getting to know you

It's my sixth day in my lovely little city of Firenze, and I can't tell if it feels like we just got here, or that we've been here for ages, and classes haven't even started yet. The days are already blending together it seems. I haven't really introduced anyone or posted any pictures of my apartment yet, so as far as that goes: I live in an apartment with five other girls, Kendall and Shayna are my roommates and we live in a triple bedroom, Sarah and Olivia live in the double, and Brianna lives in the single. We have the three bedrooms, which are all fairly spacious (the triple especially), a living room with a kitchen table, a small kitchen, a bathroom, and then another smaller bathroom attached to the single.

(My room; my bed's the middle one with all the stuff on it-of course)

We had our orientation on Wednesday for SAI and FUA and that was pretty good, even though my housemates and I got lost on the way and ended up being late. (We were not the only ones.) Everyone was pretty worn out with jet lag, but it was a helpful few hours nonetheless.

A few of us wandered around when we were done with our orientation to explore the city a bit more, and I bought my first thimble, saw Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo up close for the first time, and even went to a grocery store! We also walked through Palazzo Vecchio and said hello to fake David outside, which I was so pumped about before I even realized that I literally live a block from it, so by now I have probably been there at least twice a day. My roommates and I have come to the conclusion that our location in Florence could not be any better. We live on Via dei Neri which has one of the most popular panini places in Florence, and one of the most popular Gelaterias in Florence (which I have been to three times already, naturally.) The people who fill our street, especially at night, are crazy and it's wonderful, even if they make it a little tougher to sleep when we want to.

(Photo: Brianna, Sarah and I on my first walk to Ponte Vecchio)

On Wednesday night we got a lovely free welcome dinner from SAI in this absolutely beautiful hall, the name of which, of course, I can't remember. We had proseco, risotto, flatbreads, a little pizza, some veggies, and some kind of fried eggplant, along with other things I couldn't identify to you if you paid me. Everything was delicious. I am in the mindset to just try everything regardless of what it's called or what it looks like, just to try it, partially because I don't really know what half of it is anyway, and also because I surprise myself a lot. I have learned in the last couple days I apparently really like salami, which is new for me; I've had at least two paninis with salami on it so far. At our dinner we met Becca, Colleen and Lizzie, and Colleen, Lizzie, Olivia, and Shayna and I ended up going out to a club later that evening. Since the dress culture is pretty different here than it is in the States, we were a little worried about not wearing the right stuff, but that wasn't an issue, especially given all the other American students at the club. I got lost from the others briefly while we too which was freaking bizarre because they were right in front of me and I turned around and couldn’t see them. Took a little while but we found each other (Shayna found me, basically) so it was ok, but hey, nothing like getting separated from your group the first night out.

(This is where we ate dinner with SAI... For free...)

(Me, Sarah, Shayna, Brianna, Olivia, Lizzie, Colleen, Becca at our SAI dinner)

(Our group at the SAI dinner)

Since then I have been struggling to get my sleep scheduled figured out. We all woke up at noon one morning and none of us realized it was so late. We have been wandering around trying different ristorantes and gelaterias and whatnot. Shayna and Brianna and I made our way to the west side of the city and had this delicious meal at this place that had no other Americans in it. That was intimidating but also humerous given the judging we could tell was happening around us, rightfully so, we didn't really know what we were doing. This is a photo from us walking around that night.

We have also had this unbelievable drilling noise in the mornings that is from some construction apparently inches away from our wall. I took a video of the sound but it is hard to really explain how crazy loud this stuff is.

Thursday I claimed as "walk around the city solo" day for myself, which was a wonderful experience. First of all because I had not wandered by myself yet and wanted the challenge, secondly, to stop whenever and whereever I wanted, and finally: THE SUN CAME OUT. It was the first day we had a "partially cloudy" day so the sun showed itself!

(Ponte Vecchio)

I wandered quite a bit and later we had a walking tour of the area with our other SAI neighbors, which was informative. Later that night we made our way over to part of town I hadn't been to get for a FUA welcome reception. We met Lizzie and Colleen there and stayed for about ten minutes because it was stuffy and packed and we were starving. So we made our way back to the Duomo by a very surprising route I would have felt lost had I used by myself. We walked a while more and decided on Mr. Pizza, which was quaint, I thought. We sat outside which was nice for a while and then got kind of cold. I ended up splitting asparagus risotto with Bri, which I probably won't do often because I definitely could have and should have eaten a whole one myself, but it saved me 3 euro I guess. I also got water because that’s the kind of person I am, and I ended up drinking two water cups full of the others’ wine because they couldn’t finish it. It was my first Chianti in Italy!

(My roommates and a random guy from our program that was roommates with the guy who took our picture... And legitimately didn't move for any of our shots haha)

(Dinner at Mr. Pizza with Bri, Olivia, Lizzie, Shayna, Colleen, and Sarah)

(Classy life: Sipping Chianti from a water glass in front of the Duomo)

So after our dinner we wandered back towards our place to go to our gelato shop (obviously) and this was the first time Colleen and Lizzie had eaten gelato! (Haha the third time for many of us.) I got tiramisu for the first time instead! (Partially because I already had gelato today, at the place literally below our apartment, but also because I hoped the tiramisu would be delicious there.) It didn’t disappoint. Olivia had tiramisu for the first time ever tonight, as Shayna did yesterday, and they both liked it too.

(Shayna, me and Lizzie at our gelateria!)

On Saturday when I got out of bed, Bri and I walked to the fresh open market across town to buy some groceries and stuff. It was so intimidating but so rewarding when we finally had the courage to ask them for things. We felt like our Italian got instantly better by an insane amount. I got some fresh ravioli, clementines, kiwi, broccoli, and pistachios, all of which have been delicious so far. When we were done we walked in the direction we just thought would be best and I stopped in one little shop and ended up buying my second thimble which was more of a hand painted-looking one. Then we stopped by the dollar store and picked up some hangers, where I also found a mug with a 50€ bill on it! And it was only one euro! We wandered our way home after that, and I was quite proud of myself because I am quickly beginning to recognize lots of streets.

(Fruit, veggies, pasta, meat, cheese EVERYWHERE. And it is BEAUTIFUL.)

After we got back I sat in our windowsill (which should tell you how gorgeous the view is because I hate heights) for a while when I got back and the sun even came out for me. That made me a little antsy to get outside so I went for a walk with Shayna. We went over to Palazzo Vecchio and took lots of pictures. I have been capturing lots of doors for my mom, because the doors here are all awesome and I know she liked them, as well as grafiti, which is beautiful here too, along with all of the classic pictures, of course. We strolled through the other leather market, which I think is fascinating, to Ponte Vecchio, through a few shops around that area and by the Duomo, and then headed back to Neri. We stopped into the little shop I was in yesterday for my panini and this time I got a crustoni… whatever that means exactly, I am not sure. It had brie and prosciutto and grilled eggplant, which I recently learned.

(Our view is unbelievable)

(Leather market)

Today is it unfortunately rainy and rather unpleasant outside, but Bri and I went on a FUA hike up to Piazzale Michelangelo, which was the first time we had been up there. It was beautiful despite the rain, which I assumed it would be, and it was not crowded at all. We hope to go back numerous times when it's actually nice out too.

I have been spending a lot of time trying to work out traveling ideas and possibilities, and I have my first day trip booked for next weekend, so you will have to stay posted to see what that is! I am also hoping to put more of my pictures on Facebook soon, if you're like me and would rather just look at more wonderful photos than read anything. :) Ciao for now.

Love, abbie