T-7 Days

Today starts my week countdown of days left in Florence. Unlike the majority of the group, my countdown is a sad one. I don't want to leave Florence, my host family or my Eurocenter teachers, if only it were a real 14 week semester maybe I would be a little bit ready to go home, but next saturday will be too soon. And get this! I'm not even going home! I get to travel for a month! The rest of the students in my group have been counting down the days and couldn't be more excited to step back on American ground, but not me!

Days here are numbered, and recently we have been finding new restaurants, new places to go out, and new museums that we haven't been to and I'm afraid there just won't be enough time to see it all!

I'm going to write an entry every day for my last 7 days in Florence, hopefully they won't be filled with descriptions of how hard I studied that day, but all the fun things I did along with a little bit of studying!

First off Friday we explored and found a relatively cheap restaurant for lunch after going to the Strozzi with Veronica and Francesca for class, gonna miss those ladies. We got to eat outside under a large umbrella and I had a delicious pasta dish with a mushroom and sausage cream sauce it was amazing!


Last night I went up to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sunset then met up with the girls at a Mexican Bar Tiajuanas. Service was horrible, but the food and drink was good. Got back home around 1:00, and knowingly set my alarm for 4:40, so I could wake up to take pictures of the Sunrise. I figured it wouldn't be so bad because I don't have class on Saturday so I could go out for a couple of hours way early and then go back to bed until forever.



So I was woken up by my alarm at 4:40, but didn't end up pulling myself out of bed until 5:12. It was okay though because I was still able to get some good shots of the sunrise. There were very nice colors in the sky this morning and it was relaxing to be in town with only a few people out and about. I stayed out until a little after 6:00 then headed back to my bed to fall asleep.



I woke up around 10:00 had breakfast and then got ready to go in centro to check out the Gelato Festival and to find a restaurant that my mom wanted to look at. In Piazza del Duomo we bought our tickets, 4 euro for 5 assaggi, then roamed the tents to spend our first ticket. We ended up at a homemade popsicle stand and I got a delicious Pompelmo flavored popsicle that was perfectly refreshing for the hot day. After that Anna and Sam went off to do their architecture project and I just went wandering aimlessly around town.



I checked out the Mercato Nuovo trying to find the right sciarpe for Zizi Linda. Also trying to find little gifts for people at home. I wandered toward the Santa Croce area and toward Antico Noe where I had a delicious baguette sandwich with Artichokes, Porchetta and Brie. From there I munched on my sandwich while I walked back toward the SMN area looking for Via del Moro, where a Buon Ricordo restaurant is situated. Everywhere I walked there were jacked italians walking around with numbers on their chests, apparently there had been a road race or some sort of event going on that I missed, the city is happening this weekend, thank god it isn't raining.

I wandered around for a while trying to find the road then I finally found it. I checked out the menu then went inside to get a Carta di Visita on order from my mom. I waited awkwardly in the doorway to get someones attention because I didn't immediately notice the presence of their business cards, and finally this little old man peeked his head around the corner, pointed at me and then came over to assist me. I ask him "avete una carta di visita?" and he hobbled over to a desk and gave me a small pile of his business cards. Success!


Walking through Piazza della Signoria I spotted a bride and groom, so I did the Marisa thing and chased after and documented their walk through the piazza. Like mother like daughter :)


I then started wandering back toward the Bargello and Santa Croce to meet up with Sam and Anna and do a little work and get a drink at the Diner where there was outside seating and wi-fi. Cristi, Jackie, Hannah, Alison and Phil all ended up there as well and we spent a relaxing afternoon sipping iced tea, doing work and chatting. Around 4:30 we headed back into the heat of the Gelato festival to use another ticket, I used it at a stand with gelato from the Gelateria Triangolo delle Bermuda. I got Caffe Crunch, it was molto buono. We roamed around with our gelatos then headed back to our home to nap before dinner and going out.

Skyped with the fam. A little sad I can't be home celebrating Alex's graduation. Let's bring everyone here to Italy, then celebrate?? Seeing Nonno Saturday, he seemed very excited and got me really excited. Can't wait to sip cappuccinos on the patio and do nothing all day, make some pancakes maybe? Sounds like a great life!

For dinner Claudia left us insalata and pesce. Healthy meal, no carbs, although we did find a package of New Yorkers- American Chocoalte Chip Cookies with 37% Chocolate Chips... whatever that means, they were good.

After dinner we walked into town to go to Santa Maria Novella to meet up with some friends. There was a huge stage in the Piazza so we were hoping there would be entertainment, but nothing ever happened. We hung out there for a while chatting, then went further in town to our normal bar Naima, where we found the other half of our group, we stayed out for a while and ended up going to a discoteca for a little while then returned home.