One Month

So I've been here for one month.  I can't believe it, it feels like so much longer.  This weekend turned out to be sunny and beautiful and I took advantage of it.  On Saturday I went to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens.  They are in Florence across the Ponte Vecchio on the south side of the Arno.  The palace used to belong to the Medicis but now houses several museums including the Costume Gallery which I visited.  We walked around the Gardens for a while, they are huge!  There are a few cats that live in the gardens that we found too.  It was a very relaxing day and so nice to be around nature.  That is one of the down falls of Florence, no public parks!

  On Sunday I went to Pisa to see the famous tower that supposedly is going to fall down in the next ten years.  The day wasn't that eventful, just walked around and took a lot of pictures in front of the tower.  

  I'm going to Milan in two days which I'm so excited about.  We get to go to the Armani headquarters, Lake Como, a silk factory and a trade show.  Pictures and more info about Milan to come when I return on Saturday.

Ikea and heart shaped pizza

On Wednesday I went to Ikea with a few of my friends.  It is starting to get quite chilly at night and the heat will not be turning on until November, and even then we can only have it on for two hours a day.  Needless to say we needed some blankets.  It turned out to a fun afternoon.  We ate swedish meatballs in the cafe which were delicious and made me feel at home.  I also found a kiosk for children that had computer games.  Since the Italian was at a child's level I could understand most of it.  I also got to color, play memory and that game where you have to find the differences between two pictures that Weeg is so fond of.  I got a comforter, a new pillow, two rugs, a hamper and a fleece blanket.  Now I will survive the winter wrapped in blankets in my frozen tundra apartment.  

  On Thursday Robin and I went out for lunch after classes to a restaurant around the corner from our apartment.  Our "lukes" if you will.  We know two of the waiters and they made us heart shaped pizza which is a sign of acceptance in the Italian culture.  

  We also had a meeting about our Milan trip yesterday.  It was really pointless and boring but it did make me excited for the trip.  We leave on Wednesday.

Nothing much

 Here are some photos from a earlier.  The top one is me standing in a park next to the Polimoda campus.  I have all my classes at Fuligno which is much closer to my apartment.  

The other photo is me at Cinque Terre during the hike.  As you can see it is literally mountains that are next to the ocean.  

 My friend Amelia may come to visit in October which will be awesome.  I'm also going to Germany and the chocolate festival all in October so it will be a busy month.  Next Wednesday I going to Milan with my school.  I'm not exactly of our schedule but I know we are going to the Armani office.  We also get to go to Lake Como for a day so hopefully it will be nice weather.

   Robin just came home and told me that our friends downstairs made lasagna so I'm going to go mooch off them.  Bye!

Sunday Brunch

  It has been raining all weekend so I've been at home a lot.  Today though Robin and I went for a walk and stumbled upon an outdoor market.   I bought a really cool ring made out of buttons.  Afterwards we went to the only restaurant that serves american brunch.  I've never been so happy to see pancakes.  Nothing really exciting has been going on, it was a pretty slow weekend.  Tomorrow I'm going to the Leather School with one of my classes.  It is a group of leather artisans that have been in Florence for hundreds of years.  They make all kinds of leather products all by hand.  

  On a side note, happy birthday to Weegie who is in Beijing right now.  

New Pictures...Finally!

  The top pictures is of my friend Chloe and I in Siena.  The next one is my whole group of friends, from the left, Yvonne, Me, Robin, Chloe, Alex, Mya, Casey and Abby.  It was taken in Cinque Terre and you can see the mountains in the background.  The girls live below Robin and I so we see them a lot.  The last picture is of Alex and I listening to music waiting for the bus in Siena.   

On Thursdays we have our FITSA meetings, which is the student association of FIT.  Since it is a small group here in Italy we get to have a lot of involvement in what we do and how we spend our money.  I think we are going to the Chocolate Festival next month which I'm very excited about.

  It is still very warm here, the high for today is 90.  So tomorrow we are going to the beach since we didn't get to go last weekend.  Its only an hour and a half away so it is a good day trip.  More pictures to come!

I'm not in New York anymore

  There are many things that make Italy very different from New York.  One of them is time.  Being on time in our society is very important, as is ending something when it is suppose to.  Here are teachers do not seem to own watches.  They come at least 10 minutes late and then keep us over class time.  It is very annoying, especially like when today I only have a 30 minute break for lunch and our teacher kept us over.  They have us for three hours, why do they need any extra time?

  Ok so enough of my complaining.  On Monday I went to the Ferragamo store museum for one of my classes.  It was really cool to see all of the shoes from over the years and they even had the original wooden shoe models from back in the day when Ferragamo would make custom made shoes for people like Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.  

  I have a test in Italian tomorrow that I've been studying for all night.  So hopefully that will go well.  

  My friends and I didn't end up going to the beach last weekend so I think we are going to go on Saturday.  It is still quite warm here so it should be really fun.   

  Alright, time for some more studying and then bed.  Goodnight

Weekends, I prefer the weekends

  Saturday was a pretty lazy day.  I walked around the city, hung out with my friends and ate some gelato.  Today I went to Siena.  It is a really cute town but unfortunately since it is Sunday everything wasn't open.  I went inside the Duomo which was very ornate and beautiful.  Mostly my friends and I just walked around and went into the stores that were open.  Two of my friends had birds poop which was hilarious.  I will probably be next since I laughed at them so much.  

  I bought my first present for someone today, it reminded me of them a lot and made me excited to find other presents for everyone else.  

  Its my friend Yvonne's birthday today so we are going over to celebrate.  Ciao

My Day Off

I dont have classes on Friday which was such a needed break. I went shopping with my roommate and we stopped by the housing agency to sign our final lease. Tonight a bunch of my friends and I are going out to celebrate a birthday. Tomorrow we all are going to the beach and then to Siena on Sunday. This weekend is going to fly by because Ill be so busy.
I miss a lot of people, especially Weegie and Betsy who were just hanging out. Weeg is leaving for Asia soon. Im also thinking of my wonderful friend Carrie who just arrived in Nambia where she is going to be teaching in an orphange. (go to carriemitchel.com for more info)
Sorry there havent been any photos lately, since Im at the internet cafe my photos arent on this computer. The internet for my apartment is being fixed...or so Im told. Oh well, Ill be at the beach and Siena this weekend and not thinking about my lack of internet.

Ranting and Raving

The reason I havent updated this in a few days is because the internet in my apartment isnt working. Apparently the tower is down and they have no idea when it will be fixed. Currently Im in an internet cafe. The problem of going to the internet cafe is that all my passwords are saved in my computer and when I tried to log in at the cafe google told me that my account didnt exist. I did not appreciate this. However, today it seems to be working.
On Sunday I went to Cinque Terre which is on the western coast of Italy and is comprised on five small villages. Robin and I hiked over 3 miles and it was very intense. Pictures to follow.
Classes started on Monday, we meet in an old convent so there are many paintings of a scantly clad Jesus.
I only have a few more minutes and being at the internet cafe makes me feel rushed since I only have a certain amount of time. Pray for my internet to work!