What a whirlwind last 2 weeks! Being here in Florence so far has proved to be a lot different than what London was and it is going by fast! The first few days in Florence saw us staying at a hostel and getting breakfast and dinner. On the 31st, we moved into our host families. I am living with Brian and our host parents are Bruno and Christina Campus and their son Francesco. They don’t know very much English but they are so nice and do their best to communicate with us. While I am taking an Italian class, I am not nearly at a level to understand everything yet but its getting there! In their apartment, me and Brian share a room and bathroom and it’s nice to finally be able to settle in for awhile and relax. Our bathroom is a challenge though, we have to use a towel to block water from getting into the hallway! Another minor problem is the fact the mosquitoes are so bad here-we finally found a mosquito killer thing called a Vape that they use to kill them. Its helped a lot in decreasing the amount of bites I have. The food they cook for us is soooooo good—Calamari risotto, fish, pasta, veal, salad, everything is just amazingly good. One of my favorites is the tortellini we had last week in a cheese sauce, it was amazing! Overall, it has been a great experience so far living with them and I look forward to the next few weeks!
As for classes, they are going good. I have Sheets for the Table, which is with Nick Regiacorte from Knox 3 days a week and so far it is really interesting. We have been reading numerous folktales and other Italian stories to get an idea about their culture. We have Janet’s Florence Art class twice a week and have been to numerous churches so far, including the Duomo, St. Maria Novella, and Santa Croce. All are beautiful churches and anyone should visit them if they ever come here. My third class is Italian, which meets 3 days a week and is fun, but challenging. I find myself understanding the language more but not being able to speak it as well as I wish I could. Overall school is good. Since we do not have internet at our host families, I go to Linguaviva early and stay late and use the internet there. It lets me do some homework and gives me just enough time to talk to family and friends. We normally get done with class around 4 and do not eat until 8:30pm so I have plenty of time for homework before, but not after dinner!
As for the city itself, I am still adjusting to walking a half hour every morning to class but its getting better. Luckily, we have amazing weather on our side-highs in the mid 70’s-I have been wearing shorts and a t-shirt most of the week, its awesome. I hope the weather at home finally perks up by the time I get back! The prettiest view of the city thus far has been at Piazza Michelangelo, which has a magnificent view of the city and the surrounding hills. Florence from above is so pretty, but it is a little dirty when you get close. The drivers are the worst here, it is almost like pedestrians don’t exist to them!
There really isn’t anything else new with me besides wandering the city and going to school. This past weekend was Easter and the city was alive with all the tourists, many Americans surprisingly. I did not go see the cart explode at the Duomo, but I heard it was great. We had a giant Easter Lunch at our professors Sunday which was phenomenal and I still think I am full! I ended up going to a craft fair and got some nice little things for my sister and grandma and I plan on going back tomorrow as well! Other than that, Amanda and Sarah come to visit this week then they head to Roma. Coincidently, we go to Rome with our program on Saturday and will be seeing them there. After, we go to Pompeii and come back to Florence for a day of class then we have a great 5 day weekend to travel. I am looking at Pisa, Cinque Terre, Lake Como, Siena, and any other places in Italy that are close and cheap! Oh well, it is time for dinner, Ciao!
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