Firenze

As can be derived from the title of this post, I spent last weekend in Florence! It was fantastic! Like every other place in the world, I had never been there before, and Francesca described it to me as a music, which is completely true. Coming from Rome and Via Marconi, Florence was so quiet and quaint compared with the mass amounts of traffic of Rome. We took the train to Florence and then walked around before heading to dinner. Our hotel/hostile was about 2 blocks from the Duomo so we spent some time being touristy and oggling the gigantic cathedral. I had the most fantastic artichoke and truffle pasta for dinner. Just great. The best part about living in Italy is that the food is so good. At this time, Lauren Gardner came and sat with us for a little! YAYAAYAYAYYYAY She is studying in Florence so it was wonderful to finally see her face after not for an entire semester. After dinner I went back and went to bed because I was exhausted.

Saturday was a day of learning. One great thing was waking up and hearing the bells of the Duomo. It didn't wake me up but we were so close that I could see part of the top out of the window. We walked over to the Uffizi Museum. AWESOME First off you have to walk past the Medici Castle, which is right next to the Uffizi. Lauren told me that it used to be the FLorence goverment offices before it was turned into a museum. And let me tell you, it is a museum. I was only on one floor and that was quite enough for me. The hallways let alone were plenty, but of course there was all the religious paintings, some which were from churches. They start to all look the same to me after while. Though one thing that rocked my world: The Birth of Venus. Seen it all over but to actually see it in person was fantastic. I spent a good 10 minutes just looking at it. It was wonderful. In the hallways they had busts (which I think were models of the actual busts, nonetheless awesome) of all these famous Ancient Romans. ROCKEDMYWORLD. I saw the head of Cicero, Nero, Marcus Aurelius. All of them. Augustus! It was fantastic. Never been a happier camper.

 There I am in front of the Medici Castle. Happy as a clam

So after that we walked to the Academy, which is where David is housed. That was also rather awesomeeee. He is much larger then I thought, with some especially large hands and feet. I learned that he was supposed to go on top of the Duomo, but he was just too beautiful so they didn't. Also that it's David, as in David and Goliath. Surprise! The things you learn.

We were going to walk up the Duomo but we were all too tired from the days excitment. We had dinner at a place that was close to our hotel/hostile which was an authentic italian resturant that was family run. We didnt really know what was on the menu, so I ended up ordering spaghetti with a tomoato sauce. Still the best tomato sauce Ive had. Wasn't even mad I didnt know what it was called. I spent the night with Lauren and her friends in her program, 2 of which go to American! Woo AU does Italy...? Sorta.

Ponte Vecchio: Shows the escape route I'll talk about pretty well

 Sunday we were going to walk to the top of the Duomo finally but it was raining and I don't think your even allowed to since you know it's sunday... Religious happenings in the Duomo. How wild would it be to go to regular mass in the Duomo? Or the Vatican? Not real. Anyway. We walked around for a little and walked across the Ponte Vecchio, which I learned about. It was originally all meat shops so they could throw the gross bits into the Arno. It was then changed into all jewwlry shops. Also, thank you Rachel, it was the only bridge that wasn't destroyed in World War II. Lastlyyy, way back in the day, there was, and still is a long walk way between the Medici castle and their summer house (which is only 10 min from the Castle, but used to be the country) so they could escape if need be from rioting unhappy citizens. You could once walk through it, but has since been closed because they're scared its going to collapse..  There's also a ton of art in there that they couldn't fit in the Uffizi from the Medici collection. So much art!
After wards Lauren and I got lunch and then she took me to this place where you can see all of Florence! It was stunning. I was soaked to the bone and my uggs were squishing from all the water, but it was well worth it!

This is only one part of the view but it was fabulous. After our romantic moment, Lauren and I had to part ways and I was headed back the Roma. It was a great weekend and I can't wait to go back. To do next time: climb the Duomo. The rest is up for discussion. So excited.
This week starts all our real classes. I had my first Italian test on Monday. Like hello. It wasn't that bad. I had my culture class after which was cool just learning the history and we learned about the area somewhat close to our apartment and Garbatella, which was designed during Mussolini's reign and was pretty, more quaint then where I live. Today I got to sleep in and had my Rome to Baghdad class which picks up right where my Ancient Rome class last spring left off. It's great. We learned about the Roman Forum, Imperial Forums across the street, and the Circus Maximus. I feel so smart. I've been drinking in all this history. It's been wonderful. We stood for abotu 10 min at the Roman Forum. wahhhhhhh. Just great. Do you think they'll let me live down there? Kelsey (a girl in my program) didn't think it was allowed. I thought that if I informed them of my love, it might be ok. More research must be done.