Firenze!

Ciao family and friends!

Yesterday we went to Florence (Firenze in Italian) on a fieldtrip. It was amazing! Rome is definitely a place for tourists, but I feel like Florence is the place to be for students. We saw so many American students and almost everyone there spoke at least a little English, which was a nice break from how it is in Orvieto.

We met at 7:30 am (YIKES) and boarded our shuttle bus that drove us 2 hours to Florence. It was freezing. I believe someone said at one time that it was 35 degrees. I had looked up the weather the day before and it said it was supposed to be 57, so none of us were really dressed accordingly. Luckily it warmed up later in the afternoon, but it was still really overcast all day.

For the first two hours we had a guided tour through the city where we walked by the Arno River, shopping markets, and multiple Piazzas. We saw the Florence Duomo, which was stunning!





Then we broke for lunch. 10 other girls and I went to a pizza place for lunch where we ordered pizzas and calzones and coronas with lime! Yes! Even though it was cold outside, it was like paradise in a glass. The owner was so friendly and quickly came over to talk to us. We learned that he had grown up as a kid in San Francisco, and one of his workers (who we later met) was from Long Beach! I told her I was from Torrance and we instantly became best friends.

After lunch we walked around the museum that was located in the Piazza della Signoria. It was SO cool, but my favorite part was when we walked into a huge room with blue walls, COVERED in gold fleur de lis. For those of you who don't know, I have been obsessed with fleur de lis since High School, and it is now the symbol of my sorority. This room was amazing.



At the end we got to see the Damien Hurst "For The Love Of God" diamond encrusted skull. It was so pretty and neat, but we weren't allowed to take pictures of it :(



After the museum we walked through a chocolate market. Every single tent had chocolate galore. We treated ourselves to strawberried with chocolate and whipped cream. Needless to say, it was delicious. After our desserts we took the bus home.

Florence was absolutely amazing, but most of us were really upset that we didn't get to go to the museum with the famous David statue. We had all just assumed we would be going there, but we didn't :( We did get to see a smaller replica outside the other museum though, so at least we got a little glimpse. I'm not sure if I will have the time or money, but I'd love to go back some time and see the real thing.



Today in class we read part of a poetry novel by Calvino. It was written in Italian (we read the translated English version) which we were told made more sense because it flowed better, but it was still beautiful in English. Here is an exceprt from the novel that was written about Orvieto. I hope it helps you paint an even better picture in your minds:

"The city does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the street corners, the window grates, the railings along the steps, the lightning rods, the flagpoles...every segment marked in turn by scratches, nicks, cuts, flourishes. I could tell you how many stairs there are in the stepped streets, what kind of arches in the porticoes, what kind of zinc plates the roofs are covered with, but I already know it would mean nothing. This is not what the city is made of- it consists of the relationship between the measurments of its space and the dangling feet of a hanged usurper".

I hope you all see the beauty in his words like I did.

Shout out to my Kidzone family! I miss you all so much! When we were at the chocolate market all I could think was how much fun the kids would have there. There were tons of kids running around, and I just wanted to have my family with me!

Until next time, ciao!