Happy Valentine's Day... italian style! 

463 steps later...

As you all know, this weekend the London girls finally arrived in Florence! We had a jam packed 2 days of guiding them around Florence, which truly felt like "our city." We brought them to all the Piazzas, the chocolate festival in Santa Croce, and the leather market. They were allowed to enter their hostel at 5pm so we parted to get ready for a new aperitivo spot for dinner. We tried out Oibo, which had a good spread of food and delicious drinks, and it is located right next to our favorite bar. After that first spot we moved along to our regular bar, Naima... where we stayed for the whole night. Our plan was to go to the club, Full Up, but everyone was exhausted since their travels started at 3:30am.

Since we aren't too big on the breakfast here in Florence, which consists mostly of cookies, and crossaints (I have cereal every day) this morning, Stacey, Caroline and I went to breakfast at The Diner, an american diner to have some eggs. amazing. Sorry I always talk about food...oops.

After a meal to gain some energy, we showed them the Duomo and then we finally completed the task of climbing up the dome part of the church. It was 463 steps up to the top, where you could walk around on the inside of the dome to see all of the artwork, and then you could go outside of the dome to see the entire city of Florence. For the cost of 8 euros, it is probably the most breathtaking scene I will ever see.

Assisi and Superbowl Monday

Ciao amici!
This past weekend our group traveled with the school to the town of Assisi, the center of Italy, and we had a great tour guide who took us to the Basilica of St. Clare, through the town center, and down to the Basilica of St. Francis. Everything in Assisi is dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi, for obvious reasons. The town completely made out of limestone, which is absolutely beautiful. The history and art in both of the churches was unreal...unfortunately you aren't allowed to take pictures inside, so I guess you'll just have to come and see for yourselves :)

Basilica of Saint Francis

On Sunday we just hung around at our homestay, I accomplished one of my essays that is due this week, and we saved our energy to make it out to watch the Superbowl at night. We went to an American Bar here in Florence, Red Garter, which was one of the bars that hosted the event. The Superbowl started at 6:30 at home, which means 12:30am here... but yes, I made it out and I stayed out til about 3... once the halftime show was over. We didn't get to see any of the Superbowl commercials since it was a live stream and not actually live TV, so if you have any youtube recommendations, let me know about that!

Other than that nothing too exciting has been happening this week, we have two essays due tomorrow..fun stuff. My best friends are visiting from their study abroad program this weekend, 3 days, which is my motivation for the week! I can't wait to show them around the beautiful city of Florence :)

PS. random note for those who plan on studying abroad here: bring a Nalgene or water bottle because they charge you for water everywhere. Even in restaurants, free tap water just doesn't happen!

"pictures can't even explain it the way I want to explain it..."

Dear friends and family who read this,
It has officially been my favorite day in Florence so far. We went on many adventures today so I forewarn you that this post will be long, but have many pictures of a day that I don't ever want to forget...so blogging here I come.
To start off the day, Julia and I both dressed in red to support our sisters of Alpha Phi back home in raising the awareness of heart disease. We miss you all so much!! Luckily, we looked cute for all the places we went and all the pictures we took all day long!

Our host mom told us all about this trattoria that her boyfriend took her to for lunch that she loved and recommended so we decided to go today, Friday, since we have no classes and could take our time. We got two courses, a pasta dish and a meat dish, all for 7 euros! It was an amazing little hole in the wall spot, off the main road, which was full of all locals. Today was one of those days where I finally just feel like an American in Italy, and no longer like a tourist.   

Our journey then continued to the Chocolate Festival in la Piazza Santa Croce, where there were stands and stands of the best chocolate makers around. There were kebabs of fruit covered with chocolate fondue, mounds of chocolate in basically any form that you could imagine. The festival goes on until February 13th, right before Valentine's Day! :) I bought a chunk of dark chocolate with hazelnuts in it to take home as a souvenir, cause who can go home empty handed from a chocolate festival...honestly. 

 

After the Chocolate Festival, a whole bunch of us from our program headed on a 15 minute walk up to the Piazza de Michaelangelo. After reaching the top, the area is truly the most beautiful view of Florence that you can possibly see. I actually feel like I could now leave this city having seen the true beauty that it holds. Gosh the realities of how fortunate we are to study abroad truly sank in today.

it's gunna be a good day...

You know one of those days that something happens and you just know its going to be a great day? Today was just one of those days, and it turned out to be a wonderful day. Well actually the morning started out rough since I got an email from my Mom, saying that the bank thought my debit card was taken... even though I told them before I left that I was going to be in Italy for three months, like I was supposed to. Guess that little tid bit of info got lost? Nice one Chase...

But then my fate turned around when I took a shower this morning. I know that sounds strange but the only thing that I can complain about here is the shower. It is either extremely hot or extremely cold and the water pressure is intense. Well on Sunday when I went to take a shower I was in the shower for about a minute and there was already a HUGE puddle outside of the shower and I realized that the shower head was broken. (It was chaos but I won't get into details.) After some translation and a little shopping, we now have a new shower head and the shower is absolutely amazing. Perfect water pressure and perfect temperature = start to the good day!

On Tuesdays I don't have class until 2:30, so I got stayed home and got my homework done...success, and then went to lunch at Trattoria Casalinga with some girls on the program. We wound up sitting with 3 italians after Ally asked him what he was eating and he gave her a fork to try it out. We practiced some of our italian, enjoyed some red wine, and I tried a new dish that they recommended, pasta with boar (surprisingly amazing)!! After my only class of the day, Julia, Taylor, and I went to Gelateria La Carraia, which just reopened today for the season. Let me just say that I have been searching for my favorite gelato place in Florence, and I am finally impressed. The gelato was absolutely amazing and the store is so cute and tidy, I will take a picture sometime soon!

Just a fun little countdown:
Day trip to Assisi: 4 days
London Girls' arrive in Florence: 10 days!
Matt arrives in Florence: 16 days!

The Secret Bakery....found.

One of my top recommendations for anyone studying abroad in Florence would be to search and find The Secret Bakery. In the list of things to do here that one of my best friends sent me after studying abroad here last semester, one of the items was find the Secret Bakery. As I have said before in one of my posts, there are no places open late at night for food here...but wait...Florence has a secret little gem. The Secret Bakery opens late at night, around 2pm, and serves delicious treats to those that can find it's location. You would never know it was an actually bakery from the looks of it outside, since there is only a sign that says "Be Quiet Please."

Of course I can't tell you how to get there, since that would ruin all the fun....but this is what you're looking for. That is all. And the product is absolutely amazing. They came to the door and just asked us what we wanted, a plain, cream or chocolate croissant. We know you can get invited in and that they have more selections, but we were a loud, big, group so we think that's why he just took our tally. After waiting only a few minutes, and paying only a Euro, we were given the most delicious, still warm, pastries that we have ever received! Good luck on the adventure!! :) 

Spring Break....BOOKED.

Today has been an amazing day in the journey of being abroad, the day that I can finally say two things: 1) Matt is officially coming to Italy, his flight is booked! and 2) We just booked our Spring Break adventure together to Amsterdam and Barcelona!! We booked everything on easyjet.com (baller website) and we will be taking a train from Florence to Rome and then flying from Rome to Amsterdam, staying there for 4 days and then heading over to Barcelona for 4 days and then flying into Milan and taking the train back to good 'ol Florence. So much to see, I am so excited to finally go to two cities that I have been dying to get to!

Last night we went out to a new bar, Naima, that Jessica (my friend from home who is here with UCONN) has always been raving about. Our group finally made it there and it was the one boy on our trip's 21st birthday, so celebrations were in order. They had great drink specials all night long, it was a fun, relaxed environment with couches and stuff to hang out on... we will definitely be returning in the near future! 

We are staying in Florence this weekend, venturing around this beautiful city (and possibly getting some assignments done for the classroom.)

Oh PS. if anyone has been to Barcelona or Amsterdam please leave me with places to see/go/go out, all that good stuff! 

Ciao amichiiii