One Week

     It's been exactly one week since I've ben in Florence and like I said in my last post, I LOVE it here. Seriously. I love the sights, I love the people and I love the people that I'm with. To recap the week, here we go: Monday was the first day of school and wandering through the mercat (biiig street vendor market that goes on forever). Made new friends and was out til 1 because I could (nothing crazy). Tuesday, more school, went to dinner at a darling enoteca right near the Palazzo Pitti (huge castle that the Pittis and the Medicis lived in way back when). Tuesday night had my first ever club experience at a place called Twice. SO much fun. Stayed out til 5 in the morning (and now know that I am so not cut out for that on a regular basis haha). Wednesday: woke up at Jasmines and spent the day wandering in the rain and just relaxing. It was a national holiday so school was closed, along with a lot of other businesses. Thankfully, it's a big city and it's summer so most of the things we wanted to do were still open. But it rained allll day. Thursday, more school. More wandering. Bought a purse (thank you Nani...silly me left my big one at home thinking I'd be ok with a little one) and now I have a genuine leather Italian purse. Had a homecooked meal at Robyn's. Walked home and finally all the walking I've been doing caught up with my poor foot and a nasty blister formed. Friday, wore tennis shoes (real ones) to try to alleviate the damn blister. Walked around so much that it burst (gross I know but it's important lol). Spent the night wandering with Ali and Yaires and made dinner at Ali's. Saturday, finally slept in a little bit and met up with Ali, Yaires, Adrienne, Sara and Chantall for a tour of the city with a tour guide that told us some really fun facts about the mnuments of Florence and why they are the way they are.
     Fun Fact #1: Cosimo Medici's wife was of noble Spanish birth and decided that the palace that the Republic was housed in and where they were living was "too small" (it's monstrous) so she bought the Palazzo Pitti across the river with her own money. Plus it has it's own gardens.
     Fun Fact #2: Cosimo built the Uffizzi for offices for his cabinet after taking over Florence officially.
     Fun Fact #3: He also built the passageway aboe the Ponte Veccho that connected to the Uffizzi because he was afraid of getting attacked by one of his many enemies while walking from the Palazzo Pitti to the Republic. Also the windows are small and high so that on one could see him walking.
     Fun Fact #4: The passageway in the middle of the Ponte Vecchio has large and lower windows becuase when Mussolini was in control of Italy, he wanted his good friend Adolf Hitler to enjoy the view from the Ponte Vecchio from up above. Also, no one but noble Italians had ever been allowed up there until Hitler.
     Fun Fact #5: The fact that Mussolini built those windows FOR Hitler is the reason that the Germans didn't bomb it when retreating from the Americans. They bombed every single other bridge in Florence so that the Americans wouldn't be able to cross. Instead they destroyed all the houses on either end of the bridge to block it. Didn't matter the American troops has floating bridges.
     Those are just a few fun facts from Louise, our Danish-Italian tour guide. Oh and the Feragammo family still owns the building that the store is in. It looks like a fortress. 
     To continue with Saturday, or back track, we had lunch at this restaurant that Ali loves and has been to so much that the owner and staff love her and call themselves her big brothers and treat us like family. So much fun. Also met some guys from Indiana University who just graduated and are on a EuroTrip in celebration. They were fun. Also met Jez (met him Monday through Bri, adorable British guy) and his equally adorable looking British friend Neil. They helped direct us to where we were meeting the tour guide. After the tour, we wandered through the gold shops on the Ponte Vecchio (dangerous waters my friends...dangerous) and had a bit of gelato because well you just need to. Delicious. Then we wandered back to Ali's to rest for a few minutes before heading out again. This time we headed to the Fish Pub, a mainly American style pub with cheap drinks but good. Stayed there for a bit and met a group of recent grads from San Deigo State and chatted with them for a while. Ali made friends siwth some Italian guys who gave her 3 roses just cuz she's so pretty haha. She swears it's because of her hair. After we went back to the family restuarant and drank some amazing wine after hours and just goofed around. Then I went home and talked with my roommated for around 3 and a half hours, finding songs for him to play on his guitar and talking about life in general. Couldn't ask for a better roommate and a better week. I live a good life. And I know it and I appreciate it. Amo Firenze. That's all for now. oh and a quick computer update...it's getting fixed. Turns out I need my own laptop for a possible internship position (haven't interviewed yet but my advisor doesn't see why they wouldn't take me on) SO just being safe and getting my sanity back on that little note. Ok more in a few days. I miss you all so much and wish you were here to experience it all with me.

oh and HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDY TO MY BABY SISTER!!! ahhh how did that happen already?!