Ciao everyone!
Sorry it has been a while since my last post – we have been
very busy here in Firenze!
Last week we were made aware of what the “study” in studying
abroad means. I guess this was
inevitable. But apparently we all
completely forgot that we would actually be going to class during our time
here…This came as a bit of a shock to everyone (especially since almost all of
our classes are 2 and a half hours long, ugh), but we can’t really complain
considering we only have classes 3 days a week Monday through Wednesday! I
actually do really like my classes so far. My first class is Italian, so hopefully I will be able to
start speaking a lot more of the language and not completely sticking out like
an American every where I go! This week we learned the alphabet, numbers,
greetings, the days of the week/months, and some common vocabulary words! I
think the most surprising thing that I learned was that the letters J and K do
not exist in the Italian alphabet….so apparently my name doesn’t exist here?
Maybe I will have to find an Italian nickname to replace it!
I am also taking an Art History of the High Renaissance
Course. I am very excited about
this class since most of the lectures take place at different museums,
churches, and galleries throughout the city! I think it is going to be really amazing to be able to stand
in front of the actual pieces of art that we are learning about, and to get to
learn more about the history of the city that I will be living in for the next
four months! I am also taking a Public Relations class and an advertising class
which both seem very interesting so far.
However, my favorite class by far is my Food and Wine
Pairing class (shocker, right?).
Staci and I are in this class together, and we still cannot believe that
this could actually be considered a class. Our first day was spent watching our teacher (who we love by
the way) prepare a typical, yet extremely simple Italian pasta dish made with
short curly pasta, olive oil, onion, and bread crumbs. (side note: the bread crumbs were used
in place of using any cheese, which apparently is a typical Italian dish, and
we were amazed at how much it tasted like there was cheese in it!!) She paired
this with a rose wine for us to taste, and the combination was absolutely
delicious! She then took us on a
walking tour of the food market and spent the next hour walking us around the
city and pointing out several of her favorite restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and
gelato shops. She even let us stop
to try some gelato and chocolate at one of her favorite spots! As you can
probably tell, this is basically my dream class. Now why can’t this just be offered at Michigan?? Oh, and our homework for the class?
Read one page of instructions on how to open a wine bottle. Yup, it’s official…I am never leaving.
After a long (okay, okay a not so long) first week of
classes, we were eager to explore more of our city. Since this was our first real weekend in Florence (and since
we will be traveling outside of the city for many of the upcoming weekends), we
wanted to make sure that we maximized our time. Here are some of the main highlights:
1. Staci and I hosted our first dinner party with our friends Meredith,
Jenny, and Hilary! We cooked
Zuchinni Linguini (shout out SDT) with tomato sauce and freshly grated parmesan
cheese and 2 different types of bruschetta (one with pesto, mozzarella and
tomato and one with prosciutto and sun dried tomatoes). All of our ingredients came fresh from
the market, of course!
2. I finally got to see JILL! Since our schedules were both so busy, we somehow managed to
go a full week without seeing each other.
But thankfully I got to meet up with her and Jake for lunch this week!
3. I finally tried Antico Noe!!! Since the first day I decided to come to Florence, my
Aunt Caryn (who also studied in Florence when she was a Junior at
Michigan….crazy huh?) has been
telling me about her favorite lunch spot- Antico Noe! She would not stop
talking about how incredible the sandwiches from this place were – and let me
tell you – she was 100% right.
Staci and I shared the #4 and the #9…I honestly don’t even remember what
was on either of them since I was so excited to try it. But they were both
incredible. I will definitely be
going back there when Aunt Caryn comes to visit!
4. Staci and I had our first real day of cultural activities in Florence that
finally involved something other than eating (well almost the whole day did
anyway…)!! We started off our day
with an Italian Zumba Class at our
gym! Besides us and a few girls
from Penn State who are also on our program, every one in the class was Italian
and our teacher barely spoke any English at all! But even though we had no idea
what she was saying – we LOVE Italian Zumba. The music was so much fun, our teacher was absolutely
hilarious (she loved to shimmy and sing along with the music very loudly), and
we got a great workout out of it! Jamie
Korn get ready because this might be one of our activities when you
visit. Staci and I also decided to
visit the Uffizi museum and the Pitti Palace. Since we will both be going to most of the museums with
our classes this semester, we just went for a short visit to get a taste of
what they were like. The audio
guides at the Uffizi helped explain a little bit of the history of some of the
artwork, and Staci and I were both blown away by how incredible the building
itself was. We are very excited to
start learning more about Florence History in our classes! Since it was so nice out, we also took
a stroll along the Ponte Vecchio. Okay let’s be real, you knew this
day wasn’t going to end without at least a little bit of food right?....
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| Ponte Vecchio |
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| Outside Pitti Palace |
5. Or a lot of it. Let me introduce you all to the Florence Chocolate Festival, AKA the
best place in the entire world.
Most of you know that I am a chocoholic, so you can probably understand
my excitement. This is a special
festival in Piazza Santa Maria Novella going on from February 8th to
February 17th. Since I
was on the phone with my Mom when I first saw the festival, she can attest to
the fact that I was basically in absolute heaven. There are tents set up all throughout the piazza each
selling all different kinds of fresh chocolate. I may have gone a tad bit
overboard with how many pictures I took (shut up, Staci.) but I couldn’t help it, I was too excited!!
Here is a little collage I made to give you a taste of the festival…
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| Heaven. |
6. New favorite restaurants! I’m sure you
probably didn’t even think it was possible considering how much food I have
already talked about on this blog…but my friends and I discovered a few new
favorite restaurants this weekend! First was the Mozzarella Bar, which had the most incredible mozzarella cheese you
will ever taste. We sampled all
different types, and Staci even tried pumpkin soup with mozzarella cheese!
Second was a fantastic hole-in-the-wall Panini shop for lunch called I Fratellini. This is a local Italian spot that is always packed, and everyone stands on the sidewalk to eat their paninis and sip their wine during the day! I tried a prosciutto, goat cheese, and arugula Panini and it was my favorite sandwich that I have eaten so far. Dad, you are going to LOVE this place.
Next was Acqua Al Due
which is one of the restaurants that everyone won’t stop talking about. The
big dish here is the blueberry steak.
Yes, you heard me correctly – blueberry steak. I know it sounds weird, but I promise you, it is amazing
(although it didn’t photograph nearly as well as it tasted)! We also tried the
salad sampler of 3 delicious salads.
Lastly, but
certainly not least, is Gusta Pizza. This is my favorite restaurant that
we have been to so far. Just a
short walk across the Arno River, Gusta is a small pizza shop and a local
Italian hot spot. It is always
completely packed, and for good reason.
This was the freshest, and most delicious pizza I have ever tasted. We tried the margarita pizza and the
“Gusta” pizza (arugula, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and parmesean
cheese). We will definitely be
back here again!
7. Carnivale!!!
Today, our program took us on a day trip to Viareggio Italy to see the
Carnivale. The Viareggio Carnivale
is a major event in Tuscany that has been going on for more then 150
years. We had no idea what to
expect going into it, but Carnivale definitely surpassed our expectations!!!
Seven hours later and covered in confetti (there is literally confetti all over
our apartment floor), we all agreed that we LOVE Carnivale. Music, costumes, giant paper
mache floats, confetti and fried dough – what’s not to love? No words can really do this one
justice, but check out the pictures below to see the chaos for yourselves!
Okay guys I am exhausted, so that’s it for now! I will be
back later this week to fill you in on some more of our adventures. My Italian
Word Of the Day today is buonanotte:
goodnight!
Arrivederci,
Jordan
P.S. I think I
forgot to mention that Staci and I discovered this weekend that Santa Croce
(the Piazza that we live in) is apparently the center of all Florence
night-life since there are so many bars and restaurants surrounding it. Who knew?! We got back to our apartment
on Saturday night to find a Michigan Football Pregame style RAGER right in
front of our doorstep! There were
people all over the piazza dancing and singing all night long. Although we do love the party, I think
we may need to invest in some ear plugs….
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| Piazza Santa Croce (our view from our window) Saturday @ Midnight! |
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