This title is appropriate because it truly is a beautiful day here in Firenze! I just got out of Day 3 of Italian class. It's a bit tough at times, but I am enjoying myself.
Yesterday we went to Pisa. We left here around 2 PM and arrived in the quaint little town slightly after 4 PM. We had two hours to walk around and then we departed. You may be thinking,"ONLY TWO HOURS?" But believe me, that is all you need in Pisa. We were given a tour of the Piazza dei Miracoli, also called the Piazza del Duomo, meaning cathedral. That is because there is a cathedral in the center of the piazza. It is quite pretty standing there, even in the pouring rain we endured for the entirety of our visit. The main doors are enormous and covered with carvings depicting different stories of the Assumption of Mary (I took a moment to make a silent shout-out to all my Assumption bests). From the cathedral you can also see the Baptistery, standing tall with a statue of St. John the Baptist at its peak.
Then...drumroll...the leaning tower, which was originally built as a bell tower for the cathedral. I laugh out loud when I say this because due to poor construction and location, resulting obviously in the tower's lack of ability to stand straight, a project taking nearly 200 years, the bells of the tower have actually never been rung as they were intended. It's a sad sad story. But the bright side is, I was able to take the ultimate tourist picture (soon to be seen on facebook)!
After our quaint tour, we went to the fanciest looking McDonald's I have ever seen. Everyone was ordering food, claiming that the European quality was superior (secondo me (according to me), "superior McDonald's quality" is an oxymoron). I decided to wait for our usual three-course, delicious, and most importantly, free meal at the hotel.
After dinner, I walked my roommate, who now has tonsilitis, to the gelateria to help her sore throat. Did I mention my roommate has tonsilitis? And by roommate, I mean the person who sleeps literally one foot from my own bed? Yeah, fun, I know. Last night, we slept with the window open, and I was sure to "steal" as many oranges as I could manage from the dessert tray last night. Vitamin C overload. I am determined to not have need for Italian medicine.
Today is actually a pretty chill day. Nothing is planned with the exception of academic advising, simply meaning that we will officially register for our courses in Rome. I plan on figuring out my Italian phone situation as well so I can finally get in contact with the people here. I also have to study for my first Italian quiz!
Tomorrow I will be touring the Uffizi Gallery, an art gallery in Florence, checking out a food tasting at school. (That should be interesting...in a room too small to even fit 100 people. Add free food to that mix and you've got yourself a problem.) At night, we will be attending the opera. I'm beyond excited to dress up and even more excited to actually go to an opera.
In conclusion, everything is going well. I miss home a lot, but there is plenty going on to distract me. I even had a really good conversation yesterday about using this time for self-exploration. This is the best time for it, as I am completely separated from everything familiar. I hope to grow while I'm here and come back stronger and ready to face my last year of college.
Thank you again to everyone who has been supportive through this. I will try to get photos up so you can keep up with the stories!
Arrivederci!
PS. I fixed a few spelling errors in my last post. There still might be some (as well as in this one). Sorry about that! I only have so much time to be online :)
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