Ok, I'm sorry for the lack of timeliness in posts, I'm the worst. So I'm gonna give you a quick run down of my life, from about a week ago.
It was a fun week, even though I've started to have to pretend to do work because midterms and term papers apparently actually exist in Florence, who knew? They pretty much suck, because no one wants to take time away from doing things around Firenze, especially because it is FINALLY getting (sort of) warm outside (meaning when you're in the sun it's great, in the shade, not so much).
On Tuesday, Miriam and I went to this really cool bead store near our school to explore a little bit, and then headed over to the Pitti Palace to go through one of the 5 million museums housed there (ok, it's more like 8 or something like that, but whatever). Miriam and I just went through the basic art collection, which is cool because it's set up in the rooms where the Medicis used to live in the palace, so it was kind of a double tour. There was A LOT of art in there, seriously there were maybe two blank spots on the wall. My favorite room documented the life of Hercules, which is way more graphic than Disney makes it seem. That night, I had dinner with Jess and we got super yummy gelato afterwards!
Wednesday was fun! Joanna, Beth, and I changed it up and got lunch at a place other than GustaPanini, and it was yummmmmmy...great bread, tomato, mozzarella, and lots of oregano...mmm! Miriam's parents were here for the week, so they took a bunch of us to La Giostra for dinner (thanks again!!). I cannot even begin to describe how delicious the food is here. Everything is so fresh and so yummy, and it is probably one of the best places to eat here. I got ravioli with zucchini blossoms and it was delicious. The guy who owns the place has silver bracelets on both arms up to his elbows (how do you sleep like that? It can't be comfortable) and 4 giant rings on each hand. He's so hippy dippy, which is funny because of the reputation of the restaurant. Anyway, he was great because Negrin's boss knows him, and made sure we had a great meal. Afterwards, Miriam, Negrin, Jordan, and I went to Joshua Tree and hung out for the night! Paulo, the manager, tried to get me to sign up to DJ one night. I told him he was crazy.
Thursday, I went to the Uffizi with my friend (and future roommate!) Ali. The building itself was gorgeous, and obviously, so was the artwork. It was really cool to see the Birth of Venus and Primavera up close, both paintings are STUNNING. After, Ali and I had fun in the gift shop and read children's books about art. They are surprisingly informative. Brought me back to art appreciation class from elementary school...look how far I've come. Thursday night was another delicious dinner with Miriam's parents, this time at Il Gato, which has the most heavenly balsamic vinegar ever (thanks!) I got yummy spaghetti with pesto sauce, tomatoes, and tons of parmesan, YUM.
Friday, my friend Emily and I went to the central market, which is really cool!!! There is so much fresh food there, it was hard to pick what to eat! We got some yummy sandwiches and then went shopping for a little bit. That night, the two of us went to services at the Florence Synagogue, which is stare-with-your-mouth-open-for-too-long beautiful. Seriously, services weren't that great, but the setting made up for it. The women's section wasn't so excluded, but it was weird to hear a Kabbalat Shabbat service with pretty much no singing. I don't know if it's something I'll do all the time, but it was really cool to see the building. After, we ate at Chabad, and it was so nice to have CHALLAH!!! We met these people from Teaneck (obviously) and ran in to my camp friend because otherwise it simply would not be a Jewish function. Emily and I had a sleepover at her place that night because my apartment was empty and I didn't want to sleep alone and I had to be at the train station bright and early the next morning.
Saturday was great, although not quite as planned. I was supposed to go to Venice for Carnivale with my friends Sarah, Melissa, and Marissa, but for some reason we didn't think that the rest of the world would want to do this and the train was sold out. Probably, one of my dumber moments here. So, instead we went to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. Not quite Carnivale, but still fun. It only took us an hour to get there by train, and then we stopped for lunch (complete with a crepe!) before heading over to the Tower. Pisa is cute, but the tower is pretty much the only thing to do in Pisa. The Tower was SO COOL!! IT ACTUALLY LEANS!! Which sounds stupid, but after seeing pictures your whole life, when you get there it's cool to see that it really does exist and isn't some photography trick. The Tower is really pretty and we were lucky to be there on a beautiful day to take the obligatory pushing/kicking/leaning on the Tower pictures. It was great. We snapped a few pictures and then headed back to the train, because there really is nothing else to do there. We could've climbed the tower, but it was 15 euro, and Pisa doesn't have much of a view, plus it looked a little creepy. That night it was Beth's 21st birthday, and even though those don't matter here, they're still fun to celebrate!
Sunday it was BEAUTIFUL out, so I just spent a lot of time walking around. I walked up to this park on the outskirts of the city center and found a cool market. I got some sort of spicy cheese and it was delicious. They had all kinds of stuff there, including vintage bags, so good thing I didn't have a lot of cash on me. Miriam and I ordered in that night (I think we found one of five places in Florence that does it, plus it takes our meal tickets, win!). Buuuut, the food wasn't that great, but we stayed in our sweats, which is really all that matters.
More updates soon...plus my family gets here today, yay!!!!
Ciao, belli!!!
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