I have no classes on Friday, so after I slept in until noon, which seems to be a habit on the weekend because the wooden shutters on windows in Italy block out all sunlight which is normally what wakes me up, I got ready and my roommates and I went out for a walk in town. We went to a local travel agency that works with study abroad students and booked a trip to Munich, Germany for Springfest in April. After booking our trip we went for a walk down the street just north of the river and came upon this little market that sold mostly tribal crafts, Native American and African crafts. It was quite interesting to see what they had.
On Saturday two of my roommates, Lindsay and Tori, went on a hike that we saw in one Lindsay's travel books on the south side of the river. It was mostly an uphill 2 mile hike, but the view at the end was worth it. At the top there was an amazing view of the majority of Florence as well as the San Miniato Church with a cemetery around it, and next to it was the Piazzale Michelangelo. It really was an amazing view and a lot to take in. After that walk we went to get gelato. That was one of my first experiences with the language barrier. Tori had gone to this particular Gelato place before and got a waffle with gelato on it which she said was amazing and we had to try at least once while we were here. Well, the particular people working when we went spoke no English and we ended up paying 10 euro for a gelato, which is about 15 american dollars. I guess you live and you learn, but it was quite delicious. That night we went out with some girls from Iowa State that go to the Accademia with us, Brooke, Jamie, and Lydia. We went to Ristorante Pizzeria Dante, which the Iowa State girls were recommended to by some friends of theirs who had recently studied abroad in Florence. We mentioned their friends name and the owner, Hanni, instantly became our friend and gave us free water and free wine. I am not a huge fan of wine, but the wine at this restaurant was very good, as well as the food and desserts. Wine it Italy is very different from wine in the states, it goes straight to your head and there is no awful headache the next day, some may say that is a win win. Hanni invited us back for dinner on Sunday, for free. Which we accepted and that too was quite amazing. After eating and socializing for a couple hours at Dante we went to a club called the Red Garter, which had american music, yet the crowd was very Italian. A different experience than clubs in the States, but very fun nonetheless. We had quite a fun night.
Sunday was a more relaxed day, but our apartment had no heat and no hot water, not fun at all. My roommates and the Iowa State girls went back to Dante and had dinner with our new friend Hanni, we were there about 2 hours and had some interesting conversation with Hanni and some of his staff. They are quite the friendly bunch and if you ever come to Florence, you must eat here. Hanni also owns a few other restaurants in Florence and invited us to his bar for breakfast. A bar in Italy is more like a caffe in America, a very key point when living or traveling here. We all went to breakfast this morning (Monday) and again Hanni gave us another free meal, which was very hospitable of him. As of now my apartment still has no heat and no hot water, so Tori and I went to the apartment of the Iowa State girls and showered there tonight, it was nice to shower, since I hadn't since Saturday afternoon. Hopefully our water will be fixed tomorrow.
Everyday here is a new adventure, even if it is only going to class and back. You never what you will see on the walks there, it's something new everyday. To me that is the best way to live, because I get bored easily, so it's nice to have a new experience each day.
Ciao!
Glad to see you are enjoying your travels. its a good thing to get to see other parts of the world besides your own country. i will be following your blog. Love you be safe and have fun
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