My first weekend in Firenze was amazing! I am all moved into my host mom's apartment and I couldn't feel more comfortable. Her name is Teresa and is an older woman. She reminds me of my grandma, which is awesome but makes me miss her. All the same, I love where I live. It is a ten minute walk to school and I feel really safe. The actual apartment is a decent size and cute. My roommate is a girl named Anna who is really cool. We share a room and good sized bathroom. Overall, the living situation worked out well.
As I mentioned I wanted to do in my last post, this weekend was dedicated to exploring. Anna and I walked around the Duomo on Saturday and really got a feel for the place. I don't think I will ever get used to the huge dome just appearing out of nowhere. On the way there we stumbled across an awesome panini place that was cheap and so delicious. I will for sure have to go back there. we also walked in and out of the many adorable shops in the area. It was really fun! Of course it is important to not get too carried away with pictures and the sites in such a touristy area because looking distracted could mean you get pick-pocketed. I think I am so aware of this that hopefully I will always be able to keep my stuff in check.
This weekend was also dedicated to really bonding with your host family. And it just turns out that my host mom is friends with a few others in the area. So of course we all got together for three HUGE meals this weekend. It was really great! This way I get to know a few more kids in my program who live close to me. But seriously we had three course meals on Saturday for dinner, Sunday for lunch and Sunday for dinner. It was delicious but so much food! we would start with some sort of pasta, then move into a meat with a side dish, and end with dessert.
After lunch on Sunday the host moms took us all on a lovely hike. When I say "hike" I mean trek up a mountain. But it was totally worth it for the views of Firenze. They were molto bello. Especially when the sun was setting and you could easily pick out the Duomo in the distance. Of course my camera died halfway through the hike, but I will have those memories forever. But despite the gorgeous views, I must say my favorite part of the hike was talking with the host moms and listening to their conversations. They are just happy people who are always laughing and living life to the fullest. I love when they link arms with you and just start a conversation. It can be about anything. They genuinely enjoy talking to us, even though it is in broken English on their part and broken Italian on mine. The fact that we can still communicate and understand one another is very special.
But oh, right, class. After such an amazing weekend, I forgot that I came to Italy to STUDY. No but seriously, classes stared today and they were great so far. I had my Italian 102 class where the young Italian woman asked us general questions in Italian and we had little conversations. I was pleased to find i knew what she was asking, but answering was a bit more difficult. It was only the first day however. Next was my Italian Renaissance history class. I love the teacher. I think he knows a lot on the subject and it will be a really interesting class. Finally was Mediterranean City: Architecture, Ritual, Power. Again I really think I will enjoy this class. We have a ton of site visits, which means we will be walking around Florence a lot and getting to see what we are learning about. There are also a few cool trips coming up in this class. Tomorrow I will have my sculpture class!
Speaking of trips, I am going to Carrara on Friday and Ravenna on Saturday. Carrara is a white marble city where Michelangelo found the stone he carved The David in. Ravenna I have heard is beautiful and full with cathedrals. I am very excited for both. From now on I will be doing a lot of traveling on the weekends. This is awesome, but I really need to make sure I see what Firenze has to offer while I am here during the week. I am not worried, I have been meeting plenty of people who want to do the same. On the agenda is climbing the Duomo, seeing the David, going to the Uffizi, seeing the Ponte Vecchio, and other well known sites in Firenze. What an exciting city!
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