Fiesole and the market

So after the Super Bowl I woke up nice and early to go on a quick jog to piazza Michelangelo where the views are still amazing. It wasn't raining at the time so it was a nice run. I took a quick shower and ate some breakfast. I stopped at my local cafe with my roommate for a caffe latte before meeting at piazza Santa Croce for a food tour. At first our tour guide gave us some sweet cookie that I thought resembled pie crusts with powdered sugar on it that is only served during carnival season (which it is right now). She then took us to a cafe that was in the piazza called finisterrae and bought us some coffees. Since I had already had one coffee today, I got a straight espresso, but the cappuccinos looked really good as did the treats: 

After the coffee our tour guide, took us by two pizzerias that were really close that are apparently really good, but it was 9 in the morning so we weren't getting pizza, instead we headed to the local market. At this market, farmers from the countryside of Tuscany all around Florence bring their crops and sell them for really cheap prices. Inside of a building at the center is butchers, cheese makers, seafood experts, and bakers. Everything was incredibly fresh even if it didn't smell great. There were fruits and vegetable stalls:

Yes, they even sold cheap socks at the market:

Inside was where the good stuff was:

One of the most popular dishes for Florence is tripe (cow intestines). I plan on trying this but we'll see. 

We stopped at a shop and the owner have us free samples of prosciutto, cheeses, and olives. I was given a whole box of olives 

So much diversity:

The baked goods here are bounissimi:

Some of these dishes are just made by Italians and then sold cold so you can hear them up and eat them later. I will begin investing in them (they are homemade by Italian women!).: 

So many cheeses:

Gina loved it:

As did Maria (and Lauren):

After the market we headed to a wine shop that was right by my house. It was closed, it's closed on Monday, so we went to another one. At wine shops like these they are owned by a vineyard in Chianti (like 30 minutes outside Florence), and the store just sells wine from that vineyard. It's really fresh and if you have a bottle, you can just come here and have it filled back up for a small price. The wine is apparently really good:

Also the vineyard makes limoncello and grappa:

Afterwards I was off to Italian lessons. We learned a little bit about verb conjugations but really nothing too important. Afterwards I decided to go to Fiesole, which is a small town on a mountain that overlooks Florence. I had read about it in a few blogs and therefore had a general idea how to get there. I asked everyone if they wanted to come. A few people expressed interest and we decided to meet at the Duomo at 2. Unfortunately only 2 people showed up so we waited until 2:15 and then decided to go anyway. The two people that came were Lauren and Darcy and none of us are amazing at Italian. We walked from the Duomo to Piazza San Marco where we were told by AIFS to catch the number 7 bus. All of the number 7 buses were headed to one location: La Pira. Which I had never heard of. So we decided to wing it and go anyway. Somehow we were able to buy tickets and we just got on. We were a little worried we were standing at the wrong place because there were like 4 bus stops in Piazza San Marco, so that made things a little bit interesting. It turns out that the only reason these buses all said La Pira was because San Marci was the last stop for bus 7 and La Pira was the last stop the other way and La Pira is actually the name of the square. So on the bus I started to get a little nervous about what Fiesole would be like when we got there and I knew it was on the Mountain but I didn't know where (like on the top, or the middle, or towards the bottom) and I was really nervous. So one of the stops was something Domenica and it said "Fiesole" underneath inparentheses and a lot of people got off at that stop so I decided to as well. It was the wrong stop. We looked around a little and realized it was definitely not right. So we attempted to walk up the mountain to get there. It's 6 miles. Up a mountain. Safe to say it didn't work out. We decided to catch the bus at the next stop but even halfway up the mountain the views were amazing:

We eventually got there just fine. And the views were amazing:

Imagine the view from this bed and breakfast in the morning: 

Lauren and Darcy were really good to travel with:

It doesn't get many tourists so there isn't many English speakers there and the town is so small there are only 2 restaurants in the whole town. 

The views of Florence were spectacular though:

Well after all this sight seeing and walking we got a little hungry and a little thirsty. There's only two restaurants in town. One was a fake Irish pub and the other was a sit-down restaurant that looked really expensive. We're college kids. You can guess where we went. We got some beers because the guy said they weren't ready to start. So we got some drinks and we're looking at the menu. We then tried to order something and the guy was like we don't have that. He did that for everything we asked and then we asked what he did have and he pointed to two things on our menu: wings and French fries. It's safe to say we left after that. It was still a good time though

So off we went to the fancy restaurant. The guy spoke formal Italian so I got a little scarred. But we only got one dish each and a bottle of house wine :) it was really good. I got wild boar sauce on pasta which the waiter recommended. P.S. I understood his Italian. Cause I'm the man.

It was so good and we had a really great time: 

We then went up to the top of Fiesole to the Monastery and looked out at Florence at night. I took some pictures but really it doesn't do it justice at all. It was amazing. I could never put into words how great the view was. It got me think how fortunate I am to be here. I'm so blessed that my parents gave me the oppourtunity to come here and study because I doubt I will ever get a chance to look and see something like this. It's a hard journey here but I believe that anyone that comes to Florence should just come to Fiesole and give it a chance. It was truly amazing. Enjoy the pictures at night: 

The bus stopped running at 10 so we decided to head back before then so we could be safe. We ended up stopping and getting gelato by the Duomo and it was so good.

Then we headed back for the night. This was probably my favorite day in Florence. 

The first Sunday

Well Sunday was essentially wasted because I decided to be a bum. I didn't get up until around 12:30, and then I typed about my blog for three hours. Afterwards I went for a quick run to piazza Michelangelo, where the view is still fantastic. night) 

People do some odd things in the rain too here: 

 After some lunch meats and other foods I showered and prepared for mass. Mass has been one of the things I've been most excited for while in Italy. How could you not be excited, the churches here are stunning! I was planning on going to a different church every Sunday while here. Even though there were no English masses left we decided to go to mass at the Duomo (which is the cathedral) at 6 p.m. It was unbelievably difficult to find the entrance but after a brief and terrible talk with two Italian security guards I was let in. Mass was pretty awesome but the organ made it a little ominous. The mass was in Italian, but there was a translation next to it, so I could understand. All together it's an amazing church and it was great getting to go to such a wonderful mass. I really am very blessed to have the opportunity to do this. After mass we came back and hit our neighborhood bakery for some sweets: 

Then we made a nice little dinner. After that we got to end the night with some gelato (the best way to end a night)
while my roommate stayed up to watch the Super Bowl. It might have been a lazy day but it was a lazy day in Florence which is always a great day!

Yesterday

Well today is Sunday morning but yesterday I was also pretty busy. So my day starting with me waking up at 6 A.M. And going on a run with all the beautiful things that surround me like this bad boy and this view: 

After my run I headed to the meeting point and then we all loaded into the buses to head to Pisa. Not only were there 16 Mount people there but there were also over 90 California kids. So it was a filled bus. It was a fun bus rude there where we got to see the beautiful Tuscan hills and vineyards on our way to Pisa. I'm not a big fan of Pisa because there is really only the tower and a giant cathedral. You actually have to pay to get into both. It is mad overpriced, like the whole city, I hate that. Plus there is like nothing to do and it's filled with a bunch of tourists. To be honest I don't really think the tower is that impressive. It was just the soil, that makes it lean and now they could fix it if they want too, but they just like money. It's not a great place. But I still smiled for the picture because I'm a good sport. 

And of course all those tourists doing the picture pose: 

Luckily we had an amazing tour guide who knew like 6 languages and was unbelievably funny. He took us through the cathedral and AIFS paid for it, which I loved. The cathedral was amazing. Definitely as breathtaking as the Florentine one, maybe even better. 

The baptistery was really cool as well and it had this amazing echoing done that could truly blow your mind:

I tried to go into the city but there was not enough time so I just stayed I in the piazza with the other tourists. Then we hopped on the bus and I was off to Lucca the walled city that I really enjoyed. It was a pretty city and we got some lunch there:

The lunch wasn't as good as some that I've had in the past but to be honest it was still really good! Afterwards we wandered around Lucca and got lost and ended up walking on the wall for a little bit: 

Me in between Kathleen and Darcy:

The city is beautiful and so hard to navigate. I hated being lost especially because we were the last people to get back... 10 minutes late. Luckily the buses waited for us! Afterwards we got back and I had a nice quiet dinner with Paul and Gina before going out to the six person girls apartment.

 The girls wanted to try out some of the more Italian bars so I went with them. The first place was Angie's Pub which I really liked but we were the youngest people in there and it was too quiet for the girls. I still really liked it:

So we headed to Red Garda which was hopping. It was so packed, and they had karaoke there. I ran into Joe Taylor (a friend of mine from back in the day) there and he is studying in Rome this semester and that was crazy. I'll hit him up when I'm in Rome later this semester. Then I ran into a girl that I had met while in New York in December. So that was pretty sick, and we hung out for a little and then I walked some of the girls home and then went to sleep. Another great day in Italy.

My first Friday

My first Friday was really really busy. We normally don't have class on Friday but due to the orientation we had Italian class on Friday this week. I woke up nice and early for a run, which I enjoyed. Afterwards I ate breakfast before Paul and I headed to our local bakery for some caffe. A caffe latte:

The large assortment of amazing pastries that they have here (they look and smell so great!) : 

Afterwards we met at the Duomo at around 9 A.M. and followed everyone else up into the Dome. Of the Duomo and then the cupola. AIFS bought our 10 euro ticket that allowed us to go up to the Dome, cupola, bell tower, baptistery, down into the crypts and into the museum of the Duomo. First we walked up into the Dome: 

I know those pictures are poor quality but it was really hard to take pictures because there was just something about the dome that freaked me out. I really don't have a fear of heights but the Dome was really weird and I didn't like it. It's a beautiful dome and it's an exciting depiction of the end of time and judgement day. In fact I could stare at the picture all day just not while being right next to it. No one else had this problem and I didn't have it when I was in the cupola.

Next we went up some claustrophobic killer stairs (so many steps, a lot of out of shape people in the program were groaning) to the cupola of the Duomo. A window on the way up:

The amazing views:

So after some girls in the group and I had had enough being rained on, we decided to take on the tower. It was tough for some because they were tired from the Duomo but I found if you kept a nice solid pace it was easy. The tower was also pretty (and it was like 55 degrees at this point): 

After that long two climbs which I believe was over 900 steps we decided to cool ourselves down with some gelato and then we headed to intensive Italian language training. There is no English allowed at all, which is very diffucult but our instructor, Linda, who is young, energetic and a complete sweetheart makes the class really fun mainly cause when we don't understand a word she uses charades, which she is really good at. I also don't think she knows English, so we must speak Italian or else she doesn't understand us. All together it was fun but we have to memorize a whole bunch of words before next class and I'm kind of scarred on how she will quiz us on them. After that we went to a local pizzeria. It was amazing. No other words are needed but I must try to explain it to you. This is the final product: 

You're probably like where's the sauce. Don't ask foolish questions. This is Italy it can break the rules of food to make it taste better. It worked. It was called Proscutto e mozzarella. Or ham and cheese. The ham and cheese was inside and when you ordered it they out it in the oven for like 5 minutes so it would get a toasty on the outside and all melty on the inside. Molto Buono! The people that ran it appeared to be a couple that couldn't speak any English and the place was packed! Something crazy did happen while we were all eating. A lady tipped back in her chair and fell. Before I knew what happened four Italian men were helping her and she was waving them off and there was a whorl of Italian from them. I didn't catch any of it but she appeared fine and got a free piece of pizza, so I'll be falling from my chair next time I'm there:) 

After that we headed back to the Duomo for a tour of the baptistery, the cathedral and the museum. It was a good time: this was me in order from left to right: Kathleen, Lauren, Stephanie, and Vicky:

The baptistery was pretty sick as well and I learned a ton, like the ceiling shows biblical stories because people back in the day couldn't read so they just got the stories orally and pictorially: 

The ceiling was a gold mosaic and amazing! Although the cathedral was so huge. I can't imagine praying at a church like that every week. The Florentines were so powerful: 

After our detailed tour of the baptistery and the cathedral we were taken to the museum which was lacking because most of the stuff was locked away because the museum itself is under construction. But I did get to see one of Michelangelo's Pietas:

And then I tried to unlock the gates of paradise with my apartment key. It's safe to say it didn't work: 

After the tours we went down to the crypts to have our breath taken away. We kept our breath. After seeing the cathedral, and baptistery everything else paled in comparison. I'm too spoiled because there were Roman ruins down there and the tops of tombs, which I laid down next to when security wasn't looking;)

We did get to see the skull of St. Benedict and I thought that was really cool. 

Afterwards people came back to my apartment for sandwiches and we had some really good cookies for dessert and then I called it a night. But it was really good. 

End of the 1st day of classes

So the first day of classes ended on Thursday and it was definitely very interesting. Italy and China has some exciting parts (which I'm assuming will just be the Mafia part) and the senses classes looks extremely interesting. In the senses part we learn about everything Italian that we sense from food to fashion to the tone Italians speak in and I'm personally pretty excited. In between those two classes, I went back to my room and had some Italian lunch meat on fresh bread. My lunch:

After both of these sociology classes and lunch I had my first Italian life and culture class. It was on the history of Florence and I thought it was an amazing lecture. Our teacher was so passionate and I thought everything she talked about was pretty interesting. The history of Florence actually started with Ceasar forming the city as like a place for military veterans and then we went through it's medieval, then it's renaissance and lastly it's recent history. I was in it the whole time. After class I wanted to visit the uffizi for the last hour that it was open. Unfortunately the museum decided to close early and so I missed it. After that we decided to go to mass at an old monastery. I got there a little early for vespers and then mass followed. During mass an alarm went off because somebody in the back got to close to a painting and the alarm was so loud and went on for like a good 15 seconds. The priest didn't even move. We then went to a pretty good dinner where I used a voucher. I got Bruschetta and Pasta Ragu and they were both pretty tasty. The Bruschetta: 

La Spaghetti Ragu è bounissimi e squisiti! :

Then we headed to Karaoke at the Lion's Fountain, where Lauren (a girl in our program) sang don't stop believing: it was great. That's about where we called it a night. I would say it wasn't too bad of a day.