hoping the rain will go away!

Saluti!

So Alyssa came to Florence to visit on Saturday night. She flew into Pisa, and then took a train into Florence. The train station is 5 minutes from my apartment which is convenient. We just chatted and caught up on life for a while.

Sunday was fun. She and I wandered about Florence for about 2 and a half hours. We went to the Piazza della Liberta, and then walked through the eastern side of Florence which is a lot more residential. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe by the river, and then ventured to the Ponte Vecchio and through the shopping district. It was raining on and off all day.

Today I had my first class! I'm taking Classical Photography. This class is a bit out of my league as I've never taken a Film Photography class before and I've never developed pictures myself before. My professor seems really nice and helpful, although a bit eccentric. He is very flamboyant, loud and uses a lot of hand gestures, but very friendly. The darkroom facilities are really nice here and seem to be completely up to date. Class meets everyday from 9 to 11:30. After class, Alyssa and I went to lunch at a place called Pino's Sandwiches. It was a tiny little place, but it was really cheap and amazing. I can't get over how amazing the mozzarella is here. After that we went to the Duomo, and walked up one of the towers. It has 414 stairs, and it was a bit tiring during the hike up-but the view from the top was well worth it. I could see all of Florence from there.

We then went to the Leather Market in the Piazza de San Lorenzo which has all sorts of Italian goods, including cart after cart full of genuine leather goods. It was really difficult not to whip out my wallet and buy everything I liked. I resisted and didn't buy anything! I figure if I'm going to be here for a while, I will have time to look around and find the really rare and beautiful things I really like.

I'm getting a little more situated about the city now and get to all the class buildings without a map (which is a feat for me). The people on the other side of the river are really nice and helpful with tourists trying to learn Italian. I'm really hoping I can learn a few more words and have basic conversations with people, instead of constantly asking "Parla Inglese?" which means "Do you speak English?"

I had gelato at a place called La Carraia today, and it was by far the best gelato I've ever had in my life. Apparently its a well known shop in Florence and everyone thinks its amazing. I've learned that certain gelaterias that have mounds of gelato in their glass cases do not actually have good gelato. Those types of gelaterias just plop new gelato on top of the old gelato without making everything fresh everyday. I'm going to become a gelato snob soon! :-)

Tomorrow I'm going to walk the city during class to practice taking pictures, and later will go to a "Tabbachio" to get stamps to mail out some postcards! A tabbachio is a little shop that is on about every block, and has little things like stamps, a few drinks, snacks, cigarettes etc. The italian post system is apparently very inefficient, so I'll just drop the postcards in a post box instead of going to the post office. Apparently if I go to the post office, I'll be waiting in line for 2-3 hours.

I've officially signed up for the Rome trip and will be visiting on July 3rd and 4th! I'm really excited to see the Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Vatican and more. I'm also going on a day trip to Siena with Adriana (one of my roommates) next Monday. On Thursday, I'm going to Cinque Terre. Thursday is an official Florentine (not Italian) holiday. Apparently there is a festival, and fireworks over the river at night. Hopefully we'll be back from Cinque Terre to see the fireworks.

My mom, dad and brother called last night, and it was really really nice to talk to them, even if it was only for a few minutes. I'm happy I got to say Happy Father's Day to my dad! (Love you Dad!) :-)

Anyways, I think that's all for now. Alyssa is leaving Florence tomorrow! A Presto Alyssa (See you soon).

Arrivaderci!