The First Week.

Wow. I've already spent one week in Florence. That's so crazy. It's been a lot of fun though. In the first weekend, we experience an open air market and grocery shopping. It's so different here than it is in the US. But I think I'm getting used to it. The open air market is so much fun. Culture shock for sure, but there is a lot of good produce and cheeses there. The grocery store is actually somewhat similar to US grocery stores, but still pretty different. You have to weigh all your own produce and print out a price tag (I haven't done it yet, but have heard about it). I haven't attempted to order meat or cheese at the deli, but I'm sure I will soon.
On Sunday, I believe it was, we took two really long walks. In the morning, we walked across the River Arno, and took a bunch of pictures. Then we just walked up this super steep (at first) and long street. It took us past the Forte di Belvedere and the Boboli Gardens. It was really pretty. On our way back we walked across the Ponte Vecchio and looked in some cool shops, but didn't buy anything... Not yet...
Then in the afternoon, we walked up to the Piazzale di Michelangelo or something like that. I was not prepared for the walk up there. Literally about 500 steps up. Ok maybe not that much, but it was crazy. But the view is so worth it. You are right over Florence and can see everything. Then we walked up to the San Miniato al Monte (a chuch), which was beautiful and we went inside and heard the monks doing their evening vespers (chanting). Really amazing. It was such an experience.
This week we've been in school and it's actually been a lot of fun. I like all of my classes for the most part. My Italian class is all in Italian. It's super intimidating but I'm hoping to be able to pick it up pretty quick. My Physical Anthropology class is super interesting and so is my World History class. The best class is my Italian culture class because we're learning all about Italy's culture, religion, history. And we get to visit so many cool places. Today we went to the Uffizi Museum. Oh my goodness, crazy. So many works of art. I was overwhelmed and I didn't even get to the other floor.
I took a cooking class last night with some other people from our group. So fun! A little intimidating because I'm not much of a cook, but it was still fun. We made pasta, stuffed chicken, and biscotti. I helped make the chicken, which was sooo good. It was stuffed with spinach, cheese, and pine nuts. Then cooked with white wine and lemon juice. The pasta was so good, and they made it from scratch. To top it all off the biscotti was divine. I have another cooking class next week, hopefully I'll learn more!
We've only gone out to a "real" sit down dinner once. But it was absolutely delicious. There's a caffe right by our apartment that I go to like every morning for a cappuccino and a panino or "una pasta" (a pastry). It's so good. I've gotten gelato twice, and it's been delicious both times. There's also a Chocolate Festival at the plaza right by our house. We've gone there a bunch. So much good chocolate! I love it!
Well I think that's it for right now. I have limited internet access at the moment so that's why I haven't updated lately. We're hopefully getting wi-fi tomorrow! So I can update more.