Back to School, Back to School...

to prove to Dad I'm not a fool. (<<Name the Adam Sandler movie, win a prize)

Classes started this week and I have to say that, having been on break for almost 2 months, it's been a little difficult getting back into it. On one hand, I only have classes 4 days a week (no class on Friday and my thursday class gets out at 8:50am!). On the other hand, 4 of my 5 classes are 2.5 hours each. ugh. Non buona.

Without a doubt, my Food and Italian Culture class will be my favorite of the semester. Italy is one of the world's most renowned nations for food and I am pumped to be taking home with me both a theoretical and practical knowledge of its cuisine. When I get home, I fully intend to intimidate you all with my ridiculous ability to cook Italian food AND explain its region of origin and historical context. Yup. Pretentious Italian food snob in the making right here.

Other than that, I'm taking Intermediate Italian, History of Catholicism in Italy (2.5 hours? really? I thought it'd be interesting but my professor has me yawning already and the workload has left me scared for my life), Journalism, and Music and Film (another interesting topic that looks like it will be made boring by a timid professor).

And I just have to share this. There is a torture museum on my way to class. I don't know what that means but it's certainly worth a visit.

The rest of my week:

-On Tuesday, I walked about 6km to and from Cascine Park. They have a market there every Tuesday morning and it's ridiculously cheap. I'm talking €5-10 (about $7-13) for a pair of knee-high leather boots. It's worth the walk and you won't find any tourists/English speaking people there.

-Thursday, I saw King David's penis. *giggle* Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures but he only lives about a 5 minute walk from my apartment so I plan to go there again soon and sneak some. All joking aside, it's amazing to see Michaelangiolo's work. There's so much detail in every part of it and knowing what he wanted it to represent, it's fabulous to see it in person.

-Today (Friday), 2 of my roommates and I participated in Gimkhana, a scavenger hunt type of event around Florence that was held by my program. The winners got free sandwich vouchers for one of the best paninotecas in Firenze (haha. hey, that's less money I have to spend!). We were the only people out of several hundred in our program that showed up. We got about halfway through the list when we decided to stop the hunt and grab an espresso. We won by default.

-We were taught some self-defense moves by Italian men in shiny booty shorts today (I didn't realize it was still 1986). Uh, have you seen me? I'm basically defenseless and I'm pretty sure my fight-or-flight response would just be to have a slap fight with him.

-There's an artisanal chocolate festival in Florence that started today. It lasts until 2/13 but we went by today and it is AMAZING. A return visit is inevitable and it is so fabulous that it deserves its own blog entry (for another time, eh?)

-And to draw the week to a close, dancing Hare Krishnas.

Buona notte a tutti!
~Britt

Bienvenuti a Firenze!

Welcome to Florence!

I have been here for less than a week and it has been fabulous so far! I give the 2 days I spent traveling 2 thumbs down and a middle finger up. Every airport experience was a bit of a fiasco. I took longer than I probably should've saying goodbye to my parents and, when I got on the train to get to terminal E (the farthest terminal from security), it got stuck TWICE . When I finally got off, I ran up the escalator and into the bathroom (because no one likes to pee in a coffin) and when I got to the gate, NO ONE WAS THERE! So, I ran as fast as my legs could take me to the nearest screens and, can you believe it? The gate changed to terminal T, the same train stop as security (where I had just come from). Bare in mind that I also had a huge bookbag and Ricky (my guitar). I wanted to board early to ensure a spot for my guitar but now I just wanted to get to the plane before it left the runway. I finally made it to my seat, completely out of breath and on the verge of tears. The combination of my nervousness regarding leaving home for 3.75 months and the stress of the situation was almost more than I could handle.

When I landed, it was 6 am in Paris but my body thought it was midnight. I found the terminal on the boards and followed the signs to G. Each line for customs was packed and when I realized I had gotten in the line for terminal E, I pushed my way through the crowd to get to G. On my way there, I was chewed out by this beastly American jerk. He said "You're going to have to hold up! You see all these people!?". To which I responded, "Dude, I'm good. Chill out." After he replied with "No, you and your big a$$ guitar are going to have to wait!", his line moved forward. I'm flattered that he took me for such an experienced traveler but, seriously, show some respect. Anyways, the Paris airport is almost impossible to navigate. It's huge and I had to leave the airport and take a shuttle to find my terminal. On the bright side, they have cute little pastry stands in their terminals. One was a teal wooden cart that sold brightly colored and multi-flavored macaroons. Now, that's the adorable side of Paris that I'd like to see more of!

The Florence airport and Charles de Gaulle in Paris are polar opposites. Florence has 3 baggage claim carousels and customs is consists of an Italian guy who merely stands at the door, glances at your luggage, and waves you on, saying, "okay." No complaints here.

We spent the first 2-3 days in the grand Hotel Baglioni (BAHL-YONEE) which was molto belissimo, to say the least.

Orientation took up the first few days and my program had some other things planned for us. A 2 hour guided tour of the city took place on cold and rainy Tuesday. And yesterday (Wednesday) we took a cooking class at a local cooking school. We cooked...

Stuffed Zucchini (Can we get these crazy awesome zucchini balls in the States?!)

Crespelle alla Florentina (crepes with riccotta/spinach and Bechamel sauce)

And, of course, tiramisu

And, these are my roommates (Kate, Ella, and Natalie)

Other than that, we've been exploring Florence and all it has to offer. And, believe me, it offers A LOT. I'm thanking God for every moment I have here. 

I have a lot to say so let's have another chat tomorrow, mmkay?

~Britt

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philppians 4:7