Okay, so I caved and made a blog after swearing I wouldn't. I still feel a little self-absorbed for making one, since I have friends in crazy countries like Cuba and Thailand, and since my family is probably the least internet-savvy on the planet, so I can't even swear that I made it for them. But I have realized that when I write in my journal here, I go off on tangents and have to force myself to make bullet points of actual things I've done or places I've been that I want to remember for posterity. So I'm hoping this will help. 
I've been here for a week and a day, and it is just insane to me that I'm going to live here for four months. Like do I seriously live in Florence?! The place I have learned about in countless art history and history classes since way back in European with Gonz? I feel like I should pinch myself when, for instance, I turn the corner out of my school and I run into the Duomo. My apartment is BEAUTIFUL, with really high ceilings (Mom, I always think of you and your refusal to live in a house without high ceilings) and very updated appliances and furniture. No dishwasher or dryer, but so far living without a dishwasher hasn't been a problem and as for the dryer... we'll see. I'm going to feel so skinny by the end of this trip because my jeans will be falling off... which will be a totally false feeling, I'm sure, what with all of the delicious food here! Almost everything in the apartment is from Ikea, which apparently just came to Florence and is a HUGE deal, I've heard that it's completely insane with people inside. I begged off of that adventure because I was exhausted. And I mean, I can go to Ikea in Houston.
So far my only class has been four hours of Italian a day. It's actually not too hard to sit through, which surprises me, but my teacher is hilarious and always taking pictures of us, and it feels good to work hard on the language of the country in which I live. Hopefully I make it through this pre-session with a good grade so I place into the level of Italian I'm supposed to be in! (By the way, apparently no one in my life besides my parents and friends at UNC know that I have taken Italian for three semester. So FYI, I have) Right now, it's only people from the UNC program at the school, which is really great for getting to know everyone and easing into life here. Everyone in the program seems super nice, so that's great!
As for things that I have done... I still haven't gone inside the Duomo and I don't want to talk about it, because I get mad at myself every time I think about it! But I really want to climb to the top, like I am just absolutely dying to, and the January/February weather here is just gross so I am waiting for a prettier day to do that! Obviously I will go inside the Duomo before I climb it if I wait for nice weather though, so maybe I will stop by an English-language mass one Saturday if I am not traveling. All of the other days it is in Italian, although I could probably even understand that since Catholic mass is so similar to Episcopal eucharist and I
could probably say Rite II in my sleep. Anyway, what I HAVE done is walked across the Ponte Vecchio, and I can't believe that no one who has been to Florence mentioned to me that I would probably never want to leave the bridge again once I got on it. Honestly, a bridge of only jewelry stores!?! I am probably going to go pick out a new thing I am in love with at least once a week. And across the Ponte Vecchio, up a hill, is this amazing place called the Piazza del Michelangelo where you can just see ALL of Florence, and it is absolutely beautiful. Last weekend, I walked (in the pouring rain) to the Piazza della Signoria, which has a copy of the David, but it was under construction, so that was a disappointment! But soon after I went inside the Orsanmichele, which was just AMAZING and had one of the Madonna and Child pictures from Art History (Kelsey, I thought of you. And Kelsi, if you are still taking 152 its the Daddi one). I just LOVE the thought that people have been living (and making beautiful art) in this country for so long. Before America even had any Europeans in it! I guess I chose the right major, because the history just wows me every time I even think about it!
The other really cool place I have been is the fresh food market that is just a few steps from my school. It is teeming with meat, bread, cheese, vegetable and fruit vendors. Everyone is really grossed out by the raw meat (I'm not really, which I guess shows my deep Southern-ness. Jacob van Hoof, if you are reading this, I know you are weeping with pride), but it's just so cheap and delicious to buy food there and it makes me actually want to cook, which I know makes my roommates from Chapel Hill fall down with shock. But I guess when I have the right ingredients, I don't mind taking the time. Also, I have much more free time than when I was in relationships with Obama, Shakespeare, and Milton.
Speaking of Obama, I watched the inauguration at a bar here and it was just INCREDIBLE!!! I cried when Rick Warren gave the invocation (I decided not to have an opinion about him because I could never tell what to really think, so it has nothing to do with being a personal fan or enemy of his) and I just had goosebumps the whole night. Yes, I know, I drank the Kool-Aid, but I just have so much hope right now. Jacob Veith, if I don't hear from you soon about it, I am divorcing you as my brother.
Oh by the way, I forgot that I went to a chocolate festival yesterday. SO COOL! And delicious.
Anyway, this post is long and I have to get ready to go out to dinner (at apparently the best restaurant in Florence, called Za Za) and then out on the town (and yes I have been doing that too, just nothing I wanted to bore people by talking about)! Tomorrow I am going to Siena, and I will of course be thinking about Cary who was there last semester. It is supposed to rain, but I think I will still be able to appreciate it, and I want to get the easier trips done as soon as I can. Plus, like my entire program is going! I miss and love everyone dearly! I will be shocked if anyone reads this the whole way through! Curse of my other major to be so verbose.
