- The toilets. OK seems weird to be mentioning the toilets right off the bat, but sometimes they are so small you feel like Buddy the Elf. In addition to the mini toilets often they don't have a toilet seat. It almost looks like someone stole the seat because it is just one porcelain piece and you would think this isn't a vital part of the toilet until you almost fall in. Then the best is when you get the toilets that have the seat that don't like to stay down ? Still confused by this concept.... Lastly in case of emergencies have your euro coin ready. Yes sometimes you have to pay for the restroom. I clearly was struggling the first time and the attendant had to tell me I was about to pay for the men's restroom. Whoops :)
- Monopoly Money- Unlike America the coins here can have a value of 1 cent to 5$ (or that's maybe only swiss francs no clue). But when you pay for a sandwich, groceries, coffee, postcard etc with coins you feel like you just won the lottery because everything seems free with these magical coins. I can get a quality sandwich with some coins where as at home I'm lucky if I get the pink gumball in the swirly gumball machines. These coins also turn up everywhere and I mean everywhere which is like striking it rich every time. Until you find 8 swiss francs and your back in the land of euros.... then your not so thankful for these coins.
- Going along the money theme I have going there is no sales tax here and no tipping. Maybe I appreciate the sales tax more then others having worked in retail for 3 years... I constantly get asked how the total jumped 90$ on peoples receipts... Well thanks and no thanks California. Here if its 49 euros its 49 euros at check out- so definitely leaves out the guess work! Then for tipping, well it doesn't exist. Occasionally if you have amazing service then it is ok- but besides that you don't have to tip. I'd be lying though if I said there is no tipping because here it goes by the undercover name as "table fee" or "service fee" this can range from 1-4 per person or table we've found at a range of restaurants. America should adopt the table fee, it really leaves out the awkward calculation of tips and wait is it 15% no maybe 20% no you double the tax conversations.
- Must love Dogs. Dogs are everywhere. When I say everywhere they can be in the cafes, the book stores, boutiques, etc. They pop up when you least expect it. I personally don't mind if there is a dog chilling next to me at a cafe, but for those non dog lovers they may think otherwise. My favorite dog experience was last Friday when we were enjoying some aperitivos and drinks and this little terrier went from table to table just staring and barking at each person, he definitely scored some food but we have no clue who's dog it was. Another thing, they don't need leashes. I love how at home you can get a fat ticket if your dog is off the leash but that is so not the case here. Having a yellow lab I actually can't comprehend how these dogs, including the many labs I have seen, are so well behaved. My dog charlie would be darting like a maniac in this city, with the amount of food stalls and birds. So props Italian's you sure do know how to train your dogs.
- Street Vendors. Well I can't say I didn't expect this one when I came to Europe. What is funny is that the items they sell vary city to city. Milan is these crappy bracelets they tie on you in record time and demand money, as well as bird feed to attract pigeons.... like no thank you. In Paris it is eiffel tour keychains 3 for a euro etc. Here in Florence it is the selfie stick. If nothing says welcome to the 21st century like a good selfie stick then I don't know what does. When you walk by any monument especially the Duomo you can't help but laugh at the immense amount of selfies being taken with these sticks. Now for the street vendors that sell leather goods, scarves and trinkets at the carts, they are sure to give you laugh. Nothing compares to walking through the San Lorenzo Leather market. It is stall after stall for what seems like forever. The comments they make in their broken English are actually hilarious. Some common ones "I love you" which means come buy a leather purse. "Hey Shakira (or insert other celeb name) "I love your voice/hair/smile" The options are endless and sometimes down right strange.
- Household chores. Well there is no dishwasher so everything is to be washed by hand and put on the drying rack. The worst is when you want to make pasta but realize you have to clean that old pasta out of the pan still on the stove. The struggle is very real. Our trash can is a midget trash can and piles up quite quickly but to take out the trash its around the corner and down the street in these communal trashcans that separate organic, glass and recyclables. Makes taking out the trash at home seem like a piece of cake. My favorite chore here is laundry.... So the drying on the drying rack isn't even half as bad as I thought but does take up a quarter of our apartment. Now for the actual wash cycle..... it has one portion where it actually feels like an earthquake and shakes the entire kitchen counter. We even had one time where we ran a load and went on the roof. Well we came back to a broken bottle of wine on the floor and some glasses. I'm really not exaggerating the shaking it causes. Now we've learned our lesson and know to put everything in the sink before hand or risk losing more wine to the floor.
- My teachers. So here all my teachers are women which I tend to usually like less but I can honestly say I have never had better, funnier more blunt teachers in my life. My food culture and society teacher, is so passionate about food and so good at cooking my jealousy is at an all time high. Then for my drawing teacher, well hi picasso she whips out an example in front of us better then anything I could make in a few hours. Then my art history and Medici class teacher, she wins in my book. She is so quirky and blunt and says whatever she wants and wears what she wants. She loves this black long john ish onesie and joked that the faculty asked her why she wore pajamas to class. My favorite comment of hers was on a field trip we had where we had to rush from one museum to the next and she said "come on students, now we rush like a Japanese tour group to the next stop" I could not stop laughing. Also she informed us yesterday that she loves being a professor but the grading on the weekends is terrible so our research paper is now a play acting out a painting..... Can I just get my four year degree here?? Then my love sex and marriage class, that teacher has a sense of humor, but then again you would have to teaching this subject. Then on the many field trips around town she knows everyone.... Not kidding and Florence really isn't that small. So I think of her as my popular teacher. Overall my teachers here get an A+++.
Well I have now been in Florence for a month and a half and I can't imagine that sad day in May when I will be boarding my flight back to the States. I must say in the beginning there were many things we all had to adjust too! I had always heard it was much different living in a European country, but I thought hey its the 21st century how different can it be, right? No wrong- there are many many cultural differences that over the course of this month we have come to discover. I decided to compile a list of some of my favorite and most quirky differences.
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The first activity of the day was our snow shoeing hike! On friday it snowed a few inches so as we made our way up the mountain everything was covered in a blanket of white! We then headed up the gondola that seemed to disappear as it went up the mountain into the morning fog- and then once we were all safely at the top we strapped into our snow shoes with the help of our instructor- Mustard. We asked him where he got the nickname and all he did was laugh, so I have a feeling its a good story. The first few steps we all looked like toddlers trying to walk for the first time but once we got the hang of it we started the hike! The hike lasted between 1-2 hours and in the middle we stopped at a small cottage for a chocolate and water break- I really like how the swiss think :) The views were amazing along the entire hike even though the cloud cover was still sorta thick. The best part of the entire hike was when we went down the mountain. Mustard was instructing us and saying you have to walk in your own path through the fresh snow or else you'll trip. Then he added its best to briskly walk/run down. The hill was quite steep so it is much easier said then done. We all were just full force running down the two mountains and somehow I managed not to trip, but Claire at the very end tripped and actually couldn't get out of the snow without some help. We were all sorta sad the hike was over because It was unlike anything we non skiers had ever done! After our hike we decided we were hungry- shocker when are we not hungry- so we headed back over to the ice rink area at the park to check out the food stalls. I had overheard a girl talking about the bratwurst she had gotten there so we all were on a mission for this delicious brat. Well that was the best 7 francs I spent on the trip because the bratwurst was delicious! It's quite a toss up between the one in Vienna and now the one in Interlaken! After we all took 100 pictures of our food we went and got a Gluhbier, which is a hot apple cider beer concoction. Regardless of what was in it, it was one yummy drink and warmed us up after our few hours in the snow! After we cleaned up we decided we would go ice skating, because why not! I can honestly say I don't remember the last time I went ice skating, it's been years- so in the beginning I was definitely that girl hugging the sides while 6 year old swiss kids zoomed past me as well as my friend Joanie who informed us she played ice hockey.... Sooner or later I got the hang of it and wasn't glued to the wall! What made this ice rink different from the US was instead of just one block for the rink it was one big one then two smaller ones that were all connected with a lazy river kind of path! there was numerous paths leading to the different spots! That night we went to Balmers Bar again, it seems to be the place to be both for the weekend visitors and the locals surprisingly! I finished off the trip the next day going down to Lake Brienz with Olivia which was SO PRETTY!!!! could of stayed forever- again I say this every time I am leaving. We then built a cute little snowman and departed from our weekend winter wonderland. Being from California I was a little apprehensive about booking a trip to the snow but I went through with it and I am so glad I did because Interlaken stole my heart. We boarded our bus thursday night and arrived at Balmers at 3 am..... Sleep so is not a thing when studying abroad I actually don't understand how I haven't fallen over from exhaustion yet. With the limited shut eye we got the night before we decided to walk into town and enjoy the falling snow. I felt like a little kid that had never seen snow! Then we went to find the castles in the nearby town Thun! We got to thun and it was so picturesque! And you could see the castle from about every angle. Shockingly all of us were hungry so that was the first order of business we had to attend too. We found this charming restaurant near the castle and the prices looked semi reasonable in Swiss terms. Well once we got the menus we quickly realized we couldn't read a single thing.... Our waitress was shocked we spoke english so we knew we had found a local non touristy place which is always reassuring but difficult at the same time! Thankfully our waitress was so helpful and actually gave us her phone to use that had an app that when you hovered over the menu its translated it on the spot! I got grandmothers soup which was very good and everyone else got the fish sticks that they said were delicious! It was definitely a great local find! Next stop was the castle. As we climbed the stairs we all realized how out of shape we are or it was just the higher altitude because we were all out of breath. We got there and were able to explore almost entirely on our own. No security guards getting mad at us if we touched or got to close to the artifacts and we even got to go up into the 4 towers! The views from up top were stunning and you could see the whole town! We then made our way back to interlaken on the scenic train ride and went to check out the ice rink! The ice rink was lined with food and drink stalls so we settled on enjoying a beer and people watching under the tents. Then Ashley and I walked over to our chocolate show at Schuh! Well I pretty much ate my weight in chocolate and got to taste 100% cocoa it was nasty btw I don't recommend it. After the show we were given a voucher for more chocolate which I happily accepted. We decided to head back to the hostel and work off our chocolate comas before heading out for dinner. For dinner Danielle, Ashley and I tracked down Hüsi Bierhaus. They have a table here with taps at it but sadly people were sitting at it. We settled for the big table which you share with other groups. We were warned the food was taking hours to get to the table but we thought we would try our luck. All of us ordered a beer except Ashley who sadly is allergic to hops and patiently waited for our meals. Well it was a max of 30 min later and our mac n cheese plates arrived. When I say it was the most delicious mac n cheese I've ever had I am not lying. It was extremely cheesy, topped with ham bits, bacon pieces and had potatoes in it. Well I embarrassingly scraped my plate clean within minutes. I am really trying to eat slower but it's a hard habit for me to break. Danielle and Ashley on the other hand had over half their bowls full.... Guess I was hungry? Then next to us was three locals who we met and they even got us some Jager shots. The thought of that made me feel like my mac might come right back up but it really wasn't as bad as I anticipated! We then went back to Balmer's to get ready to go out that night. Well as I was going downstairs to get my drink voucher, the security was on our floor because our neighbors were sorta loud. Well they took my unopened wine bottle which I sadly was promised I'd get back but I didn't. Apparently it was a new rule as of that weekend that alcohol couldn't be in the rooms.... People weren't to happy with this including the Bus2alps staff because we hadn't been warned. Regardless of my hijacked wine we went to the Balmer's club/bar and enjoyed our first full night in Interlaken!
Our day started with me attacking Carol to wake up because the day before we had been determined to go on a day trip. Well going out the night before didn't really help the cause but regardless we some how pulled it together and got to the train station. We thought we would be spontaneous and book the next train- but we realized that might not of been the best idea so we went for Pisa instead. When in Italy you need at least one or a hundred in our case, pictures with the leaning tower. So we hopped on the train and were on our way! The train ride was about 45 minutes long so not bad at all! Both of us had been told you get out of the train station and its like BAM monuments. Ok so that is so not the case. We first wandered through the street market sampling some cheese and chocolate. Then we went all the way through town, even had to ask for directions once! The town was extremely charming and so clean! Then we saw it the leaning tower- it is so much bigger then I had anticipated. The best part was how hilarious the entire situation was. Right and left tourists were trying their best at a pisa pose. We had the leaners, the kickers, the huggers, the kissers, the walking on, shoving, and even lifting. I tried to capture every person I could but I couldn't contain my laughter. Honestly watching this in action is worth the trip in itself. So we of course took our turn at the Pisa pictures and took a bajillion- the American family next to us found it quite amusing, especially when Carol decided she wanted to be kissing it. After this not so quick photo op we ventured away to find a place for lunch. We came across a cute outdoor cafe with guess what PIZZA. Just a quick shout out to Gusta Pizza in Florence, thank you for making me realize no pizza will ever compare and that I'm pretty much screwed when I get back to America. Our lunch was perfect complete with two pizzas and a cheese plate. Also the sun was out so it made it even more enjoyable considering we had been experiencing a lot of gloom back in Florence. After lunch we went back to leaning tower and went inside the Baptistry and the Cathedral. I will say the Cathedral is so worth seeing it was GORGEOUS inside! I am shocked the cathedral doesn't get more credit. The ceilings are so elaborate and there are paintings lining every space along the walls! We then decided to soak up the sun and lay on the grass. There were so many people enjoying the weather, people napping, playing soccer or simply just hanging out. I personally felt a little nauseous either from the night before or staring at something that was leaning for so long. We then decided we should make our way back to Florence because we had not informed any one of our where abouts and had no wifi all day. Well the walk back to the station took longer then we expected because Pisa has great shopping and we did a little damage- whoops! On the bright side we did end up seeing the sunset! Overall it was an amazing day in Pisa filled with sunshine and pure amusement and we finished it off with a great dinner by the central market in Florence before heading home!
Saturday morning we packed our things ate our breakfast and made our way to schonbrunn palace. This palace was the Palace of the Hapsburg's and later Maria Therese- Marie Antoinette's mother. The palace was much like the Palace of Versailles and was decorated in the typical Baroque style. It was exquisite both inside and out! We actually weren't allowed to take pictures inside so I guess you'll have to see if for yourself :) Even the gardens were breathtaking and reminded me of the gardens in versailles! It made me wish we would of had longer but we had to head back to make our short bus trip to salzburg! Conveniently the bus ride was the exact length of the movie Sound of Music so it flew by, and the views on the way were incredible! On this trip the majority was girls and by majority I mean there were 3 guys. We were joking the night before, like wow sucks for the girls stuck in the 6 person hostel room with them. Well sure enough the hostel in Salzburg Ashley and I were their roommates. It honestly wasn't as bad as we had anticipated but we did have some snorers. Roommates aside we walked over to the snowy but beautiful Maribel Garden's where some of the Sound of Music was filmed! It was so pretty and perfect! Then we went and ventured to the very picturesque love lock bridge that Salzburg has- doesn't quite live up to the Parisian one but still breathtaking! Little further down across the bridge we went to the main shopping area- it was like modern shopping in a fairytale town. It was lined with numerous delicious chocolate stores including Manner Chocolate which is a MUST HAVE while in Austria. Another peculiar thing we noticed was the abundance of lingerie stores in Salzburg, like it gave Starbucks on every corner in America a run for its money. We asked our leader and she simply said "the austrian's are very comfortable with their bodies". It made for a good laugh that's for sure. Next Stop- BEER HALL!! I had heard great things about this beer hall including beers the size of your face and delicious food from the numerous stalls. Well it not only lived up to my expectations but far exceeded them. The beer was GINORMOUS and such an interesting idea. You just grab the mug from this shelf, clean it off in the water fountain, then hand it to the men with the huge kegs and they fill it up way past the top. So your stumbling away trying to drink it down as it spews everywhere. Then for dinner I enjoyed a plate of ribs, austrian version of coleslaw, and french fries with mayonnaise. I pretty much ate and drank my weight at this beer hall. To make matters even better we went to an Irish Pub! And sure enough there was hanging on the wall Colonel Reb!!! We were all in shock so we took 100 pics. We asked the manager and he explained to me it was there far before he took over 3 years ago. It always reassuring to see the Ole Miss pride thousands of miles away :) With our full tummies we slept soundly for our tour in the morning! We woke up packed our things and put them in the luggage storage room and were off on our Sound of Music tour in the ice cold weather. We first visited the lake where in the movie they are all in the canoe and fell out, and it was just a winter wonderland- I couldn't stop staring and kicking the snow because I haven't seen snow in over 10 years! Next stop was the Schloss Hellbrunn where the famous I am 16 going on 17 song was performed! Well this is actually where the gazebo was moved to because it attracted so many people in the original location it had to be moved. Fun fact: you can no longer go into it because an 80 year old woman decided she would try and re-enact the scene and took a little tumble. Don't worry she lived but now visitors just get to see the exterior. Last stop on the tour was the Mountains and Lakes region of Salzburg. I highly recommend going here. I want to go back it was so gorgeous. It was straight out of a postcard and a picture honestly doesn't even do it justice! The town was colorful, the roofs were coated in snow, the doughnuts were delicious and the lake was so serene. I could of stayed forever! Sadly we had to head back to the hostel to make our way back to Florence. Overall it was an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back to Salzburg some day! So for those that don't know many of our trips are by bus. Yes you heard me right these amazing trips are "roadtrips". So for this trip we embarked from Santa Maria Novella train station around 9 PM. I unlike some others fell asleep after 1 movie and slept until we got there around 5:30 am. The two dramamine may or may not of helped. So after we checked into the hostel (Wombats) and had breakfast we left for our walking tour! Our walking tour was led by Carl- and he was awesome! He started the tour at St. Stephens Cathedral. He informed us that the beautiful tiled roof on the cathedral was actually tiled by 6 women, because the men refused to because they believed the roof was too steep at about an 85 degree angle- wimps. We then saw St. Peter's Church, walked through the main square, saw the Spanish Riding school and learned about the horses. Apparently they start out dark and the older ones that are used in shows are the white ones- I would of never known partially because horses freak me out so I never bother learning about them. We also saw where Mozart first performed at the age of 6..... Yeah i definitely wasn't playing elaborate masterpieces at that age. Then we saw a window display at Demel that was entirely made of chocolate! This store is famous for their Sacher Torte, but Carl claims his mother makes this cake much better :) The tour ended at the Vienna Opera house! What made this stop even better was that the hotdog stand I had been craving was right next to it. It's the Bitzinger Wurstelstand. It was absolutely amazing!!!! Everything I had expected and more! The frankfurter was stuffed in a toasted baguette with all kinds of sauces. Needless to say I have now had the best hotdog and hamburger in Europe, America has to step up their game ASAP. After our tour we stuffed our faces with some Apple strudel and chocolate crepes- yes we never stop eating. Then we decided to explore inside the Cathedral. We ended up climbing the 343 steps and the view at the top was breathtaking! Definitely worth the climb. We then headed back to the hostel to get ready for the Schnapps Tour. Personally I had no idea what Schnaps was or that it was Austrian. I sorta thought it was just flavored vodka but we got the whole lesson from the Schnapps expert and learned the history behind it which was actually fascinating and hilarious. The best was the pictures in the hallway, she jokingly pointed out Hugh Grants eyes in his picture- he enjoyed the absinthe a little too much... Then it was tasting time! They lined up shots after shots of all the flavors they make. I loved the gold tequila- shocker and it had real 24ct gold flakes in it. They had other flavors like the typical Absinthe, creamy flavored ones like chocolate banana and hazelnut, or just straight flavored vodka. I think everyone lost track of how many shots they had taken! Then later that night we wandered with a rather large group of 8..... which is always a struggle when finding a place to eat. We got turned down once and at the second they were so accommodating and moved around tables for us! We had some red wine and I had the Schnitzel with wild rice! It was delicious and a nice change from my pasta and pizza diet I have been on. Then we headed back to the hostel which had a super cool and trendy bar under it and enjoyed some more beers and headed to bed!
Our very first weekend trip! This trip was FREE! Yes free well not really because we pay tuition but still seemed like it. We left Friday morning for Lake Como. Originally we planned to stop in Parma but they were experiencing a snow storm and the power was out in the entire town... So instead we headed straight to Lake Como! We made one stop on the ride up there at the Autogrill. Well at first glance we all questioned why we were stopping at a place called autogrill, but once we walked inside we understood. It was a huge gourmet cafeteria. They had a fresh pasta bar, carving station, salad bar etc... For me I'm lucky if I get chikfila on a roadtrip. So I got the seafood medley soup and it was delicious but officially became my most expensive lunch of the trip! After a few more hours we got up to Lake Como and checked into our hotel. As we entered the room the lights wouldn't turn on and my roommate Sarah was super confused. Thankfully I remembered you have to put the key in the light switch to keep the lights on or we would of been living in the dark haha. Then our whole group met downstairs to walk to the main square. It was absolutely beautiful but almost no people were there besides us it was so odd. All of us decided to wander over to this cute lit up restaurant and the owner opened it especially for us! We all enjoyed a glass of wine and he brought us out some aperitivos that we scarfed down at an American pace. The best part was about 20 min before we were supposed to meet up with the group our school advisers waltzed on in. They jokingly asked if we had went straight there- the answer was yes so we all laughed. That night our program took us to a pizza and beer hall. Yes our school gave us beer it was awesome and what was even better was our friend Ashley is allergic to hops so that meant more beer for us :) The most interesting part was the food- we started with a delicious champagne risotto and then pizza. Oh the pizza.... Well the way they served us was just to come out with pizza upon pizza upon pizza it never ended. They were all different kinds but the waiters didn't know how to speak english so at one point I had a anchovy and cabbage pizza.... yeah never again. Let's just say we all ate our weight in pizza that night regardless how funky the flavors were. Saturday morning we headed off to Milan for a day trip! First off in the morning it was the coldest I have ever been... it was raining, windy and dreary. We started the morning with a walking tour that brought us to Sforzesco castle, a Claus Oldenburg Sculpture, Leonardo's Last Supper, The Duomo and ended in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. By this time it was warming up so we walked around town to get lunch. I had a salad out of carb guilt and vicariously ate through everyones beautiful pasta and bread meals. Afterwards we went shopping on the main shopping street, where I found my red hat. After some retail therapy it was back to the Duomo. Now I speak from experience street vendor people are EXTREMELY OBNOXIOUS. In Florence, its all about the selfie stick but they tend to back off with a simple nod. Milan you win when it comes to persistence. These men practically throw bird feed at you so you can get a picture with pigeons all over you and claim that its free. Until they attack you for a donation because "this is their job and how they make a living". Some of us fared better the others. Two of our friends had to pay 10 euros where as Danielle simply told them no and to back off and voila! FREE. So they make a living with the bird seeds, but also bracelets. I will give them credit for tying those suckers on peoples wrists so fast and then asking for money. Overall prepare to be ATTACKED in this piazza. To escape all this chaos we went inside the Milan Duomo. It was breathtaking! We even went down to the crypt and explored. After one more photo op we headed back to como! Again Saturday night we had a free organized dinner! This one was a 4 course meal that was actually delicious! We started with caprese salad with flat bread. Then a dish was a cream risotto with pesto pasta. Followed by chicken and roasted potatoes then tiramisu- holy yum. It was so much food none of us could even finish. After our delicious meal we went over to this cute little bar to get a fun drink which was so fresh I could of gotten 10. I am a morning person so when Sunday rolled around I woke up in a panic because both me and Sarah had slept through our alarms and or snoozed them. We probably got ready in about 7 min and were downstairs for checkout.... Well of course this was the one day we weren't tight on time and had plenty of time to enjoy breakfast before our boat and walking tour. Our group did the boat tour first which was such a good and informational tour with breathtaking views! We saw where the last scene in oceans 12 was filmed, as well as Forbes best hotel in the World and of course the general area where George lived. Then on foot we explored the town which was much bigger then I expected and full of people out and about! We departed Lake Como for Parma which was originally scheduled for friday. We got to this place which I had thought would be more farm like... nope it was a disco bar and cheese factory. Yes its a disco club at night- they did this because the owner needed another way to pull in business due to the long turn around time for the cheese making process. The first part was going behind the scenes and seeing how the cheese is mixed, molded and where it is stored. The storage room was what I think heaven will look like with rows upon rows of cheese. I could of stayed forever. Then came the good part.... We got to taste all the different cheeses and they had made a whole buffet of tapa like choices all with CHEESE and had wine. The 3 parmigianas we tasted were 12, 24, and 36 months aged. My favorite was the newest and oldest but I decided since I am going back for a field trip to buy some then! The cheese factory and Disco bar was quite a hit and a great end to a wonderful trip!
Monday: What people tend to overlook is the study part of study abroad. I know personally that from the get go I was more interested in the Abroad part and had too many lists detailing which weekends I would go where. So when the first glorious Monday of our school week rolled around all of us were a little apprehensive. OK well I was being dramatic. My first class of the week is Fundamental Drawing. The teacher was extremely nice and showed us some examples of what we would be doing throughout the semester which included some sketches with charcoal, pencil and pastels. Nothing too extreme. After class let out I decided to walk back to my apartment and see what my roommates were up too! We shockingly decided to go grab some coffee at our favorite cafe. With my caffeine high I decided on my own to walk to Piazza Michelangelo. This is the piazza situated up the hill on the Oltrarno side of town- word to the wise its quite a hike. I was also determined to do this whole thing with out a map who knows why. Sure enough after a few wrong turns I finally made my way to the top only a little out of breath.... but let me tell you the view is so worth it! by far exceeded my expectations and I really got to see the whole city of Florence and even the accompanying hills. While up there listening to the music two girls asked me to take a photo of them and of course I said yes! Well turns out they are in my program and now one of them Katie is my partner for two of my classes! Having found some friends we decided to stay up there until sunset and listen to the acoustic music which was actually very good! We loved hearing the singers slight italian accent when singing very common American songs. Tuesday: This day I thought would be a real challenge and came into it thinking I would drop one of the two classes I had that day... Well shocker I didn't because I absolutely fell in love with the class mainly because its centered around food. All my teacher kept talking about was the market tours, the in class tastings and the labs where we prepared entire meals- and once she mentioned truffles I was immediately sold. The next class was Art History. This class was clear across town probably a mile away from my food class but I still managed to make it with time to spare by some miracle! Now for the classroom... it is a blush pink room with violet couches and a huge sparkling chandelier in the middle. It sounds like a club or restaurant but this is actually where my class is held. Then it got better when my teacher walked in.... she was sporting the full Miley-bun hairdo and was wearing an all black onesie. She even joked how the faculty thinks she wears pajamas to teach. She was AWESOME. After class that day I met up with Carol and she came to the Oille Shop with me- so it was amazing and I now have a punch card. For those that know me well I am all about a punch card and have been known to get caramel apples for free because of them. After my panini we decided we would take on the Accademia and sure enough we found it and the David! Wed: My class this day didn't start till 3 in the afternoon. I don't think I can honestly say I have ever had a class start this late. This class I had with some friends and this class is called Love Sex and Marriage in the Italian Renaissance. The best was when my teacher asked why did you guys sign up for this class? She then proceeds to say to the 5-6 boys in the class "It's because it had the word sex in it isnt it?" So of course we burst out laughing. Lets just say the teacher teaches everything in good humor and is adorable, it definitely will be a class to remember. Thurs: Last class of the week! This class is the Medici Family a Florentine Dynasty. As we sat down awaiting our teacher guess who walks in... MIley Buns Teacher! I was actually ecstatic. The best part of the class was when she had a guy read part of the syllabus out loud. When she found out he was a communication major she responded and said "None of that was communication"- as in he had bad speaking skills. I thought it was absolutely hilarious as did most of the class and he took it like a champ. Overall it was an amazing first week of class and as you can tell very very difficult- and I can't wait to see how the classes go from here! I would describe this day as we wanted to accomplish a lot but somehow accomplished nothing in the process. The one thing we managed to accomplish all day was food. Our first stop was with Carol's friend Mimi from home- which I decided to show them the cute cafe I had found during orientation. We stayed and enjoyed our croissants for quite a while until we decided we would try and get Sarah a museum pass. Well after much confusion and numerous people thinking we were cutting the line- we found out the office was closed sundays...just our luck. Next we thought it would be a cool idea to climb the stairs up to the top of the duomo. Well we were a few minutes early so we sat on the steps and took pictures with tourists.. idk why they wanted pics with us but I kindly and awkwardly obliged. While we were busy taking selfies we were clueless to the fact that the line was growing.... whoops. So we convinced our selves we would came back with the right shoes and on a different day when in reality we just all felt too lazy. Then we window shopped till our stomachs growled and gave in and got Grom- our new favorite gelato. Sarah made the mistake of getting pistachio... it tasted so odd so word to the wise its not like the normal pistachio flavor at all. After we ate our gelato with guilt we began our trek home. When we crossed the piazza republica there was this bubble man. He was simply blowing bubbles across the sky and MAKING BANK. We joked that if we were running out funds in a few months we would become the bubble man. That night we checked out our rooftop terrace in an attempt to see the sunset... well we missed it shocker. We still managed to see the beautiful views and make plans at our cute little table for when the weather isn't quite so chilly. DAY 5: This day was Carol and Megan get lost episode one. What makes the experience even better is that Carol has a fit bit and can track our every step. Today we did a whole lot of nothing but then again did everything. We started our day by making our way to the Mercato Centrale- and I am speechless. It was like an upscale food court with everything you could ever imagine. I felt like a kid in a candy store- I wanted everything, I finally settled on a crostini salad with ricotta cheese- I thought I had died and gone to heaven... it was that good. Not only was the food impeccable but the ambiance made me feel like a local. So I will definitely be heading back many times through out the next couple of months. Next we tried to track down the Accadamia with no such luck, so instead wandered into a Vintage Store. We were so fascinated by the fur that still had the heads attached and the Store Clerk was beyond friendly. She showed and explained each of the furs and their purpose and was extremely friendly to us. The highlight of our vintage shop stop was when she and her other employee asked us if Asians were terrible at speaking english in america as well- Maybe its just me but I found this hilarious. As we headed home I was welcomed with the best gift Wifi has ever given me- I had officially made it. I was on FOOD IN THE AIR. Yes my recently created foodie instagram account (florence_foodie) made it on the famous Instagram Account FITA, I could of cried I was so excited! So to celebrate we headed to the bars and even ran in to some of our friends at the Club YAB. Holy (#&$ clubs are insane and should make their way to the south. It was exactly what I pictured, light up floors, unce unce music that everyone can either dance or sing too, and an unrivaled crowd. We completely lost track of time we were having so much fun but eventually made it back to our apartment for some shut eye. |
Megan Richter
University of Mississippi Graduate, Current Nursing student- studied abroad in Florence, Italy. I have a passion for art history, travel and most importantly food. follow my travels as I eat my way through Europe! Archives
May 2015
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