Florence Weekend
2006-10-03
Florence Weekend
I stayed in Florence for the entire weekend for the first time since I have been here and it was worth it! We actually met several locals and I used my Italian way too much.
My friend Stephanie is studying abroad this semester in Maastrict in the Netherlands. They travel a lot in their program and their courses are so intense that they are finished at the end of October and have all of November to travel! She came to visit us in Florence for the day and once again it was nice to see a familiar face. She is in the same sorority I am in back at Baylor and she came with another girl who is also in our sorority. Almost the entire time we were talking about things related to Baylor because Ashley, Mckenzie, Zena and I go to Baylor and their program is entirely Baylor people so of course they go there too. It was strange talking about things back in Texas and sort of sad to talk about everything we were missing out on in our sorority. While we were out we randomly saw a Renaissance Parade by the Uffizi where the Medicis ruled in the Piazza Signoria where the statues are. There are a lot of random Renaissance things like this in Florence. They live very much in the past. We took them to Groms (amazing gelato) on our way back to the train station and they were on a sleeper train to Maastrict.
One night this weekend several of us went out to Dolce Zuccero, a discoteque. One of our friends, Emily, goes to a college in Nashville where a majority of the students study music. She has an amazing voice and has been playing at several bars in Florence. We listened to her for awhile and after Zena and I returned with Paul and his roommates the pub crawl group had come in and they had started the music. We had a lot of fun and Zena and I ended up dancing until 3am. She met a random Albanian named Tinnie that she has called a couple times. Every time I go out with my friends I have to act as translator because my Italian is the best (only because it is so much like Spanish.) I had to translate last night for my friend Katie with a different set of guys. It is still nice to be meeting some locals and practicing Italian.
Sunday morning Ashley, Mackenzie and I did Corri la Vita. It is an Italian Race for the Cure. R4TC also happens to be the philanthropy of my sorority, so of course we had to do it. There were hundreds of people there, I was floored! The 5.6 k walk was gorgeous. It went across the Arno and ended going through the Boboli Gardens at the end. The Boboli Gardens were gorgeous!! It is behind the Pitti Palace where the Medicis used to live. The Gardens overlook all of Florence and are exactly what you would picture a European Royal Garden to look like...sculptures included.
This week I had my first round of tests. I have the same teacher for two classes and he gave us tests in anthropology and public relations. I had one only this morning and all I can say is thank goodness they are over. They were not very hard, but the questions he asked were unrelated to any of the readings he assigned. Of course after we were finished with the test we had to stay and watch a movie in each class. We watch a lot of movies in our classes here in Florence.
My parents are coming here this weekend!! Not only that, but I am going to Dublin this weekend!! I am incredibly excited. This past weekend Ashley, Mack, Zena and I booked all of our hostels for our week vacation this month. We will be using Eurorail passes to visit seven countries in 10 days. We will be going to Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Croatia. By default we will be going through about 10 in all! The only downer is that we will be in Poland touring Auschwitz when we need to register for Baylor classes. Horrible downer, I know! My friends back at Baylor are going on with life as normal. One of my guy friends is pledging a frat, Lauren is starting to look for a place for us to live Senior year (yay!!) and Charis is getting into trouble. I am about to start searching for a summer internship, my class schedule for next semester, and maybe a job when I get back to Waco to pay back some of the expenses while I have been here. But before I worry about that, I am going to Dolce Zuccero tonight to dance to some 80s music!
Florence Weekend
I stayed in Florence for the entire weekend for the first time since I have been here and it was worth it! We actually met several locals and I used my Italian way too much.
My friend Stephanie is studying abroad this semester in Maastrict in the Netherlands. They travel a lot in their program and their courses are so intense that they are finished at the end of October and have all of November to travel! She came to visit us in Florence for the day and once again it was nice to see a familiar face. She is in the same sorority I am in back at Baylor and she came with another girl who is also in our sorority. Almost the entire time we were talking about things related to Baylor because Ashley, Mckenzie, Zena and I go to Baylor and their program is entirely Baylor people so of course they go there too. It was strange talking about things back in Texas and sort of sad to talk about everything we were missing out on in our sorority. While we were out we randomly saw a Renaissance Parade by the Uffizi where the Medicis ruled in the Piazza Signoria where the statues are. There are a lot of random Renaissance things like this in Florence. They live very much in the past. We took them to Groms (amazing gelato) on our way back to the train station and they were on a sleeper train to Maastrict.
One night this weekend several of us went out to Dolce Zuccero, a discoteque. One of our friends, Emily, goes to a college in Nashville where a majority of the students study music. She has an amazing voice and has been playing at several bars in Florence. We listened to her for awhile and after Zena and I returned with Paul and his roommates the pub crawl group had come in and they had started the music. We had a lot of fun and Zena and I ended up dancing until 3am. She met a random Albanian named Tinnie that she has called a couple times. Every time I go out with my friends I have to act as translator because my Italian is the best (only because it is so much like Spanish.) I had to translate last night for my friend Katie with a different set of guys. It is still nice to be meeting some locals and practicing Italian.
Sunday morning Ashley, Mackenzie and I did Corri la Vita. It is an Italian Race for the Cure. R4TC also happens to be the philanthropy of my sorority, so of course we had to do it. There were hundreds of people there, I was floored! The 5.6 k walk was gorgeous. It went across the Arno and ended going through the Boboli Gardens at the end. The Boboli Gardens were gorgeous!! It is behind the Pitti Palace where the Medicis used to live. The Gardens overlook all of Florence and are exactly what you would picture a European Royal Garden to look like...sculptures included.
I wondered why the Italians had a breast cancer awareness walk on Sunday morning since they are so church-centered. Answer: They had churches along the walk open for people to worship. The churches were gorgeous, but all I can say is only in Italy.
This week I had my first round of tests. I have the same teacher for two classes and he gave us tests in anthropology and public relations. I had one only this morning and all I can say is thank goodness they are over. They were not very hard, but the questions he asked were unrelated to any of the readings he assigned. Of course after we were finished with the test we had to stay and watch a movie in each class. We watch a lot of movies in our classes here in Florence.
My parents are coming here this weekend!! Not only that, but I am going to Dublin this weekend!! I am incredibly excited. This past weekend Ashley, Mack, Zena and I booked all of our hostels for our week vacation this month. We will be using Eurorail passes to visit seven countries in 10 days. We will be going to Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Croatia. By default we will be going through about 10 in all! The only downer is that we will be in Poland touring Auschwitz when we need to register for Baylor classes. Horrible downer, I know! My friends back at Baylor are going on with life as normal. One of my guy friends is pledging a frat, Lauren is starting to look for a place for us to live Senior year (yay!!) and Charis is getting into trouble. I am about to start searching for a summer internship, my class schedule for next semester, and maybe a job when I get back to Waco to pay back some of the expenses while I have been here. But before I worry about that, I am going to Dolce Zuccero tonight to dance to some 80s music!
Labels: Florence
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