I'm thinking this whole once-a-week blog entry thing is just not going to cut it. I keep skimming over weekday details to get to the "exciting" stuff during the weekends, but it's the simple everyday things I will forget most easily and will miss most. Living in this amazing apartment still never ceases to amaze me and whether it be random italian old folks knocking on our door and attempting to speak with us in our mangled Italian, or walking down (and up) the 100's of stairs at least 4 times a day, or stepping out onto the street and seeing cute little bundled up italian children jabbering away in this wonderful language, or walking through a booming marketplace on my way to class every morning or even looking down 24/7 to avoid stepping in dog poop. Whatever it may be, I have grown to love every single detail of it all. It is so DIFFERENT than anything I have experienced before in my life and I am definitely already changed because of this experience. It will effect me for the rest of my life and I feel my dreams will be swimming in these memories and thoughts until I can no longer dream or remember.
I have been here for almost 2 MONTHS already!!!! Can you believe it?!?! And I can so easily map out the rest of the program as well. Time, please please pleaseeee slow down! Just this once!
Anyways! This past week was a bit stressful because I had my first quiz for this next (and much, much harder) level of Italian and I had a midterm for my Renaissance class. I also had to volunteer at the Learning Center and our program attended the Opera "La Tosca". To top everything off, I was SICK!!! The weekend before in Venice was just what my immune system needed to beat me down and finally make me like the rest of the people in our program. I had avoided the sickness for so long but finally it nabbed me. I stayed strong, though, and just wouldn't let my mind think too much of it. I got plenty of sleep, studied hard, and still had fun because the coming weekend was going to bring the best surprise of all. My bestest friend Katie was going to be visiting!!!!! There was NO way I was going to be sick for that! NO. WAY.
On Thursday I rushed through my quiz (pretty hard, but I got a good grade, phew!) and bolted over to the train station. Katie was supposed to be there in about 10 minutes and I not-so-patiently waited to see her walk through the large gold doors. After about 20 minutes I started to panic slightly and I began to walk through the station in search of a girl with a bright red bag who might have gotten lost. With each step I took, my mind went crazier and crazier. "SHOOT! I should have gotten her number, what was I thinking??" "I should have brought my phone to check her flight!" "I should have remembered her exact train number!" The list went on and on. I was very worried because I had no idea where her traveling could have gone wrong. My dear friend Katie was traveling for around 18 hours just to get to me!!!! HOW KIND! But so many little places where something could have gone wrong. After another 10 minutes, I sat back down in my original seat and just waited. As I was about to give up, I saw the red bag!!!! And attached to that bag was Katie!! I ran up to her and we were so beyond thrilled to finally be with each other. In Santa Cruz we are literally with each other 24/7 so it felt so natural to be back together. The most amazing thing was that we were together in another COUNTRY. How cool!!!!
It took a good 5 minutes for us to stop jumping up and down and grabbing each other to make sure we weren't dreaming. I led her back to my apartment, over the Arno, through the narrow streets, so she could drop off her stuff. The first thing we did after that was, of course, to get some authentic italian pizza! It was a bit spicy for my liking, but right up Katie's alley. We talked with some other traveling students and it was just so nice to be together, meeting new people already, soaking in another country. After the pizza came gelato #1! We trekked over to a place called "Vivoli", which supposedly has the best gelato in all of Florence, and were very delighted with our flavors. Dangerous is the gelato.
The rest of the day was spent touring Katie around "my" city. I showed her the Duomo (her favorite because of all of the detail), the Ponte Vecchio, San Lorenzo Market, the boar you make a wish at, and pretty much just yapped away as we passed by churches and small streets and restaurants. I felt like a tour guide but I can't begin to explain how wonderful that made me feel. I knew SO much about this city I have lived in for almost two months now and realizing how much information I held in my head really made me so proud to call this place home. It was fun hearing from Katie as well about the similarities and differences within Spain. Our experiences are completely DIFFERENT (she is in a homestay, for example) but we both love them equally. I can't wait to visit her in Spain over my spring break! My roommate Anna had a few friends visiting the same night as well, so we all ended the night by going out to dinner at a local place nearby (the 4 cheese pizza I normally loved tasted overwhelmingly of blue cheese..yuck!). We had settled back in at the apartment, when Katie and I decided we needed to really top off the night with someone sweet, gelato perhaps?? We were very fortunate because my personal favorite place was still open and we were able to share a cone on the bridge, overlooking the lights reflecting off of the Arno below. It was magical.
After getting a very good nights sleep, we woke up, got ready, and headed to this huge indoor food market called "Mercato Centrale". There were rows upon rows of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, breads, olive oil, wines, meats, sweets, biscotti, you name it! We decided to get the makings for a picnic (some fruit, bread, fresh parmesan cheese, fresh salami, and a bottle of wine) and then headed over to Boboli gardens to really enjoy. The day was MAGNIFICENT!! It was so warm and sunny, the birds were chirping, and the gardens were more beautiful than ever. Katie and I found a spot settled within a field of wild flowers, overlooking the fountain of Neptune and the entire city below. We happily ate, chatted, drank wine, and enjoyed each others company. It was seriously such a wonderful, careless time that I will always remember. We got kicked out of the gardens at around 4pm, soaked up some more sun on the steps outside, and then headed back to the apartment to rest up a bit. We made dinner for ourselves that night (Ravioli, salad, and bread), and just enjoyed being with each other once again. Our original plans of heading out that night were canceled as we realized we were exhausted, AGAIN! We felt like such old ladies but sleeping was the much more appealing option at that point (we both had gotten slightly sunburnt as well which took SO much energy out of me).
It was now only Saturday as we slept in later and took our time getting ready. We walked around the city some more, visited the David statue at the Galleria di Academia, had some panini's from my favorite shop "Gusta Panini", went to the grocery store so Katie could see what they were like here, and started to get ready for our night out. My sick roommate Christine was a trooper and she joined us for the night, along with Vicky and Robin. We first went to an apperativo (you pay for a drink and get the food for free), then headed off to Santa Croce (a very local hangout) and hit up some pubs. It was really fun to show Katie the nightlife here in Florence, something that she said was much different than in her town of Cordoba. We tried many different types of fun drinks and attempted to go dancing but were overrun by 15 year olds having a family party (not really, but it seemed like it). After the little dancing it was already 1am so we decided to call it a night and trek back home. As soon as our heads hit the pillow we were out!
It was sadly Sunday now, thus Katie's last day. I was getting much too used to having her constantly by my side as it had been in Santa Cruz. Things are just so effortless with us and it's just nice to have this again, especially when so far away from home. For our last day, we went back to San Lorenzo market and got some scarves, Katie bought some souvenirs, we peeked inside the Duomo, had our last gelato together, and had Gusta Pizza one last time. It randomly started to rain for a few minutes but it luckily cleared up quickly. Phew! Just before sunset, we hiked up Michelangelo Hill and watched as the sun set behind the mountains and all of Florence was illuminated below us. Katie was extremely fascinated with the bubbles (perhaps more than the view! kidding..) and it was wonderful to be back where I had spent my very first day in Florence. I knew it so much better now and looked out with much different perspectives and thoughts. We meandered home through the streets of Florence, made ourselves some gnocchi for dinner, watched "The Help" in bed, I finished up some last minute homework, Katie packed up her stuff, and we fell asleep talking as we had done every night we were roommates.
What a WONDERFUL weekend here in Florence! I am glad it was spent staying stationary and I am even more glad I got to share my current life with someone so dear to me. I wish I could send everyone here to visit me!!! It pains me that most people won't ever truly know what I am talking about or experiencing. I know I will be coming back to this city time and time again, so maybe you'll be the next lucky one to come with! Cross your fingers.
Here's to this next week of quiz's and volunteering and discovering more about Florence!
Arrivederci!
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