around florence and beyond..

I finished with PLP last week! I had a few days of free time in between my oral final exam and my written, so I had some time to actually relax for once! On Wednesday, I hung out with Samantha, who I met on the train from Lucca! She's from Missouri and is studying art and literature, and Italian. We saw the Fattori show at the Accademia, walked around the San Lorenzo mercato looking for the perfect boots and belts, and we went across the river where I saw my first Florence wildlife--a muskrat chilling on the bank of the Arno! We had to ask an Italian what it was...it looked like a cross between a beaver and a giant rat.
We had our orientatin at the Accademia today. It was extremly disorienting, but I am looking forward to starting class next week! Tomorrow a group of us leave for the Amalfi Coast (at 6:45 am...) We are taking the cheaper regional train, so we'll be in transit for a long long time. I plan to catch up on my sleep! We are going to stay in Atrani for three nights, and then one night on the island of Ischia on Halloween for Sara's birthday! I am very excited...I need to go pack! I will post pcitures upon my return...ciao!

another food post...

When I went to the mercato yesterday, I bought some fresh porcini mushrooms! Gaby made some awesome calzones withe the mushrooms, turkey sausage, spinach, and mozzarella...They were so good! I don't know how I can go back to eating the 2 euro calzones down the street on my lunch break...
And then tonight, I made dinner for Avery and I! I made polenta with an eggplant/mushroom/tomato sauce, and even though I had absoluetly no idea what I was doing, it came out really yummy!
Me pretending I know what I'm doing...
So I am actually completely caught up in pictures and happenings right now. And I have nothing to do for the next two days (aside from study for my written final on Friday) What an odd feeling. I actually cleaned the kitchen, organized my closet, cleaned up my part of the room...I'm not used to haveing any time. Must be adventure time!

Sunday evening walk

Sunday evening, I took a walk with Sara, John and Avery. We started out in Santa Croce, and meandered down to the Arno to watch the post-sunset sky...and the bats! There were tons of them flying around (eating mosquitoes I hope!)



After building up an appetite, John and Avery and I caved in and got our first burgers of the trip. Mine had eggplant and cheese....it was divine, although pretty small and expensive.


After, we wandered some more...to the Mercato Nuovo to rub the boars snout for good luck and the promise to return to Florence. It's worked before!

After, we wandered some more...to the Mercato Nuovo to rub the boars snout for good luck and the promise to return to Florence. It's worked before!

Calcio!

On Saturday, we went to our first Fiorentina soccer game (versus Regina) We all wore purple to support our home team, and got some delicious gelato before the game...


yum!

The stadium had an amazing view and it was a gorgeous day...

excitement!
And afterward we got pseudo burritos at my new favorite place, Eby's Bar!
Woo! So that was not only my first Calcio game in Italy, but also my first professional sporting event ever I think...

Friday Night Potluck...at our house!

We had so many people over, I don't know how they all fit in our kitchen!! We had lots of good food. I made Panzanella, Gaby made pasta carbonara and a rice pilaf, Avery made mozzarella garlic bread, and Sara assembled some delicious ice cream sandwiches for dessert! Our friends brought over lots of wine, some salads, and desserts...It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to have another one! Check out John's pictures for more, plus the entire guest list wearing silly glasses!


Now I'm hungry. I think I will make some pasta! I had my final oral exam today for PLP. I had to speak in Italian for 5-10 minutes, and then 2 of the professors asked me questions. I was really nervous, but I spoke about Giovanni Fattori, an Italian painter from the 1800's...and I think I did ok! We'll see. But I'm almost all caught up from last week. Next is the Fiorentina Soccer game!

Last Thursday's Potluck!

Last Thursday we went to a potluck at our friends Rosa, Andrea, Caitlin and Heather's house! There was lots of good food, wine, etc...
Eunice made a nutella frosted cake!!!!


Martin, Finn, Heather, Caitlin, and Josh chillin in the living room..
Me and Gaby and Sara!Overall a fun night, although we all had an Italian test the next day...

food post!!

OYE! This week was very very crazy. I am still recovering. BUT, we now have some internet in our apartment!! And hopefully tomorrow we will have wireless. I have a ton of posts to do, but I will start with the food post...On Tuesday night, John made us all a wonderful pesto and mushroom pasta dinner before we went out to a really fun Jazz club! It was delicious and went fabulously with some white wine from Cinque Terre.
Buon Apetito!
On Wednesday night, the art students organized a Nutella party (I don't remember the exact reason, but it was awesome!)
We all picthed in and brought Nutella, apples, bananas, cheese, crackers, cookies, milk..I broguht Spumante! It was a wonderful feast, followed by the CSU soccer game and open mike night at Unplugged...
More to come, but I'm going to attempt to go out painting today....

The final Cinque Terre day

I ended up hanging around Riomaggiore on Sunday afternoon after everyone else went back to Florence...I wanted to paint! I did a few watercolors, and became a tourist attraction for people getting off the ferry...It was a gorgeous day once again, and I relaxed with my paints and a bottle of wine my friends left me with. I met a nice couple from Washington, and saw an octopus while wading through the water! I eventually forced myself to get on the train...I could have stayed there forever :)




(and that concludes my weekend adventure! I think I need to rest this weekend...finals for the summer language program are coming up. Ciao!)

Cinque Terre dinner!

We treated ourselves to a lovely dinner by the sea after resting after the hike...sea food pastas and a litre of chilled house white wine...it was divine. I had spaghetti allo scoglio ("of the cliffs" with squid, mussels, and some kind of crustacean, in an aromatic sauce...)

Cinque Terre...back to Riomaggiore!

After our hike, we took the ferry back to Riomaggiore, the town we were staying in. It was amazing to see how far we hiked!! The coastline was amazing...and I felt pretty accomplished (and also very dead). We caught the sunset just in time, and hung out on the rocks with some wine...ah, relaxation!