Hey! Blogging is sometimes a pain in my butt, but I know I have to catch up now or I never will. I have done a lot over the past week.
- Climbed the dome of the Duomo. BEAUTIFUL view, best view of Florence by far. Took a lot of pictures which will be posted soon. It was about 500 very claustrophobic steps to get up there but it was worth it for an amazing experience.
- Went to another cooking class where we made crepes filled with eggplant stuffing and served with a white and red sauce, homeade gnocchi with tomato pesto, and a chocolate souffle cake. Fun and delicious!
- Visited San Marco church with my art history class. We do many church and museum visits but this church was one of the nicest looking that I have seen.
- Went to Montalcino for the weekend to visit someone that my mom met when she was in Italy a few months ago. Crazy experience. She lives with her boyfriend in the deep countryside with one neighbor about a mile away. Her house is a tiny stone building, but extremely cozy on the inside, and with the most beautiful view of rolling hills and fields. She lives on a vineyard and works as a winemaker, so we visited her hotel and restaurant where we tried her wine and had a good dinner. They spoke some English but most of the weekend she and her boyfriend spoke in Italian to each other and their friends so it was odd not being around anyone who was speaking our language. My roomate, Mackenzie, and I tried to follow the conversations but for the most part we had no idea what was going on. We had a very relazing weekend though, as on Sunday we had the house to ourselves so we sat in front of the woodstove drinking tea and getting some schoolwork done. They had four cats and three dogs that would come and go around the house, so we enjoyed having contact with pets again, and laughed every time we tried to talk to them in English and realized they did not understand any of our commands or sweet talk.
- Had a very Italian experience at a shop just around the corner from our apartment. We found a place where they sell wine on tap and all you do is bring back the bottle and they fill it for 2 or 3 euros. You can get the same wine that would be about 10 euros a bottle with the label but much cheaper. They also sell handmade pasta and sauces there, and delicious olive oil which we got to taste on bread with salt. The super Italian part was the old couple that owned the shop: an Italian man that spoke no English, and a tiny woman who spoke just enough English to tell us her life story as fast as she could. It was hilarious to see them interacting with their family and the woman loved having us there and wanted us to try everything. She insisted that we take flyers and "go to school and tell to all your American friends!"
- We also had to go back to the immigration office because we were supposed to recieve the cards that we applied for last time we went, which basically say that we are in the country legally. However, after waiting 45 minutes after our appointment time, they informed us that the cards weren't ready yet and we would have to come back in another week or two. Glorious. That's just a little taste into how Italy's legal system works.
- One of the women in the Oregon group here was assaulted by a psychotic woman in the street. We are friends with the woman from Oregon, who is older than us but really awesome, and Mackenzie and I saw her walking home from the incident and she spilled the entire story to us. Basically this crazy woman in the street was just walking up and beating random woman, and our friend was pinned up against the wall by her throat. She had to wait for the police to get there and give a statement, but once the officer told her he was going to call in someone else because there was nothing he could do, she left frustrated and still shaken up by the attack. We bought her a bottle of wine and did our best to console her, but that's a really scary experience. Makes everything seem less safe and the city doesn't really feel like home anymore.
I have been sick for about three weeks now and it is definitely taking its toll. It is exhausting to say the least, but I am trying not to let it stop me from doing anything interesting. I did miss out on an olive tasting because I was just too tired to go, but there will be other opportunities. It sucks not having a shower because a hot shower always makes you feel much better when sick, but I took a bath last night and that was pretty relaxing. Although I know saying goodbye to Italy will be hard, I am now ready to go home. Our apartment is falling apart, my roomates are messy and lazy, and it's all just getting a little too stressful to live here. I know we are in the homestretch, but I find myself hoping that it will fly by. I can not wait to see my family and friends again. 34 days until we step foot on the airplane!
Ciao
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