Awentura di Note

Ciao! Third day in Firenze and first day of classes! The day started out kind of slow. The girls and I decided to go out on the town last night and it was pretty interesting...we came in pretty late and had to wake up pretty early-hince the late start.

We decided to meet at the- what we have named- the "Four Seasons Bridge". There are lots of bridges in Firenze, the most popular tourist area being the Ponte Vecchio, which is just a bridge over from last nights meeting place. There are only ten students studying abroad this semester in the undergrad program{all girls...suprise, suprise-JMU=lots of girls :) and of course, everyone's wonderful} Six of us live on one side of the river(nearest the school and the Santo Spirito Church) and the other 4 live on the other side(nearest the Duomo and the British Institue of Florence-where out Italian classes are held...) Anyways, we decide to meet on the next bridge over from the Ponte Vecchio at 22.30 because our dinner didn't end until around 21.45(I'll get into the fabulousness that is our dinner everynight in a little bit) This bridge being the "Four Seasons Bridge" because during a war long, long ago(don't hate me for not remembering which one) they bombed all of the bridges except for the Ponte Vecchio, and this particular other bridge had two statues at either end, each representing the four seasons. The bridge was bombed but the majority of the statues remained and they were pieced back together when the bridge was rebuilt..they're beautiful.

So, back to the meeting each other for a night on the town story! My three other roommates and I were running a little behind and arrived at 22.40 and no one was there. We used our newly acquired cell phones from the program to contact each other and see what was going on. The group of four from the Duomo side of the river were a little lost and just minutes away, the other two from our side of the river were having gelatto and waiting for us on the opposite side of the same bridge! Needless to say, we were all safe and ready to explore after we solved the mystery of where each other were. We decided to walk to Santo Spirito where there are a number of restaurants and what we thought a local hang out might be-boy were we surprised at what we saw! The steps of the Santo Spirito church were covered in people around our age hanging out, they had dogs, bicycles, drinks..it was like a party on the steps of a church! We really enjoyed walking around and people watching for around an hour, we even had the pleasure of sitting on the front steps of the church and getting to know each other since it was just the second night. The night that started out so disorganized turned into a pretty entertaining adventure.

Now I'll back it up a few steps and talk about my homestay and our amazing hostess! There are quite a few of us living in a gorgeous flat about four minutes from the school. The view from my window is on the pictures posted on the right hand side-check it out! There are five huge bedrooms here and an apartment connected that Loraine has vistors like us staying in. There are four JMU students, a german student, and an Italian man in the apartment. Then our hostess, Loraine Trapman, has her own room and she has an extra room where her daughters stay when they visit. We have dinner with Loraine four nights a week, Monday-Thursday, and we eat breakfast here everyday. Breakfast consists of cereals, fruits, teas, coffee-simple things we can grab on our way to class.

The dinners are unbelievable. First of all, each night we eat by candle light because Loraine loves how it sets the mood for our intimate Italian family meals. Last night we started with pesto penne. In Italy they start with a pasta dish, not salad. Next, comes the salad, bread, and the main course. We had melanzana de parmigiano-eggplant parmesan! The food is so much different here than in America, everything isn't so heavy and prepared in a rush. Plus, everything is fresh and only sold seasonaly from the market places. The meals are delicious and one of my favorite parts of the day. We sat from 20.15-21.45 last night eating and talking!! Meals here aren't just about stuffing down a quick hamburger and running off-it's about enjoying the wonderful food as well as the company!

This blog has gotten much longer than I expected and I am planning a nap before dinner because we are all going to the opera tonight at 21.15 with Mark Stern and John Scherpereel-two of the JMU faculty working with the program. I hope you're enjoying hearing about my adventures and I know there are so many more to come!