First Day of School

Yesterday, The 5 girls down the street, Kristina, and I all wandered around Florence again to become more familiarized with the area. It's starting to feel more and more like our territory every day. We managed to work our way into Il Duomo or The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore which was just as big on the inside as it looked on the outside. It was completed structurally in 1436 and is the largest mason dome in the world. We were all able to light a few candles and say a prayer, however, the 5 o'clock mass was reserved seating and there was a dress code. We figured that one day we could do that and plan ahead. Everything was breathtaking though, I don't even know where to start describing it. It was like something out of a movie the way it was crafted- too good to be true. 

When we left, we headed over to the Ponte Vecchio again because the girls hadn't seen it yet. Coincidentally, we ran into three English girls that we had previously met that weekend, Ana, Rose, and Olivia. It was their last day in Florence before they headed to Venice for 3 nights and then back to London for school. It really is amazing how many students are out here, not only from the states but other european countries as well. More and more people I meet either have or are going to study abroad. Traveling is just really such a rewarding experience.

Today was our first day of classes. I'm taking: Women in the Medici (A sociology class), Contemporary Italy and Italians (history/cultural diversity), Beginner Italian, Flamenco Dancing, and Wines of Italy.

I wouldn't say today was my most challenging classes, Flamenco and Wine. The Flamenco was my first class and it was SO much fun! It felt good to be back into a dance class again since high school. It is such a different style then any class I have ever taken. Plus it's Sevillian Flamenco which is studied more in Sevilla, Spain- so it was all very new and fun. There seemed to be a small language barrier with our teacher, but she is really sweet and tries very hard to help us all understand her. Most teachers are very good at English. It is not hard to understand what they mean even if they are speaking incorrectly. I can't wait to start Italian classes though so I can practice with the teachers. I think it will be a lot easier learning another language in the country rather than back in the US where you can walk out the door to the classroom and forget about it for a week.

At 6 o'clock I had Wine's of Italy. Yes we sat around and tasted different wine, but I ended up taking 4-5 pages of notes on how to understand what I was tasting. The different colors and smells, viscosity and flavors. It was really very interesting. We get to go on a field trip to a vineyard in Oct. to learn about production. He talked to us about the aging of the wine and what years were acceptable for each type. I'm clearly not going to be a pro at this but I think it's going to be a really interesting class- as well as fun ;).

Tomorrow is Italian and Women of the Medici so it's bed time, Ciao for now! haha