And so it begins!

Hey everyone! So, I've been in Florence just over a week and I am absolutely loving it! I have so much I want to say and so many people I want to email, so I have decided to start one of these silly blogs to keep you all updated...I know you're super excited about it. I suppose I will just tell you (almost) everything I have been up to so far...

For starters, I couldn't have asked for a better living situation. My roommates are wonderful, and we all get along so great. Our apartment is really nice and just 2 blocks from the Duomo. For the first few days we didn't really know our way around, so we would just ask people where the Duomo was in order to find our way back home. It's crazy that people travel from all over the world to spend 15 minutes taking pictures of one of the world's most amazing cathedrals, and I get to witness it everyday.

On the first night of my trip, my roommates and I discovered a journal in one of our bookshelves full of advice from past FUA students. It demanded we attend Beatles night at Be Bop, the bar across from our apartment. So, after reading that, we went across the street to listen to the band who plays only Beatles song, all night. It was fabulous. I think the only drawback to the night life in Florence is the lack of late night food, which is why I have decided to make it my life mission to find one of the "secret bakeries". I guess there are multiple bakeries around the city and they begin baking at 1 am in order to have fresh goods in the morning. If you knock on the door, they will open it and give you a treat! We haven't been to one yet...but I have a feeling I will become a frequent visitor.

Throughout the week we had orientation for our classes and learned a little more about the city of Florence. We were also given the dos and donts for our apartments and my roommate, Claire, and I discovered we had already broken multiple rules. The last thing we want is an email at the end of the semester telling us we owe our landlords money, so we made sure to document our apartment's flaws thoroughly.

Over the weekend, my friends and I decided it was time to start traveling. We figured starting out small may be best so we could figure out the train system and such. We didn't believe the woman at the ticket counter that there are little yellow boxes to validate our tickets...but apparently there are... So, on Sunday, we took the train to Pisa! In Pisa, we saw the leaning tower and climbed to the top. When you walk up the steps, you can actually feel the tower leaning, it was quite the adventure. After walking up 294 stairs, we were at the top and could see all of Pisa. It was incredible. When we made it back to the bottom, we took a bunch of tourist pictures and ventured on to the small city of Lucca. My grandma visited there when she was in Italy and told me that I HAD to go there. So, we took the train from Pisa to Lucca and had lunch in one of the few restaurants that was open. We failed to remember that it was in fact Sunday, and around lunch time...in other words...everything shuts down around that time in Italy, because they love relaxing and napping in the middle of the day. Still, our waitress was great and practiced her English with us while we butchered our Italian with her haha After lunch, we roamed around Lucca. Lucca is a town built entirely within Renaissance walls, and because they were never conquered, they are still standing today. The walls are high and wide with biking and walking paths on top, so we explored and enjoyed the rain.

Yesterday, because it was still raining...I bought green rain boots. They will probably be the best investment of my life. And I love them. Classes started this week, so I went to my first photography class. We learned how to set up and use a large format camera (you know...one of the super old ones, where you put a black cloth of your head and use a shutter release). I'm a little afraid that I'm going to break it and at the end of the semester I will get an email that reads, "Dear Student, you owe FUA €500,000 for breaking the fabulous large format camera"....but I'm sure it will be fine.

Well, my next class is about to start so I will end this blog by saying that I have so much more to say. Italians love wine and food, they don't wait in orderly lines, they are always late and they are HORRIBLE drivers. The open air market is probably one of the most overwhelming things I have ever seen and I still have trouble opening my apartment door. And Florence has an Ikea.

Until next time, pace and vino! (peace and wine)

Love,

Kim