Monday, May 16, 2011

First Full Day in Florence


May 16, 2011,

Ok I woke up in Florence, Italy. Enough said.
I got up around 7am and washed some of the dishes so that they were ready to use. I had a kiwi, Greek yogurt, and cold green tea for breakfast. Cold tea because I could not figure out how to work the stove. I think you have to light it yourself with a match. Lauren has class in the mornings but the rest of us got ready and went down to the student cellphone shop to get our global phones. To call me from the US, it is 39 366 679 1294. Exactly that. When Lauren got back from class we grabbed lunch at a cafe down the street from our apartment. After that I grabbed my map and found my class. I have class in one of the farther Palazzi buildings. It is a 15-minute walk from my apartment. One of the things I was most curious about before I left was what the streets were going to look like as I walked through them, along with all the things I would pass and people I would see. The Italian guys pretty much wear jeans and T-shirts. The girls wear jeans or leggings with leather boots, leather jackets, and fancy scarves. This is cold to them. It has been in the 70s since I’ve been here the past 24 hours (In July it gets very hot). I wore a knee-length skirt, thin T-shirt and sandals.  My first class is in a building that is actually right next to the Duomo, the most massive cathedral in Florence.



The bell tower part of it.
My class is pretty cool. It is Nutrition in the Sport Industry for the first 3 weeks.

My classroom is through the door on the right.

This is like an outdoor area on the second level of the building, which is the level that the classes are on. In Italy, there is no pattern to the layout of the buildings AT ALL. You never know when you will find a window that opens to another room inside the building, a random staircase or garden. It's kind of magical!
The area of this building is part of the Palazzi program. There's also a computer lab and lounge area. Including a lecture hall with nothing but couches! I thought I took a picture of that, too. I'll have to get one soon.
This is the door to the building of my first class. If you turn to the right, the Duomo is right there.

There are about 10 other Palazzi students in my class. We are all from different American universities. I mostly talk to Gina, Ashley, Andrew and Ethan. Class is from 3-5:30 (M thru F). After that I traveled over to Ganzo, the restaurant that the school gives us vouchers for. It’s such a cute place!





And there is free wifi at the cafe. Our CMU group totally adopted Natalie who is from Indiana and Marco who is from New York. They are great additions! In the evening, the 8 of us walked around the city until we found a great pizza restaurant outdoors in one of the big, open plazas. We all sat around eating and having a good a time getting to know each other until it got dark. It was lovely sitting in that plaza with all those sculptures and the sun going down. After that, we walked around for hours and bought some gelato. Gelato is really good Italian ice cream that you will become infatuated with! The 8 of us went back to my apartment and hung out on the balcony. 


It was SUCH a great night!
Here's a bunch of photos from the day:




The gang. Lauren is taking the picture and I think I was hopping off the moped.





The following pictures are all the same plaza we ate dinner in.


A couple times a week they had live orchestra concerts on that stage. Oh Italy!






Matt, Alex, Natalie, and Katie.
  


Alex and I.

Checking out the city.


Natalie and I.


The church that is basically our backyard called Santa Croce--where inside lies the graves of Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo and Dante!

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