Off to a DINER

So...I think the one thing I miss most about home, besides my friends and family of course, is american breakfast food. For 3 weeks now I have been craving bagels, french toast, cereal, etc. I really started realizing this when I was skyping with Jeremy and he was eating a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch cereal (my favorite!). All I get for breakfast is toast! So today, since I never have friday classes, my 3 friends and I are going to find this famous diner, "Ari's Diner." It was apparently started by people who realized that all these american students come to Florence to study and after awhile begin to crave american breakfast! Lets just say, I am SO excited.

I don't have too many plans for this weekend - I have a bunch of schoolwork to do...mostly reading. My dad is visiting next weekend so I don't want to have to worry about doing any work when he's here so I am going to try to get ahead. I was supposed to go to Pisa today with my roommate and some friends but we looked at the weather forecast and it is supposed to rain all day! So instead, my friends and I are going to the Diner and then taking advantage of the last weekend of sales in Florence!

Well, I'm off to go in search of this diner! Wish me luck!

So I've officially been here for more than a week - but it feels like I've been here for weeks! I've now had all of my classes, and still don't know what to do. I am taking Italian 4 (yikes!), Practice of Eros (which is a class all about sexuality and marriage), Classical Mythology, Antiquity to Michalangelo, and Family and Gender in the Italy. We took a diagnostic test in Italian yesterday and I had to leave half of it blank, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do there yet. I'm going to talk to my professor today about whether I should stay in it or audit a lower level. If I stay in Italian 4 I am going to drop Classical Mythology (I don't really want to take 5 classes. Antiquity to Michelangelo is an art history course - we have lectures on Tuesdays and then we go on site visits each Thursday. I am actually not a fan at all of Family and Gender, but its a sociology course, so its the only class I can't drop. The Practice of Eros class seems super interesting, so I'm really excited for it.

So, now about my host family: I love them - I have a host mom and dad, and a 10 year old sister and a 16 year old brother. They speak some English, but I'm hoping they begin speaking more Italian so I can learn more! I have met a lot of people, and am starting to settle in. The food here is delicious. My host mom makes amazing pasta, and the dad made homemade gelato the other night! They have had guests over 3 times so far - 1 was a family friend and his wife, one was the mom's sister, and the other was a colleague of the mom. We love when guests come because then we get full 3 course meals (including dessert!!). Otherwise, we normally don't get dessert, so I have been going into my secret stash of hershey kisses and famous amos chocolate chip cookies. They eat so much here - so I try to pace myself each night at dinner. However my host mom is really worried and thinks I don't eat enough since I only have one helping of each course. (When I do push myself and have 2, she usually misses it and then still worries that I'm not eating!) The other night she compared me to a little bird who only eats a little food. The worst was the first night we were here, and my host dad served us these HUGE bowls of pasta with meat sauce. I couldn't even finish all the pasta, and then he brought out the chicken and vegetables! It was crazy! Luckily now they let us serve ourselves so I don't have to leave food on my plate! I'm enjoying have delicious Italian wine every night with dinner.

Last weekend (my first weekend here), my friends and I explored on Saturday, and then on Sunday my host parents took me and my roommate to Greve of Chianti. It was absolutely freezing out, so we didn't spend as much time outside as we had hoped. Greve is located about 30 minutes outside of Florence in the mountains, and it was a gorgeous ride. It was a cute little town with one piazza, that was pretty much deserted since it was a Sunday. We went to a little restaurant and I had a salami sandwich on typical Tuscan bread. I was also forced to try chicken liver, which I took a tiny bite of and have vowed to never eat it again. But, it made my host mom happy that I tried it!

This weekend I took two day trips with school - Friday we traveled to Assisi and on Saturday we went to Ravenna. Assisi was a 2 hour bus ride from Florence, and it was absolutely gorgeous. I would move there in a heartbeat if I had the opportunity. We spent about 2 hours in the Church of St. Francis (the second picture) and then had time to walk through the town for 3 hours. I went to lunch with a few people I had just met, and we had amazing food. I had pizza, and of course we ordered wine! We then climbed to the top of this tower/fortress and we were able to experience the amazing view of Assisi and Perugia. (Yes, Perugia is where the Amanda Knox murder took place). Assisi is built on a hill, and therefore my legs have been hurting for the last 2 days from all the hiking! A few of my friends and I were craving gelato, and we stopped in every gelateria that we saw in Assisi, but each store owner told us the same thing "Troppo Fredo" - meaning too cold for gelato. That didn't stop us though - the fifth and final gelato place we stopped into had gelato, and it was perfect! After traveling to Assisi, Ravenna was a huge dissapointment. I think it was partly because it was FREEZING- about 28 degrees? And we spent the whole day walking around and standing in churches. I know what you're thinking - the churches should have been warm! Nope!! The churches were actually colder than the outside!! Ravenna is famous for its Mosaics, and I believe it was the capital of Italy at one point. (I stopped listening at some point to the tour guide because I was focusing on staying warm). I did see where Dante is buried which was pretty cool. I had another huge lunch - Ravenna is famous for its tortallini and ravioli, so I had ravioli in a butter sauce, which was probably one of the best meals I've had so far in Italy. I even splurged and had chocolate torte for dessert, which was wonderful as well. When we got back Florence my friend Rebecca and I went on the search at 9pm for dinner - which was surprisingly hard to find!! The only places open were super expensive restaurants, when all we wanted was a sandwich! We of course then got gelato after dinner! My new goal is to try every gelato place in Florence! Lets see how well that goes!

Today wasn't too exciting - I slept late (which was wonderful since I had to be up at 6:30 and 7 on Friday and Saturday). I then went to find a cafe with my friend Peter...which was just as hard today as it was last night, since everything is closed on Sundays! I then proceeded to get Gelato for the 3rd time in 3 days - good thing I've been doing a lot of walking!!!

Well, thats all for now! I miss you all! I will try to start updating this more often!

Ciao!

Pictures!

Buon Giorno! After 2 days of being here, I finally took some pictures! I'll post a few of my favorites here, but you can find all of them on my facebook. The first picture is just a street around the corner from campus. The second picture is the main building of my school! Its gorgeous. Last night we had a long meeting about the "Do's and Don'ts" of living with a host family! For example, it is taboo to walk around barefoot in the house (good thing I brought slippers!) Also, the kitchen is the mother's domain, and no one else should enter it without permission. I just found out my host family! I meet them at 3 (its 1 now), but its the family I requested! I got my roommate, but I have no idea who she is! I guess I'll be finding out soon! Tomorrow we register for classes -- and today I have to either decide whether to take Italian 4 for credit, and therefore have to get an overloaded schedule approved, or take it for no credit. Unfortunately, F&M is a pain, and we have to take 5 classes here for it to equal 4 courses back at school. I wish I could just take 4 like everyone else!! Thanks F&M! :( I am still getting used to the time difference - I actually completely avoided jet lag, its just annoying that I have to wait till 3:00pm to talk to anyone from home!

Enjoy the pictures!

Ciao!

I'm In Florence!

After a long 2 days of traveling, I am finally in Florence. I left from Newark at 5:30 on Monday, and landed in Florence at 9:30am. Unfortunately, the Alitalia airplane we were on was very very old and there was not a single tv on the plane. I of course had a minor freak out when I first got on the plane when there was a girl sitting in my seat, but it turns out she just wanted to sit with her friend because she gets major anxiety on planes. It actually ended up working out perfectly because the girl I ended up sitting next to was the one person I had been facebooking with before I left! We are now rooming together in the hotel for 2 nights with 2 other girls. There were 80 people from my program on my flight, and only 8 of them were guys! Girls definitely outnumber guys in this program. I was only able to sleep an hour on the plane because my back was hurting from the seats, but Lauren and I talked a lot and then I watched a few tv shows. When we got to Rome I met a lot more people, and even became friends with 3 out of the 8 guys! We bonded over trying to find our way through customs and to the gate which was 10 minutes away from security. I ended up sitting next to the girl who said she had anxiety on the first flight, yet she did not freak out at all. (She switched with another guy to sit next to her friend). I think she just wanted to sit with her friend, which I would have switched for too! I definitely got a little homesick on both flights, and was worried because I hadn't eaten because I wasn't hungry, but I was getting lightheaded. Luckily, thanks to my generous Mom, I now have international bbming and could let my parents and Jeremy know when I landed. It has definitely helped a lot being able to talk to them today. Other people have even benefited from my blackberry! A few of my friends emailed their parents from my email to let them know they were safe in Florence. See Mom, this all worked out! :)

Florence is gorgeous. It was very cloudy when we got here so I couldn't see well into the distance, but I could see bits of the gorgeous villas on the side of the mountains. It has been a very long day - once we got to Florence and got our luggage (None of my bags got lost!!), we only dropped our bags in a storage closet at the hotel and then went to the Villa Rosa, which is the main building on the Syracuse campus. Its pretty cool actually - the campus is gated in, and there are 3 separate buildings: the Villa Rosa, the Villino, and the Anex. Which house offices, classrooms, and the library. We also have a garden and a porch area which is nice. We spent 5 hours learning about Firenze, getting keys and museum passes, and filing for a Permission of Stay. Italy is very intense - we have to submit all of this paperwork to the police, and then we have to go to a scheduled appointment to give them passport pictures and fingerprints! And then we have to go back for a 2nd meeting! The funny thing is, this process won't be completed before we leave in April! Even though I had to pay 50 euro for a museum pass and key, I am very excited. With this museum pass, I can get into every museum in Florence for free AND can jump to the front of the lines!

Tonight my roommates and I hung out for an hour before dinner, and then I met up with one girl from F&M who is also here and ate with some of her friends. Its very overwhelming because I was just starting to get used to the 80 people from my flight, and then we have to meet 3 more flights of people plus independent travelers. I have also realized I am terrible at remembering names, but luckily so is everyone else!

Alright, thats all for tonight! I will hopefully be able to post this tomorrow (I am writing this without internet). Miss you all! xoxo

PS. I was able to get internet set up on my laptop for the SUF campus. (A lot earlier than expected!!) I still don't know if I'll have it where I live though.

T-6 and counting....

Hi Everyone! I am going to try really hard to keep this updated so you can follow my adventures through Florence & Europe. I leave in 6 days (Jan 11), and am already freaking out! There is so much left to do I can't even explain. The big test will be to see if I can fit everything in 2 suitcases and a backpack!! You probably all know that I tend to overpack, so this should be interesting. There are so many unknowns right now - I don't know where I will be living, I don't know my classes, and the biggest for me -I don't know my internet situation! I do know that I will have wireless access at the Syracuse campus so hopefully that will be okay! I will be posting some pictures here, but you can find a majority of them on my facebook. Enjoy my blog! I'll update when I get to Florence! xoxo