Today we had a short orientation at our school, which was pretty boring, but informative, I guess. After orientation I walked around with a few friends looking for a grocery store, which we never found. After that, I went to lunch with Gabby at a cafe near the Santa Croce, where we had to meet for our walking tour at 2. We got sodas and little pizzas, which were delicious, but we were definitely touristy Americans. We weren't sure where to order or pay, and you could tell how frazzled and confused we were. After lunch, we sat on the steps of the Santa Croce with our group and took a few pictures until our guide came to take us on a historical walking tour of the historical district of Florence. We passed by the main historical sites in the city and learned a lot about the history of Florence and Italian art. We also received our free museum passes today which allow us free, unlimited access to the museums in Firenze at any time. I took a lot of pictures, which I will hopefully be able to post soon. Everything was so beautiful and interesting; it's so historical here!
After the walking tour we found out where the supermarket was and went to buy a few basic, essential things: juice and vodka... We decided to make a list of all the food that we want to share in the apartment, and the six of us are going to go out tonight to stock up on that. Most of the day so far has been spent in the apartment looking for things that we may want to do while we are here. We definitely want to go to a beach (probably the Versilia coast) and there are some trips planned by AIFS to Sienna and Rome that we may want to take. We also learned that there are many activities like a soccer game, an opera, cooking classes, concerts, and many others, that we can participate in for free through AIFS. My friend who just recently returned from Italy reccommended a nightclub called SPACE that some of us are planning on checking out tomorrow night. We got walking directions and it is only twenty minutes from our apartment, and apparently a blast!
Not many interesting details to report today as a lot of time was spent planning and relaxing, since we are all still pretty jetlagged. Gabby and I missed our alarm this morning (thanks Billy...) and got up super late because we were so exhausted! The walking tour was awesome and very informative, and the sites we saw were amazing. Our tour guide also showed us practical things, like the post office, and a huge market to shop at. I saw a lot of cool shops and kiosks, and also some very interesting food such as tripe sandwiches, which are made from the lining of a cow stomach. I also saw my first gypsy! Very creepy. The best part was the historical buildings we saw and learned about, including the Duomo, the bell tower, the baptism building, the town hall, the Santa Croce, and many others.
I'm already tired of walking and navigating, but I suppose it will get easier within the next week. I'm considering renting a bike to get places faster and more effieciently. I would rent a vespa, but the drivers here are scary! As I am writing this, my eyes are starting to droop. Mackenzie and Teagan are currently asleep on the couches in our living room. As I said, we are all exhausted. I'm off to nap (if I can sleep with all the noise from the restaurant across the street and the vespas speeding by!), then do some shopping with the roomates and hopefully find ourselves an exciting night! Grazie per leggi ;) ("Thank you for reading" ?) Ciao!
