ciao

After some pretty severe jet lag I am pleased to report that I spent the entire afternoon exploring this incredible city. I started off my day with a caffe latte (that did not hurt my stomach for once, thank you fine Italian quality) and made my way to class which seemed to fly by.. whether that's just because my life has been a blur these past 48 hours or not, it was a good thing. I'm glad to be getting into the swing of things and refreshing my memory of the Italian language.

Il supermercato was good, I made sure to bring a bag but was still dumbfounded when the cashier proceeded to speak Italian to me a million miles a minute. Hopefully by the end of the stay I will not be so starry-eyed and lost when someone is trying to communicate something to me. On a positive note I discovered many items in il supermercato sono SENZA GLUTINE! Hooray for crackers all'Olio di Oliva! I was hoping I'd find some excellent gluten free goodies here, I was not let down.. after all it is my Italian genetics that have bestowed upon me such an awful allergy.

Moving on, mio pomereggio was very entertaining. Heather, Bianca, Jade, Leah, Pat and I set out to wander around and walk across il Ponte Vecchio.. needless to say we managed to get to the Ponte Vecchio well after sundown, after we desperately searched for open banks and I shoveled a very large amount of gelato into my mouth in public.. shocking the citizens of Florence while wandering around the market with Bianca. Embarrassing? Yes. Worth every bit of banana and gianduia? Yes. The remainder of our la sera was equally full of laughter, lusting over reproductions of coins di Firenze on rings, aimless wandering through streets ablaze with seasonal lights, more laughter, and house vino. But the big question tonight was.. Dov'e Pat?

I will make a sincere effort to try to write more of this in Italian in future posts and include as many photographs as possible! EPIPHANY TOMORROW - so excited.

buona notte!