Via Ghibelina

Ciao! I can't believe we're starting our second week of school tomorrow and have midterms on friday ALREADY. The time has been going by way too fast and I would really like if it would slow down a bit. For art history last week on wednesday we spent the day at Santa Croce which is the place where Michael Angelo's tomb lies so that was really cool to see. Thursday Mr. Dicus (my junior english teacher) was in town for the senior trip for Chaparral and I went to lunch with him and the other teachers on the trip. It was so crazy being back in Florence with him and seeing all the kids that had just graduated. That night we ran into all of them at the Old Stove and had a drink with everyone. Its official that the european night life it so different than in the U.S. The bars/clubs don't even get going until 2 a.m, it almost feels like were still on arizona time at some points. Luckily we have a nice gap in between classes which serves as a perfect nap time. Friday me and my roommate Chelsea decided we had adjust enough and it was time to stop being lazy and get some exercise in. We decided to run from the river to the top of the San Miniato al Monte which happens to have the most beautiful view of the city. So the run up the couple hundred stairs was totally worth it. Saturday morning we woke up and met for our day trip to Sienna and Chianti that was included in our trip. We had lunch in the Piazza del Campo and people watched. Afterwards we headed to the Torre del Mangia where we climbed to the top of the belle tower. 400 steps later we got to the top (seriously my butt is going to look great after all these stairs) where again saw one of the most beautiful sites ever. I'm not sure how I'm going to feel going home to the desert after being around all this green. After we got back down we all decided that we deserved a gelato after our little work out and headed back to the bus. We arrived at Dievole Winery where our wine tasting was all set up. They had different appetizers set up for us to try with each type of wine in each room we went to. It was awesome to learn about the different wines and how they took flavors when you paired them with different foods. After we got back that night all four of us girls (my roommates and I) decided to meet up with most of the guys from our program at the Lions Fountain which is an Irish pub. The hawks game was on so I was a VERY happy person. Two of the guys from my program are from Chicago to it was great watching most the game with them. We only caught the first and second periods before we took off to try a new club called SPACE. But dont worry once I got the "Hawks Win!!!" text we had a Blackhawks cheers with everyone. Thank goodness for all the boys and being our personal body guards because Italian men are fricken creepy. They all have pretty much figured out all the girls save me looks and will swoop in and pull us away if needed, which 99% of the time is. We got to go into a VIP area because the boys worked a little magic and there we could dance with all our friends and didn't have to worry about any creepers. We stayed and danced for a solid 5 hours before going home. Today we slept in and then the four of us worked on homework together. We decided we needed a little break from studying and Italian food so we walked to the little american diner that we found the other day and we had some burgers and fries. Pretty much the rest of the day laughing and being ridiculous while we did laundry and wrote our art history papers. Who knew doing homework could be so much fun? I absolutely got so lucky with the girls that I live with and how well we get along. We legitimately laughed for at least half the day which is not something I can remember doing in who knows how long. Ciao! 

The view from the bell tower 

The view on the way to the winery 

Amy, Merin, Chelsea, Erica and I 

Chelsea and I 

Erica and I 

Merin and I 

Chelsea, Alex and I 

Our friend let us borrow is scarf las night and this is how we procrastinated from doing our homework 

The Old Stove

Ciao! Yesterday was officially our first day of class. We have Italian from 9-11am and then art history in the afternoon from 2-5, although both days we've been done with art history by 3:30. Originally I was taking Italian because it was required for my program but now that I am here I am so excited to learn the language. As for art history of course it has been incredible, how could it not be while being here in Florence? On the other hand me as well as all of my class mates are pretty worried about our final at the end of the course. Only because it's pretty difficult to take notes while you're walking around the Duomo trying to avoid walking into the rude tourists that are everywhere. So that will be interesting to see how that works out. During our break yesterday about 10 of us decided to go to the grocery store to get food for lunches and some snacks. It was something you wouldn't think about but the grocery stores are completely different than the U.S. To begin with obviously everything is in Italian so that makes life a little more difficult. Also, it is frowned upon to not have your own reusable bags and if you don't then you have to pay for the plastic ones. As well as the fact that you bag your own groceries and other little things like the process of getting fresh fruit is different with scales and stickers. It was definitely an experience. For art history yesterday we went and spent the afternoon at the San Miniato al Monte, a beautiful church at the top of a hill which over looks the whole city. After class we got some dinner and FINALLY I had some gelato (I know everyone you're shocked that I was able to hold out that long but I did). After my wonderful gelato (I had strawberry and chocolate- so bomb) we went to our newly favorite spot, the old stove, which is a local bar that's about a 20 minute walk from our apartment. The bartender knows us already and everyone gets some free lemon chello when we walk in. The word spread and by 10 o'clock almost everyone from our program, including the kids from New Jersey who are in our classes, showed up and took over the bar. It was a great night and sparked some new friendships. Today we all struggled together waking up for Italian at 9 after staying out late. Luckily, on the way to class there is a great cafe that we can grab cappuccinos to go. I have a feeling we will become best friends with the cute little italian men who run the shop. We spent the afternoon at the Duomo for our art history lesson and then after about 20 of us went to a little wine bar down the street and had some appetizers and wine. (My taste buds have officially acquired the taste of red wine, Mom and Dad you should be proud) I'm officially not worried about gaining any weight from eating too much gelato because we walk absolutely everywhere with the six flights of stairs every morning for Italian. Off to go get ready to go out, Ciao!

Ciao!

Officially in Florence! Let's start at the very beginning with the flight(s) from hell. I've had my fair share of bad traveling experiences but this absolutely beat them all. It all started when my flight took off an hour and half late from Philadelphia causing me to miss my connecting flight in Germany to Florence. There, US airways forgot to re-route me and told me all the flights were booked for the day and the best they could do was standby. So I got on standby for the next flight and then Papa Thill called US air and got me on a flight that afternoon but I ended up getting on the earlier flight. So I get on the flight and everything was going just fine I was chatting with the nice South African man sitting next to me when I realized that we had started to fly in circles. Never a good sign. So then the captain comes on the overhead and announces that the weather was too bad in Florence to land and instead of taking us back to Frankfurt they were taking us to Bologna, a city an hour and a half outside Florence. From there we would have to take a bus to get to Florence. After the plane landed the lady sitting across from me overheard me talking to the South African man (who's name I dont remember) and asked if I said I was from Arizona. We talked for a while and I found out her(Carol) and her husband (Greg) were from Chandler, Az and were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. Small world. I walked with them to baggage claim where we realized that the airline had not organized any sort of transportation for us and there was a bus that went back and fourth between Florence and Bologna that we could take. Could take as in if there was room on the bus. Of course there wasn't any space left on the bus and the bus was not running on the schedule that was printed so we had no idea when the next one would go. So most the people starting getting in taxis to go to Florence. Carol and Greg said I could go with them and we could split the taxi three ways. Of course it was a 150 euro taxi ride. On top of that there is some rule where the taxi drivers from Bologna cannot drive in the city of Florence or they get fined. So he dropped us off at Carol and Greg's hotel which happend to be right outside the city. I was crossing my fingers that there was an ATM at the hotel because I only had the 50 euros on me. Of course the ATM was broken which left me without any euros and in need of taking a Florence taxi into the city. Thanks goodness that Carol and Gregg were some of the nicest people I've met and gave me my 25 euros back because they didn't want me without and money. After that I took a taxi and Caterina the lady who was supposed to get me from the airport talked to my cab driver and told him the address to my apartment. From there everything got MUCH better. I got to my apartment and two of my three roommates were there. Merin,Chelsea, and Erica are my roommates and I love all three of them. Our apartment is adorable, we have a kitchen/common room with a table and a couch and then there is one bedroom up stairs which Chelsea and Erica share then then stairs down into me and Merins room where and our bathroom as well. After everyone finally arrived (I wasn't the only one with flight delays) we decided to go out that night. In our apartment complex there is a group of girls that go to Penn State and are here studying as well. They were incredibly sweet and said they wanted to take us out. So about 8 people from our group at ASU went out with them and went to some disco techas. After we got back my friend Kyle and I decided that we wanted pizza. So the two of us went on an adventure to find a pizzeria. Thankfully Kyle was my personal body guard for the night because the italian men sure do love my blonde hair. After we got some pizza and a glass of wine we got lost for a solid hour trying to find the apartment again. Which surprisingly was really fun and we got to meet some locals that way when we were wandering around. Today we had are orientation which was pretty boring. After that Merin and I went shopping for a good 5 hours because it had been SO cold here and neither of us had a jacket besides sweatshirts or any sort of boots (its been pouring all day). But hey I love any excuse to shop. Now were getting ready to go to dinner with some girls from our program and then go meet up with the other kids who will be in our classes from New Jersey. Ciao!