Finally in Firenze

Well, after about 8 days of living out of a suitcase and in hotel rooms, we finally made it to Firenze! AIFS found us all great apartments centrally located in the city of Florence for us to live in for the semester. There was much anticipation for seeing what our apartments were actually going to look like. Now that I am here and settled, I couldn't be more happy with our apartment.

In my apartment, there are 9 people including me. Originally, I was a bit skeptical about having so many girls in one place. However, with 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, there is more than enough space. The apartment resembles an original Italian apartment with bits of Greece throughout as well.

The rooms are bright and the windows are big, letting in a lot of natural light. My roommate and I were lucky enough to get the room "upstairs". There is a small back staircase leading to a cute, spacious room with bright blue ceilings, which I am happy to call mine!

We spent most of the day unpacking and finally settling in! Afterwards, Emma and I went for a short walk to see what was around our apartment. Not only are we a 60 second walk from our school, but we are also right by the river, meaning that it takes us only seconds to see the other side. As we walked across the bridge we could already see the fancy street we were approaching. With stores such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany's, Michael Kors, Celine, and more we were definitely in awe.

Later that night we went to our final group dinner with our program. We ate at a restaurant called the Golden View that looked directly over the river and was truly a golden view (haha). After some amazing (gluten-free) pasta and Chianti wine, we were loving every second of our first few hours in Florence. That short time being there had already reassured me I made the right choice of studying in Firenze for the semester as I began to fall in love with every aspect of the city.

Our first night there we "attempted" to find our way throughout the city to go to Florence's abroad bar, The Lion's Fountain. After a couple wrong turns and missed streets, we finally made it. Luckily, Florence has been proving to be easier to navigate than Rome, mainly due to its smaller size.

The next day we had a brief tour of the city and I continued to fall in love with Firenze more and more. We spent the day walking around looking for necessities we still had to purchase. Due to walking everywhere, I justified eating gelato. It was probably one of the best things I had ever eaten...

...Or so I thought...until I succumbed to the famous Gusta Pizza. Known for their 5 euro but AMAZING pizza, I decided that I needed to give in and eat pizza and pastries at least a couple of times while staying in Italy. While Gusta's Margherita pizza was the best pizza I had ever had, I regretted that decision when the gluten took over my body. Oh well, still worth it.

Libby: 0
Gluten: 1

Now that I am finally here, I cannot wait for the upcoming semester and everything I have yet to find and learn within Firenze!

Arriverdici!!

Things I've Learned...
-When you ask for a fireball shot at an Italian bar, they'll come back with flaming vodka.......
-Gusta pizza is the best
-But yep, I'm still gluten intolerant
-Italians have no sense of urgency what so ever
-Wine and coffee are cheaper than water
-Florence > Rome