La mia Italia

So as of an hour ago my classes are now finished in Florence and my study abroad is over :( It has been a great 3 and 1/2 months here in this beautiful city and traveling around Europe!

It really hasn’t set in that these are the last couple hours I will spend in this apartment in the city center of Florence for how knows long! I will dearly miss my roommate and all the things we have go through together :) Especially this last week and a half…..I can’t put into words how awesome this experience has been for me!

It was a great learning experience and I cannot wait to go home a changed person and that much better of a person for doing this….its a bittersweet goodbye but it has all been worth it!

I hope to always remember this experience and all the people along the way. I have hard times and the best of times! I choose to remember the best :)

I am a Fiorentina through and through!

Alrighty so this weekend we had the full 3 days I have been talking about going to San Gimignano (a town near Florence) for pretty much the whole semester. And I finally WENT!!

First I woke up early on my friday off of school to go to the Uffizi gallery to see all the artwork I had been missing out on….and it was beautiful! I highly recommend it to anyone and I got to see works of art in person that I could only dream about :)

Then I went home and found Britt so we could catch the bus to San Gimignano…so we got some food from the market and headed for the bus station. From there we got on the bus and had to travel for an hour and a half or so.

After we got off..the first thing we did was head for the world famous championship gelato! It was really really delicious. After that we walked around for the next 3-4 hours just exploring the city….it was a cute little Italian city and I loved it!! It was one of the cutest places and it was so full of life! The whole city was surrounded by its old city walls and we walked all throughout it.

Once we had walked everywhere we could we went back to the bus stop and waited until the bus got there and we headed back to Florence. From there we took a “nap” and then went and grabbed some delicious food for dinner :)

That was my fabulous and long overdue trip to San Gimignano :)

Alright, in Italy May 1st is Independence day and everything is closed! In Florence they throw a big party starting at 6pm and ending at 6 am. In every single piazza there is either people singing, playing instruments and just doing things. Pretty much every single food store is open the WHOLE night and it is maddness!! There were soo many people on the streets that you had to physically move people to get through. But my roomie Brittany and I headed out to explore the maddness. We found some delicious looking cotton candy for her and a nice little gelato for me. We walked all around town and to all the different places…it was pure craziness! After a while it got boring so we headed home.

The next morning I woke up early to go on a VESPA TOUR!! I meet a group by the train station at 9:30 and we got in the car for a 30 -40 minute drive to the ranch near Siena. Oddly enough the other two girls that I meet were from Wisconsin and are studying at the same school as I am :) But they went horseback riding and I went to learn how to drive a vespa/moped in the Tuscan countryside! We got there and hung out for a while and then got our helmets. While waiting I meet a very nice Canadian couple going on the Vespa tour as well. They were like my adoptive parents for the day and we had a blast!

First things first, we learned how to actually drive the scooters! They had a nice little dirt circle that we went around like 20 times to practice…..it was challenging at first and I was pretty scared of crashing but driving it was a lot easier than I thought. After a bunch of laps we all got prepared to hit the road! The 4 of us got out on the road and people drive fast in the countryside so people were zooming by and we were just putting along. The view was AMAZING!! It was rolling hills filled with vines, olive trees and red, yellow and purple flowers :) I could not stop smiling while I was driving….I probably looked crazy.

Half way through we stopped for Cappucino’s and avoided a little rain. Then we got back on the open road and drove for I don’t know how long. We made a big lap around the countryside and headed back to the ranch. We meet up with the 2 americans and drank a little wine. Then we headed to a castle for some lunch :)

We started with the typical Italian antipasti and then 2 types of pasta….of course with a bottle of red wine. After a splendid lunch we went to a wine tasting (or should I say 2 tastings).

First, we went into a little cellar type area and tried 3 different red wines that tasted very good! Then all the sudden we were swept away into the oldest part of the castle where we tasted another 3 wines and some honey. It was the best and fasted wine tasting I have ever been too. We had soo many wines in a short amount of time. After all that was done we headed back to the ranch.

We dropped my canadian parents off at there car and then we headed back to Florence. The way back was filled with everyone rocking out to the car radio! It was one of the best days :)

….and I did it all by myself because no one else wanted to come. So there! :D

So my roommate Brittany and I went to a city 20 minutes or so outside of Florence on Saturday. It was 85 degrees outside and absolutely beautiful!!! So of course we had to go somewhere that would give us an excuse to wear our shorts and tank tops…and what better place than the town where you can see all of Florence in one spot :)

We woke up and were pretty leisurely about leaving and getting ready….i forget what time but maybe or 11 we headed for the train station for where we thought the bus was going to be, but turns out after 30 minutes or so of walking around we found out it was in a piazza about 10 minutes from there. So we hiked it past our apartment and found our bus and got to Fiesole around noon. Which was perfect for a little snack of fresh bread from the market…but we got their and immediately headed for the archealogical museum which held the “theater” and all the ancient ruins..

It was really cool and we probably were in the museum area for an hour or 2 looking around and snapping pictures! After that we headed out and up the hill to find a good view of Florence…which after 10 minutes or so we did! It was amazing how much you could see of the city! Literally everything you could imagine of Florence you could see in one spot…it was so amazing and the perfect day for it :)

After that we walked back down the hill and found the bus back into town….it was hot and the heat can really drain you. After meeting a VERY creepy italian man we got on the bus and went back to Florence. Once back into town we headed straight for the smoothie shop. Not much happened after that….maybe a nap and then dinner.

All in all it was a perfect day and wonderful to see other places besides the city center :)

So there are a little less than two weeks left until I leave from Florence! That is CRAZY!!! These past couple months seem to have flown by and I dont want to leave but I do at the same time.

Im going to travel for 2 weeks or so after I leave here but it’s weird that I will no longer live in Italy….which is a weird because it took me this long to get used to living here. I have a sense of belonging and being an italian now.

Sad but I am going to live it up while I can :)

So today I was thinking and in exactly one months time I will back in my house in the United States….I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. It kind of sucks but will be nice at the same time.

There is so much more I want to do while I am here but it seems like there is no time….hmm the challenges of study abroad and all the feelings that come with it lol

My goal is to remind myself what I have at every single moment in this time here and life in general….i need to appreciate and absord everything I can in 1 month!!!!!

So this past Saturday we went to Lucca which is still in the Tuscany region…..the town is the coolest because all of the city walls are still intact and they are big enough to walk on. The whole city is outlined by walls wide enough to drive a car on and one lap is 3 miles long.

The only bad thing about Lucca is that it was raining the whole entire day!! So sad but you could still tell the beauty of the city from it!

First we went on a tour and that took about 2 or 3 hours…at this point there have been soooo many tours that they all take the same amount lol but this guide was super funny and fun!

After the tour the roomies, Steffanie and I went to get a very delicious lunch. I got a four seasons pizza that was amazing! and very warming!! Soo excited for the heat that it was amazing! Then after that it was time to explore the city some more! 

The city really wasnt that big but there were so many side streets that it was crazy to find the right street….we just walked around then it was time for the bus and some olive oil tasting!!

We drove for a while and then got off the bus at a winery and olive place. We  got a mini tour of how they made the oil and then went to get some meat, bread and OLIVE OIL! It was a very tasty “meal” and we ended with sweet wine with biscotti.

We got back on the bus for the drive back to Florence and basically went to bed right when we got home! A good ending to a good day :)