Ciao!!!
So sorry I have been away from my little home on the web but I have been so busy travelling! Hoping on a train, bus, or a plane every weekend is exhausting but I am loving every single second of it! But that being said Florence has started to feel more and more like home. I have finally found my little study cafes and restaurants and even had a waiter ask me when I sat down if I wanted my usual cappuccino!
School has been great, we are getting ready for midterms next week so wish me luck on those! In my chocolate class we have gone on field trips for the past two classes, one to try a famous hot chocolate and the other to try chocolate bars around Florence! Yes, I am getting class credit for this class, I even can’t believe it. In my italian class I just learned how to tell time and to say the members of my family. Little by little I am getting better at speaking phrases around florence, but honestly whenever I try in a cafe the people just laugh. But it’s the effort that counts right!
This past weekend Anna and Elizabeth jetted off to Barcelona for a few days, leaving me to kick my feet up in Florence. But fear not, I was not left all alone! I had 4 little visitors from Furman accompany me on my weekend adventure. It was so fun getting to play tour guide, I loved showing Margaret, Caroline, Eliza and Sarah all of my favorite restaurants, gelato shops and hidden spots in the city. It was also fun getting to explore lots of new places as well! We went to the Uffizi Art Gallery and bargained our way through the leather market very successfully I may add. We sipped cappuccinos on the roof of a department store (where we actually met Donald Trump's New York City apartment decorator and her husband who happened to be a former marine and was the stunt double for Tom Cruise in Top Gun - they thought we were so charming that they bought our lunch!)
On Sunday we went to the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens (a second time for me) but still absolutely incredible. During this the Royal Apartments were open which were not open to the public the first time I went so that was incredibly exciting! After an exhausting morning romping around gardens and a large palace we indulged in the famous heart shaped pizza from Gusta Pizza. It was INCREDIBLE! I would like to think that I have converted my friends to be believers that Florence is the most amazing city in all of Europe… But even that being said this weekend was a blast it was full of lots of giggles, good friends, and a bit too much gelato!
Here a little recap on a few trips I have taken over the past few weekends:
Cinque Terre:
We went to Cinque Terre the last weekend in September in hopes to soak up one last beach weekend. It rained the whole time! But still, we explored the 5 little towns nestled along the shore. Each town had its own unique character, some were fishing towns, some were beach towns. On Saturday we explored the towns, took boats and trains between them and ate our way along the coast. Just for your reference, I ate the most amazing calamari that I have ever had in my whole entire life. On Sunday we went on a hike from Levanto to Monterosso. While some of you might have laughed when I said I went on a hike, I did, and it was amazing. It was incredibly hard but so worth it! Cinque Terre was a quick overnight trip, but honestly one of the best!
Oktoberfest and Munich:
This was a weekend full of lots of first and lots of interesting adventures. The trip started off with Anna, Elizabeth and I boarding an overnight sleeper-train to transport us to Munich. We thought this was an absolutely brilliant idea, turns out not so much! But hey we knocked that off our bucket lists! When we arrived in Munich we checked into our hotel and met up with our first Furman friend Kate! The next few hours were spent wandering around Munich in search for the perfect dirndl (which I found) and finding a Starbucks! We went to bed early all 5 of us snuggled up in a king-sized bed while images of schnitzel and steins danced in our heads. The alarm had us up an adam at 6 am to start our Oktoberfest adventure. Wow is it crazy, you have to run to the tent and grab a table, elbows were thrown, feet were stepped on, it was nuts! But we succeeded and found a little nook for the group of us! The morning was spent eating large pretzels and playing heads up and dancing on lots of benches (no dancing on tables or else you are asked to leave)! We had a blast! Later on in the day, we decided to explore the festival and go on some rides which were a blast as well! Overall it was such a fun day but incredibly exhausting!
Sunday was spent eating a very large brunch and exploring Munich a bit! We sadly had to say goodbye to our Furman pals that day but I knew I was going to see them in a week when they came to Florence so it was only a short goodbye. On Monday, Anna, Elizabeth, and I went on probably one of the hardest tours that we have ever gone on. We visited Dachau one of the concentration camps outside Munich. It was an emotional and moving morning, the camp as a whole was very interesting to visit since we have learned about it in school growing up so to see it in person was aw striking. It was definitely a tough morning but well worth our time.
Jetting off to Paris this weekend with the most amazing Godmother Holly Tutun!
Ciao for now,
Phebe