opera house with a bunch of Fairfield students. The story line had been modified so it was pretty confusing for all of us to actually understand what was going on. But the dancing was good and so was the music.

Today I had to wake up early again for my Cooking class and we made crepes with spinach and ricotta with this delicious sauce. Since there are only 9 people in my class we had made almost double the amount and ended up being able to eat seconds. It was sooo good! And I was nervous making the crepe, but it wasn't that bad.. I also helped out with the filling and the sauce; we didn't get to do anything individually though which was disappointing because I don't know how we're supposed to practice these recipes. Right now, it is 2:30, and I have Italian at 3:00. I think tonight we're going to go to Oibo again, or to Ganzo for another aperitivo and then see where the night takes us.

Tomorrow we have a gelato tasting at 10:00 am at Perche No, and then on Saturday we're going to Venice for Carnevale! I'm so excited but it's supposed to be a pretty cold weekend again. Next week is supposed to be better though. I'll update again as soon as I can (I'm not going to say Monday like I did last time because that never happened...) Ciao!

Week 2 pt 2

So this weekend we were supposed to go with the school to Perugia, Assisi, Siena, and San Gimignano but the trip was postponed because of inclement weather. After Pizzaiolo on Thursday night, we had Margo, Melissa, and Meghan come over for a little before heading out to Salamanca. Inside, it was really crowded and there were smoke machines and crazy lights... it was so different from how it usually is during the week! I tried limoncello, which is typically given to you in between meals as a refresher. It was really good though. Afterwards, we tried going to Naima, a bar we had been to on our first night, but it wasn't really fun at all so we left pretty quickly. We didn't want to walk around in the cold to find a club that was fun so we ended our night a bit early.

Friday morning Ashley and I walked to pick up our books and deposit our 5 euro at the Fairfield office for the Fiorentina soccer game we're all going to in March. We then had to go grocery shopping at the Billa because we were out of almost everything and picked up double of what we had before of eggs, milk, juice, nutella, etc. I still feel like we're going to use up everything so quickly though because the package sizes of food and drinks are a lot smaller here than in America, which shouldn't be surprising. Ashley and I had both left our keys at home so when we got to the door we realized that we were locked out of our apartment. And since we didn't want to pay extra for plastic bags, we were holding food in our food in our hands and looked so ridiculous trying to find our key, and had to call Katie to help buzz us in... she had been sleeping and didn't hear us ringing our doorbell! At the same time though a woman got out of a cab and started walking towards our door so she ended up being the one to get us inside.

We ended up going to Pino's for a sandwich for dinner at 5:30 because we were soo hungry, and then got gelatto (I resisted). Those sandwich's are soooo amazing, I don't think I could get sick of them. The owner Pino and the other woman who works there (his wife?) are super nice, except the woman doesn't really speak much English so I don't really know how to make conversation with her.

Later, around 12:30, we went out to Full Up, which is a nightclub that reminds me of Twice, but it was actually a lot more fun. Although there didn't seem to be as many Americans, the Italian guys were way less creepy (though of course there were some that were). We headed home a few hours later though there were still soo many people there when we left. I ended up staying up extremelyy late after skyping... let's just say the sun was up when I finally got into bed. But of course, since our trip was postponed, we didn't have anything we needed to do today anyway.

I think tonight we're going to an aperitivo with a few people called Oibo. An apeirtivo is a cheap way to eat meals because for between 6-8 euro you can get a drink and unlimited appetizers which usually includes cold cuts and pastas. Can't wait! We've passed this place so many times, it's right next to the Santa Croce and has a giant disco ball. We haven't had a chance to have a Saturday night out in Florence since last time we had to wake up early Sunday morning for Pisa so hopefully we'll find something good.

And tomorrow I really should try to start some homework, I have readings for all my classes and one assignment for World Religions on Tuesday... bleh. Sunday night at midnight we're going to this American bar to watch the Superbowl... it's crazy that it will be starting at midnight here and be ending at probably 4 in the morning! I wonder if it will turn into a party/celebration type thing afterwards... I don't have class on Monday so I wouldn't mind staying up even later.

That's all for now....I'll post again on Monday!

Week 2

This week was our first week of classes. I was lucky not to have any class on Monday so I sat home all day and didn't really do much. Ashley and I later got dinner at Osterio de Benci near the Santa Croce. I got spaghetti carbonara again (just sooo good!) and Ashley got this drunken spaghetti noodles dish with red wine sauce and peppers. Later, we bought 4 bottles of wine for 10 euro (great deal) and the three of us had a couple of glasses before Ashley and I went out to Lion's Fountain and then to YAB. Except we ended up having quite an adventure getting to YAB from Lion's Fountain (or is it Lion's Den- people call it both names) and then ended up getting lost (again) on our way home. But we found the L'Arno (the river) and then knew how to get home after that... at 5 am. YAB was fun, I just didn't like that we had to pay a 10 euro cover charge.

So getting home at 5 am isn't such a great idea when it's the night before your first day of classes... I had World Religion at noon, which was actually really interesting. It's a two and a half hour class so I got pretty sleepy at one point, but our professor gave us a 10 minute break. We just started learning about Christianity which I actually didn't know anything about, and I have reading and homework already due next week. My second class, Beginners Italian, was at 3:00 and it's pretty close.. only 15 minutes away. Katie is in my class which is nice but our professor, Cosimo does not speak English!!!! It's absurd because this is BEGINNERS Italian! and half the class really doesn't know anything! I'm just so glad I have taken Italian for two semesters because I at least know a bit of what he's saying.. I definitely have to concentrate to listen to him speak in order to catch what he's trying to have us do. Only one other girl in my class has had more experience- she's taken 7 years of Italian but doesn't want to take a harder class and claims "she doesn't really remember much." So I think she must be trying to play down her Italian speaking skills because she still says she doesn't know what things are and mispronounces words.. weird.

After class, we had to restock our fridge a bit at the Billa (grocery store) 5 minutes away from us. But we didn't buy more nutella which was unfortunate because that night we ran out! (sort of my fault..)
The supermarkets are different in that they make you pay 2 euro for a shopping cart, and you pay extra for plastic bags, and the baskets for your food actually have a long handle you can extend to roll it around the supermarket which is convenient.

My Wednesday started out with Wine Appreciation from 12-2:30... it was a 20 minute walk and then I had Art History from 2:30-5:30 which is also a 20 minute walk in the opposite direction... at least it's a good workout.. Wine Appreciation is not going to be easy though, let me just tell you. We were taught how to properly open a wine bottle which I definitely need to practice because we'll probably get tested on opening and pouring a glass. And we also tasted and analyzed our first three wines. One white and two reds.. forgot what they were called but first we had to analyze the color, and then we had to smell it and describe the smell, and thirdly we had to taste it and describe the "sensation" except he didn't give us any official terms and this one girl said it tasted like "prosciutto" haha.

Art History seems like it'll be good too, we didn't really do much in class besides going over the syllabus and took us on a quick walking tour to Santa Croce, the Duomo, and Palazzo Vecchio (where the Medici family lived). Except it was freezing so it was really hard to stand there, especially because it gets so windy by the Duomo. I had been up really late Tuesday night so after I got home I picked up a sandwich from Pino's on Via Verdi (SO GOOD- turkey, smoked cheese, spinach, olive oil, on a panini) and then took a 3 hour nap... I woke up at 10:30 to Ashley and Katie making dinner... Katie helped me cook some left over pasta and then the two of them walked to the gelatto shop on Via Neri and got me the strawberry and cookies and cream combination again. We ended up not going out last night which was good because I had class at 9:00 this morning. I had my Food, Culture, and Society cooking class and we tried 4 types of honey, 3 types of (expensive) balsamic vinegar, and some olive oil. Afterwards, I had time to kill so I went to three different bookstores to pick up my books. I got back at 12:30 and I cleaned up the apartment a bit with Ashley and we started planning our trips. Unfortunately, I had Italian again at 3:00 so I couldn't really relax.

But now my first week of classes is over! Starting off the night at Pizzaiolo, the restuarant we went to on our first night last Tuesday! Can't wait! :)