Week 11

Wow, so I finally caught up to week 11, this past week. I cannot believe I only have five weeks left in Florence! I have just been so busy traveling all of March that I didn't give myself enough time to update my life on this blog... but, I'm glad I did.

Before getting into what happened this past week, I forgot to mention that sometime during week 8, I went to this dinner through our school at this nice hotel where we had a three course meal and reflected on our time here. Our meal included lasagna with pesto sauce, chicken and potatoes, and pasta. In between courses, we were asked to jot down answers to some questions and discuss them with the table. My table only included me, Meghan, Katie, and Amelia (our program coordinator) and her friend who was visiting. One of the questions was "What has surprised you about yourself being in Florence?" (something along those lines..) And I found that my answer is really that I was surprised at how comfortable I feel here, and how easy it was for me to integrate.. this may be due to the fact that I can speak English when I want to, and it isn't hard for people to understand me. I also responded how I felt challenged to speak Italian.. although I can understand it in class, I still cannot really make conversation unless I have already thought it out. Lastly, on reflecting on things that are different in Italy, I want to say how much I hate the buses that take up all of the street. However, I'm gonna save how I've changed since studying abroad for my last post, before I head back to New York in five weeks.

So the last thing I mentioned was that my friend Bri visited us when we got back from our weekend trip. Ashley and I were really excited because we both missed her, and we weren't going to be able to visit her in Sevilla, where she's studying, like we had hoped since flights were expensive.

Monday, since I don't have class, I spent the day with Bri. We woke up and ate some eggs before going to the David. However, I didn't realize that the Galleria D'Academia is closed on Mondays, much like most other museums, so instead we walked towards the Synagogue so she could see it from the outside. I tried going to this Tabacchi that Amanda had told me to go into, on Via degli Alfani. She had made friends last year with one of the guys who worked there, Dario, and had been wanting me to say hi to them for her since I've gotten here. So, I try to go and say hi, but the owner had no idea what I was talking about and didn't really understand English or who this "Dario" was... it was pretty embarrassing but he then sort of realized what I was saying and told me Dario would be there at 3. Since it was really awkward and weird, I don't know if I want to go back and try to say hi again.. (sorry Big).

Anyway, we ended up going on top of Piazzale Michelangelo, and it got a bit sunny out so we just relaxed on the steps and caught up. We met Ashley at 6 at Pino's so we could both watch Bri enjoy her first Pino's panino.. which she did. That night we went to Bigallo, and then Kikuya where we each had Dragoon. We tried to go to Twice but ran into these boys who said it was closed, and they asked if we knew where 21 was. We decided to take them there, but for some reason it was closed as well. We then decide to walk to YAB, but didn't end up wanting to pay, so we ended up just going to Mr. Pizza before going back and to sleep.

Ashley, me, Katie, Bri, and our home cooked meal!

Tuesday, Bri did her own thing while we were in class. Afterwards we all made fritatta which was delicious, and I wrote my Art History paper before 12 so I could go out. That night we went to Salamanca for sangria, and then to Eby's for an Eby shot. We then went to Kikuya where we started talking to this guy from Paris. He ended up sitting down with us and ended up going to Twice with us. We all had lots of fun and then went to Secret Bakery.

Katie, me, and Bri at Kikuya with our Dragoons!

Wednesday, Bri did her own thing again since we all had class. I had my Art History presentation and we went to the Galleria D'Academia and Piazza Signorina before going to class for my presentation. I was a bit nervous and didn't talk as smoothly as I wanted to, because I hadn't had time to practice, but I think I did fine. That night we tried to go to Acqua al Due for dinner, but didn't realize we had to make a reservation and ended up going to Il Gato e la Volpe, where I got penne alla vodka which I missed so much! Ashley, Katie, and Bri all got gnocchi which was delicious too. That night we went to YAB and thought it would be one euro.. but since we bought a drink it ended up being 11 euro which was ridiculous. However, it was a lot better going on Wednesday since it was the night when all the university kids went out, so the crowd was more our age. I also accidentally slept through my class at 9 the next day, and Ashley, Bri and I got Pino's one last time, and then went to Perche No for gelato before I took Bri back to the train station and went to Italian.


Since this blog is way too long, I'm going to write about Easter weekend in my next post.