Art, Food, Travel, Friends

Tomorrow is my first day of class. I only have one class on Mondays and Wednesdays - Art History: Gothic and Renaissance - and it's at 11:15am. I really can't complain. Even after taking Principles of Art twice at Northwestern College I've come to appreciate art history. I've come to find it interesting...and what better place to study the history of Gothic & Renaissance art than in Florence? Maybe I'll check out the David by Michelangelo tomorrow...

Yesterday 5 other girls and I took a train to Monterosso, one of the 5 towns that are in the Cinque Terre, to lay on the beach. We went swimming in the Lingurian Sea and got tossed around by some waves. After getting a bunch of rocks stuck in my swimsuit from getting pulled under the waves I realized how Minnesotan I looked; the biggest waves I see are made from speedboats and cannonballs. We met a few Italians who were right next to us on the beach, and when a girl from our group got a cut on her foot from a gigantic rock they helped her out by speaking some magical Italian words to the lifeguard to get some disinfectant. Oh, and bought her gelato after we left the beach. OH Italian men... I must avoid them.

According to an Italian cop who came into our orientation session at the beginning of the week to talk to us about safety the #1 sport in Italy is not soccer...it's women. Great.

Last night I decided to get some much needed sleep and didn't set my alarm clock. I woke up at 1:00pm. It was fantastic. I've been exhausted trying to get used to living here and running around and walking everywhere and never sleeping. I'm don't know how to feed myself here. I don't eat very much if I don't eat at a restaurant because grocery shopping here is just weird to me still. Where's my Dole Orange Pineapple Bannana juice, my sliced Honey Oat bread, and cereal?! No. Italians get groeries practically every day. Bread is always made fresh, so you're weird if you buy the pre-sliced bagged bread. Milk isn't kept in a refridgerator, and breakfast isn't eaten much. I broke down and bought a couple litres of Coca-cola today to get a taste of home. Now, I'm not bashing the Italians' eating habits or style; I'm just not used to them yet. I love preservatives. They're easy. :) I mean, c'mon...I shouldn't be starving in ITALY of all places! ...I just need to find a nice old Italian woman who wants to cook for me!

Here's our group minus one guy at the other girls' apartment. They were lucky enough to get an apartment on the 3rd floor with a terrace looking toward the Duomo (Florence's most recognizeable landmark). We all had dinner together and played Catch Phrase outside afterwards.

I'll wrap this blog up with some pictures of our apartment for your viewing pleasure. I live with 4 other girls. We have a 3 bedroom apartment with 3 full baths, a dinning/living room, and an outdoor patio. We're on the ground floor.