Florence

Hey everyone

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. Everything on every single computer is in Italian (imagine that) and I finally clicked around enough on the website to get to write again. Florence is amazing!!! I live with 6 other people in a 4BR, 3BA apartment right in the heart of the city. The girls I live with are awesome!

On Friday we took a bus up to Tuscany and visited the towns of Siena and Volpaia. Siena was absolutely beautiful! There are tons of little villas that are exactly like what I always imagined Italy look like. Our tour guide took us to the cathedral of St. Catherine of Siena. She was the saint with the stigmatas on her hands. Inside the church they keep her head and one of her fingers but the rest of her body is all over Europe--everyone wanted a piece of her because she was so famous. We then climbed up to the top of a tower and had the most amazing view of Tuscany and all the little villas. The mountains were in the background and it was breathtaking.

We then rode about an hour north to a city of Volpaia. We took a tour and they showed us how olive oil and wine were made and we got to do an olive oil tasting. We also had a bottle of the house chianti wine and sat outside and took in the scenery. It was so much fun and soo incredibly beautiful.

On Saturday Becca, Amy, and I went out around Florence with a girl named Meg who studied here for a semester last spring. She showed us lots of good restaurants and really helped us get a sense of direction around the town. She took us to the first pharmacy ever which was really cool to see. We were all dorks about it and took a picture in front of the sign (she is starting pharmacy school at Auburn in the fall). Haha. We then took a bus about 20 minutes outside of the main city to her drawing/art professors house where he cooked us what he called a typical Italian lunch which consisted of a ton of pasta, bruchetta (I know I spelled that wrong), and vino. We talked a lot about the differences in American and Italian cultures. He was very interesting and I really, really enjoyed going out there and having such an authentic Italian experience.

On Sunday we all went to a futbol (soccer) game. We all woke up early and made omelets and tailgated before we went. It was a lot of fun but I know absolutely nothing about soccer so I people watched most of the time.

I just had my first class, Trends in Italian Cuisine and we took a tour of the local market where our teacher explained a lot of info about breads, cheeses, meats, etc. We apparently are going to be cutting the heads off of chickens and makins something with rabbit during this class. I think I might need some vino before I cut the head off of a chicken or pull meat off of a rabbit. This should be an experience! I have another class, Pairing wine with food at 1PM then an Italian class from 5-6PM.

I am going with the roommates to the French Rivera on Saturday/Sunday which should be amazing. Also, Becca, Amy, and I are going to visit Meg in Sicily for one weekend. Were going to take a 10 hour, overnight train and stay at Meg;s apartment (I cant find the apostrophe on this keyboard!!).

I hope everyone is doing well and I love and miss yall! Keep in touch and I will write again soon!

Chao Bella (Hello/Goodbye beautiful)