My First Entry (and it only took 6 weeks!)

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Wow! My first six weeks in Florence has been absolutely amazing, I've had so many great experiences so far - I don't even know where to begin! I'll start with the basics first.... I live in Palazzo Capponi, a 5-story building where I live and take classes. My roommate Jessica is wonderful, it's so refreshing to have a roommate that I like! My room looks down on the Santo Spirito Church and the adjacent square. Santo Spirito was designed by Brunelleschi, and completed after he died. The plans for the facade of the church were never finished, and the facade was left blank. So the front of the church is quite plain compared to the other ones around Florence. At night, the stairs of the church turn into the hangout for all of the musicians and drunks around the neighborhood until around 4am. It's quite loud and they've gotten very creative with their musical instruments, such as drumming on the cobblestone and using empty beer bottles as xylophones. It's so loud at night that JMU actually bought us noise machines, but I've been progressively getting used to all of the noise. I take Italian classes twice a week for a total of three hours at the British University Institute. The class is a lot of fun, the teacher Susanna is really nice, and it's been really great learning the language so I can actually attempt conversations with the man who makes my coffee each morning. I also have 4 classes for 3 hours a day Monday-Thursday. The professors are doctoral students or post-doctoral students at the European University Institute. One man is a professor at the University of Bologna. Two are Italian, one is Greek, and the other is British. The classes require a ton of readings... hundreds of pages each week, but it's been manageable so far!

The location of the Palazzo is amazing. We live in more of a neighborhood, but we are also so close to a lot of the tourist locations. We live right around the corner from Palazzo Pitti, and across the river from places like Palazzo Vecchio, the Ponte Vecchio, and the Duomo. The view of the Ponte Vecchio never seems to get old, and I hope it doesn't. It's the same with the Duomo, which I think looks surreal at night, it's breathtaking. I was able to see an A Capella concert at the Duomo two weeks ago, it was amazing. The acoustics made the sound travel for seconds after the singers were absolutely finished, it was pretty awesome. The group sang mostly religious songs in Latin, but they were really great.

The food is absolutely delicious. I have found that I like the thicker crust neapolitan pizza more than the tuscan style thin crust. There is a place right across from the Palazzo who makes pizza neapolitan style and I can't get enough of it. Prosciutto is everywhere and on everything, it's fantastic. Me and 2 friends get coffee every morning from the same place. It's actually pretty cool because the older man that takes our order helps us with your italian and teaches us new words each morning. He is certainly expanding our italian pastry knowledge too. They've actually gotten to know us, and when we turn around after paying now, our coffee's are ready! I get a caffe doppio macchiatto each morning, which is two shots of espresso with just a little bit of steamed milk on top. I haven't had any cravings for starbucks yet 😊 In addition to my espresso addiction, the gelato is absolutely fantastic. There is a place very close to the Palazzo with delicious gelato and have yet to find one we like better. My favorites are tiramisiu, raspberry, and a flavor called zuccotto, which tastes like yellow cake with chocolate frosting. The wine flows like water here, it is pretty wonderful 😊 I still haven't tried a red wine I like, but I've had vino spumanti, which is like a carbonated wine.... I didn't know anything like that existed(except for champagne!), but I really like it!

A couple of weekends ago, I went to Siena with my roommate Jessica and another friend Steven. It was a really gorgeous smaller city. There were no cars on the roads which was a really nice contrast from the traffic in Florence. Each year, in the main square, they have a famous horse race, but unfortunately we won't be in school when it occurs. We had lunch in the main square, walked around the city, went to teh Duomo, and went into Palazzo Pubblico, which had some really amazing art. This past weekend, I went with Jessica and another friend Craig to horseback ride in Tuscany. We went through vineyards, and go to see the Tuscan countryside, the sights were gorgeous. We had a typical Tuscan lunch at a restaurant on a lake and vineyard which was absolutely delicious. On the way home, the van driver asked if we wanted to stop for gelato in San Gimignano. San Gimignano was a gorgeous city. From the outside of San Gimignano, the city looks like a giant castle. The streets of the city were quaint, and the views of the Tuscan countryside from the city were the best I've seen yet.

The day after we went horseback riding, we went to a Fiorentina soccer game. Fiorentina played Lazio, a team from Rome. The experience was incredibly interesting. I think I was more interested in observing the culture than the actual game. The fans of Lazio had to sit in a completely walled off separate section, and the security around that section was pretty large. The fans have to come a certain amount before the game, and have to wait to leave until a certain amount after the game too. The fans of both teams yell obscenities at each other, even old men! They serve beer at the stadium, but the beer has no alcohol content... all in all the day was very interesting. The game ended in a tie, 0-0 so the game itself was pretty uneventful.

I have one more week left of classes before Fall Break. I'm so excited for a break and to explore more of Europe. I am going to Berlin for 4 days with Jessica and Steven, and then we are flying from Berlin to Copenhagen. A girl from the program, Natasha, lived in Berlin for a while prior to living here, so she is going to show us around and introduce us to her friends which is going to be great. Steven studied in Copenhagen for a semester during his undergrad, so we will be staying with his host family. His mom already has a list of typical Danish food that she is going to cook for us, so as you can imagine, I'm pretty pumped for the cuisine!

Well that's all I have for now... Until next time! (and I promise it won't take another 6 weeks!)

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Photos

santo spirito
the view from my room

bistecca alla fiorentina
a florentine special, you order it by the kilogram - this was the equivalent of 2.86 pounds!

Comments

[Lisa Prather]

Wow Caitlin! Since we didn't get to see much of Florence (except from the train!), it is great hearing your descriptions and seeing the beautiful pictures! I'm so excited for you! We can't wait to see you on your next trip home!