Ciao from Firenze!!

Ciao a tutti!
Hello all!

After three flights I made it safely to Italy and have survived my first week of orientation classes.  Before we officially begin the fall semester, we have three weeks of orientation classes: Language, Art History, History of Florence, and Italian Cooking.  But, before we get into that, let me tell you a bit about where I'm living.

After spending my first night at a hotel, I moved in with my host family.  I am living with two other Smith students and this lovely kitty named Bubu:

 I am living about 40 minutes walking distance from the center of town which is where the Smith center (where all my classes currently are) is located.  If we take the bus, it is about a 15 minute ride to Piazza San Marco and then we have about 10 minutes of walking to the Smith center.  On my walk to the Smith center I pass crowds of tourists admiring il duomo:

What I pass everyday on my way to class

Because we generally have a couple of hours between classes, I try to go out and explore the city during that time.  I've been to two different grocery stores, Conad (not Conrad as my friend thought) and Meta, as well as a small Korean market, a wonderful place called Panino Vegano where they serve all vegan and gluten-free food (which means I was able to have pizza!!), the library, Ponte Vecchio, and countless piazzas including Santa Croce.  The Smith center is actually located on Piazza della Signoria so we have a lovely view of il Palazzo Vecchio:

Piazza della Signoria after huge hail storm.  All that white stuff on the ground is hail.  And yes, this is very unusual weather for Florence!

Orientation classes are pretty fun so far.  We had an assignment for language in which we had to ride on a bus we hadn't been on before for the entire route and make observations about how it is different than the buses in the US.  We also had to interview a passenger and ask them their opinion of the buses in Italy.  One major difference is that if you have a bus ticket, you must validate it as soon as you enter the bus.  If you don't do so, you will be fined anywhere from 55 to 240 euros!  I actually saw this happen to some tourists today.  We now have bus passes which do not have to be validated but we must have it with us when we are on the bus.  When the officials come on the bus to check, passengers must show either their ticket or their pass as proof that they have paid their fare.

For our art history class we are learning about the different architectural styles of churches.  We took a trip to San Miniato on Thursday, which was lovely.  I'll tell you more about it in my next post. :)

In my history of Florence class, I learned that Florence was actually founded during Roman times, which makes this classical studies major very happy!  Although the ruins are no longer standing, our professor took us on a tour and showed us where certain buildings, including a Roman amphitheater used to be.  He also told us that parts of the old medieval walls and gates are still standing in parts of Florence.

And finally in our cooking class, we learned to make tiramisù, pollo in fricassea, pappa al pomodoro, and panzanella.  Pappa al pomodoro (soup made of tomatoes, bread, garlic, basil...) and panzanella (salad made with chunks of bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and herbs) are traditional Tuscan farmers dishes.  Our instructor bought me gluten-free bread so I could make my own gluten free version.  I don't have pictures (too busy cooking and eating) but I'll most certainly write a future post for you all about all the wonderful food I've been eating lately. ;)

This has been very long, but there is just so much to say!  Hope you are all doing fantastic!  I'll leave you with a few pictures of this beautiful city.

A presto! (lit. until soon!)
-Isabella

The Arno

Firenze

Yours truly