An Overdue Recap
Sorry for the lack of posts. Internet (like free time) has been hard to come by. After tonight I should be able to post regularly. I’ll try to keep it simple since there are a few days to talk about …
Friday: Vittoria made us penne with pesto because we told her it was our favorite. It was incredible! I registered for classes. Right now, my schedule looks like this:
M: 1050-1250 Italian, 305-435 Creative Writing
T: 1050-1250 Italian, 115-245 Family & Gender, 305-435 Classical Mythology
W: 1050-1250 Italian, 305-435 Creative Writing
R: 1050-1250 Italian, 115-245 Family & Gender, 305-435 Classical Mythology
We finally made it out Friday night. We met some friends for a glass of wine and had a run-in with two Italian sketch-balls (sorry, I mean ‘models’) named Fabio and Ricardo. I can’t help but laugh at how typical that is for a first night in Italy.
Saturday: Vittoria thought it would be best if we slept, so Colleen and I didn’t feel the need to see the light of day until 1PM. It seems kind of silly to miss so much of the day when you’re in Italy, but the rest was definitely needed. After breakfast Vittoria walked us downtown “the short way” (read: the long way) and we finally saw everything we had been missing out on! Our house is a block away from the soccer stadium, so we walked past that first. Then we went all the way downtown (from here on referred to as the center or centro) and saw a zillion different piazze, The Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, cafes and restaurants, and soo many stores that were calling my name. I did have a tiny taste of gelato; we stopped to see a friend of Vittoria’s who owns an amazing chocolate shop and he gave us a little spoonful (un cuchiaino) of almond gelato. We made it home after a long day, and didn’t do much else. This was mainly due to our exhaustion after walking roughly 15 miles in 2 days.
Sunday: Sunday was incredible. As part of our “full immersion weekend”, our famiglia took us to visit a friend in Chianti (the region where the wine comes from). We drove all through Tuscany and saw the most beautiful landscapes that anyone can ever hope to see. After only an hour drive, we arrived in Lamole, which isn’t so much a town as it is a mapped out area of sprawling hills with giant villas tucked away here and there. Gianna and Sandro prepared lunch for Vittoria, Alessio, Colleen, and I, as well as 2 other girls from my school. We had salad, homemade bread and wine, 3 different kinds of meats grilled in a wheelbarrow, pizza, tiramisu, and chestnut tort. To walk it all off we toured their property for a while and took lots of pictures of their view of the beautiful Tuscan hills. The house, built by an architect who built buildings in the famous Piazale Michaelangelo, was in Gianna’s family since the time of her great grandparents. She inherited and restored it, included the old stable which now houses 4 rentable apartments. I have the brochure if anyone is interested! ;)
Now, here is a real story.
There are many first I expected to have in Florence. Trying new foods, meeting new people, living on my own, speaking a foreign language, etc. However, I never would have guessed that my first car accident, and consequently my first time in the emergency room, would take place here. I’m totally fine, but it was a real experience.
On the way to Lamole, a Land Rover slammed into the back of Alessio’s minivan after a Smart Car stopped short in front of us. FYI: Ci hanno tamponato means “they rear ended us”. Colleen and I got pretty bad whiplash (colpo di frusta), as indicated by the X-Rays that took 6 hours to take the next day. Monday was spent in the pronto soccorso (first aid) learning things like “dove ti fa male?” (where does it hurt?) and “mi fa male il collo” (my neck hurts), and today was spent with pain killers and a neck brace. Fun, huh?
I really am fine though – and ready to get back to seeing the city! School seems like it will be hard, but at least the classes will be interesting. Tomorrow night I will probably go to the centro to take some more pictures so you can have something to look at! Hope everyone is doing well … I’ll let you know how this weekend goes !
But most importantly .. who is excited for LOST ?!
