Us with the Carabinieri Roses

The Vespa I'm Going to Buy Someday

Perugia

San Francesco

Live From Firenze: THE BEATLES!

WHOA. Okay, I'm not even gonna lie to you. This post is gonna be long. Like, you thought the last one was long? Multiply that by 10, and then you and I will be on the same page. If you have a heart condition, could be pregnant, or are just faint-hearted, stop reading now 'cause this is gonna be one heck of a ride. So with that said, ladies and gentleman, without further ado, back by popular demand: my life in blog form!


I last left you all with my first week of real classes, and since then, lots and lots has happened. Last week was so busy that, as you know, I had zero time to update my blog, and unfortunately, I've probably forgotten some of the things I wanted to tell to you originally. Ah well, such is life. So last Thursday and Friday night I went out with a group of friends to explore the Italian night life more thoroughly. Safe to say, both nights were a complete success! Best discovery of the weekend and quite possibly my favorite food of Firenze (besides the Il Latini steak, of course)? Kabobs. Yeah, you read it right. No, don't judge me. KABOBS. You may think I'm crazy and that it's blasphemy to say your favorite food while you're living in Italy isn't even Italian, but trust me. These things are good. Just ask any of my friends, or even better yet, come to Florence and taste them yourselves. Anyway, I digress. If I spend this much time just talking about a kabob we could be here all night. When Saturday finally rolled around, my school group took a trip to the Chianti hills for an overnight stay at Il Corno. Needless to say, it was absolutely beautiful up there, and the estate was just as stunning. After we got our rooms, we had a long talk with our two staff members of the weekend. The lady was nice, but liked to stand on her soap box for a liiiittle too long if you ask me. The guy, Phil, was from London and is my new favorite person. Litcherally. No, but seriously, he said "litcherally" all the time, and I about DIED. It was fantastic. Hearing that takes me back to some good times in Austin...Anyway, we ate an amazing dinner cooked by the owner herself, and then headed to our rooms. I was staying with my homegurls Amanda, Sadie, Nicole, and Bree (or should I say Jordon, Blythe, and Devon?). Gotta love 'em. They're all fabulous. The next day we had a wonderful breakfast, got a tour of the winery, and with a delicious lunch to fill our tummies, we were on our way back home. A delightful time, if you ask me. Plus, now I can say I'm an expert at wines (I know how to tell the age and alcohol content just by looking at it and the proper way to smell and taste the wine). Monday was just a school day like any other. Tuesday was not bad, I guess, except for you know who. Return of the awkward art history teacher again. Except this time she wasn't so much awkward as she was boring as all get out. Have you ever had an art history teacher who reads a multiple page essay word for word to the class as her lecture? Yeah, me neither. I was litcherally (shout out: Phil!) doing everything I could to stay awake. I must have shifted positionslike 70 different times but to no avail. Finally, I just said screw it and rested my head on one hand while the other was moving a pen back and forth to look like I was taking notes. No joke. You can actually see in my notes where I fell asleep. HA! Priceless. Once I made it through that brutal torture it was on to the rest of the day. Italian-il solito (the usual). History of Tuscany-SO nerve wracking. We had to write a commentary on an article he had given us, and he sat there in front of the entire class and read each persons essay out loud. With additions of his own comments and critiques, of course. It was impossible to not feel like an idiot. Thank God I have more than half a brain and know how to spell correctly. I got by almost scotch free except for the omission of one comma where one was needed. After THAT form of torture was over, we had a pretty awesome class discussion full of the Count's riddles. See if you can figure them out: 


Riddle One: Two people are walking along ice, and when they look down they notice a man and a woman in the ice. They say, "Look, it's Adam and Eve!" They know this to be completely true. How do they know?


Riddle Two: A man is hiking up a mountain, and when he gets to the top he sees 6 people seated in a cabin, all dead. He knows exactly how each one died. How does he know?


If you can figure out even one of the two, you're a smart cookie. After class, my friends had some questions for the Count. I stuck around to hear what he had to say, and when he finished about 5 minutes later he turns to us and says, "Do you have anything important to do right now?" Ummm, even if I had a meeting with the President of the United States I would still say no. He then told us to follow him, and like baby ducklings following their mother, the 5 of us blindly followed behind him in a row. He ended up taking us to a small cafe where he ordered a bottle of wine for the table. We all sat around and drank while we conversed with (I'm so mature) and listened to the Count. Found out some pretty interesting stuff about him. If you're really interested to know, ask me later. Then, Tuesday night I had one of the best nights of my semester thus far. There's a bar called Be Bop at which every Tuesday there's a Beatles cover band that performs. So of course I was there...I have to make my mother proud! (Paul McCartney wasn't as cute as the real one) A bunch of my friends and I went, and it was such a great time to be had by all. We ended up sitting at a table right next to the stage with this guy Massimo. He didn't speak any English, but knew every single word to every single song. Well, kinda. It's like when we try to sing songs in other languages, and you THINK you know the words, but really you're just screaming a bunch of mumbo jumbo that kinda sounds like the lyrics but actually doesn't make any sense. Either way, it was adorable. He's great friends with the band and goes every Tuesday without fail. He was so nice and ended up buying all of us drinks. Luckily for us, he goes every Tuesday without fail... if you catch my drift. It was nice sharing our love and admiration for the greatest band of all time. It really goes to show that music does transcend language, it's something you feel inside of you whether you completely understand it or not. Best song of the evening: Oh Darling-what a classic. Tuesday ended on a good note...litcherally (too cheesy?). Wednesday, la classe di italiano, and that was it. On Thursday, all of the Italian classes got together to watch La Vita E' Bella, one of my all time favorite movies. If you haven't seen it, watch it immediately. The second class ended, 3 friends and I rushed to the train station to catch our train to Perugia. Somehow we made it in record time, and after walking through about 10 train cars, we finally found one with 4 seats together. Next to the only broken window on the whole train...of course. But we didn't care because we were on our way to Perugia! The hostel was great, as was the city. So peaceful and SO quiet compared to the bustling Florence. We had a delicious dinner, and then headed to a pub to spend our evening. Met some crazy/annoying Italian guys, but hey, it was entertainment at least. The next day, 4 more friends joined us, and we explored the city. I caved and bought my first shopping purchase. And I was doing so well with resisting the temptation! We checked out the Galleria Nazionale d'Umbria, and it was tiiiiight. Lots of pictures of the J.C. Although I'm usually asleep after looking at the same general image of Mr. Carpenter over and over in my art history classes (sound familiar?), I was actually very fascinated with each one that I saw. And trust me, there were a LOT. The most stunning was this one: http://tuscanyumbriavilla.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/350px-piero_perugia.jpg?w=350&h=588. You can't really tell how amazing it is from this crappy thumbnail, but it was incredible. For dinner, the whole group went out, and that brings about a funny little story. So, throughout dinner we notice a group of about 20 guys at a table close to us staring and pointing. They weren't trying to be sly about it either. They were just STARING and POINTING. Constantly. So, we're like, Dudes. If you're gonna be that obvious about it at least buy us a bottle of wine or something. So our waiter comes over and says that the table of gentleman want to know how old we are. Umm, no. Nice try. We ask who they are and he tells us they're Polish. Oh wait, no. "Polish" is just a goofy Italian waiter's way of saying POLICE. Yeah, the carabinieri. Well, shoot. Now we HAVE to play nice unless we want another Amanda Knox case x8 on our hands. (Too soon?) So we smile and go about our dinner, all the while they are STILL staring and pointing. Side note: Lemme tell you something. No matter what city you're in or what restaurant you go to, there are always these annoying men who come in trying to sell you roses. You would think after telling the same guy, "no I don't want any stupid roses!" five times he would get the picture, but no. So, without fail, in walks in one of the rose guys. A few minutes later our waiter announces, "Be prepared to get some roses soon!" as he walks by our table. I look at the table full of carabinieri and shout, "How about instead of roses we'll take some dolci!" Yeah, I don't think they understood English because in place of a tasty dessert we each got a rose delivered by the one lucky chosen guy from the group. I guess I'll take a rose over nothing (but I still would've much preferred some Tiramisu). It made for a good story, if nothing else. When we went to a bar later with our roses, a group of guys were shocked when we told them they were from the police. Maybe it's a pretty big deal or something? Who knows. You still with me? If yes, wow. I'm barely still with me, and I'm the one writing this thing. Let's continue. Saturday, the 2 Becca's and I got up early and took the bus to Assisi. If you thought Perugia was peaceful and quiet, go to Assisi. It's one of the most tranquil places I've ever been to. We went to check out the church of San Francesco, and my expectations were fully surpassed. First of all, the church was wayyyy bigger than I expected. I dunno, I figured since St. Francis gave up all of his worldly belongings and what not his church would be a little bit on the more moderate side. Nope. It was huge and beautiful. You weren't allowed to take any pictures, but Becca snuck some in, so I'll have to steal those from her and post them on here later. The coolest part of the whole trip was that we got to go down and see the actual tomb of St. Francis. We were lucky because right after we circled the tomb, they closed off the area in order to have Mass. I know I ain't Christian or nuthin, but hearing Mass led by real monks down in the tomb of St. Francis will be one of the highlights of my life. So incredible. After we went through the entire church and saw some relics, we wandered around the city for a bit until it was time to go home. FYI, trying to figure out which bus to take from Assisi back to Perugia was not a fun experience. Once we were back, we had a relaxing afternoon/evening. By the way, Firenze kabobs >Perugia kabobs, by far. This morning when we headed to the train station for our return home to Florence, we were notified that there was a strike and that the train would only take us to Arezzo, at the very farthest. We had heard something last week about a strike happening over the weekend, but pshh, who actually believes that when they hear it. Oops? We tried to create a plan of attack which involved taxis, trains, and buses, but eventually just decided to get on the train and hope for the best. Well, we must have had good ol' St. Francis watching over us because we made it all the way back to Florence SMN like we were supposed to. Thanks, Francy, I owe you one. And now, finally bed. I don't think this post even needs an ending because that'd just be one more thing to read. Catch ya on the flip side, people.

Gelato. DUH

The Dinner My Friends and I Made

The Gang Before Going Out

View From the Count's Balcony

"Homer, my dear."

As I write to you now, I'm approaching the end of my Wednesday and the beginning of Thursday-which basically means it's the weekend. Let's reflect back on my first week of school in Italia, and oh, what a crazy and interesting week it has been. Monday: As much as I love Italy, and as much as I was excited for the classes I would be taking, I will NEVER be a fan of waking up early. Just saying. I feel like night classes would be much more productive for me. Anyway, Photographing Florence: the teacher seems pretty cool, and I think it will be a great learning experience for me. We already have an assignment of doing a "self-portrait." I'm thinking about taking a picture of a cute Italian family, since the picture is supposed to be a reflection, not necessarily an actual photo of ourselves. Advanced Italian: Maybe the word "advanced" in Italian is a joke or something because my class is most definitely not advanced. They pretty much put anyone who had any Italian experience whatsoever in that class, so we've been going over the basics of the basics so far, and it's still hard for some people. However, my teacher mentioned today that she would be splitting up the class even more, so who knows, the "new" class might kick my dedrio (don't worry-it means tush). You know what they say, though, be careful what you wish for. ALSO, my hypothesis on me looking too Italian to get hit on has some legitimate backup now. On the first day we all had to go around and our teacher Monica asked each of us questions (in Italian, of course) like name, where we're from, if we've been to Italy before, what we think of it, etc. And when she got to me she asked if I had any family in Italy. I told her no, but that my great grandparents were from Sicilia, and she said, "Ah si, hai gli occhi e i capelli italiani." (ah yes, you have the Italian eyes and hair) and then some other stuff that I couldn't understand because Italians talk way too fast for their own good. SEE PEOPLE, YOU HEARD IT (from me) FROM AN ITALIAN YOURSELVES. Also, example #2 of legit Italian backup: I went grocery shopping today, and a guy who worked there goes "Sei Susana?" (are you susana?) Or at least that's what I think he said. Once again, too fast. I must've looked like a deer in headlights when I responded "Che?" He repeated himself, and I said no, because clearly, I'm not Susana...or whatever the heck he said. But still, Italian look alike points. Me being Italian-2. Me being American-0. The road to an Italian boyfriend is looking more and more treacherous each day. Anyway, back to school. Then I had my Italian cinema class for 3 hours. Staying awake in a 3 hour class where the teacher talks NONSTOP and finds every little thing in a silent film amusing is a difficult task. Let's hope that one improves next week. Monday-done. Tuesday: Life & Works of Michelangelo (...or so she thought!) My friends and I go to our 9am class, and after the teacher hands out the syllabus which reads "Italian Renaissance Art", everyone's a bit confused. Turns out that they told our teacher that Italian Ren. Art was on Tuesdays and Michelangelo on Thursdays. She teaches both courses, so it's no big deal, right? NO. Apparently, this is too much for her to handle so she goes all frazzled and uncomfortable on us. I'm talking like, painful to watch type of uncomfortable. Lady, chill. It's all good in the Italian hood. So after she gets over her little freak out, she starts talking about Michelangelo. Except if you weren't paying close attention you would have NO idea with all the UMMs she threw in there. If I could take every UMM that woman used and turn each into a grain of rice I would have enough food to end world hunger. Seriously. Gesu Cristo! Talk about distracting. I actually started counting at one point, no joke. Once you get past all the UMMs, however, lady knows what she's talkin 'bout. We went on a quick walk around the city, and she enlightened us with some pretty interesting knowledge. I think I'll stay in the class. Italian: Same as the day before. History of Tuscany: Here comes the big one. Let me just preface this by saying that on my first class day I got to have an experience that the majority of people will never come across in their entire lifetime. This is the class taught by the count, so that in itself is incredible. He's an intriguing older man, with large facial features, a round belly, and nearly always a pipe in his mouth buried somewhere amongst his unruly greyish white beard. He's Florentine through and through, but has the best British accent (charming points just exponentially multiplied!). Oh yeah, he also likes to make witty comments and jokes that 99% of the time go over my head. So I just giggle nervously and nod my head a lot around him. This class, like my Italian Cinema, is also 3 hours long. 1st hour-great. 2nd hour-I may or may not have been dosing off. Hey, you try getting up at 7:30am to have a 9 hour class day. I'm not the only one who had some trouble (Nicole, I'm calling you out, girlfriend! Sorry.) Then hour 3 came along, and ho-ly gelati, I had no idea what I was about to experience. He took us to his place/mansion/palazzo/whatever the proper name for it is. We go upstairs and he takes us into this tiny room with tons and tons of books and archives. What archives, you ask? Very, VERY important Florentine archives. So his family is a pretty big deal in Florence (got their start in money-lending he says), and he has documents dating back to the 1050s, I believe he said. He says, "Oh I've got just the one for you, my little Oscar nominee friend" and pulls a big archive folder off of the shelf, flips through some reeeeally old looking documents, and then hands me a little booklet with what appears to be a coat of arms on the front cover and tells me to read. It's in Hebrew, so I read it, but told him I didn't know what it meant and asked if it was his family's coat of arms. He then proceeds to explain that no, it isn't. Instead, it's the handbook or something for the Order of San Francisco (this is me making up names because at this point I was in such a daze of amazement I was only half listening to what he said). He says, "In order to be in this group you had to meet certain requirements. Two of those being you couldn't be a Jew or a heretic. Now tell me, if Jews weren't allowed in, then why on earth would the first thing in their book be written in Hebrew. Hmm? There's a historical mystery for you to figure out." WOW. That's not even the biggest trick he's got up his sleeve. He mentions that he has letters from KING PHILIP II OF SPAIN. No big deal, everyone's got one of those lying around their house somewhere, right? So he has these, along with documents about Michelangelo, projects to trade with Constantinople, the usual. And as if our jaws hadn't all dropped far enough to the ground yet, he takes us into another room. Immediately he pulls a painting off of a wall, comes up to me and says, "Hold this for me would you, darling?" I'm scared out of my mind, but of course I do as he says. He shows us the way it was made and how old it is. I ask who it's by, and he says it's Jacopo Pontormo. PONTORMO, PEOPLE! For those who fell asleep in their art history classes, Pontormo's a pretty big deal. Here is what is in most art history books and what he is best known for http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2008/01/300px-Jacopo_Pontormo_004.jpg. And here is what I held: http://imagecache6.allposters.com/LRG/30/3034/P8UBF00Z.jpg. Let's just say I about fainted when he said that, but I couldn't because then I would be that girl who dropped the painting by Pontormo. Party foulllll. Then we went on his balcony to see the amazing view of Florence at night. THEN we saw his little chapel with another Pontormo piece, after he told us that his family has special permission from the Pope or something to have Mass whenever they like, however they like. He could have it done in Algonquin if he wanted to. Craziness! I felt like I was in a movie already, and then we walk into another fabulous room with a bust by the door. My friend asked, "Who is that of?" To which he replies in his fabulous British accent, "Homer, my dear." Except it was more like, "Homa, my dea." I swear, I'm stuck in a movie. Maybe it doesn't sound so amazing to you, but it was just this incredible moment. Then before we left, he managed to show us a huuuuge painting of his grandmother. Grandma happened to do some pretty big things, like starting the FASCIST MOVEMENT for women in Florence. (Grammie-were you and Mussolini buddies back in the day?) Way to make plays, Grandma. So yeah, needless to say, I was quite woken up after that little field trip. Hopefully there will be more of those little excursions, and I will do everything I can to be his favorite student. I must.


Well, if you made it through that whole thing, mazel tov. You're a real trooper. You'll have the next few days to recover, though, and then be prepared to read about my weekend in Chianti with my school here: http://www.tenutailcorno.com/index.html. Now to bed, buona notte tutti!

YAB-you are beautiful

No, these are not the words some gorgeous Italian man spoke to me. I'm still waiting for the men to catch on to all that I have to offer. You'll find out where those words come into play later. 


So my first weekend in Firenze was a blast. Yesterday, I woke up and went to get breakfast with Amanda, Becca (my roommate), other Becca, Lizzie, Katie, and Lauren. We wanted to go to a place next to the duomo so we could just stare at it in all of it's glory. After that, the girls and I went wandering all over the streets of Florence to see what the city has to offer. What does it have to offer, you ask? SHOPPING. Everywhere. Stores. Shops. All. Over. I honestly don't know how all of them can stay in business because there are so many. Luckily for me, I've got enough will power to restrain myself from buying anything and everything. I'm trying really hard to spend money solely on food and traveling, so we'll see how long it takes before that one flies out the window. At one point we got gelato from Grom. It was my second time at Grom, and I think I can officially say that I'm really not that impressed and probably will not be going back (sorry, Philly). My dinner was one of the cutest experiences of my life thus far (big statement, I know). We all decided to stay in for dinner, so we went back to Amanda's apartment and everyone contributed to our cute family-style dinner. I brought some ravioli with ricotta cheese, but I didn't actually cook it myself. Lizzie cooked it while I drank some white wine...I think I like that arrangement best. The dinner was delicious and the company sweet. We plan to make it a weekly tradition, so we'll see if that plays out. After dinner we planned on going to this place called Space, but ended up going somewhere different to meet up with other girls from the program. The club: YAB. My "How to Meet European Men" book said that YAB was the place to go if you wanted to meet rich Italian men. Needless to say, it was first on my list. Rich Italian men? Ummmmmm, yeah. Not so much. We go in (after getting to skip the long line because we're American-nice!), and the place was PACKED. The money and older Italian men with their ritzy drinks weren't flowing as I had expected. It was more along the lines of lots and lots of young Italians from the ages of about 16-26. Of course there were some Americans and some old people thrown in the mix, but for the majority it was a pretty poppin' place. We had to pay an 11 euro cover charge, but at least it included a free drink? So we danced, met up with the other girls, and had a good time. Then we decided to go to a different club. Along the way we ran into several groups of Italians because the city really comes alive Saturday nights when the Italian stallions are on the prowl. And lemme say, once the Italian started flowing out of my mouth, it would NOT STOP. I was just spittin' out rhymes like it was nobody's business. Even when I would speak English my r's were rolled. Some Italian guy came up to us while we were walking and said something I couldn't understand. I retorted with, "Sei pazzo! Sei pazzo!" (you're crazy!) to which he replied, "Di te." (for you.) Ho detto, "No. No di me!" (i said, no. not for me!) as I walked away and left him in the dust. Can I consider that my first time to be an Italian heartbreaker? I knew those stallions would have to be careful with me. I ended the night at a discotheque called Full Up with some different girls from my program. I danced with a really cute guy....from California. Of course. The first guy to ask me to dance in Italy wouldn't be Italian. Oooof course. He kept trying to speak with an Italian accent, though. Finally I was just like, "Dude. I already know you're not Italian, so you can stop trying now." My sweet friend Nicole tried to do me a favor by asking the DJ to play my jam (Katy Perry-Teenage Dream, duh.), but he didn't speak any English so he ended up playing "California Gurls". Close, but no cigar, Leonardo. Best part about Italian discotheques? They close at 2am like on 6th street 4 AM BABY. That's what I'm talkin' about. Full Up-I'll be seeing you on Mercoledi (Wednesday...don't judge me.). So, the night ended at 6am. Quite a good night, if I do say so myself.


Today? Pretty uneventful, but still. An uneventful day in Florence is better than most eventful days in America. Suck it, Americans. First day of school tomorrow. Schedule? 9am-6pm, including Photographing Florence, Italian, and Italian Cinema. Sweet. 


"Yesterday's history. Tomorrow's a mystery. Today is a gift-that's why they call it the present."


Ciao, i miei amici.

This Semester is Officially a Success

....Heard my first Katy Perry song in Italy at a restaurant. I now give my full stamp of approval to this country.








PS. More things to add to the +/- lists:


+ : they keep this city so clean!


- : dogs have to learn to poop on stone streets because there's no grass anywhere in this city...cani poveri :(
           (hey, like I said, at least they keep this city clean!)

Awful picture of me, but you gotta see that piece o' steak!

Us and the owner

Il Duomo

Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise

When In Florence, Do as the Florentines Do

Ciao ciao! So I've been here for a couple of days now, and I already know that I'll never want to leave. Lemme just list off a few of my favorite things about Italy so far:


-THE FOOD.
-the wine.
-the buildings
-the fact that you have to walk everywhere/up a million stairs everyday = me having buns of steel by the time I    
       leave
-the timed lights in all the hallways (hey, I'm into conserving energy just like the rest of the Italians)
-il DUOMO
-the history
-the views
-how friendly everyone is
-the fact that everyone around me is speaking Italian
-my future Italian boyfriend (more details to come later)
-no Friday classes


Things that I would like to put into the Italian suggestion box which need to be taken care of:
-No take out food/to go boxes anywhere. I mean seriously, you gotta work on that, Italia.
-regulated heat. Non mi piace
-using the Euro-too confusing


So anyway, let's take it back a couple of days. Wednesday during the day the group split up with different Accademia (my school) staff members to do walking tours of the city. I went with my History of Tuscany professor Nicola who is by far the coolest professor EVER. He's an older man who speaks with a British accent and smokes a pipe. Oh yeah, he's also a COUNT. Yes, you read that correctly, a count. His family is apparently pretty important in Florence, and he's got a ton of archives at his palace or villa or whatever it is. Supposedly, if you're in his class you get to do a few of the sessions at his house while he cooks you dinner or something. I'm pretty pumped for that. Wednesday night me and a few of the girls went out to dinner. Most embarrassing moment of Italy so far? Asking a waitress, "Qual'e' migliore? Questo o Questo?" (which is better? this or this?-happy ariel?), only to hear her say "Uhhhh, parlo solo italiano..." UMMM. Excuseeee me, lady? What do you think I was  speaking to you in, Giapponese?? RUDE. Anyway, needless to say, that discouraged my Italian usage quite a bit. Don't worry, I've since regained my confidence and have been understood by all I speak to. Speaking of Japanese. I was walking by the duomo yesterday, and some street vendor said, "Are you Japanese?? Are you Japanese??" What the inferno, dude? Do I look Japanese to you? Think about that, then get back to me. Speaking of my speaking of-I had NO idea there were so many Asian Italians. Everyone who's been to Florence before failed to tell me that. Thanks. SO bizarre seeing perfect Italian coming out of Asian mouths. But hey, it's pretty cool. Moving on to Thursday- had to be at school at 10am to take the Italian placement test. I think I did decently. Everyone had to talk to the professor when we turned our test in and ho-ly cow. That woman was talking to me so quickly and so quietly that if I have to try and understand that all semester it's gonna be a looooong semester. I caught the general idea of what she was saying and just nodded my head and said "Va bene" (okay) a lot. Then me and a couple girls went to lunch and went a got cell phones/explored the city. By the way, Italian bonus points for me: Me and my girl Amanda had walked around so much, and we were pretty far from where we live so we decided to venture into the world of the Italian bus system. Needless to say, it was a flawless experience, and we did it like pros. Go us! Then for dinner that night, me and a group of girls went to one of the most famous restaurants in Florence called Il Latini. What are they known for? Their giant steaks. It was a group of  7 of us, we got there and popped open the bottle of red wine-delizioso! Then we ordered the meal. We got 2 of the 1.1 kilo steaks and split them between 6 people. MIO DIO! Litcherally the best steak I've ever had. Bigger than my face, yeah, but that didn't deter me. After a few cups of wine, I decided I wanted our group to take a picture with the owner. I said "Possiamo fare una foto con te?" (can we take a photo with you?) He said, "Ohhh you wouldn't like that! Beauty and the Beast. Ha ha ha (in a hearty Italian laugh) We will later!" And oh what a picture it was. He loved us so much that he gave us a complimentary bottle of something delicious AND took 37 euro off of our bill. GRAZIE! I will definitely be getting in good with you to the point where you just comp the whole meal. Then we came back to my apartment, drank a little, then went to this pub that was offering a free shot and a free glass of champagne to every student. The pub was eh, all Americans. Which is no good for me, how am I supposed to meet my Italian boyfriend there? Ah yes, my future Italian boyfriend. I know you're dying to know about that one. Well, his name is Paulo. Not really, but that's what I'm calling him for now until I find out his real name. He's a student at my school, and I first encountered him while I was waiting in line at the secretary desk. Amore at first sight. I then saw him again outside the building when I left and debated purposely tripping in front of him. Other than that, I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little disappointed in the Italian men. Besides a "Hey, girl!" I have yet to be swarmed by them. Maybe I'm just so Italian looking that I don't have American appeal? I mean, I know it probably gets annoying after a while, but a girl likes to be flattered every now and then. But I'm not too concerned, once one catches the LJ fever, there's gonna be an epidemic in Firenze. WATCH OUT! Hopefully that first one is Paulo-I'll have to keep you updated on that. Then today I went on the optional tour to Fiesole. Fiesole is a small hilly town on the outskirts of Italy. You take the bus there, and then you climb the hill where you can look out over all over Florence. It was kinda late by the time we got there, and it was pretty foggy so the view wasn't the best it could be, but still stunning. Came home, went to dinner with Amanda at the restaurant right next door, then came home. IL FINE.


And now it's almost 4am, but tomorrow is Sabato, and I plan on using the day to spend hours in a cute cafe' and look around the bajillion stores that are in Florence. And with that I leave you all. Buona notte.

The view of the Swiss Alps from the plane

In the Piazza della Signoria on the way home

And So It Begins...

In the wise words of Katy (my lady, yeah!), "You. Make. Me. Feel like I'm living a. Teen. Age. Dream." Except this time the "you" isn't a boy, it's something even better. FIRENZE. As I  finally lay in bed after the longest (think being awake for 33 hours) day of traveling ever, it still hasn't hit me that this is where I'll be living for the next 4 months. Pure craziness. There are so many expectations I have for this semester, and I'm sure all of them will be not just met, but surpassed. Even the drive from the Aeroporto di Firenze to my apartment was stunning. Especially that part when we passed the duomo, battistero, and the campanile. You know, the usual-no big deal. Second best part of the ride: me mustering up the courage to speak my first whole Italian sentence to an actual Italian. After our van driver dropped us off and helped us unload our luggage I said, "Non sappiamo il tuo nome. Come ti chiami?" To which he ran to his front seat and handed me his card. "Dimitri. Any time you go out for a drink and need a ride home, you call me and I take you for free." Grazie, Dimitri. I think I just might take you up on that offer (for very rare occasions, Mom and Dad.) My two roommates, Becca and Lindsay, and I headed upstairs only to have more of the amazingness of Italia come flying at us full speed. Our apartment is incredible. HUGE. Huge as in, meant for 6 people but there's only 3 of us with 2 living rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 couches, a kitchen, a flat screen tv, and a view of Italian negozi and ristoranti outside our window. Could life get any better than this?? I think not. We took in our surroundings then quickly got ready for dinner with the group at a place called Trattoria 4 Leoni. The food and red wine were, of course, to die for. Even celebrities like Goldie Hawn and Anthony Hopkins have eaten there. Pretty cool stuff. After dinner, some of the girls headed back to our apartment to check it out. Side note: I lead the whole way to our school to meet up with the group AND all the way back from dinner to our apartment. BOOyakasha, Firenze! And in yo face to some of those family members who think I'm directionally impaired. After talking of going out on the town and then immediately getting tired after sitting down on the couch, everyone was too exhausted to go out exploring tonight. So, all went home, and now it's time for bed. I hope you all enjoy reading my blog, and I promise to try making it as entertaining as possible. Even though I have some pretty big blog shoes to fill (I'm looking at you, Aftyn!!). And if you get bored of it, stop reading. As for now, buona notte, tutti. Buona notte.