Not that we've gotten lost, so much as spent a lot of time wandering around Florence. And I love every second of it. Sesto is about a 30 minute bus ride from Florence, and while that is quite annoying, I've managed to get to Florence every night since Wednesday. It's like Welcome Week, Italy style. We have kind of a go-to bar now that is right by the Duomo with cheap drinks, a pretty bartender, and an amazing view. It's already been a week, and I can tell time is going to fly by.
So, an update since my last post. Thursday night we went to our first Italian club, and it was definitely an experience. We met a group of Americans who had been here since January, so we ended up chatting with them and following them to the club they were going to. It was tons of fun, but not somewhere I want to go back to. Friday we spent the day in Florence. We got food at a cafe outside of the touristy part of town, walked down to a bridge and ate alongside the river. After hanging out there for an hour or so we made our way to the Ponte Vecchio and looked around the markets. I bought two shot glasses to continue my collection (that was started in Peru), and found some other things I might buy later if my bank accounts allow for it. We came back to the Villa completely exhausted, ate a delicious meal (the food they serve us is incredible), took a power nap, and went out into Florence for another night of adventures. Not wanting to pay for a cab, we took the last bus back to Sesto.
Yesterday (Saturday) was amazing. Every Saturday there is a HUGE market in Sesto, with meat, fresh fruit, shoes, bags, clothes, and everything else you can imagine. We ate some fresh food and marveled at the super-cheap, super-cute, super-Italian shoes, and almost everyone bought a pair (Mom, I know I was saying I don't need any more shoes, but they were 5 euro. And you can borrow them :) ). After we exhausted the market (slash didn't want to risk staying longer and buying more things) we took the bus up to Florence and navigated the train station to find our way into Pisa. The tower is absolutely crazy. You see pictures and say "hey, that's funny. A tower that leans. Cool," but seeing it is completely different. It's just so bizarre. It doesn't look real at all and I couldn't stop staring. The cathedral next to it is also breathtaking, but we didn't go inside because it cost money, and that is not something any of us have in abundance. We then made our way back to Florence and ate at a really cute, really delicious restaurant off the beaten track. I got margarita pizza--my first pizza of the trip--and it was incredible. On our way back we stopped at the bridge right across from the Ponte Vecchio and went down onto this little ledge that sticks out from the bridge. Maybe not the safest thing in the world, but definitely one of the most gorgeous views. My eyes can hardly handle everything they take in here. It is all so different and so amazing. It will never, ever get old. As for last night, well, we thought it'd be fun and economical to stay out until the first bus in the morning--aka 5:45 am. Let's just say it's 4:45pm now and I'm still beat.
Today is a homework and studying-filled day. We have a paper due tomorrow and our first test on Tuesday. Over 3 chapters. Yikes. Tomorrow I'll probably go to the National Library in Florence to study, but for today it's the Villa's library, which strangely resembles the Ref Room back in Ann Arbor.
Ciao for now,
Alison
No comments:
Post a Comment