This wine is strong, you should chase it with biscotti

Another week has flown by here in Firenze! I'm sorry I'm so bad at keeping up to date with this blog. This is what I've been up to:

Tuesday
There's nothing too exciting about Tuesday, other than the fact that I took some fabulous advice from my smart mother and aunts. We weren't in the mood to "go out" so instead we bought a bottle of cheap prosecco (frizzy as we call it) and walked around the city at night. This led to riding the carousel at Piazza de la Republica! It's silly, but I've been wanting to do this since I got here:

Thursday
Thursday was our 3rd annual TIGER THURSDAY. I can't remember if I've written about Tiger Thursdays before, but it's a tradition that seven of us from Clemson (plus our roommates and friends who are "honorary tigers") have started every Thursday. We rotate apartments and cook a huge dinner, drink wine, play a drinking game, and then all go out together. It's so much fun to look forward to at the end of the week! After dinner that Mindy & Ashley hosted, we went to Lion's Fountain, my favorite American bar. There is a Clemson t-shirt on the ceiling right when you walk in, and we have been begging the bartenders to let us sign it. We came prepared with sharpies in hand this time, and after some persistent begging they let us all climb up on bar stools to sign the shirt! I love seeing a little piece of Tiger Town in Firenze when I go out :) The rest of Tiger Thursday was a fun night, and I spent the next day sleeping in and doing laundry.

Saturday - Chianti!
Saturday we went wine tasting and hiking in Chianti! Seven of us went with a group of about twenty students through one of the student travel agencies here. We had two tour guides who took us on a bus to the heart of Chianti, and then on a three hour hike through the vineyards and villages. They were so knowledgable about how wine is produced and the history of the region. It is directly in the center of the two rivaling cities, Florence and Siena, so it is an area that has been fought over many times. We also got to see what is assumed to be the landscape painted in the background of the Mona Lisa! Chianti is easily the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life, even on a freezing cold day like we had.

After the hike, our guides took us to the Sassolini family villa. The place is enormous and is only the family's "villa" not their actual house. The family has been producing wine and olive oil in the Chianti region since the 1200's! They were one of the rivaling families with the Medici and moved to Chianti for that reason. The villa was filled with century old paintings of the family members. While we were there, the owner and his sister cooked us a full, family-style Italian lunch. We got to taste three of the wines that they made right there in Chianti, as well as their olive oil. This lunch was done in a true Italian way...it took about three hours. At the end they let us try this really strong wine that I could barely stomach without chasing it with a biscotti! We got to explore outside of the villa for a little while and learn more about the family. It was such a cool experience to see inside of a real Italian villa. I've decided I need to find out if the owners have any sons. That way I can live a privileged life in both the city and the country of Italy. Perfect life plan. I bought a bottle of their olive oil before we left (as a souvenir, and because it was sooooo good) and then we headed back to Florence, so excited to come home to our warm apartment!

Sunday - Venice Carnival!
Meg, Alana, and I got up bright and early the next day to head to Venice for Carnival. We went with the same travel company that we went to Chianti with, and ran into one of our Tiger Thursday friends Eric. The ride was three hours, but luckily I slept through the entire thing. I woke up at one point and there was snow everywhere! For a split second I was afraid I was in New Jersey again. Ahh! Unfortunately, we had terrible weather, but we still made the best of the rain and cold. Once we arrived we had to take a ferry boat to the main island where Piazza San Marco is. That's the site for the main event. Our first order of business was a nice, warm lunch, so we wandered until we found a place that wasn't very touristy. It was delicious, but a bit expensive for a plate of spaghetti. Then again, everything in Venice is expensive during Carnival. After lunch, we headed to Piazza San Marco to see the main event. The skinny streets of Venice were so crowded with strange looking people. Some of the costumes are so intricate and impressive. You don't realize what a huge deal this celebration is until you experience it! We bought really pretty masks (I got a green one) and two bags of confetti to join in the festivities. There were tons of people to take pictures with, and live music in the center.

After wandering around the party for a while, we decided it was time to take a famous gondola ride! We found a nice guy who gave us a "student discount" and showed us a place to buy wine. We got our favorite prosecco (ps, Mom & Aunties, Bellini's are the official drink of Venice!) and hopped on the gondola for a 30 minute ride through the canals of Venice. While on our little tour, we passed Marco Polo's house, Mozart's house, and the real Casanova's house. Our gondola man told us that Casanova's house on the canal sold for 30,000 euro per square meter! Insane. There were a ton of beautiful homes and hotels that we could see into while sailing around. It is amazing how people live right there in the heart of venice. They must get sick of the touristy gondola riders like us!

After our gondola ride we wandered and let ourselves get lost for a while, got some cappuccino and hot chocolate, and headed back to the dock where our boat was supposed to be. It was a half an hour late so we had to stand outside in the rain and cold for a while. Needless to say, the prosecco warmth wore off. I fell asleep again on the bus ride home (I'm starting to come to the conclusion that I'm very sleep deprived here). Overall, it was an amazing weekend despite the weather! I didn't think I would be here for an entire month without even leaving the country, but I've realized there are so many places to see here. This weekend I'm staying home in Florence and hosting a few Clemson visitors, and after that my jam-packed travel schedule takes off. I'll try my best to keep this updated!

Ciao

When in Rome...rent a 3-person bicycle

I just spent two and a half days in Rome, and it was quite an adventure.

Thursday night, our plan was to have dinner and stay in so that we could leave bright and early for Rome on Friday. My roommates, along with a group of friends from Clemson, have started a new tradition called "Tiger Dinners." Last week William and hosted, and this week it was our turn! We were so excited that we went a bit overboard. We bought a ton of chicken, parmesan, three pounds of pasta, two gigantic containers of pasta sauce, and tons of fresh veggies. We (and by we, I mean Alana and Jacqueline...Megan and I cut up some veggies and were in charge of setting the table) made pasta in a regular tomato sauce that we added grilled chicken, zucchini, red peppers, onions, tomatos, and fresh garlic to. We also went through four baguettes and several plates of olive oil and balsamic. Classic Italian meal :) We drank a little too much Frizzante (a cheap version of prosecco) and were somehow coaxed into going out. We went to the Fish Pub which is a bar in San Lorenzo right by the market and stayed for about an hour until we realized we needed to leave for Rome in a few hours. Despite going to sleep at 5:00 a.m., Megan, Alana, and I were up and out by 7:00 a.m. When we got to the train station we had just missed the train, so we went to our favorite cafe on the corner to grab breakfast and wait for the next one.

The train ride was four hours, so we all napped for about an hour and chatted the rest of the time. Once we got to Rome, we navigated the crazy busy Termini train station to get to our hostel. I had the address written down, but realized that my Let's Go book had directions to our hostel in it, so we followed that. We ended up at the doorstep of an entirely different hostel. When we showed them the book, they told us it must have been printed before our hostel moved to the other side of the train station. I'm sad to say this is the first time my Let's Go book has failed me. We trekked all the way to the other side of Termini with our bags in the sun and finally arrived at Mosaic hostel. The front desk man was super friendly and gave us directions and advice on how to get all over the city. We headed down a main street towards the Colosseum and had lunch. After lunch, we wandered the entire area of the Ancient City which includes the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Imperial Forum. To be honest, we had no idea what was what (besides the Colosseum, of course) but we were happy to just roam (haha) around and steer clear of the obnoxious guided tours.

After walking around the Colosseum, we stumbled upon a man renting bikes and these strange bike/cart vehicles. Normally, our "let's not look like American tourist" instincts kick in in these types of situations, but this was a deal we couldn't beat. We each paid 3 euro and piled into the bike like kids on the Cape May boardwalk. We then realized that the sidewalks are impossible to navigate. They're filled with people and bumps that our bike couldn't quite handle. So, we went for the road. Luckily, Alana comes from a family of cyclists and knew what she was doing. We drove on a main three lane street that was full of buses, vespas, and taxis. There we were, put-putting along past ancient ruins and ringing our semi-broken bell at passersby. It was so ridiculous that all any of us could do was laugh hysterically. I think our lack of sleep made us all deliriously hyper, so we cruised the streets screaming "ciao!" to random pedestrians. A few people were so amused they even took pictures of us! We turned down an alleyway and found a cute cafe where we parked and got cappuccino (Coca Cola Light for me). We desperately needed energy after sleeping for not even two hours the night before. The waiter at the cafe was very taken aback by our mode of transportation. Apparently we're the only crazy tourists who ride around the main streets of Rome in a rickety cart. It was one of those strange, impulsive decisions you make on vacation, but I will probably never forget how fun it was.

After our wild ride, we decided it was definitely time to siesta. We walked back to our hostel, checked into our room, and passed out for about an hour. We met up with Alana's friend Connor who is studying in Rome, and went to dinner at a typical little Italian spot with delicious, you guessed it, pasta. We also got some wine and free limoncello shots which helped put us right to bed when we got back! While we were eating, a Russian man was at the table next to us listening to our entire conversation. He came over and told us that when he hears English-speakers, he likes to try to guess where we are from. He guessed the Southeast of the United States. You all know how happy this made me. I find myself telling people I'm from South Carolina here...whoops. Anyway, he sat and talked to us for a while about Russia and different dialects of English until we left to go to sleep. 

A full night's sleep later, and we were up bright and early at 7:30 a.m. to get ready. We went downstairs to get our free hostel and then took the metro to the Vatican. The metro system is so easy here. Definitely a lot less complicated than New York. We waited in a 45 minute line to get into the Vatican Museum. In the summer months the line is apparently 4 hours long! Once we got inside, we got our tickets (50% student discount!!) and made our way through the museum. We had no idea what anything was, but it was still so amazing to look at. None of us are very "artsy" so we moved through the museum pretty fast until we found the Sistine Chapel. It was so incredible. I wish I had seen it before taking that dreadful art history class at Clemson, because I would have appreciated it a lot more. We sat in there for a while and took a few stealth pictures when the security guards turned their backs. Then we headed around front to St. Peter's Basilica. 

The Vatican is a lot bigger than I imagined, and St. Peter's square is such a fun place to just sit in the sun and relax. We were all starving since our breakfast at the hostel was kind of bad, so we got gelato at Old Bridge Gelateria. It was recommended by my book and several people, so I was pretty excited. The portions at this place were absolutely ridiculous. I don't think any of us have ever eaten an ice cream cone that huge before. I got banana and nutella flavored gelato, and it was the best I've had in Italy so far! After our gelato break, we got in line for St. Peter's. The inside is even better than the outside! It really made me realize the history and immensity of this religion that I've been surrounded by all my life. The intricacy of the inside definitely puts every other Italian basilica I've seen to shame. We decided to be brave and climb to the cupola! It was over 500 stairs, and I had a few near-panic attacks when I couldn't see the top and had nothing to hold on to but a rope. All of the sore leg muscles and panic was worth the AMAZING view of Rome.

After climbing back down the 500+ steps, we headed back over the river to see the rest of Rome. Our first stop was Piazza Navona, a beautiful piazza that we didn't spend very much time in since we were so hungry. From there, we headed towards the Pantheon. On the way, we walked through my favorite part of Rome. The streets were narrow and the buildings were authentic. It was much less busy and made me a little homesick for Firenze. We stopped to get cappuccino at a cafe that Alana's dad said was the best cappuccino he's ever tasted. I figured that constituted me trying my very first Italian cappuccino. It didn't taste as "coffee-ish" as I expected, but I still wasn't crazy about it. As we continued walking, we passed a restaurant where I heard a very familiar American voice. I looked and saw the back of a very familiar American head sitting at an outdoor table. It was Jenn! Jenn and I had planned to meet up in Rome (she is studying in Granada, Spain) and had exchanged phone numbers. For whatever reason, her phone stopped working and I couldn't get through to her. She forgot to write down my number, so we had no way to get in touch. It was so crazy that in the entire huge city of Rome we found each other. We started screaming and hugging so loud that the entire restaurant stopped and stared. I just can't kick my American tendencies sometimes. 

We continued on to the Pantheon where we got sandwiches at a surprisingly un-touristy deli. I had eggplant and mozzarella, my favorite. We walked and ate, and eventually ended up at the Trevi Fountain! It was so different than I imagined it to be, and ridiculously crowded. It is probably impossible to get a picture in the summer, since we had trouble even finding a spot! I made a wish and threw in my euro penny :) 

After the Trevi Fountain we walked to what we thought were the Spanish Steps. When we realized how unspectacular they were, we realized we were in the wrong place. A little navigational help from my map and we found the real Spanish Steps. They were beautiful, but way to crowded to really enjoy. Megan and I did have a nice conversation with an adorable old Italian man. He barely spoke English, so it was my very first opportunity to really try to hold a conversation in Italian. We told him where we were from, and that we were business students in Firenze. That was about all we could manage. He then told us in broken English that he lived in Florence when he was in the war, and pulled out old military photos of himself from his wallet. These are the types of little Italian meetings that I absolutely love. 

We decided to head home after the Spanish Steps to get ready for our big night out on the town. Alana's friend Connor came to our hostel with a few bottles of Rome's version of Frizzante (my new favorite) and we pregamed with bathroom sized cups in our hostel. Very classy. We then wandered out into the city to find a place to eat dinner. I had a restaurant all picked out from by book, but it's sooo good that we would have had to make a reservation! We opted for another authentic looking trattoria, and we each got margherita pizzas (all of which we ate entirely!) We drank plenty more vino and then headed to the famous ICE BAR. This bar is made entirely out of ice; the walls, seats, glasses, everything. They give you a big coat to wear, gloves, and a drink. We were each able to talk our way into getting two drinks included in our cover charge. The drinks were delicious, but we drank them fast because we were so cold and wanted to go somewhere above freezing. We took the bus to another part of the city where most of the nightlife is. It reminds me a lot of Florence's Santa Croce. We went to a place called the Drunken Ship but left shortly after because it was closing. By this point, we were ready to get back to the hostel and sleep, so we took the bus back and managed to navigate our way back to the hostel. 

We slept in a little later on day three due to the amount of vino we consumed the night before. We realized that we had seen nearly everything on our list of things to see in Rome! We kicked butt on Saturday and went to basically every major site. We decided to shop around for a while, and stopped to get a little snack of bruschetta. Alana and Megan were ready to get back to Florence early, but I had plans to meet up with Jenn, so they went back to the hostel to get their things and I walked to the Vatican. Jenn and her friends were climbing the cupola when I got there, so I sat in St. Peter's Square people watching and listening to a guy play acoustic guitar. It was SO relaxing to sit down and not rush to be somewhere for once. The entire weekend was go, go, go, so I was excited to actually breathe and take in the sights. I found Jenn and her friends, and we caught up on each others exciting study abroad lives! It was so nice to hang out with one of my best friends after being in a foreign country by myself for almost one month now. We had lunch and then I hopped on the metro to my hostel. I've never been on such a crowded metro before. There literally wasn't room to breathe. I made it back to my hostel where I grabbed my bag and ran back to Termini to make the train in time. Unfortunately, since I stayed in Rome later I had to take the fast (and more expensive) train, but it was worth it get a few extra hours in and see Jenn. I had one or two "Oh my God I am completely alone in a huge, dangerous city" moments, but managed to find my way around, buy my train ticket, and board the train all on my own. I had a relaxing hour and a half train ride back to Santa Maria Novella and was so relieved to sit on my bed and relax upon my arrival in Firenze. 

Rome is an incredible city, and I think I spent just the right amount of time there. I'm definitely ten times more confident in my decision to choose Florence though. It's much more personal and much less overwhelming. Next weekend, I'm hoping to head to Venice for Carnival! 

Ciao :) 

Always carry cash in Europe

Back to a hectic (haha, just kidding) week of "classes." I have never had such free-spirited professors before. I'm working on a project right now for my Society of the Catholic Church in Italy class, and it says three different things on the syllabus about how long it is supposed to be, what percentage of our grade it is, etc. My International Marketing professor also told us that our project could be "Whatever you want it to be! If you like to write, then write. If not, then make a PowerPoint. Anything you want." Okay, funny little Italian man, PowerPoint it is. The only thing remotely stressful about these classes is that they each take up 2.5 hours of my day, and I can't get to Marcato Centrale in time on Mondays or Tuesdays. Such a tough life I lead.

Last night, my roommates and I went to see La Dolce Vita. They had a free showing for Valentine's Day with English subtitles. Surprisingly, Valentine's day is incredibly downplayed in Italy. My boyfriend this year was a nice 1 euro cone of nutela flavored gelato. He's too good to me. Anyway, La Dolce Vita was one of the strangest movies I've ever seen. I was expecting some classic Italian romance, but it was very unromantic (and not to mention, 3 hours long) so I slept through the second half of it. We decided to drink wine around the dining room table instead of going out. My wallet can't handle all of these 5 euro cocktails, and I'm completely convinced that every Italian wants to break into my apartment and steal my stuff, so I don't even try to get free drinks from the creepers.

Now, onto the topic of this post: Always carry cash in Europe. Yesterday, I learned that lesson. I came back from Siena with only 7 euro in my wallet, which I spent Saturday night on a margarita. I then went grocery shopping with the 20 euro I had saved in my room over the weekend. So, it's Monday afternoon and I am off to class with nothing but credit cards. My class got out early, and I actually had time to eat lunch, so I stopped at a cafe and got a panini. I got up to pay after already eating the panini (which was delicious by the way: pesto, fresh mozz, artichokes, lettuce, cucumber) and handed the woman my credit card and she said "No." Whoops. I said "me dispiace" a million times and told her I would run to the ATM. At this point I have 15 minutes until my next class on the opposite side of the city. During my mad dash to the bank, I realized that I have a brand new debit card with a brand new pin number, which of course, I do not have memorized. So then I run back in the direction of the cafe, go into one of the school buildings to use the wireless, and find my pin number. Then I run back out the door and to the bank, get my money, and realize my class starts in five minutes. At this point, the lady thinks I dined and ditched. I went to class a hot, sweaty mess, and 2.5 hours later went back to the cafe with cash. The lady I had talked to wasn't there!! I felt so terrible. I went up to the other lady at the counter and told her I got a panini, paid, and left. I figured you can never have too much good karma. Lesson of the week: always carry cash in Europe.

Two more days of classes (food & wine pairing and Italian, so difficult) and then it's off to Rome with my roommates to meet up with Jenn! I'll post again after my next adventure.

Ciao!

Are you American? Can we take a picture?

I just got home from a lovely weekend in Siena! Siena is a small Tuscan city that originally rivaled Florence, but ended up not flourishing quite as much. My roommates and I made a last minute decision to book a Bed & Breakfast with my friends from Clemson. We went out Thursday night, but managed to get up bright and early on Friday to catch the 11:10 train to Siena. We didn't have a plan at all once we got there, but luckily being "Mama Tara" as my roommates have named me, I had a map, the address and phone number of our B&B, as well as my Let's Go! Italy book. I guess I take after my mother. I realized while reading my book on the train that we had to take a bus to get to the city center. After getting very lost in a strange Italian shopping mall, we found a bus that would take us into the city center. This alone was a really difficult task, since very few people in Siena speak English. I remember being worried about the language barrier before coming here, and everyone said "Don't worry, everyone in Europe speaks English!" False. Everyone in touristy European cities speaks English! Not in small Tuscan towns. We got on a very crammed bus, and got off on a random street after asking several Italians "Centro? Centro?" repeatedly. I pulled out my handy-dandy map and got us on our way towards the city center. We wandered for a while until we stumbled upon Il Campo. It is a beautiful square in the city center where a famous horse race takes place two times each year.

We were all starving, so we continued on our mission to find a restaurant for lunch. My Let's Go! book recommended a pizzeria that is "saved for the locals" and "a little hard to find" so we decided to give it a try. We got very lost on the way. Since my book gave the directions to "find a hidden staircase behind Fontebranda and go up it to the right" to find this place. Not exactly clear directions. We asked several different Italians who barely spoke a word of English and tried to follow their hand signals. Finally, as we were wandering a deserted, residential street, an adorable little Italian lady overheard us say "La Pizzeria di Nonno Mede" and stopped to help us. She was carrying groceries into her house, and rang the buzzer to call her son down. He spoke great English and gave us directions to the pizzeria that happened to be right up the street! Once we conquered one last giant hill, we found the archways he had directed us towards. We walked through archways up a small path, and found the adorable pizzeria we had been looking for. It was practically empty since it isn't tourist season, and the view was incredible. We sat outside with space heaters and a perfect view of the entire city of Siena. I ordered a white pizza with eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onions, and spinach. It was by far the best pizza I've had in Italy so far. After sharing a few slices with my roommates, I almost finished the entire pizza. Whoops! We walked up so many hills and had been traveling all morning, so we all felt we deserved a huge, carby lunch.

After eating lunch, we walked all around the city with absolutely no sense of direction. This is normally something that makes me very anxious, but my roommates are so carefree, and it forced me to let myself get lost without worrying. We went in a few different churches and encountered a surprising amount of people who were confused as to why we were there. In the middle of the winter, American girls with backpacks (me with a giant purse...I am no longer trusting of backpacks) are kind of hard to come by. We eventually found our way to the bus station where we took a bus to our Bed & Breakfast, Villa Piccola Siena. I'm writing about all of this travel as if it was quick and easy, but you should all know this is not the case. We got lost several times and had to ask for directions, which bus to get on, etc. probably 50 times in the course of our few hours in this small city. This has definitely inspired us to seriously plan our upcoming trip to Rome. 

Once we finally got to the B&B (on yet another overcrowded bus that I was convinced was going to crash) we met up with Virginia, Ashley and Mindy, our friends from Clemson! The B&B was adorable, and our room was kind of funny. It had two twin beds squished together, and a set of bunk beds. It was definitely better than a hostel, and we had our own bathroom, so no complaints here! We asked the concierge where to get dinner and headed back into the center of Siena by bus. The seven of us got dinner at an adorable, authentic restaurant where the waitress/hostess/wife of the owner barely spoke English. I got Tuscan vegetable soup and only ate about half of it since I was still so full from my gigantic pizza earlier that day. We shared a few bottles of wine and had perfect girls night in Italia. 

After dinner, we stopped back at Il Campo, the main square the find gelato. This is only after getting very lost in back roads where nothing was open. It was only 9:30 pm, and the entire city seemed to shut down, besides Il Campo. It was definitely a lot different than Florence. While eating our gelato sitting in the square, three Asian girls came up to us and asked if they could take a picture of us. Are we famous? After several minutes of confused, broken English, asking "wait...take it of you? or of us? you want to be in it with us?" they eventually all sat down between us and took a picture with us. We chatted with them for a while and learned that they were all English majors from South Korea who were in Italy for "holiday." We're assuming they were so excited to talk to us so they could practice their English, but this was the third time today we had been approached by other English-speakers. Earlier in the day, on two different occasions, groups of college students studying in Siena overheard us speaking and came running up to us to chat. I guess Americans are hard to come by in the less touristy parts of Tuscany. We thought that maybe one of us looked similar to a celebrity and people were just confused. 

After our encounter with our new South Korean friends, we headed back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep. There isn't much nightlife in Siena anyway, and we were all exhausted from being on our feet all day. We got up very early the next morning to make it to breakfast at the B&B on time. My roommates and I got up earlier than the others, and smuggled a ridiculous amount of baked goods into my giant purse. Croissants, muffins, apples, nutela packets, the works. We are all starting to realize how ridiculously expensive Europe is, so we needed to eat a cheap (and by cheap, I mean completely free) lunch. We headed back into Siena to walk around a little more, and ended up wandering into the outskirts. We eventually ended up at what we are assuming is the city wall. 

After visiting Il Campo one last time and meeting up with the rest of the girls to give them directions to our favorite pizzeria, we headed home to Florence. It was yet another complicated process to find the right bus to take us to the train station. Luckily, it was free, since after our second time buying a 1 euro bus ticket, we noticed that no one validates their tickets, and we rode for free the rest of the weekend. We all fell asleep on the train back to Florence (after eating our stolen lunches) and were so happy to take off our boots and lay in bed for the rest of the afternoon.

Now onto a full week of classes, then leaving for ROMA on Friday morning! So excited to see more of this amazing country.

TOO EXCITED

This may not be worthy of its own blog post but...

WE JUST BOOKED A TRIP TO PARIS IN MARCH & THE AMALFI COAST IN MAY! 


Our flight from Bologna --> Paris was 6 euro. Thank you, RyanAir! Our flight back on EasyJet was a tad more pricey, but still a bargain considering what we pay to fly in the United States. We're doing an all-inclusive bus trip to the Amalfi Coast (Capri, Sorrento, Pompei, Positano, etc.) the last weekend of the semester. It will be the perfect, sunny way to finish our adventures.

We are in the process of planning Barcelona, Prague, Dublin, Venice, Cinque Terre, Brussels/Amsterdam, and, of course SPRING BREAK. It's between Corfu, Greece & Southern Spain/Lisbon, Portugal at this point.

I AM SO EXCITED. But now it is almost 2:00 am and I need to figure out how to spell my name and say my phone number in Italian by tomorrow morning.

Ciao!

Don't touch the veggies!

Today took my mom & aunts' advice to "not touch the veggies" to a whole new level. I have become very accustomed to the Marcato Centrale already, and I know which vendors will let me touch, and which won't. I'm also used to navigating our tiny little overpriced supermacato, Punto. Since we live on a street of all hotels and hostels, we have realized we are getting completely ripped off. Today, my social psychology class went on a field trip to the "suburbs" to see a tourist-free grocery shopping establishment. I expected something similar to the Marcato Centrale, old-fashioned and authentic. What I found was a gigantic supermarket about the size (if not bigger than) a super Walmart or Target. And it was ten million times more "modern" than anything I've seen in the USA. ShopRite and BiLo are stone aged compared to this place. It was set up kind of like a mall, with a car on display in the front. Then, you could grab these strange little scanners to carry around with you, scan each item you put into your bag, and then check out at the end just by scanning the scanner thing (rather than putting each individual item on the conveyer belt). Pretty fancy. We had to "observe" Italian shoppers behaviors and social norms, as opposed to shoppers in an American supermarket. Not a bad way to spend my once-a-week class time. I noticed that Italians take their time (as they do in every aspect of life). I saw five people in just one aisle all standing completely still, carefully reading every detail of boxes of cereal. In America, I grab the Special K and toss it in my cart before I even realize I am in the cereal aisle. They also carry around these adorable wheely carts that look like suitcases. Here is the best part: they wear rubber gloves to pick out their produce. You were right, Auntie Katarina & Francesca! They very carefully stare at their produce (rather than throwing their hands all over it) until they specifically pick out the perfect piece with their rubber gloves. At the end of our visit, me and two friends I met in class bought pre-made sandwiches from the deli section.  It was actually the best sandwich I've had here so far! All of the cafes on our street have pre-made ones that aren't spectacular, but this one was on bread that was almost quesadilla-esque, and filled with spinach, mozzarella, and tomato.

We took a lot longer than expected at the supermarcato, so I had to run to my next class. Luckily my international marketing professor is a nice guy and excused my tardiness. They are actually really strict about attendance here. Three absences lowers your grade by one full letter! Kind of silly, but I guess if they didn't enforce that we would all just travel every day and never go to class. Sneaky tactics, LdM.

I realize this entire post is about food, but there's more to tell. I have become quite the cook! Well, at least within my no-meat boundaries. Tonight, Jacqueline said my pasta dish looked like something from a restaurant. Success! I bought homemade spinach and ricotta ravioli from the Marcato Centrale, and it literally takes not even five minutes to cook since it is so fresh (and not hard like normal pasta). Yesterday I cooked that, and then in a separate pan tossed olive oil, garlic, zucchini, onions, olives, cheese, and pecorino tomato sauce. Then I just add the pasta into the pan and it is delicious! I did the same thing tonight with pesto sauce. This is the first time in my life I have been cooking without reading directions or using a timer. I usually have to read the box of pasta before I even throw it into the boiling water, but now I'm feeling adventurous. I'm hoping I learn a lot more recipes in my food & wine class. Maybe I'll even get over my fear of preparing raw meat.

Never fear, my jeans fit better than ever! I walk so much here, so I think five or six little ravioli for dinner is perfectly acceptable. Plus, the transition from fried Southern cooking to fresh veggies and no additives is pretty great.

If you can't tell I'm already food & wine obsessed. I've been here for thirteen days, so I am afraid to see how much this escalades by May. Roomies of the 222, get ready for me to be a master chef senior year (and a total wine snob).

Tonight, my roommates and I are going to a meeting for a travel company that sets up small group tours in different cities with a "local" who shows you around. I am thinking about signing up for their trip to Dublin so I can avoid the tourist-traps and learn about my red-haired heritage. We're also about to plan our entire semester! Planning trips is much more complicated than expected (and of course I am "the planner" of the group...typical) so I have a lot of work in store. I just can't wait to see (and taste) the rest of Europe!

Ciao

Underground vino & a leaning tower!

I'm already finding it difficult to update this blog each day since I have been so busy! Here's a recap of what I've been up to:

Thursday

After going out Wednesday I struggled to get myself out of bed and off to Italian class at Piazza Strozzi at 10:30 am. I really like my Italian class and my professor. She speaks very little English so it forces us to figure out what she is saying, and we spend the majority of the class speaking out loud and responding to her questions. On the way back to class I met up with my friend Virginia (from Clemson), and then I went to the post office to pick up my NEW CAMERA! I was so excited to finally be able to take pictures of this amazing city. I lounged around the apartment for the rest of the day, definitely in need of some rest. Jacqueline's brother who lives in Amsterdam came into town, and they made us all the most delicious pasta dish! We had a little family dinner with plenty of vino at our apartment, and then got ready to go out. Jacqueline's brother had been to Florence before, and found an underground wine bar the last time he was here. After much adventuring around the city, we found the unmarked doorway and headed down into a cave. This is what it looked like:

This place was perfect for a fun, yet relaxing night. There were no Americans, and they let us sit in a private room in the back. Part of me thinks they were throwing us back there to keep our American nonsense out of their authentic scene, but if that was their intent it definitely didn't work. We ordered cocktails, but having "pregamed" with several bottles of wine, we all decided to get some very non-Italian refreshments (mine being a margarita, naturally). There was a band playing in the main room, and we quickly realized they were two Italian men singing all American songs! They did a mash-up of the Beatles and the Backstreet Boys, as well as classics like Brown Eyed Girl and Country Roads. It didn't take long until all six of us were standing in front of the stage dancing and singing along with every word. The band definitely got a kick out of us. 

After singing and dancing for a few hours (and getting free shots and potato chips which the bartender referred to as french fries), we decided to head out to another bar. We found ourselves at a place called Slowly. It was pretty empty, but we made the best of it! It was a fancier bar where we met lots of nice Italians and got some delicious cocktails. My bartender boyfriend named Francesco even gave me a discount! We then made our way home (unsuccessful in finding the Via Faenza secret bakery like we had hoped) and went to sleep. 

Friday - "the" PISA! 

Today we boarded a train to the town of Pisa! We couldn't stay in Italy for four months without taking the ultimate tourist photo. The train ticket was pretty cheap, and thanks to my knowledgable mother, we validated our tickets at the sneaky little yellow boxes at the train station. I was shocked how unnoticeable the boxes were, and how there was not a sign instructing passengers to validate their tickets. It was a quick one-hour ride through some nice and some not-so-nice parts of Italia. Turns out they have some "projects" here too. It was a little confusing since the maps on the train made no sense, and there was no automated loudspeaker telling us which stop we were at, but we made it there alive. Once we arrived in Pisa we got a pretty lost but eventually found the famous leaning tower! It was a perfect sunny day. As you'll see in the pictures, the skies were very Clemson-eqsue: so blue they looked fake. It took us about a half an hour to figure out the best place to take the picture. You would think they would have a big touristy sign that says "pose here," but they leave it up to you to figure it out. Luckily, Alana is an engineer and figured out the best angle to take it from. Once we got situated, we took a TON of pictures. I promise my photos aren't photoshopped. The sky really was that blue, and the building looks like it belongs in Disney World. It's not old or aged like the rest of the buildings in Italy. Here it is:

We were starving, so we walked down the street to this adorable sit-down restaurant. Considering its proximity to the tower, it was surprisingly un-touristy and pretty empty. Megan and I split eggplant parm and a margherita pizza. Good thing I walk a lot in Italy, because the carb-overload is getting ridiculous. After lunch, we went back to the piazza to see the Duomo di Pisa. On the outside, it pales in comparison to "our" Duomo. But on the inside, it is absolutely incredible! Definitely the most beautiful interior of a cathedral I've ever seen. After spending a lot of time wandering the Duomo, we laid outside on the steps like true Italians basking in the sun. There was an adorable old man playing guitar, so we relaxed and listened to him sing Guns and Roses. Besides the Duomo and tower, there isn't much to do in Pisa, but it is perfect for a short day trip if you're in Italy for an extended period of time. We stopped for gelato (of course) and rode the TrenItalia back to Santa Maria Novella. 

I took a power nap (fifteen minutes) and then got ready to go out. Megan, Alana and I headed to Santa Croce to go out with girls from Clemson (Ashley & Virginia) and their friend Amelia from Florida. We ate dinner at a cute little sushi place where I had a cucumber roll and edamame. Eating sushi in Italy seems ridiculous, but after eating pasta, bread, and pizza every day, it was refreshing. We went back to Ashley's to drink some wine and then headed to Lion's Fountain (my favorite bar!) It is the American bar with the Clemson shirt on the ceiling. Unfortunately, the bartenders wouldn't let us climb on the bar to sign it, so we have to go back during lunchtime hours to leave our mark. Alana, Megan and I got free drinks from nice Scottish guys who stopped us on the street earlier that night to ask where to find a hostel. We told them how to find a hostel, and then to go to Lion's Fountain to drink. They ended up finding us there and buying us drinks! We got into a few superbowl related arguments about superiority of American football to rugby (or vice versa, in their opinion). The rest of the night was pretty low-key, but I was so happy to be hanging out with other Clemson students. It's comforting to be in a foreign country with people who share that type of common ground. 

Today

I slept in until 10, took a shower, and headed to Marcato Centrale with Alana. After my pairing food & wine class, I felt much more confident in deciding which stands were the "best" stands at the market. I picked up green beans, zucchini, onions, delicious bread, homemade spinach & ricotta ravioli, almonds, bananas, and romano cheese. Then I bought two (much-needed) scarves outside on our way home. I only brought two scarves with me assuming I would "buy so many" here, but these two were my first purchase! One is purple and very thick and warm, and the other is white with a pretty design on it. We went home to put our food away, retrieve our other roommates, and headed out for a day of adventuring in Firenze. 

We walked through the part of the city that we're very familiar with, only because I finally had a camera and wanted to take a picture of the Duomo. Then we went to the top of a department store at Piazza de la Republica, where there is an amazing view of the Duomo from up high. From there, we headed to Santa Croce. This is the part of town where nightlife is prevalent, and we're only familiar with wandering the streets late at night trying to find our way home. I had several "lightbulb moments" and figured out where a lot of places are while we wandered through that area. At Piazza Santa Croce, there is a chocolate festival going on for a a week. There was chocolate of every variety you could imagine. We all got fondue (I got banana) and wandered around the festival. If I wasn't so cheap I would have bought the entire festival. Yum. After the chocolate festival, we crossed the bridge next to the Ponte Vecchio to go to Piazza San Michelangelo. We climbed up a ridiculous amount of steps, but it was more than worth it. This is the most INCREDIBLE view of Firenze there is. I couldn't stop taking pictures, I was so in awe. Walking around the streets, it's hard to put into perspective how stunning the entire city is. Looking at it from on top of this hill across the river definitely gives you chills. For example:

We wandered around this side of the river, went inside of a church whose name I am unsure of, and even explored in the cemetery there for a little while. We then crossed over the Ponte Vecchio and headed home. I skyped for a while and uploaded my pictures from the day before heading out to dinner. I had dinner with a whole group of Clemson students! Virginia, Ashley, Mindy, William, our Florida gator but honorary tiger Amelia, and eight or ten architecture students who are studying in Genoa for the semester. Of course, we went to ZaZa's (my second time there in less than two weeks, whoops!) We had a great time drinking wine, limoncello shots, and obviously eating the delicious pasta. We sat outside since they had space heaters, and it was a really fun atmosphere. Our plan was to go home, get ready, and head out to a club called Space, but due to a busy week and 4 litres of wine with dinner, most of us are now too tired. My roommates and I went to get gelato at a new gelateria on our street. It was delicious, but a bit more overpriced than our "usual" spot. We will probably try a million gelaterias until we find the perfect one. Again, I'm thankful to have walked over three hours today (not to mention up a ton of stairs to Piazza de Michelangelo) after the abundance of chocolate and pasta Italy has to offer. I'll make it a point to stick to my fresh veggies from the market this week :) 

I've learned so much about this country and this culture in the past week. Here are a few of my observations:

• Vespas are SCARY and Vespa drivers are fearless. I'm now a professional Vespa dodger. 
• Italians do everything slow (kind of like southerners). If you don't ask for the check when eating out, plan on sitting there for five hours.
• In addition to dining, they walk slow too. I tend to weave around crowds of people. 
• They think all hands are dirty (rightfully so). When you are getting change back they hand you the dollars and put the coins on the counter, instead of in your hand.
• They take PDA to a new level. When we were eating sushi on Friday, a couple was propped up on a barstool at the table behind us making it literally difficult for us to digest our food. I guess it is the Italian way. 
• They are under the impression that girls would like to buy fake roses (for themselves?) while barhopping or eating in outdoor seating. "No, grazie" does not make them go away, either.

I'll update again soon after a few days of classes. 

Ciao! 

Wine extraordinaire in training!

Today was the best day yet!

I let myself sleep in until 10:00 am since my only class was at noon. PAIRING FOOD AND WINE is my only class on Wednesdays. Not too shabby. Our class is held in a kitchen and there are only fourteen of us. Our professor is an American Italian who knows everything there is to know about Italian cuisine and wine. She said that soon enough we will be able to tell by the look, smell, and taste of wine how good it is, and what food it gets paired with. I wish every class was like this. First, she took us on a walking tour around the center of the city to show us all of the most authentic food and wine. Our first stop was at Palle D'Oro! This is the restaurant that my roommates and I accidentally wandered into on our second night. We found a true Florentine gem without even having to be told :) Next door to Palle D'Oro was a wine bar that has the right prices and right quality. She told us we were being ripped off by our friend "Happy" at the Happy Wine Shop who gives us 5 bottles for 10 euro, because it is really, really bad wine. Next, we went to the Marcato Centrale! She showed us which stalls we should always go to for each type of food. We walked through the seafood part (which I didn't even know existed) and had I had a camera I would've taken a picture of all of the fish heads for my dad. We passed a stall that had homemade pasta and sauces (I was eyeing the pesto, of course) cheeses, and of course my favorite vegetables. There was also a nice man on the corner who sold "healthy snacks" in the form of dried fruit and nuts. I'm glad I have a better grasp on the market, so that next time I will know where to go. Our professor kept stressing that we try "tripe." There are tripe stands ALL over the city. It is the stomach of a cow, but the cows are vegetarians, so it is supposed to be good for you. Not sure if I'll ever work up that type of courage. From there we walked to Piazza de la Republica, one of my favorite places. She told us SO much about the history of the different cafes and restaurants in the area. This lady literally knows everything there is to know about Florence. One of the bars had been there since the 1700's! It's incredible how I've been wandering aimlessly around this city not knowing anything about it. We also stopped at a cafe that does chocolate tastings, and comes from the northern part of Italy (the best chocolate in Italy). She continued to show us the best place to get gelato, the best place to get wine, the best place to get a quick sandwich, etc. Once I get a camera, I am going to try to follow the same path by myself and take pictures of them all. And obviously eat some of the gelato!

We got back to class and made a delicious pasta dish. She sauteed onions, chili pepper, olive oil, and bread crumbs. Then added the pasta, and voila! Even without sauce or cheese, it was some of the best pasta I've ever tasted. I am going to try to make it myself at the apartment soon. After class, I went to buy  my Italian text book from the library and faxed some things to my mom. I came back to the apartment to relax for about an hour, and then Jacqueline and I headed out to gather the rest of our school materials. For some reason, every professor decided to choose a completely different copy shop for their reading packets. Two hours later, we had wandered ALL over the San Lorenzo / San Marco part of the city. We got lost a few times, but it was nice learning a new part of the city. We stopped into a cafe during happy hour and the nice Italian man behind the counter gave us free bruschetta! On our way home we stopped for gelato at the place on our street. I think in a few more days the guy behind the counter is going to start to recognize us. I got chocolate chip on a cone. Turns out cones are cheaper than cups here! Only one euro. Also, I was happy to learn today from my teacher that gelato is much better for you than ice cream. All of the ingredients are fresh, and the way it is made lets less air into the gelato. Ice cream in America is all air, so they rip you off by giving you less ingredients, more additives, and lots of air. In other words, you get more yummy stuff in a small cone of gelato than in a big tub of American ice cream.

I got home and made pasta with zucchini, asiago cheese, and pesto sauce again. Here, I find myself cooking the same thing two or three days in a row since there is limited fridge space and I only buy a little at a time. I skyped with a few people, did my Italian homework, and am now sipping wine with my roommates before going out. I used my new Italian hair straightener tonight and it works great!

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get my new camera in the mail and wander the city alone. That way I can learn the streets and finally take all of the pictures I have been dying to take. Today, during our walking tour I had my very first glimpse of the classic study-abroader "I never want to leave this place" feeling. My view of this country and city had been very tainted by my bad experience, but now that I am settled and really letting myself enjoy it, it's easy to see why so many people fall in love with it.

Out to the bars as a 20-year-old I go!

Ciao

The gypsies can't ruin my eurofun

Hi all!

I've been in Italy for almost one week now, and I haven't posted on my blog once. Most of you know why this is, so I won't get into the details about the gypsies stealing my backpack from LdM. I have never in my life felt so helpless and taken advantage of. Luckily, everything (besides my pictures and music) was replaceable. My mom has been up all hours of the night due to the time difference dealing with Apple and bank accounts and everything else you could name. Also, my advisor Laura is a saint (and an American!) If it wasn't for her I probably would have been back in the US by now. She took me to the pharmacy to get my medicine, the police department to file my report, talked on the phone with the uncooperative credit card customer service reps, and dealt with my sobbing antics for three days straight. But that is all I have to say about my frightening experience. If anything, I have learned that the gypsies are REAL, that things are just "things," and that I'm lucky I have people in my life who care enough about me to help me through this complicated process. Now I'm ready to enjoy this BEAUTIFUL city that I live in, and tell you about all of the great parts of my last six days!

Day One - Tuesday/Wednesday
I had a great flight out of Newark. I was so excited that it was hard to fall asleep, so I watched Eat Pray Love to get myself in the right mindset for adventure. I had an entire row on the plane to myself to stretch out :) The only bad part was the ridiculous amount of screaming children. I landed in Frankfurt, Germany and was SO lost. Whoever told me that was an easy airport (Ahem, Uncle Pat!) was wrong. I asked some German lady where to go, and she barely spoke English so I started following other students. In line for security I met a guy from Basking Ridge, and when we got through security we realized our flight was cancelled. After asking five different airport employees what we should do, we set off on a 20 minute journey of getting lost trying to find the Lufthansa ticketing desk. We had to get tickets to Bologna, and the airline was going to provide us with bus transportation to Firenze. In the meantime, we met four girls from Indiana University, so we got a few beers and sat at our gate with our very first European beverages. At this point, it was about 5:00 am in America. Healthy breakfast! Our flight to Bologna went smoothly, and on the bus ride I was fairly convinced that we were going to drive straight off of a cliff. I took some great pictures of the mountains which I hope the gypsies are enjoying...Then I got a cab from the Florence airport to housing check-in. This is obviously where things go awry, so I'm going to skip over the big mess.

Day Two - Thursday
I was very jet-lagged and barely slept the night before, so once I heard people around the apartment I got up to meet my roommates in a more composed state, and to really see our apartment! I live with four other girls: Amy (San Francisco) who is my actual roommate, Jacqueline (Brooklyn), Megan (Boston), and Alana (Pittsburgh/Clemson!). Our apartment has three bedrooms, one bathroom that looks like a long skinny hallway (complete with a bidet!), a nice-sized kitchen, and a dining room that also has a couch and tv crammed in the corner of it. By my room, there is also an awkward storage hallway with a love seat, all of our suitcases, and no light. It reminds me of the phone booth confessional rooms on the Real World. Here are a few pictures stolen from my roommate Megan:

We had orientation early in the morning, so we all made our way to the Odeon Theater looking like typical American study-abroaders carrying LdM maps. We sat through a long orientation about safety (which is something I already learned my lesson about...) and then had a break for lunch. My roommates and I just started to wander and found ourselves right by the Santa Maria Novella train station. We were starving and running out of time, so we walked into the closest place we saw. There was a nice Italian man behind the counter, and we all got a slice of pizza. Unfortunately, this was the worst pizza I've ever had. It was luke warm and the cheese was rubbery! Our mistake for getting pizza by the train station. Clearly no real Italians eat at this place! We took it for "take away" as the Italian's call it, because we didn't want to be rude. We went back to the second half of orientation, and then I spent the rest of the day taking care of business at the advising office. That night, we decided to explore and find a place to eat dinner. We stumbled upon the Marcato Centrale (at night, being disassembled) and had our first experience being hassled by creepy Italian men. Sick of walking in dark circles, we stopped into the first place we saw with reasonable prices. It was this quaint trattoria where the servers barely spoke a word of English, and every other customer was a local. I got pesto gnocchi (plus delicious free bread and lots of wine!) We then headed in for the night and had a girls night drinking wine at our dining room table. It was interesting learning about each others lives, since I've definitely never befriended such "city people" before. I'm definitely not in Clemson anymore! 

Day 3 - Friday 

I had to get up early today to go to the US consulate. All I knew was that it was near the river, so I ventured out alone at 9:00 am to find it. I managed to only stop once to ask for directions! "Dove arno?" I know that is terrible grammar, but it got me where I needed to be. Unfortunately once I got there I was stopped by scary Italian cops, and the US consulate was blocked off. They couldn't help me get what I needed, AT ALL. I asked them for directions back to Santa Maria Novella (since I like to find two different routes to get everywhere) but I got SO lost! I asked four or five different people until I found a nice English-speaking man inside of a fancy hotel. I finally made it back alive after wandering for over 30 minutes, and then got ready to explore the city for the day with my roommates. We walked to the Arno (where I had just been this morning), and took pictures in front of the Ponte Vecchio! Looking at that view was the first time it hit me that I'm living in such a beautiful place. I had been so overwhelmed the past few days I barely got the chance to look around and appreciate it all. We walked along the bridge and then found our way back to the center of the city. In a few short days, I was already really confident with my directional abilities. Having to run all over the city to take care of my "situation" definitely forced me to navigate it on my own, and I have become the go-to girl for directions amongst my roommates (who would've thought that would ever happen!?) After heading back to our apartment I was back at the advising office (again). I think I spent more time there than in my actual apartment for those first three days. Once I got home we all "ate dinner" which consisted of a strange array of whatever we found at the grocery store. All I bought was Special K (peach flavored!) and milk. Then we had some wine and ventured off to find a bar. We went to a place called Cafe Bigallo that was filled with only American students. They had a 3 drinks for 10 euro special, so I got a Tequila Sunrise and a Sex on the Beach. I saved my third drink for another night, and Megan chatted with the bartender to get us some free shots. After a while we decided to head home (since we didn't know where anything else was!) and on our way we passed a place called the Dublin Pub. It's on our street, right by the school. We wandered in to find ourselves in a cute little Irish place filled with all Italians! The bartender made us some (very bad) pizza and we had a few beers. From there we took a short walk down the street to our cozy apartment and went to sleep.

Day 4 - Saturday

Saturday Alana, Amy and I woke up and went to the Marcato Centrale. It is the central market in Florence that is full of tons of delicious fresh food, with leather vendors lining the streets around it. It reminds me a lot of the market in Philadelphia (only a lot yummier!) It is only two blocks from our apartment. All of my Florentine expert family members have warned me about "not touching the vegetables." I stood there for a while staring at the vegetables, and then staring at the man, and then staring back at the vegetables. Eventually, he came up to me, handed me a bag and said "self-serve." So much for that rule! Much to my surprise, I was able to touch the produce everywhere I went. I got green beans, bananas, apples, and zucchini. I also picked up some black olives (my favorite), pesto, homemade pasta and fresh asiago cheese. I decided it was best for me to avoid the meat section for now, and there were too many lines for bread so I skipped on that. Outside at the leather market, I bought myself dark pink leather wallet, made in Firenze, of course. It's tiny and perfectly fits inside my little purse. We went back to our apartment to put away our groceries, and then walked down towards the Duomo to shop. Alana and Amy were looking for clothes, so I eventually ventured off on my own since I had several other missions to accomplish. My first stop was a leather store we had passed on the way. They had gorgeous leather bags for only 49 euro (originally 98 euro!) I needed something to hold my books and laptop (definitely NOT a backpack) and I found a huge chocolate brown bag with a cross-body strap and BOTH zipper and button closure. After my experiences, the main quality I look for in a purse is how inaccessible it is to gypsies. The woman at the store told me all about how it is leather made here in Florence, and that it only goes on sale in January and August. Perfect timing! From there I went to a camera store I had seen a few days earlier. Unfortunately it was by the Duomo and was a complete tourist trap. The same camera I used to have costed over 250 euro! That's almost 400 dollars! Instead I bought an overpriced memory card to put in my old, back-up camera. Genius me bought the wrong size. I am trying to figure out a way to talk the nice Italian man into letting me return it even though it was already opened. From there I went to a store that sold flat irons. I had been wearing my hair curly for 4 days and could not deal with it much longer. Unfortunately, the store I found was an "electronics store." In Italian, an "electronics store" is a store that sells any oddity that involves an electrical plug. Lamps, toasters, flat irons, etc. Very strange. The flat irons were very inexpensive, and they looked it. I decided there was no use wasting 30 euro on something that wouldn't work on the 'fro. Afterwards, I went to the super market to get some basic things like olive oil (it was too expensive at the market), bread, nutella, and tomato sauce. Also, lots of bottled water. Every few days I have to go stock up on two giant bottles of water since the tap water isn't good, and they obviously don't sell 24-packs of Poland Spring here. Even though we all just stocked up on food, we decided to go out to dinner. We thankfully decided on ZaZa's, the one place I have been dying to go since I arrived. It definitely lived up to its expectations! We got to sit in the basement, which was a beautiful room with chandeliers. I got a margherita pizza and a side of sauteed spinach (just as my mom recommended). It was DELICIOUS. Definitely the best meal I've had so far here, and it was even reasonably priced. I ate almost the entire pizza! I think it was well deserved since I barely ate my first few days here. After two bottles of wine at ZaZa's, we headed out to a bar called The Astor for a pub crawl held by one of the travel agencies. It was a very euro-trendy place. Not exactly the comfort or feel of Loose Change or TD's. They were selling giant pitchers of "sangria" which actually tasted like frat party PJ minus the Everclear. They thought they could trick all of the silly American girls. Noticing how much they were ripping us off, one of my roommates went up to the bar and demanded that they add vodka to our pitcher. Half a bottle of vodka in our pitcher later, and everyone was having a pretty good time. I didn't drink very much, since I was still too nervous about being robbed or kidnapped. It didn't hit me until I got here that this is the first time in my life I'm living in a city. It is going to take some getting used to. We moved from the Astor to the Red Garter. It was a bar that connected to a club, and with the pub crawl we got a few free shots there. I wandered around socializing for a while, obviously scouting out anyone I could find who looked remotely Southern. I didn't have very much luck. Looks like I'm going to have to turn on the Jersey Girl inside of me to meet people around here! The rest of the night is a tale for another time, but we all got home safe and went to sleep. 

Day 5 - Sunday

Sunday was very Sunday-like. Rainy, gloomy, and no one wanted to get out of bed. After lounging around our apartment for a while, we decided to brave the weather. Alana, Jacqueline, Megan and I walked to the Uffizzi to buy our student museum passes. After much confusion, we realized the office was not open on Sundays. Bummer. Even though it was freezing and raining, we stopped for overpriced gelatto near the Duomo. It was the best gelatto I've tasted so far (banana flavored). We wandered around for a while and went inside of another museum (the name of which I can't remember). We stood in an atrium type of place and took a few pictures just to get out of the rain. After that, I stopped to buy a pair of gloves since my hands were freezing. We went inside of the Duomo and my roommates took a few pictures. I lit a candle for Grandpa, and decided that I'm going to come to mass here next Saturday (they have it in English every week). Looking at the Duomo (even in the rain) shocks me every time I walk by. It is the most beautiful, intricate building I've ever seen. I think that on May 14th I will still walk by it, look the sky like a tourist, and say "WOW."We got pretty cold so we headed back to our apartment and relaxed for the rest of the night. I cooked up some vegetables and pasta, and wrote in my journal. I went to bed fairly early since I ran out of things to do (and still didn't have a computer). 

Day 6 - Monday

First day of classes as an international student! I got up extra early to go out and buy a notebook, but then I realized that nothing opens until around 9:30 or 10:00 am! Italians have a great perspective on life. No one should ever be up earlier than that. My class was on my street, Via Faenza, so I stopped in to see my advisor, Laura, and then got to class early. It was in a very old building with brand new flat screen TVs on the walls. Kind of funny. I met two girls from Boston and a guy from UGA (yay, Southerner!) I also sat next to a girl from Canada who goes to school here full time and told me where to find a store that sells apple products. Now I just need to find it to get a case for my new computer. This class was a 9:00 am Social Psychology class. I think I'm going to really enjoy it! My professor is American, and she went to grad school at South Carolina. My only complaint about this class was that the room was freezing! My body has not adjusted to these poorly-insulated buildings yet. Next, I walked to Piazza Strozzi, on the other side of the Duomo for my International Marketing class at 12:00. Yes, classes are 2.5 hours long here. That is going to be a big adjustment. I got a little lost finding the building, but once I got there I had to walk up three flights of stairs (which really means six) to find my classroom. My professor was the epitome of a small Italian man who wears Armani suits, except that he has a British accent. He mumbles a lot and is kind of hard to understand, but he has a lot of real world experience and we get to do a project that seems really fun. After classes, I was running around the area printing things, picking up my laptop (!!!!) at the student post office, and buying notebooks. When I was done running around, Laura took me to the police station to file my police report. The man in charge did not speak an ounce of English, so Laura acted as our translator. She is literally the greatest school advisor I have ever had and gave me so much great advice about living in Italy. I got home from the police station and set up my computer while we waited for a few of my roommates to get home. Then we all went together to the free LdM Welcome Dinner. It was in this BEAUTIFUL building that made me feel like I was on the Titanic. The food wasn't the greatest, but we met a lot of people and then decided to go out to meet up with them. We ended up going out kind of late (around 12:00am...on a Monday) since I got too carried away on skype and my roommates were taking a while to get ready. We went to Cafe Bigallo again to use our free drink cards, and there we ran into three students from Syracuse. The one girl was an Alpha Chi there! We were SO excited, and realizing how comforted it made me to see a sister who I don't even know made me appreciate sisterhood so much. We decided to leave Bigallo (since we were the only ones there) and to head to a place called the Lion's Fountain to meet the people we had met at the LdM dinner. We got very, very lost, and by the time we found it it was closing. We hung out outside for a while and ended up walking back to Faenza with a group of crazy Dutch girls who told us stories about their experiences here so far. 

Day 7 - Today! 

If you're still reading this (and you're not my mother) then I give you serious credit. Obviously all of my posts won't be this long, but it has been such a whirlwind of a first week. Today I had my Italian class at 10:30 am at Piazza Strozzi. This time I found it easily. There were only seven people in our class, all girls, and one of which is a girl from Clemson who I met in the advising office the day before. I was glad to have a fellow Tiger in class. Our teacher is the most adorable little Italian lady, and she did a really great job of making us speak out loud. I can now say Mi chiamo Tara! And a few other easy phrases that I would have to reference my notebook to remember. That was the first class of the week that flew by! Mainly because it is only 1 hour and 15 minutes, but also because she kept us speaking and thinking the entire time. I had to rush from there to my next class on the other side of the Duomo, and ended up getting a little lost finding it, even though it was on my side of town! The street numbers here are either red or black, and they mean different things, so it can get confusing. This class was Society of the Catholic Church in Italy. It was NOT what I expected. Our professor had us go around and introduce ourselves, and then share any background we have in history, philosophy, and religion. A lot of the students were REALLY intense history majors. Luckily I wasn't the only one who sounded dumb when I told her I have never taken a college history or religion class, and that I was only taking the class because I am Catholic. I sat next to a very confused biology major who seemed to be just as frightened as I was. I guess I'm officially out of my math-nerd comfort zone. My classes all seem kind of intense, but professors always try to scare their students on the first day. After class, I went to a salon down the street to buy a hair straightener! I haven't tried it out yet, but I am so excited to finally have one. The guy at the salon seemed very knowledgable (and saw what a frizzy mess my hair was) so I trusted his judgement in picking out the right one. I then went back to the advising office one last time to grab the translated police report from Laura. I might have to make a daily stop in there to say ciao since that place has become my second home in the past week. After that, I ventured down a new street to find the "cheap supermarcato with 33 eurocent water bottles" that my roommates had discovered a few days ago. I picked up my cheap waters, and then wandered into a camera shop where a very nice lady sold me a reasonably priced, correctly sized memory card. I stopped at the cafe across the street to get a spinach and mozzarella panini since I hadn't eaten since 8:00 am, and called it a night. Since then, I have been lounging, blogging, facebooking, and perfecting the art of doing nothing. I cooked pasta with pesto sauce and sauteed zucchini, green beans, and black olives. All covered in freshly grated asiago cheese, of course. 

If you're still reading, thanks :) I'm so happy I've had so much support from friends in family in the past week. This place is finally starting to feel like a home, and when I walk the streets I almost feel like a local (even if I don't look like one!) I am very anxious to start planning trips around the rest of Europe, but I need to keep reminding myself to take a chill and remember that I'm in ITALY. Life could not be better. 

Ciao!