Buongiorno! Florence is already my favorite city I have ever been to. The first couple of days it didn't seem real that I was here...if you have ever been to epcot, that is what it felt like for me. When I first got off the plane when we landed in Rome, it hit me that we were in Italy because I had a language barrier situation. A woman guard at security started speaking Italian to me about my laptop bag and I had no idea what she was talking about. Looking back it is pretty humorous but at the time I was a nervous wreck.
After getting our connecting flight to Florence, we got taxi rides to our apartments. Our taxi driver was the craziest driver I have ever seen, swerving between mopeds and people. But then I learned that everybody drives like this in Florence and that they don't stop for pedestrians. The apartment I am staying in is huge! There are ten girls total in the apartment and every two people have their own room and bathroom. We have a common room and a kitchen. It is good to have so many girls in the apartment because you can pretty much always have somebody or a group that wants to do the same thing as you. Our apartment is in a central location so it is close to the main part of the city, and is a two minute walk from the school. It's great because I can walk outside of the apartment and grab a pastry at the bakery across the street.
The food here is delicious! I have not had one bad meal yet. The other night I ordered my first wine in a restaurant. I am not a big fan of wine but when in Florence, do as the Florentines do. We have also been to an outdoor restaurant on the piazza right near our apartment. The piazza has a carousel and at night has live music and artists. Last night we went to get gelattos which were excellent! Also I am a big fan of chocolate croissants.
Two nights ago I had my first club experience! The club was right next to the Duomo. We had a lot of fun dancing, and Italy plays a lot of American music so we knew most of the songs. When I mention the Duomo, I mean the big cathedral in the middle of Florence with the big red dome that you see in pictures. The intricacy of the building is mind-boggling as well as the size! It is by far the biggest and tallest cathedral I have ever seen.
Yesterday I walked through an outdoor market selling all types of leather items since Florence is known for its leather. They have the market set up every day. Today I went to the food market which they have in a huge building. All different vendors are selling items such as meat, breads, cheeses, fruits, and vegetables. Everything there is really cheap compared to the supermarket. I even tried ordering things in Italian! I am slowly learning the basics which has been really helpful.