A Few Days in Florence

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Hey guys!

So I'm sure you're wondering what has been happening recently now that I have been in Italy for two full days now. Well, here are the highlights!

We landed in Italy and were greeted by Dr. Bush, Antonio (our local study abroad program director), and a team of drivers. We were divided off by apartment and taken to see our homes for the next three weeks. Arriving at my apartment was the most exciting experience yet and I say that with a good, and somewhat frightening, connotation. The drive over showed me the great difference between America's rules of the road and Italy's rules of the road. But when we pulled up to the apartment, I was blown away by the view. We are right outside the Duomo and the apartment is just amazing. When we were completely settled in, we left for our welcome dinner in the Piazza Santa Croce. We all were given some appetizers, pizza, gnocchi, and tiramisu. I tried olives, mushrooms, and tomatoes during the dinner, all of which I am not a fan of typically. And though they were all actually really good, but I'm not sure how much I will eat later.

Yesterday, we had some time in the morning to go shopping and explore the town a bit. My roommates and I went grocery shopping at Conad's Supermarket to grab a few things. We then had to meet up with the group at Piazza Repubblica, which has a merry-go-round, to go on a walking tour with Antonio to see the town and find key places within the city. It was very fun and we found out about the White Boar, which is a statue in the market which can bring good luck! After the tour, we went to this amazing cafe that overlooked the city and had the most amazing views. At this meeting we discussed the plans for our upcoming days and then we were allowed to go explore more! My roommates and I went to dinner and we tried gelato.

Every first Sunday of the month, anyone is allowed into the national museums for free! So we were able to go to the Bargello Museum where the bronze Statue of David by Donatello is housed. After the museum, we walked around the city, kind of getting lost in the process, but ended up finding Queen's Chips which has some amazing fries ("chips") and other american food which is right across the street from the school.

Today was Epiphany, which happens on the first week of January where they continue their Christmas celebrations to discuss the three wise men who came to see Jesus after he was born. The city had this parade that ended at the Duomo with this really cute children's choir that sang different Christmas Carols in Italian and English. It was really amazing, but also really crowded. We met up with the group after the parade across the river to hike over to this church which had a very beautiful view of the city, but man was it a hike.

As we begin class tomorrow, we will have more adventures to tell! Arrivederci!

Current step total since January 3rd: 31,622 steps

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