Last night we got a late start after a long day of traveling. Heather, Amanda, Michele (my roommates) and I got ready and left our apartment around 11 P.M. We wandered in the direction that we thought the club we were going to was. The best thing I have discovered here is that if you get directions on your iphone and take screen shots, you're golden for getting anywhere. It has definitely helped us not get lost! After saying that though, we still couldn't find exactly where the club was last night. We saw a nice restaurant in a square where there was a carousel and decided to have a late dinner and some drinks before we went out. Heather and I split margarita pizza, which was amazing. The four of us split two bottles of wine, the second one we bargained down to about half the price of the first, and made friends with our waiters. We had a club promoter who kept coming to our table and telling us where we should be going at night, but it turns out the waiter told us one of those places was a gay bar. Not sure we'll be taking this guys advice. After we finished our meal our waiters led us in the direction of the club, called Yab. It was down the street and only about a 4 minute walk from our apartment. We went right in and met up with a bunch of the people on our trip. There were a ton of creepy Italians there, but it was fun meeting a lot of people on our program and experiencing our first night in Florence. I hate to say it, but this was much more fun than a night at TRL (sorry Champaign). Another plus, the drinks are strong. They fill up big cups with 3/4 alcohol, so it's worth the money. After a fun night, we walked back to our apartment at about 2:45.
This morning we had to go to Lorenzo de Medici (our school) to do some stuff with our permit of stay. We ended up being the second people there so it only took us 10 minutes and we had 3 hours free until our walking tour of Florence. The school is also only a 4 minute walk from our apartment, so it seems like we have a pretty great location. On the way back to the apartment we found a grocery store and got a few things we needed, then dropped some stuff off at the apartment and went back out. Our mission was to find a panini shop called L'Antigua Noir (I'm sure that's spelled wrong by the way) so I of course found the directions on my phone and we were off. We passed the Duomo and went down a side street and we were there. It happened to be across the street from a bar called the Lion's Den which has t-shirts from a bunch of colleges all over the ceiling. When my parents went to Florence a few summers ago this was one place they kept telling me about, so we went in and looked around. Looks like a fun and chill place to have a beer. I'm sure we'll be back. Then we went across to the panini shop and got what could have been the best sandwich I've ever had. I got one with turkey, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, and mustard. It was delish. While eating our sandwiches we continued to walk around and sight see. We walked to the River Arno and over a bridge to the other side. It is much more quaint there and very pretty. The views at the river are unbeatable. We took tons of pictures. We walked to the Ponte Vecchio and back to the Duomo where we were meeting our group for the guided tour. I could take pictures every where I go and still not capture all the beauty here. The guided tour was helpful and our tour guide knew a lot about the history so that was helpful. After we were done my bad had FINALLY arrived so Heather and I went to pick it up and took it back to our apartment. We had a short list of things we still needed to get so we went back out for that. Right around the corner from our apartment we found a hair salon and bought a pretty good straightener. Whoever goes to Florence next year, you're a lucky girl (or guy?) because we won't have any use for it after this semester. Then we walked in the direction of our school because we knew there was a lot there. WE FOUND MASSIMO!!! The leather guy that everyone talks about, we stumbled into him on our walk where there were a bunch of outdoor stands selling leather purses, jackets, shoes, and scarves. Since my purse broke yesterday (great luck I've had), I found a brown leather purse that I loved for a pretty good price and checked that off of my list. I also bought a cute and comfortable scarf, since I know I will be wearing those pretty much every day. The last thing we needed was hangers, and no one seemed to understand what we were asking, so we decided to just go back and relax. On our way home we found a 99 Tutti store, aka a dollar store and found hangers. It seems like anything we could need is only a few minute walk from our apartment, which is great. Tonight we have a dinner for Wells College at 7:30 and then we will go out. Tomorrow morning we are off the Sienna for a day trip with our program. For anyone considering going to Florence next year, I highly recommend you do Wells. I will update more tomorrow on the happenings of tonight. Hope you all are enjoying reading this! But honestly, I'm mostly writing it so I can remember everything I do this semester!
On a side note: I was worried that it would be such a change coming here and it would be hard to get around and find what I needed, but that is one hundred percent not the case. It is so easy that it has lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders. Okay, well that's all for now!
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