Friends, Family, and Stalkers; Ciao from Florence, Italy! I have finally arrived and settled in, thank god! We stayed in a hotel on Monday night (our first night in Florence) and it was a miserable experience to put it nicely. Between lack of sleep, nerves, lost luggage, and boring orientation seminars, 95% of the kids on the trip were all unhappy, hungry and ready to go home.  We all definitely got to know each other at our worsts but i guess that’s how you make friends fast. On Tuesday we finally moved into our apartment and it feels great to be finally moved in. I live right off the Piazza Santa Croce, which is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to see it at it’s best once it gets a little bit warmer. All of the other student apartments are within a short walking distance so it really is the perfect location. We were quick to discover that most of the streets in Florence dump into Santa Croce, so it’s very hard to get lost. 

Santa Croce

 I’m meeting a lot of girls from PC that I never even knew existed and I couldn’t be happier about that. On Wednesday some of my roommates and I decided to get a panini and wander around. We got lost somewhere along the way and ended up at the Ponte Vecchio. We got some gelato and crossed the Ponte Vecchio to explore the other side of the city. Then we stumbled upon the Boboli Gardens, which we get into for free with our student card, as well as other museums (Super Dorky but so excited to use this throughout the semester!!!). The Boboli Gardens are beautiful. We went all the way up to the top and saw some really cool views of Florence. Later on in the day the school sponsored a walking tour of the city with some italian students and we went to the Duomo, a classic Florentine landmark and tourist trap. I hope to climb to the top of it but between the close quarters and extreme heights, I may need to bring a barf bag up with me, so I will see how that goes... 

Shannon, Me, Kelly, and Amie (My roommates) outside the Duomo

Anyways! That night we got our first italian pizza........I literally die for it. This is definitely going to pose a problem for my attempt to eat half healthy....along with the gelato....and the paninis.....and the wine....Guess I will just have to give that goal up!! So tragic...except not at all. Here’s a picture to make all of you die of jealousy. 

This ones for you Sammy J

 Today, Thursday, we went to a supermarket in the outskirts of Florence and it was so big. They even had escalators that you could take your shopping cart down, so euro people, so euro! I went to the register and this was the first time I encountered someone that couldn’t speak english and it was hilarious. We both stared at each other and laughed, eventually we figured it out with some luck but I believe it’s definitely time for me to learn some more Italian, not just ciao, gelato per favore, grazie, and vino blanco (even if those might be the essentials). Later on in the day we found a famous small panini place that was absurdly amazing. I can’t wait to take any and all visitors here. We have all begun to start planning some trips around Europe but I found it to make me extremely stressful and had to immediately pop in a valerian root vitamin. So far we plan on going to Pisa, Assisi, Perugia, Rome, Switzerland, Tuscany, Ireland, Ravenna, Greece, Cinque Terre, and Prague, some of which are day trips but nothing is set in stone. 

I am so lucky to be able to have this opportunity and I plan on living my life to the fullest while I’m here, even if I do get a tad bit homesick sometimes. I miss most of you all SO much! If any of you have an iPhone or an iTouch we can text for free with the app “Kik” and I’d love to be able to stay in touch. I will post again soon! 

Con Amore, Erin