The week in Firenze

I finally got back to Florence after a nice trip and I'm not going to lie I kind of missed it. What I really missed was spending time with another natural English speaker. It's hard when all your in person conversations over the course of a week are in a language you don't speak well. So as soon as I got to my apartment I messaged and skyped some people. My roommate eventually came back and he had spent the whole week in Paris and had some good stories that I listened to. Afterwards I went to bed because I was so tired. The next morning I woke up at around 6:30 A.M. I decided to go on a nice jog around Florence because I had missed it over my little break. As soon as I walked outside I saw this beautiful Ducati. I really like them and I knew it would be so fun to ride one and there are a bunch of them here in Italy. It then occurred to me that if I became a teacher in the U.S. and had a family I probably wouldn't be able to ever afford one of these. Seeing the bike there I thought it wouldn't be too bad not having a family if I got one of those instead:

I ran to Piazza Michelangelo because I hadn't run to it in a while and it was a nice sunny day. As usual the view blew me away:

Well after that I took a shower, unpacked, did laundry, cleaned, and went to the good store. I managed to come back from the food store and put all my groceries away but my roommate was still asleep, so I went down to the nearby bakery and got a croissant and caffe latte for breakfast. I'm not a coffee guy at all but the caffe latte isn't bad. Although if it wasn't Italian culture I probably wouldn't drink it:

Afterwards I got back to my room and it was 10:30 and my roommate was still sleeping so in order to keep my sanity, I messaged another student (Maria) that I know had gotten back to Florence the night before, and asked to hang out. Maria, John-Paul, and Matthias had all gone to Sicily for Spring break and I talked to Maria all about it on the way to the San Lorenzo market. The San Lorenzo market is amazing and it's where they sell all of the leather. The prices are so great and the guys are desperate and eager to bargain. I didn't buy anything cause I'm already over budget for the whole trip and it's only halfway over. So I went to Piazza Della Repubblica to go the cafe on top of the department store. The views were amazing:

The food was really expensive but it was a once in a life time chance to sit on top of a building in Florence and look out over everything. It was beautiful and something you want to remember for the rest of your life. Not only was the food expensive but it was also pretty good. I got a hot chocolate and a prosciutto sandwich:

That was like a brunch cause at about 3 I made myself some pasta. I also broke Italian protocol and drank a beer with it. Italians don't drink beer with pasta. They only drink it with pizza or salty snacks:

We then went out to my favorite restaurant in Florence: Il Teatro. We went to celebrate Gina's 21st birthday and it was so good. I don't understand how people go there and don't get the four cheese pasta. I've gotten it three out if the four times I've been there and it only gets better:

We then had to go to bar because it was Gina's 21st. I got beer and they had these really cool shots called lemon drops. They considered of lemon vodka with a lemon on top that was lot on fore so the sugar on it carmalized and when you went to chase the shot with the lemon, the top of the lemon would be crunchy. I wasn't going to get one because I thought they were girly but then I was convinced to get one anyway:

The next day was a more of a relaxation day. It was our first day back from Spring break and we had Italian. We learned reflexive verbs, direct pronouns and indirect pronouns. It was too much and not fun. Afterwards we decided to go to Barcelona. So we planned a trip to Barcelona for Thirsday because it was Barcelona abroadfest. It's essentially when a bunch of Americans and awesome Europeans swarm to Barcelona to hear the best DJs and essentially party on the beach. That sounded like a good time to me and I get to see Barcelona. So why not. Then went to the House of Sizzle for dinner. I got this amazing burger and fries with a liter of beer:  

Then we played trivia and our team lost, but it was a lot of fun. The next day we had our usual three classes. We questioned Matteo Ricci's missionary actions in China. Then we analyzed the sense of aroma in Italy the sensory descriptions from our spring break trips. Lastly we had a lecture on the Catholic Church and it's role in Italian culture. Then we went back to our apartment to study for Italian. After dinner we were headed to the orchestra at the theater. We all got box seats:

The theater was beautiful:

The orchestra was amazing. They even had a comedian come in and make fun of the Orchestra for a little bit. I didn't understand a lot of what she said but I still thought she was funny:

Afterwards because it was Marti Gras a lot of the girls wanted to go out and party. I decided to stay with them for the first hour but I didn't drink because I was simply out to see the costumes of carnival. It was awesome. All the bars were packed and I've never seen so many drunk Italians. Although there was only one thing on my mind and that was the secret bakery. We wandered for two hours before we found it:

It was definitely worth it. You follow your nose until you find it and then knock on the glass and a person comes out and ask what filling you want. I got chocolate and it was so good! They are baking from midnight to 4 A.M. and then sell their stuff to cafés in the morning:

The next morning we had our Italian midterm. It was a little difficult but I think we all did very well on it. Afterwards I went to the lunch buffet near my apartment with Vicky, Kathleen and Paul. It's only 7 euros and it's packed with delicious Italian food. It was Wednesday so we couldn't eat any meat but I still got my money's worth. I ate pasta, rice, vegetable, potatoes, pizza bread, sand more carbs:

After our little lunch we went to the best gelateria in all of Florence: Riva Rena. For the first time in my life I had a gelato milkshake. It was too good to be true. They took Italian chocolate gelato and mixed it with milk to make perhaps the best milkshake I've ever had. Also it was pretty cheap (well chela for Italy). I took the milkshake and then we were headed to Santa Croce for a private tour of the church. John-Paul loves Dante and posed in front of everything Dante (including this statue):

Santa Croce is the largest Fransican church in the world, the second largest church in Florence and two blocks away from where I live. So I personally think it's worth a visit. The statues inside are truly amazing:

Galileo is buried in Santa Croce:

A statue that influenced the design of our statue of Liberty is also housed in the church:

It holds the tomb of Michelangelo:

The pulpit is in the middle of the church and it's where the preaching to the poor was done:

This also happens to be the place Machiavelli was buried:

The Church itself was beautiful:

As was the cloister where we could all hang out for a little but during a break in the tour:

A little replica Santa Croce in the museum:

Another replica of the church but only the tower and it shows the steps up through the tower:

I took this a little fast but if you see it in person you know what a fantastic painting it was. Blew me away:

Back out I'm the cloister. On the top of this picture you can see the tower:

After the tour I headed to the grocery store to buy some pasta. Afterwards I met some friends for the 6 p.m. mass and to get ashes. In Italy they sprinkle the ashes on top of your head rather than smearing them on your forehead. I definitely was not expecting it. I then went home to my apartment and cooked a huge seafood pasta dinner for myself and four others. I personally thought it was really good.

 Then we went to Santa Croce and hung out in the piazza like a lot of the Italian youth do here. It was cold, we didn't talk to any Italians and it was just generally not as fun as I thought it would be, but I'm working on it. Then we finished off the night at the Secret Bakery and then I headed off to bed and the next morning I would be leaving for Barcelona.