Wednesday

I brought my camera with me today and I did some wandering around during my lunch break, after having a cappuccino (the first of two I had today), of course.

Our apartment building is on one side of the Arno River and our study center (where we have class on Monday through Thursday) is on the other side of the river. The bridges are all gorgeous and we cross over the Ponte Vecchio every day. This picture above is one of the views from the Ponte Vecchio overlooking another bridge.

This photo is a result of having extra time on my hands to just look at everything leisurely.

And then of course, I had to return to the study center for Italian class. I ran into Caitlin, Gaby & Mary on Borgo degli Albizi (right outside of the study center).

This is my first gelato in Firenze. It was delicious...and pretty cheap! Mary had fragola (strawberry) gelato. It took us almost an entire week to finally try some gelato here!

First post in Florence!

After an exhausting day/night of traveling to Charlotte, Germany & Italy, I finally arrived in Florence on Friday evening (with BOTH bags in hand!). I've been here for four days already so I'm gonna break in down from what I can remember. We've been busy since we got here and it's sort of hard to remember everything clearly. I haven't been taking my camera everywhere but I will include a few pictures I have taken.

Friday:
Most of the day was spent in airports or in the air. I don't know what time we finally got to the apartment but it was probably something like 4ish. After doing some unpacking, our RA Dan took a bunch of us to Trattoria Anita. My first meal in Florence consisted of ravioli rosé. I've heard from several people that you can't really find a bad meal in Florence and I've found that to be very true. Everything is fresh and delicious and surprisingly affordable.

Saturday:
We all met up in the morning for orientation at the study center. Lunch was at the quaint sandwich shop part of Natalino. My sandwich had vegetables and fresh slices of pecorino cheese. I had my camera on me so I did snap a pic before digging in (see picture). Dinner was at the restaurant part of Natalino. Sue ordered for us (and treated us!). It was a three-course dinner. My main course was eggplant parmesan and it was one of the best things I've ever had.

Sunday:
We woke up early and took a bus through Tuscany to Fiesole. We saw the remaining parts of an ancient theater, baths, etc... Since Fiesole is so high up, we got to experience these incredible views of Florence. After returning to Florence we were all really hungry for so we went to Gusta Pizza for our first taste of real pizza. Then I came back and took an epic nap before we had dinner at Gustaosteria.

Monday: (today)
Today was the first day of class. After photography class, we ate an early lunch at Noe Sandwich Shop. They have these great omelette sandwiches. Also I learned today that even though Diet Coke is disgusting, Coca Cola Light (their version) is actually pretty good.