Sore Feet

Buon giorno!

Whew what a week. There's gonna be a lot of information so brace yourself.
We had our various Orientations all this week. Tuesday we had a morning orientation for our program on the usuals: safety, housing, yadda yadda. Then my roommate Grace (love her, she's so cool) went and walked around the city. We wanted some coffee so we headed to a cafe right next to the Ponte Vecchio, and on the way we ran into Grace's mom who was leaving the day after.

After a delicious cappuccino we headed to the Uffizi, which is a famous, and I wanna say biggest in Italy, art museum.

I was told before coming to Italy that it would take a good day to go through this museum, and I can see why. This thing is HUGE. There are two stories with rooms off to the sides that hold the paintings for specific artists. There was da Vinci, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, and so many more. And if all those weren't enough, you could just stare up at the frescoes on the ceiling in the hallways or the statues lining the walls. I don't think we were allowed to take pictures, but I stole a quick one of the hallway… hee hee

This is what it was all the way down. And at the end of this hallway, you have to turn right to go down another long hallway before you're even done with the second floor!!

It was seriously too much to take in. We stayed for two hours and left because it was just so overwhelming. Grace and I decided we'll go back another time because our program gave us cards that allow us to get into every museum for free!

Later we got lunch at this tiny cafe a block up from the Uffizi, and it was just ridiculous.

When we got back to the hotel, we turned right back around and went on a city tour with the program. By the end of the day, I cannot tell you how good it felt to lay down and not walk. You get some serious walking done in this city. 

The next day, Wednesday, we moved into our apartments!! Ahh so exciting! These apartments are amazing. You always hear the stereotype of tiny European apartments, and I'm sure it's true in most cases, but not in ours. We live with two other girls, Kelsey and Allie (really cool, so chill), and there are two double rooms each with our own private bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living space. Lemme just show you some pictures so you get the idea.

Our front door and entrance:

The are two rooms at the bottom of the stairs, one going left and one right. In the picture above, ours is to the right. 

This is our bedroom:

Yup. It's huge!! And the beds are so comfortable- not like the normal hard italian beds. 

In the hallway that leads to our room are bookshelves which we use to store our many things. And then next to it is our bathroom:

Its not too small. You see a toilet, sink, shower, bede (?), and a warming towel rack. The shower is very small, I feel like I can't turn around without hitting anything, but it works.

Next, down the hallway….

…is our living space...

…next to the kitchen.

Oh and this was Grace's and my first purchase together as roommates:

So yeah, it's really very nice. We lucked out so much! The kitchen comes stocked with all the dishes and cooking supplies, and the girls who lived here before us left us so many things too! We have a stove/oven, dishwasher, and washing machine.
The only bad part of it all is that its on the second floor, which in Italy means there are 6 flights of stairs to get to the second floor. So it's a nice workout every time we come home.



Oh one more picture- this is the view from our living space:

I don't have any pictures of our street right now, but I will definitely take some because it is the cutest street!! We are about 2 blocks from the Duomo, and a block from a collection of restaurants, bars, and shops. It's really the perfect place, and I don't think I could imagine a better area to live in!

We also met the girls who live above us, there are 7 of them (crazy) and there apartment is probably twice as big as ours! It's huge! They're all really nice too.

Later that night we had a group cooking class with the girls above us and two more apartments I think. It was so fun, we made artichoke soufflés, ragu sauce, marinara sauce, gnocchi, and chocolate cake. Oi vei!! It was absolutely delicious!! And it was so cool to be able to make it all from scratch and see how it's done.

So anyway, the rest of the week we had more orientations and tours with the program and with the school. My favorite part is all the benefits we get as students. I mentioned the free museum card, but there are also a list of stores, restaurants, and bars that give us discounts for being students. Last night, I went to a restaurant that gives unlimited free wine to students. It's so cool that we get all these things!

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Bleh. I just made my first espresso using the moka we have.
Fail.
I must have done it wrong.
But hey, first time for everything!

So last night was really exciting. Lauren came up from Rome and visited Florence with some friends! We went and got dinner at Trattoria Dante- they have delicious pizza and unlimited free wine! It was so  so good. I got a Fiorentina pizza. It had tomato sauce, sausage, and peppers. Oh my gosh so good!!

mmmmm…..

This is us. :D

Afterwards we walked up to the bridge we were near to see the Ponte Vecchio. Here it is at night!

Gorgeous!

Here's another picture closer because it's kinda hard to see the one above…

Ooolala!

So tomorrow I start classes (finally!), and I'm a little nervous, but it'll be fine. I have Psychology, Marketing, Macroeconomics, and Italian tomorrow. Should be interesting!

Ciao for now!!