For the past few days...

Buona sera! It's been kind of a crazy last few days!

-Firstly, the temperature has dropped considerably. The first few days we were here it was sunny and high of about 50 deg, just a little chilly but not too bad. Perfect for walking around. As soon as I begin to start doing stuff to get my apartment and begin my actual study abroad experience, it dropped to high of 35. So that's kind of a bummer, I didn't realize Italy got quite that cold in the wintertime. My parents left today, so I'm glad they mainly had good weather for their vacation. I think they really enjoyed their visit!

-I got my apartment keys a few days ago, and I'm all moved in for the semester! My apartment is really cute (rather old but very authentic Italian) and my roommates are very nice. Being on the Oltrarno side is a nice break away from the more touristy side of Florence. It's much quieter here, and much more typical Italian countryside living.

-However, what's not been so nice is our heat. The first night there, it decided to shut off a few hours before we went to sleep. The low was 27; we had to sleep in 2 layers of everything. After orientation things and walking around all that day we hoped it would have come back on... And it did! But only for a few hours. Sometime in the night it shut off, and was equally cold as the night before. And to our surprise this morning, no hot water! We think the system used all the hot water for the radiators (the apt has small radiators in every room) and none was left for showering. Fun times. But luckily later this evening some nice gentleman came and fixed it for us, and it seems to be working now. Let's pray it stays that way! Although, apparently the hot water/ heat/ and electricity going out is a common problem in Italy. That's slightly annoying. But hey, I'm still in Italy so that makes up for it!

-Not knowing more than basic Italian (from Rosetta Stone) is also slightly problematic. I speak more French than Italian, which does me no good because even though there are cognates, they verb conjugations aren't that similar. I've been relying heavily on my talking Italian phrasebook app (this is super helpful actually, if anyone wants more information on it) and also Google translate. But I'm starting to pick up phrases here and there.

-Story about Google translate... We have this wardrobe/ bureau/ armoire in our bedroom for hanging clothes, and it has three doors. Each door had a lock and a key. So the first day I turn the one on the left, it opens. I turn the one on the right, it opens. The one in the middle... Stuck. Of course. So for days I'm trying everything to get it open, including using a knife to try to pry the bottom open. It is the only space big enough to hang clothes, so without it we can't put our hanging sweaters anywhere. Evidently it got jammed shut from the last time it was closed. Everyone takes a turn trying to get it open, even my parents. So today, while the same nice man that fixed our heater was here, I literally had to type "can you open this wardrobe? It's stuck" in english, translate it into italian, realized I couldn't say it so I handed the guy my phone to read. (super embarrassing! I wish i could have asked him like a human being, but none of us knew the vocabulary.) He was kind enough to open it for us! Praise Jesus he got it open! We finally were able to hang up our clothes, which had been sitting in a pile since we got there.

-Classes start on Monday which is really crazy! It's been sort of a big vacation. I've been here over a week and it still doesn't feel quite real. Being on this adventure still feels like I'm in a dream, a little bit. Although, the sobering reality of school is coming soon. But mine and my roommates' classes sound like they will be really fun! My classes are: Ceramics, Watercolor Painting, Italian Renaissance Architecture, and Handbag Construction. Those probably sound really easy, but our syllabi said it requires many hours of outside work, because we only meet once a week for 2.5 hours! Hopefully 3 studio classes won't kill me...

-We got our official FUA ID cards yesterday... So official! We also found this super cool market while on a break during orientation things! It's called Mercato Centrale, literally "the central market." The bottom floor is all fresh ingredients and merchants with fresh food to prepare for meals. It's huge! Butchers, cheese artisans, gardeners, winery owners, it's crazy! The top floor is all little local restaurants where you can eat good food but cheaply without paying a sitting fee. (Most restaurants charge a sitting fee, like a fee for occupying a table, because most people take 2-3 hours for a meal. Seriously.) So that was super cool! I felt accomplished that we found it. Next on my list to see soon is Santo Spirito!

-It rained today :( first rainy day here. But Florence is somehow still pretty wet and with freezing temperatures. Next rainy day we will go to a museum or something :)

-When things go wrong, I just have to remember that even if I'm outside my comfort zone, I am living out my dream of getting to study here. I'm very blessed to be here! Although, that mindset is kind of difficult when its freezing outside and inside your apartment... Lol. It will get better though! Hopefully the weather will warm up soon!

Ciao!

To the top of the Duomo!!!

Hi :)
I am so glad I am living here for 3.5 months, because otherwise I wouldn't get to see practically any of this city or do any of the cool stuff. I haven't even scratched the surface of things to see! It's crazy. I keep thinking i've heard of all the cathedrals/piazzas in the city when someone will mention yet another one I don't know. One of us will read something else to do or another food to try. Almost 4 months might not even be enough to see/ do it all!!!! But that's why this place is amazing; so much history.
-Today my family and I began with a walk to get my cell phone from one of the school offices across town (not actually very far, the city isn't very big) and then walked around to a nearby chiesa (church) called Santa Croce. It's beautiful of course!!!!! I never get tired of looking at all this Gothic and Romaneque architecture in Florence. #artnerd. Sorry, not sorry for all the pictures of all the pretty buildings and interiors of cathedrals.

-We made friends with one of our waiters the other night, and we occasionally see him when we walk past his restaurant to go somewhere. We stopped and talked to him today while walking to Santa Croce like we're old friends. He gives me tips about living in the city, and he also tells us funny stories. See how friendly people are here?!

-The street fashion here is awesome. It's chilly when the wind blows, so everyone has heavy coats on most of the time. But even so, there's every kind of coat imaginable. Printed ones, brightly colored ones, basic neutral ones, lots of puffy ones, leather, fur, etc. I saw many women with fur on today: fur vests, coats, and one lady had a full fur length coat with matching fur hat that was all black and utterly glamourous. Can I be her please? Ugh. Even the men are bundled but dress nicely in leather or wool with nice scarves.

-Designer stores are everywhere. Gucci, Prada, Michael Kors, oh my.

-We did the coolest thing today... we walked to the top of the dome! THE TOP OF THE DUOMO. Santa Maria della Fiore, that big red-domed church we went in yesterday that is in all of my pictures because I am obsessed with it, yes that one. They have a special entrance that takes you up, up, up! I was so excited! I heard some people went a few semesters ago and ever since, I've wanted to go. Well, it was 463 steps to the lookout point, which isn't the very top/spier or anything, it is a lookout point on the outer rim of the dome, giving you a GREAT panoramic view of the city. The stairs are all enclosed inside the walls of the church itself until you hit the lookout point, so luckily it wasn't too cold. Actually that pathway was the actual one built by Brunelleschi himself, it wasn't added later. All of the internal structuring is the same from his original construction, save some extra support added recently. It's an engineering marvel really. About 200 steps up, you hit the frescoes that cover the entire inner section of the dome. Looking up at it from the viewing area, you see huge angels, Jesus, God, just breathtakingly beautiful paintings right above you. Viewing this from the ground yesterday it looks small, but up there you are so close that the seated Christ the Pantocrator figure I bet is easily 20 feet tall and quite possibly more. I also took a million pictures of this on the flickr page, it's just too pretty in person. I was floored by how cool this was. Studying it in a textbook was nothing; you have to see it in person because Brunelleschi was an absolute genius (the actual designer of the dome, this blueprint of dome had never been created. His creating of this one changed the way domes were built) and Vasari was (one of the painters of the frescoes inside the dome) one of the great renaissance masters. Touched by God they were and seeing what they created in person blew my mind. After recovering from my out-of-body religious experience, we continued the climb. The staircases are narrow, but lit, and there are handrails most of the way up. Some are spiral staircases, some straight, some going at strange directions, but you eventually make your way up to the observatory level. And it was a feast for the eyes. But you are up there, let me tell you. Windy, cold, very very high up. It was a little crowded, but it was interesting the diversity of people doing this with us. I probably heard 10 different languages just up there. It was so pretty, definitely one of the coolest things I have done and seen in my 21 years. Coming back down was easier, but the climb in it's entirety it was quite the workout! Calves of steel will result if I frequent that tour. Doubt it, it's 10euros for a ticket. But I might do it once or twice more just for fun.

-We tried gelato today! OMG so good. This was our reward for all that exercise from climbing the dome steps :) I see why everyone raves about it! So tasty.

-Dinner at a pizza shop, so so tasty, and we made friends with our waiter again. He asked us where we are from, and when we replied "Texas" he got all excited and said "Texas! Ooh, my friends from New Jersey saw Beyonce there!!!" Haha, okay, super random! He was so nice though, from Romania living in florence for about 8 years. People have such interesting lives and backgrounds, very different than in the states.

-They played popular AMERICAN hip hop and rap in this pizza shop. And some dubstep. Yes, in a pizza shop. It's weird. Why do they like our music so much??? I came here expecting to hear italian artists, italian pop or rock or something, not Ariana Grande's new single that I hear everywhere in Waco lol.

-I pick up my apartment keys tomorrow! I will be officially living in Florence come tomorrow, I won't be a tourist in a hotel room any more. It was quite fun though, beautiful hotel, beautiful rooms, clean and big, they had a very very nice bar area, breakfast was always nice, and they had a very nice staff. I really enjoyed staying there, clearly. Hotel Berchielli everybody! About 10 paces from the Arno river, maybe a block to the Ponte Vecchio. Great location! Woo sales pitch :)

-Okay I'm tired now. Goodnight!

Walking around

So, an amendment to yesterday's statement of jet lag not hitting my family and I very hard... just kidding. I pass out around midnight right, then all of a sudden at 4 am I'm suddenly awake like I just drank a huge Redbull. It was super weird. I tried all my tricks, listening to music, reading, playing on instagram, pinterest, staring at the ceiling, nothing worked! And I start to walk around the room and it turns out my parents were wide awake too. Guess our bodies were confused. So know I'm super tired at 11pm, and I will go to bed very soon. I apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes.

-Today was super fun! Breakfast at our hotel was super nice, like a little breakfast buffet that you could choose your own items. Had my first Italian cappuccino, and it was pretty good! A little strong, but not nearly as bad as my dad's espresso in a demitasse... I could clean my car battery with that. So gross. If they made it any thicker, it wouldn't even be a liquid, you would be consuming a solid.

-Italians listen to american music. All of our music. Old stuff, new stuff, whatever. Most places we walked by were playing something American. My personal favorite was the new Bruno Mars single being played during breakfast. So random.

-We walked across the ponte vecchio*, looked for my apartment, looked around on that side of the bridge and stumbled upon a huge "supermercato" (supermarket) and it was insane the kinds of foods they have in there. Cooking is going to be so fun. Then we looked around for a bank, crossed back over the PV to find my school (ended up just being the administrative office, I'm not sure where my class buildings are), found the biblotheque natzionalle (national library) and it was GORGEOUS, and lots of other random little things. Florence is cute and quaint, but some streets have lots of clothing stores (we're talking designer stores here, I pass a Michael Kors store, Moshino, theres a Bottega Venneta around here, Balenciaga... yeah. insanity) and so lots of people. So it's city life and quaint european living all at the same time.

*the ponte vecchio is the oldest bridge in florence, it connects the Oltrarno side of Florence to the Arno (with the Duomo) side. They have a whole bunch of tiny little stands/ storefronts and its very touristy but very cool to see.

-We then walked to the Duomo. Aka the Santa Maria della Fiore, the Duomo or "Dome" was designed by the artist/architect/genius Brunelleschi. The dome was his own invention, never seen built before in this manner and with these materials. You are immediately dwarfed in comparison right upon walking up, and it is just the coolest thing to see ever. Up close, far away, doesn't matter it's beautiful all the time. Going inside was a treat, since I studied the inside, outside and baptistry (unfortunately closed to restoration) I was super excited. The inside is gorgeous. The inner side of the dome is entirely covered in frescoes, reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel ceilings/ altar wall (much smaller of course but same idea). #artnerd. Check out my "study abroad pictures" page to see all of this! They don't do the real thing justice but I think they turned out alright. I also got a video/audio of the bells going off at 5pm, so loud!

-We later went to Mass there, which was really cool! As non catholics we couldn't do everything, but just being inside there while someone was playing the organ was just super cool. Methodism took some rituals from Catholicism so some of the things (although entirely in Italian) were things that we say in our own worship services. It surprisingly was really cool hearing everything in Italian, its a beautiful language. We kept up in the pamphlet for most of it, Italian is fairly simple to read and to pronounce. But after the liturgy, not many things were printed... people just started saying stuff out of nowhere and we couldn't understand them, when do you stand up/ sit down/ ahhh, it was awkward. But, i caught the important words like Jesus, God, resurrection and holy spirit. All you need to know, right? :)

-Dinner at a local ristorante was tasty as usual omg.

-So many selfie sticks. I thought they were a joke, a myth, not real. Just for really shallow people who take pictures of themselves. NO. Tourists use them to take pictures of things in high/ low/awkward places, reaching around/ over crowds, getting large groups of people in photos, and for a number of other reasons. FASCINATING. Literally, they are so useful. I won't buy one, but the idea is certainly commendable.

-We talked to an Italian lady today, a proprietor of a bakery, to whom we asked what we should order from her vast number of delicious things. She very seriously used the phrase "mama mia!" in our actual conversation when trying to choose the best thing in the case because they were all "yummy yummy". Verbatim, I swear. She was kind of the cutest and it was the best moment ever.

-It was super cold today; when that wind blows right off the Arno brrrrrrr it will chill you to the bone! But as soon as you get behind a building it was quite tolerable until the sun went down. Then it was super chilly lol. Similar to San Diego weather.

That's all I can think of for now, goodnight!

Uffizi gallery

Florence is just so crazy beautiful. We have a great view out of our window of cute yellow buildings and the top of the Duomo... Not too shabby! It's really quiet in the mornings actually, we aren't close to busy streets so you can hear people below whistling tunes, and you can smell bacon cooking from nearby apartments. So adorable. Anyway, here's what we did today.

-After lots of sleep, the jet lag wasn't too bad actually! I expected to feel awful for days, but I didn't. Cool!

-We have a strange bathtub/shower combination in our hotel. I've renamed it a "bower". I call the bidet a "buttbath". No explanation needed.

-We went walking and found another adorable store for lunch, we had these yummy sandwiches. We always have to ask if the servers speak English because our Italian obviously quite awful, but we try. I say some of my order in Italian, and so do my parents. My dad got this cute little sandwich, and since he is trying to learn the language he asks "how do you say this?" And the waitress goes "umm... Mini sandwich? I don't know..." And everybody just busted up laughing including her coworkers. We were like "wow italian is so easy!" Silly. Good thing things like that are the same in both languages.

-We then walked around town, and stumbled upon the Galleria Degli Uffizi which is an incredible museum housing thousands of works from Renaissance  masters to amazing sculptures. We spent all day in there and we didn't even make it all the way around! It was crazy beautiful. 

-more pictures to come. But, it was super cool that some plaques said when the pieces were acquired... Some had been there since the 1700's!!!! I even saw some works that I had studied in school, which is always super cool. My favorite one was the Birth of Venus by Botticelli, because it was huge! I actually didn't know it was that big. It was beautiful!!! The Medici family created an amazing space to house beautiful art. They had early art from like the Duecenti period, from the Trecento, through Renaissance art, and I think the most modern one I saw was in the 1800's. There was Titian, there was Rembrant, there was Rubens, DaVinci, Michelangelo, Goya, Gentileschi,  and there was more but that's all I can remember at the moment. Anyway, it was just insane how beautiful everything was , so cool. 

-We saw a guy standing in front of a renaissance portrait of a man sketching it in a sketchbook, and he was either an art major at school, a professional artist, or just some really talented dude... Because his drawing was absolutely amazing. Everyone is talented here. Ugh so awesome. So much beauty.

-then we walked to find a place for dinner and we met this really nice waiter that spoke great english. He made jokes that were were from Texas all night, but the funny thing was he had friends that lived there. How random is that. He was very nice to us. Dinner was awesome. Dessert was tiramisu and that was tasty. I tasted my dad's espresso and it was disgusting, and I also tried Limincello, and it was also disgusting lol. Well I won't be drinking those while I'm here lol. I won't be drinking much wine either. Oh well. At least the dinner was tasty! 

-There are literally street artists and street musicians everywhere but it is super cool because they are all so talented. There was this one guy that played the guitar and he was so good! Just chillin outside, by some statues like it's casual. So cool.  

-Super fun day! I'm sure there was more stuff to talk about but I'm kind of tired and that's all I can remember. If I remember anything I'll go back and type it. 

Buonanotte!

First day in Firenze!

Hi!

I'M FINALLY IN FLORENCE!!!! Let me just say, that it feels so good actually being here after months and months of planning, stress, paperwork, freaking out, and other things. Our flight was a little stressful...

-We went from Dallas to Georgia; Georgia to Amsterdam; Amsterdam to Florence. So it was about one day completely of flying, which is weird because I have no clue what day it is. Also, what is time? I'm so confused... Lol.

-Dallas to Georgia was delayed by a few hours, so once we landed there we had to legit SPRINT all the way across the airport to make our connection to Amsterdam. We ran. Like crazy people. It was so awkward, we were those people that board the plane last and that you glare at. But, praise Jesus, we managed to get on the plane a mere 5 minutes before they were scheduled to take off! Aw yeahh. And, international flights are fun! Thank Jesus that was the only problem we had the whole time. The rest of the flights were good!

-Amsterdam is very interesting and very pretty. Lots of diverse people, all different races and ages, I also heard so many different languages. That was cool! Also, it was cold as butt there. 21 degrees upon landing :O luckily we didn't stay long. Someday I'll go back and see more than just the airport!

- Finally made it to Florence around 12pm their time. Driving is interesting over there, they drive pretty insanely. It's worse than downtown Houston, which I didn't think was actually possible. They all cut each other off, disregard the lanes and just drive around each other with very little use of the turn signal. But, nobody gets hit! It's a miracle. I don't get it. Also, people run out between cars just like it's no big deal... Except for the fact that, you know, you could die. But whatever. Our taxi driver didn't hit anybody.

-Our hotel is cute!!! We have a view of the Duomo, and about 10 paces away is the Arno river, and in sight in the Ponte Vecchio bridge. I will be crossing the Ponte Vecchio every day, because my apartment is actually on the Oltrarno side, opposite of my school. Pretty sweet. We are also near the Uffizi museum, and some other cool stuff.

-We ate lunch at this little caffe, which had great food. We all had a sort of flatbread with meat and cheese on it, which they called grilled breads. So good! Also, super random but the music in there was all hit American songs, in English, but covered by eithe an Italian lady or maybe a girl group. So funny! So Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Eurythmics, Kings of Leon and other random stuff but they slowed it down with a more jazzy/ bluesy feel to them. It was hilarious, and of course the singers had accents so it was strange hearing our music redone like that.

-I also like that Italians take their time with food. It's so tasty, you have to! We saw people chatting to their friend or significant other and just sit there for hours and talk and eat.

-People are really nice here, very kind. And most speak English which is cool. I don't know much Italian but I'll try occasionally.

-We then came back and crashed. I passed out for just hours. I've never been this tired before.

-Mom and dad when out later for sweets and came back with cannolis and doughnuts, and they were so very very very very tasty. Oh gosh. I will not get fat on this trip, I will not. I must keep reminding myself that... Lol.

-Tomorrow we shall explore! Yay! Sleepy time now, goodnight! 

Today is the Day!!!!

Hi!

I'm all set to leave THIS afternoon! I can't believe this day is finally here! After months of crazy paperwork and stressing about my student visa, everything is in place and we are good to go. My mom, dad and I leave Dallas for a few connecting flights that finally bring us into Florence on Friday morning. They are staying for a week, while I'll be a little longer, so lucky for them they didn't have to pack as much. 2 suitcases, one backpack and a purse are all that I am taking with me for 4 months... Granted my suitcases weigh a ton. Let's just hope I didn't forget anything.

I'll let y'all know when we make it! Don't forget to look at all my new pictures that I'll be posting!