Firenze: Week One.

Firenze e bella! It's such a gorgeous city. Mauri left on Monday for England. Orientation started on Tuesday, and classes began on Thursday. In addition to getting accustomed to the city, the bus system, and the Italian food-and-more-food, I've been adjusting to an all-Italian speaking host family. My host mom and her 16 year old daughter are super sweet, and very accommodating. There are some interesting European traditions that I'm still getting used to, and I may or may not have impulse-bought Pringles in an attempt to curb my homesickness for the U.S. Weird, I know. I really didn't think it would happen. But it did. So I bought Pringles, and now everything is good.

We're only allowed to speak in Italian at the dinner table, which is quite the challenge when I know a grand total of 4 verbs, and can only conjugate two of them. But it'll prove quite advantageous in the long run, especially in taking my Intensive Italian class.

Mauri and I stayed 3 days in Florence before the beginning of my semester. As you saw on my last post, we had done London, Rome, and Venice already, so by the time we reached Florence, I know that I was pretty burnt out. But, as you'll see below, it's a great city to visit! 

Here's the Ponte Vecchio. It was the only bridge in Florence that survived World War II. The river Arno runs right through Florence. 

These are the Boboli gardens. They were designed for the pleasure of the Medici princes. They're gorgeous. I can't wait to see them in the spring. As you climb the hills in the gardens, you get an incredible view both of Florence and of the Tuscan countryside. 

And this statue. 

Classes are amazing. I'm taking an Italian Intensive, Italian Opera, Western European Politics, and an art history course on the Etruscans. They're keeping me so busy, but I'm already loving it. This is our campus! NYU Florence. The grounds are GORGEOUS. 

See that hill? That lovely path that leads to the other side of campus looks MUCH easier to climb than it actually is. It's lovingly termed, "The Valley of Death." But on the upside, it's a great quad workout. 

So that's our campus. 

My favorite part of living in Italy so far is the coffee culture. Coffee is so good everywhere you go. Traditional "caffe" in Italia is what we consider a shot of espresso in the states. For the most part, Italians don't drink cappuccini past 11a.m. It's acceptable to drink a macchiato, which is "espresso" topped with foamed milk, but not a caffe latte or a cappuccino. 

Tonight I had a marocchino, which is a coffee drink that originated in Alessandria, Italy. Similar to a macchiato, it is served in a small cup and contains a shot of espresso, frothed milk, and cocoa powder. 

Thanks for reading! I'm looking forward to what this week brings, and I'll have plenty more experiences to share with you next week, as I'll be taking a day trip to Sienna this Friday. 

Ciao!♥