San Gimignano and Siena, Italia.

Florence. Is by far the most beautiful city in the world. I don't care where you are, or where you are from, I will disagree until the day I die. There is so much magic in this city that I literally feel like it is home. On Wednesday, I had my Italian food and culture class at 2pm, any my language class ends at 12:20pm everyday. So, we decided on our lunch break to visit the Palazzo Pitti (or the Pitti Palace), which is one of the palaces owned by the Medici during the Renaissance when they ruled Firenze and all of Tuscany. What a splendid lunch break that was indeed. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but even if I did, a picture cannot do this place justice. It is spectacular. Every square inch of the walls is covered in paintings and murals and gold and splendid art.

In the second picture, I forgot that I opened a shop here in Florence years ago. I decided to stop by and see how things were running in the shop. Good news that everything is doing well-tourism is up despite the economic standpoint, and the store Anna is prospering. =)

On Thursday after class, there is just so much to see in Palazzo Pitti, we decided to visit the Boboli Gardens of the Medici Palace. We stayed there for 3 hours and didn't even see everything. That place is HUGE. And SOO beautiful! I decided I am going to study there. It is literally a 5 minute walk from my school and my apartment, and my museum pass gets me in for free unlimited times. Great place to study? Why not? I'm in Firenze.

My friend Sara and I decided to go running and exercise along the river Arno and run the stairs up to Michelangelo's Piazza, which has the most amazing views of Florence and we watched the sunset. Cristel met us up there because she forgot to bring her running shoes. It is quite a trek, but so worth it and such good exercise! We even got surprised by street performers who were amazingly talented and their manager came running across the steps to greet us and give us a kiss on the hand. You can see her laying down on the steps in front of the performers, her name is Cleo.

Today, we visited San Gimignano and Siena with the entire program. I have some incredible pictures to add. I learned so much about the history and more about the Medici. I really enjoyed it, despite how hot and humid it was.

I went inside the most beautiful cathedral I have ever seen in my entire life. The Cathedral of Siena was so incredible I cried. I actually had to turn my head from the tour because I was so moved by the beauty and intensity of this place. Wait until you see the pictures, although they literally cannot do it justice.

Had to share this...

I just booked a flight to Paris for €16 one way, which transfers to $20 in American dollars. I AM GOING TO PARIS. And, one of my friends dad's works for Mariott and she can PROBABLY get us a free room in Paris.

I AM SO EXCITED. I am going to Paris, France. PARIS. All this planning is so stressful, but so exciting and fun.

Listen to what I did for my culture class:
We went on a tour of Firenze, stopped off at multiple little cafés and tried multiple different kinds of foods at little hole in the wall places. I tried tripe and cow stomach. YUM. My professor told us after we had already swallowed it. But it was pretty good! Hey, when in Florence, RIGHT?
Then we stopped off at my favorite gelateria in Florence: Grom, which has the highest rated gelato in all of Firenze. We got gelato for free from our professor. Then we walked back to the piazza and class was over.

(other classes had to read 6 chapters for homework, we got gelato).

Oh, how I LOVE my life right now. =)

Grazie mille Mom and Dad

This entry is for you: Mom and Dad. I felt compelled to express how appreciative I am for this opportunity and for everything I am experiencing because without you, none of it would be possible. Honestly, Mom, I remember growing up listening to you tell stories about Italy and randomly speak Italian words more so with your hands than with pronunciation, (now I can tell you that since I'm in my 2nd year of Italian), and now that I am here, I understand why you would always refer back to this place being one of your favorite places you've ever been. Daddyo, thank you for letting me go. I know that you were obviously very hesitant just because you love me so much and had skepticism about me going halfway across the world for nearly 5 months, but I am so thankful. For everything. For all the things that you have been able to provide for Amy and I, for all the things you guys never had. You have worked so hard for our family, and I am so thankful and blessed to have been given this opportunity. 

Thank you and I love you and miss you so much!

1.) La vista della piazza di Michelangelo
2.) Il Davide di Michelangelo (another replica, not the real one quite yet)
3.) La chitara e uomi d'Italia sul Ponte Vecchio

Most of these pictures are from the tour we took on Saturday morning all around Florence. It was over 2 hours long, but I learned so much which really makes me appreciate every square inch of this city even more so. I got my museum pass in class which allows us access into every museum and monument in Florence for absolutely free AND we get to cut the lines. I temporarily misplaced it and my roommates went to see the original Il Davide at the Galleria dell'Accademia on Sunday afternoon. I didn't find my pass until lasts night, so this magnificent piece of art in which I have been waiting years to see will take my breath away with my own eyes soon enough.

Saturday afternoon it randomly started pouring rain while I was out wandering about Florence without an umbrella, but I came across the huge marketplace which literally overtakes about 10 different streets in Florence and is massive. I bought a beautiful turquoise ring made of Indian silver and turquoise for €4 when the original price was €15. It is so much fun to bargain with the flee market merchants, if only I could do that on Ponte Vecchio with all the gold they have and get it down to a price I could afford. Saturday night we went to an Irish pub and became best friends with the bartender and got all free drinks. He even ended up coming out to the Italian discoteche Space with us. It was quite an experience.

Sunday morning I woke up and had to do my café assignment with my classmates. It was much harder to find an open café than we expected! We wandered about Florence for nearly 2 hours because everything was closed since it was a holy day.

Last night, I hiked up a trek to Michelangelo's Piazza to the most breathtaking view of Florence I have ever seen.  Look at the quick post above to see the pictures from this view. It was incredible-so much, that my eyes started watering. I think it was the first moment I literally felt like I was in Italy. I mean it soaked in that all my work, all my effort and all my dreams of ever coming here but always being merely a dream, became a reality.

It really was sensational. As we were walking back down, we heard beautiful guitar playing on the Ponte Vecchio and decided to stop to listen. There were two talented Italian men playing guitar together and a huge crowd formed within a few minutes. Another surreal feeling of being in Europe that I must get used to: the suave music that infiltrates your senses in every way when you walk the narrow streets of Europe and forget you are actually in a place where this is normal.

Today was Monday, and I had my first class of my elective course: Mediterranean Food and Culture of Italy. It was incredible!!! I am SO excited for this class and for all the exciting things I am going to learn. The book looks so interesting and the best part: I get to keep the book! Hopefully it will be able to fit back on the plane with me upon my return...

This evening, two of my friends came over, Sara and Rachel, two girls I really click with and am having the opportunity and chance to travel with (besides Cristel of course ;), to plan out an itinerary for all the places we want to see and experience. It is quite a learning experience to find the flights, hostels, trains, and the best deals and everything! I'm finally getting the hang of it, though.

I am SOOOO excited for the next few months. There is still much planning to do, but I think I am most excited for Cinque Terre which we are planning next weekend to take a train to Monterosso, and backpack all the way down to Riomassiore-seeing all 5 little cities. I have been wanting to see this place since I started learning about Italian culture and learned that this place existed. We are planning on arriving early Friday morning and taking our time to really experience every city and we are going to backpack throughout the entire coast. The hike can take 4-5 hours, but we want to take our time and enjoy the beaches as well, so we are planning on staying in a hostel in the 2nd or 3rd city: Vernazza or Corniglia.

I cannot contain my excitement for this trip! It's hard to grasp how I am feeling and all of my emotion into a written statement, but I am extremely excited.

If you get the chance, go look up "cinque terre" into google images right now.

Unbelievable right???






That's what I am going to see.

Thursday-classes began. It was amazing. I love my teacher-she is so nice and we literally don't speak a word of English in the class at all. My homework for this weekend is to go to il bar (a café) and talk to locals and the barista about the different coffees and pastries in the café. HOW awesome is that? 

Thursday evening we had our welcome dinner at this restaurant near Il Duomo. Everyone was there from the entire program. There were so many of us! Probably over 130. We had a 3 course meal, it was delicious, but it hurt to walk afterwards. It was the best meal I've eaten so far here. It was amazing. 

After class on Friday, I bought the Firenze newspaper from the news-stand right outside my school on my 2 minute commute walk back to my apartment. I started reading it and although I can understand about every sixth word, it does help (not to mention, makes me feel awesome reading la Repubblica in the morning while I eat my breakfast). I have no clue what it is saying, but the more I practice, I will be able to. I'm trying to completely immerse myself into the culture here and keep updated with what is going on locally. 

For lunch after school on Friday, Cristel and I made our first Italian meal ourselves, as you can see from the picture. It was molto buona!

Friday, it rained during the morning and this morning it did as well. We got a little soaked because I forgot my umbrella in my apartment, but c'est la vie. (Italian AND French in one blog entry, si).

Friday night was our first night out with a big group and I had the most fun I have had YET. It was amazing. So much excitement and I got to speak in only Italian multiple times throughout the night. It was a blast and I'm learning so much. I love it because everyday I never know what to expect, but I'm always welcoming the adventure I'm about to encounter. 

This morning we had a 2 hour walking tour for everyone in the program, they broke us up into 8 groups, my goodness was it sensational! I learned so much about the city and about the Medici and the artists and about the wars and Ponte Vecchio.

I love it here. I wish everyone could see this city. It is the most beautiful city in the world.