Italia: Second day in Florence.

Happy Cinco de Meyo from Florence, Italy!!!

Today we had our first classes.  My first class was Italian Culture at 10:00 AM.  Anna and I walked to class together, but got extremely lost.  It was so stressful we were running up and down the streets of Florence trying to figure out where we made a wrong turn.  We we freaking out (since our professors had made it very clear that anyone who was late lost half a letter grade...EEK!!!).  Lucky for us we were only 15 minutes late and some other students were even later than us.  All the professors decided to be nice since it was the first day and let everyone's tardiness slide for one day.  :)  We were so relieved!

After my two classes I stayed at the AIFS Center to use their Internet (it works a lot better there then it does at my apartment).  Kim has class one hour longer than I do so I decided to wait for her so we could grab lunch and hang out.  Kim and I grabbed lunch with Sarah Viskovich at a restaurant around the corner from school, Cucina Tradizionale Boccadama, in the Piazza Santa Croce.  We each had Penne Pomodoro.

After lunch Kim and I each bought a scarf at a stand near the restaurant and then went exploring.  The weather was so nice, not too hot with a slight breeze.  We got lost a few times on our adventure, but it was all part of the experience.  In the late afternoon we decided to head up with a group to Palazzo Michelangelo.  The walk was pretty far and tiring, but worth it once we made it to the top (and got some water).  The view was spectacular!!! We could see the entire city.  After taking some picture of the fabulous view we headed to the very top of the mountain to the church to hear the monks chant.  The church was beautiful and the monks service was very relaxing.  Unfortunately, we were unable to stay for the entire service because we had to meet for a group dinner.

The group dinner was a lot of fun...the food was interesting (I liked some of it and I didn't like some of it).  But, experiencing new foods is all part of the fabulous life of a study abroad student!

After dinner we went out to a Mexican restaurant, Tijuana's, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  It was a lot of fun to go out as a group in Florence for the first time.