gelato-of-the-day-blog

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 20, 2017

    Interlaken! That is where I spent my weekend! And I had a great time. So much better than Prague. We booked our trip through Bus2Alps which is a travel company so Thursday night we had to meet the group at the train station. Before we left we got dinner at the sandwich shop across the street. The man there is so nice and I told him I wanted pesto and just let him make me whatever he thought went best with that. Sabrina asked for a bowl of olives and he also gave us a cheese plate. Then we dragged our suitcases through the streets of Florence to the train station where lately we have been spending a lot of time. We found the group and that is where a phenomenon started that continued throughout the weekend. Now I’m just assuming but I would say that everyone there (all being study abroad students) has had at least some education in the past. So at some point in that education I would have guessed people would learn what a line is but evidently I was wrong. There was a very long line to check in and multiple times people showed up, saw the line, and then proceeded to walk directly to the front. When I was the next person up, I took a step forward towards the women with the check-in lists and as I opened my mouth to say my name, 2 boys stepped directly in front of me, squeezing into the tiny space between me and the women and just said their names. The women looked shocked but just let them go and apologized to me once they left but I told them it wasn’t their fault. I don’t know about you guys but I would never see a line and think, “Oh but I don’t need to wait in this right?” So many people here are just so entitled. The same thing happened at check-in at the hostel, check-out, and, now that I think about it, also happened a bunch in Prague. No wonder people hate Americans. Especially the obnoxious 20 year olds.

      After that experience, we got to get on a bus for 8 hours! So fun! The bus left at 8 p.m. and got to Balmer’s Hostel in Interlaken at around 4:30 a.m. The ride wasn’t awful. I did my best to sleep but most of you know me and know that there wasn’t a good chance that was going to happen. The annoying thing was that some Italian law required the bus to stop 2 separate times for 45 minutes so it just dragged out the drive. The last 30 minutes was especially terrible because there were so many curves in the road driving up into the mountains. I was nauseous and also scared the bus was going to fall off the edge of the mountain. But we made it! Our room was in Jungfrau which took us a few tries to find and then we realized (like always) our room was all the way at the top of all of the stairs. It was also like a giant Coca-Cola advertisement. Everything was red and said Coca-Cola and there were giant pictures of people drinking Coca-Cola all over the walls. Still very unclear why. We got into bed as quickly as possible. I was reunited with my old favorite spot: the top bunk. The beds weren’t totally uncomfortable. The only problem was that if you even breathed too hard they would creak. Everyone was scared to readjust themselves in the middle of the night because it was so loud. We were all asleep by 5:15.

    The next morning it was rainy and gross so Sab and Courtney’s skydiving was rescheduled to Sunday. The three of us and Jaclyn walked into town to go to this rooftop restaurant we heard about. The view was pretty cool but you couldn’t see much because it was raining. Also, like absolutely everything in Switzerland, the food was ridiculously expensive so we got a small bottle of wine and 1 plate of garlic bread (6 small pieces) to share and paid around $8 each. We were obviously still hungry after that so we went to a dumpy Italian restaurant hoping for cheap food and ended up paying around $20 for mediocre pasta. We just hung out there until our chocolate making class at 4. The class was so much fun. We learned how to taste chocolate (like tasting wine) and got to sample a bunch of pieces. We even got to try eating a cocoa bean. It was terrible. So bitter. I liked the dark chocolate the best. I’m not a fan of white chocolate at all. Especially because we learned that it is not real chocolate. It doesn’t have any cocoa powder in it. Then we got to make our own! I chose dark but many people chose milk. We stirred the chocolate in a bowl and were told to stir until it got down to a certain temperature. A girl asked how we would know when it gets to that temperature and our teacher (?) Vlad said you put it on your nose and if it’s hot then it’s more than 98 degrees and if it’s cold it’s less. We all put chocolate on our noses before he told us that it was a joke and he had a thermometer. Vlad said mine was perfect and used it as a demonstration (because how could a lifetime of eating chocolate not pay off in some way?). Did you know that really hot chocolate, if you lift it up with a spoon, just falls in straight lines, but cooler chocolate falls in a helix shape? It’s actually the coolest thing. You can probably Google videos if you really want to see. We poured the chocolate out onto 3 templates to make chocolate bars and then got to decorate them. That part was not my best skill. Some people’s actually looked professional and mine looked like a 5 year old could’ve made them but you know what? It all tastes the same! I even put sea salt in one of them. That was the highlight of the day. The class was so much fun and we got cute pictures. Then we all went to dinner and went out at Balmer’s Club that night. Yes, Balmer’s is the name of both the hostel and the club. That is because the club is actually underneath the hostel! So convenient! Except it’s not really a club, it is basically a large frat basement. I had fun and we saw our bar friends from Prague (!!!) but we didn’t stay long.

    The next morning we got up and got bagels across the street from Balmer’s and then we went to pick up our chocolate (it had to cool overnight). While we were there I got hot chocolate that was incredible (pictured!). Then Sabrina, Courtney, and I walked to the lake where everyone goes to take pictures. The walk was about half an hour and smelled like horses the whole way but once we got there the view was spectacular. It looked fake it was so perfect. We took a bunch of pictures and then walked back. We met up with everyone else and then got on a bus (#publictransportation) for 30 minutes to Beatus. We bought day passes to the spa at this hotel there and it was actually the most incredible thing I have done in a long time. There was a large heated pool outside overlooking a lake and the mountains. We got there around 3:30 and stayed to watch the sunset. It was so gorgeous and perfect. It was even better that no one really knew about it. It was basically all locals there except for us. I would’ve taken a million pictures but we weren’t allowed to use our phones (we actually got yelled at) so we were forced to #liveinthemoment. It was actual bliss. The pool also had like a hunger games (the second book/movie) thing going on where different things would happen at different times. Like there would be a lazy river for a few minutes then it would stop and bubbles would start somewhere else in the pool. It was really fun. By the time we all showered and left it was close to 7 and it turned out that the buses to Interlaken stop running before then! Who knew? So we had to go into the hotel lobby and ask them to call us a cab. The woman was actually the nicest person we met (because everyone there and also in most of Europe is really rude) and called us a van that we managed to squeeze 11 people into. We got back in time for our 8:30 reservation at the Thai restaurant next to the hostel. We tried going out again that night but it was really not fun so we left after probably 30 minutes.

        Sunday morning by the time I woke up, Sabrina and Courtney had already jumped out of a plane. I’m very proud of them and cannot wait to see the videos. We had a very difficult time finding a place to have breakfast and then after we ate we went back to the chocolate place for more hot chocolate. We just tried to kill time until we had to get back on the bus at 3. The bus back was long and uneventful. Thankfully we only stopped once this time and were able to make it back to Florence by 10:15. It always feels good to be back in Florence. It really does feel homey and familiar. We’re already so comfortable here!

      Interlaken, while there was not much to do there for a person like me (aka unadventurous and scared of everything), I had such an amazing time. The town is beautiful and so cool to see. It is also really cool when you look up and see paragliders everywhere. It wasn’t totally relaxing but it was such a great weekend and I’m so happy I decided to go. Back in Florence for 3 days and then off the Amsterdam!

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 19, 2017

    I know I’m actually the worst because I just keep forgetting to do this. But I think it’s actually a good thing because it means I’m just too busy having fun! Most of the time. It is just after midnight on Sunday and we just got back from Interlaken but I will get to all that in the next post! This will be a quick recap of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

    So Tuesday. An uneventful Valentine’s. Courtney and I went to Oil Shoppe before class and I got a great chicken parm sandwich. Class was bearable because in the second half we went on a field trip. The Lambertesca girls had a nice dinner date at the place across the street because it was actually open! I ate absolutely way too much. Like so much I couldn’t even get gelato afterwards even though everyone else did. And then we just chilled. HVD! (Also shoutout to Michael for the card!)

    Wednesday. That’s my 9-5:30 class day. It’s basically a work day but it’s sitting in class instead of an office. Much worse. We have a group presentation in basically every class which is always the worst. Even worse, in one class Courtney and I got put in a group with “that girl”. You know how in every class there’s that girl (or guy) who every hates because she (or he) is just loud and annoying and always calls out and asks a million questions and debates the teacher and just really needs to chill? If you think your class doesn’t have one then you are probably it so check yourself. Anyway, we are in a group with her and it’s going to be terrible. Also our teacher for our back to back classes calls me and Courtney the twins and actually tried to use Courtney to remember my name. Are we cliquey? For dinner Courtney and Paige had their own plans so Sab and I met Olivia at Gustavino. That’s one of the places we randomly discovered and went back because they gave us free stuff. When we walked in they said, “Welcome back.” Honestly couldn’t believe they remembered us. People in restaurants here are so nice. Nicer than anywhere I’ve been, especially other places in Europe where they are actually just mean. We made friends with our waiter (Goni) and the manager of the restaurant (Emiliano). They told us we could get free wine if we left a good TripAdvisor review of the restaurant so Sabrina jumped on it. She obviously already had an account. We got the wine and some more free drinks that Goni and Emiliano had with us. We had so much fun at dinner and Sabrina may have even gotten herself a job there. Very questionable. Then we went home to change and went out to Space. It was pretty empty which was weird but we had a pretty good night.

      Thursday we slept late and then finally made it to Gusta Pizza (pictured above! Yes it is a heart). Honestly, a little overrated but I’m not going to complain about eating pizza. We walked to the Oil Shoppe so Sab and Courtney could get iced coffee and then we walked around a little. It was really beautiful out. But then we spent the rest of the day inside packing for Interlaken. To find out what happened next……stay tuned for the next post! I’m really tired right now so I’m going to do the next one in the morning but I just needed to get at least one out of the way because it’s been on my mind for like a week now. Night!

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 13, 2017

    Finally back from Prague! Couldn’t be happier! Missed this city so much. Prague was definitely interesting. Not what I expected. It looks like a mix between Disneyland and Harry Potter World. And we had fun (kind of) but I don’t need to go back there again.

    We left bright and early on Thursday morning for the train station. Actually just early, not bright, because it was before sunrise. All 4 of us wheeled our carry on bags past the Duomo and through the cobblestone streets of Florence very noisily. We had assigned seats on the train that were not only not together but mostly in separate cars. When we got on I noticed that my bag would not fit in the overhead space and I had no idea where I was supposed to put it. Luckily, no one ended up being in the seat next to me so I could keep my bag there. The ride was pretty peaceful. I listened to my music and looked out the window at the Italian countryside. Very enjoyable. And much better than the swampland views off the NJ Transit. We got to the airport in 2 hours and had a lot of time to kill so we decided to look for breakfast food. I guess they don’t really have that in Italy or at least not in the airport. So I had pizza before 11 a.m. The flight was easy. Only like an hour and a half. My only complaint would be that the seat in front of my was basically touching my face and not even because it was leaning back. The rows were just that close together. But what do you expect when you fly an airline like Vueling? I would’ve been claustrophobic if I didn’t sleep for most of the flight. When we landed I looked out the window at the snow on the ground and thought, “Okay so this is the Czech Republic.” That is definitely a place I never thought I would be. We got our bags, met up with Chandler, and called Ubers (both good and bad that they had Uber there). For our Airbnb, it was owned by a company, not a person, so we had to meet at their office. Me, Sab, and Olivia Ubered there. When we got there, we rang the bell outside a tiny building. We were buzzed in and my first thought was, “This is a trap.” The place looked abandoned. I thought we were about to be kidnapped. Then a guy came towards us and brought us into an office that looked like it belonged in a different building. It was bright and modern looking and the 2 employees there were both very nice. They gave us our keys and we walked to the apartment.

        The apartment was basically in the middle of Old Town Square, which is a main square in Prague and large tourist attraction. And the apartment itself? I can describe it in 3 words: doors and keys. There were 6 doors separating the street from the inside of the apartment. 6. Yes, very safe but, no, not very practical. We were hysterically laughing trying to get in. Each key was color-coded for the different doors. Clear for the main front door, yellow for the first “cage”, black for the second “cage”, green for the next door, then blue, then finally red to actually walk into the apartment. We timed ourselves going in one time and used both sets of keys so one person unlocked and another locked the doors behind us. We did it in 2 minutes and 41 seconds which is ridiculously impressive. We got sushi for dinner and then got ready to go out. Prague is very cheap. The conversion rate is ridiculous; it’s like $1 = 27 crowns (their currency) so everything seems like a lot of money but it’s not. Another thing about Prague. It is absolutely freezing. Comparable to a Michigan winter. And not the joke one they are having now like a real polar vortex winter. This made the night pretty terrible for me. We went to this pregame bar called Bombay where I saw everyone I’ve ever met and a few people I’ve never met but am friends with on Facebook. It was packed in there so we went across the street to this other bar for a little bit and that place was like a real tough Czech bar. I’m pretty sure it was in the basement of a tattoo parlor. We didn’t stay long. We finally got an Uber to the club everyone was going to and when we got there they were holding up a sign saying “Sorry. Club is full.” We stood on the sidewalk outside for at least 30 minutes before we could get in. I was in open toed shoes. Miserable. Oh! Another thing! Czech people are mean. Like soooo mean. The guys working at the club were actually pushing and yelling at people. It was ridiculous. All I wanted to do was go home. I stayed for like 10 minutes then left. The bad thing about Uber is that (like many European cities) Prague has many squares that cars can’t drive through. And our apartment was in one of those squares. So we were dropped off not close and then had to walk in the cold again. Again, miserable.

        The next morning (Friday) me, Sab, and Courtney bundled up for our private tour of the Jewish Quarter with Martina. She met us outside our apartment and was so cute and nice. She showed us some beautiful memorials and temples and told us so much about the history of Jews in Prague. All of it was so interesting. The tour was 3 hours and we were really tired afterwards. Our feet hurt so badly so we met our friends at Bakeshop for brunch and ended up just sitting there for hours. We were originally sitting with a bunch of SDT girls but they all left and then it was just the 3 of us at a big table so some boys asked if they could sit down. They started talking to us and eventually asked if we wanted to go get beers with them at this place across the street. We all thought why not and decided to go. 2 of them go to Michigan and 2 go to UF and none are studying in Prague. They were all just visiting. We sat at this place called Beer Story that looked like the basement of Espresso Royale on South U. Also, this is not even an exaggeration, the whole time we were there the only music they played was Taylor Swift. Bizarre. We had a lot of fun making new friends though!

        Then we had to go to the club for that night (Lucerna) to get tickets to get into the club. The guy there said they weren’t selling anymore tickets until later and the capacity was 1,000. That did not seem like a lot to us so I asked when we could get tickets and he told me 8:00 p.m. We went back to our apartment to shower and then at 7:15 left to go wait on line for tickets. On our way out, the black key broke in the lock of the door and we thought we were going to be trapped forever. Jaclyn was luckily able to get the piece out using a fork and we never locked that door again. We made it to the club early enough to be the 3rd people on line. By 8:00 there were probably about 30-40 people waiting. That’s when the guy said that they were selling tickets until 9. There was outrage. The next hour was torture. I was starving. Everyone was pushing and yelling. The line got to be probably hundreds of people long and every was just pushing forward. And of course people were trying to cut. I was standing on my toes because I was being pushed forward and couldn’t get my heels on the ground. Again, miserable. We were finally able to get the tickets and get out of there but it was too late. The damage had been done. I was getting a migraine. We got to dinner and I tried eating as quickly as possible and drinking water but nothing helped. I wasn’t able to go out. I’m still so angry about it. I didn’t really care about missing anything but it was just the fact that I waited on line so I could go out and doing that gave me a headache so I couldn’t go out. Ugh.

      The next morning (Saturday), Olivia and Chandler joined our tour with Martina. She took us to the castle, the John Lennon wall, and the Charles Bridge. I didn’t realize that the entire tour was going to be outside. For 3 hours. By the end we were all actual blocks of ice. I honestly though I would never feel my toes again. When it ended we said goodbye to Martina (miss her), and went to have lunch and get warm in the closest place to us: the Hard Rock Café. Actually zero complaints about it because it was warm and I got chicken fingers so pretty solid lunch for me. After that we went to see the Dali and Warhol exhibits. The Warhol stuff was so cool. I took a million pictures and I’m wondering how many is too many to Instagram. Also wondering how much it would cost to decorate my house with a bunch. We also met some boys there who asked us what our plans for Passover were. Kk. Then we all needed to go home and crash for a little bit. We wanted a quick dinner so we just went to the closest place we could find and it turned out to be Italian. It was also not so great. We’re already getting snobby about food and wine. We ate quickly and then had to get an important Prague delicacy before we left: a Trdelník (pictured above). Actually so overrated. I honestly didn’t really like it but it looks pretty. We went home to get ready to go out. Sara and her friend came over and then we all made our way to the Roxy for “Czech It Out”. It was like a concert at a club. Sam Feldt (I’m sure most of you don’t know who that is. He’s a DJ) was performing. This was the only night I had fun. Well it was fun after we got in. There was a huge line just to get in and by a line I mean a large mass of people pushing each other. I thought I was going to be trampled like one of those Black Friday situations. We were all being crushed to death for like 15 minutes and after yelling at a lot of people and pushing really hard I eventually made it through the doors. Just why Prague?? I really only know one song by Sam Feldt (Feels Like Home) and was excited for him to play it. He went on at 2, ended at 4 and never played my song! I’m actually still mad about it. I mean he did a great job, played some cool songs that I liked, played a lot of songs that aren’t his, but really? He couldn’t just play the one song I wanted to hear? It was fun though and we danced and at 3:30 decided it was time to go. But on the way out we ran into our bar friends (the guys from the day before)! They wanted us to stay so we danced with them a little until they kind of ditched us and then it was really time to leave.

      The next morning (Sunday), we had to check out of our Airbnb by 11. We packed up and went to Bakeshop again and hung out there until we had to go to the airport. The security there was actually stupid. I had to take all of the toiletries out of my bag and then I asked the woman if I had to take off my shoes and she said no. I walked through the thing and it beeped and she said, “It’s your shoes. Walk through faster this time.” So I did. And obviously it beeped again. So instead of taking off my shoes they decided they needed to pat me down. You literally said it was my shoes. Why not just make me walk through without the shoes? So stupid. Courtney also had a minor fiasco with her train tickets but we got it all figured out. We did the flight and then took a train from the airport and had to switch trains but we finally made it home. I can’t even describe the feeling of relief and happiness I felt when we stepped out of the train station and onto the streets of Florence. Like actual bliss. Walking past the Duomo and everything I missed so much was physically calming. We stopped for GELATO on our way home (obviously) and the people at Venchi probably thought we were moving in with all the luggage we had.

      This morning (Monday), I woke up to a million texts telling me my family had gotten a dog without me. They basically waited until right when I left, the moment when I would be away the longest, to get a puppy. So maybe I’ll get to meet it when it’s already big enough to eat Zeke and I miss the entire puppy stage. Thanks fam! Honestly wouldn’t even have gotten out of bed today after that if it hadn’t been so nice out today. It was like 60 degrees and sunny. A complete turnaround from Prague. We had lunch and ran some errands but mostly had a chill day to recover from the long weekend. We ate at Antico Noe and learned once again that you cannot eat outside here because you will be attacked by birds. I fell out of my chair in a very public place and it was definitely embarrassing. Not really looking to starting classes again but I guess this is technically school. Class is as good a way as any to celebrate Valentine’s Day. At least I got my Lambertesca gals!

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 8, 2017

    Today. Had to wake up at 7:45 after going to bed around 5 hours earlier. And then I had class. FOR 7 AND A HALF HOURS! Actual torture. The entire morning I could not keep my eyes open if you paid me. I thought I was going to need to excuse myself to run laps outside just to wake myself up a little bit. The first class today was Forensic Psychology. And the second was Psychology of Crime. Different variations of the same topic. In the same classroom. With the same teacher. So it was basically like being in the same class for 5 hours with one half hour break. Luckily the teacher was very nice and we learned a few interesting things but I don’t know how I’m going to do this all semester. I guess it is worth it to only have class 2 days a week. Maybe. I guess we’ll find out. Cart and I met Sabrina for our half our lunch break at the quickest, closest place: Mister Pizza. Would not recommend. The 3 of us had our last class of the day together (“Quarters of Florence”). Could not pay attention. Our teacher had a heavy accent and a weird stutter where he would repeat things like 3 times in a row. Hopefully it will get better when we start doing site visits in class. My butt was numb from sitting in those uncomfortable chairs for so long. On the way home we stopped for GELATO near our apartment and found these gelato pop things. They were really good. Sorry this picture is such bad quality though, I tried.

      We went for an early dinner (meaning 7:15 which is really early for us) at Il Teatro. We did the family style option there but we preferred Il Gato by a landslide. We actually passed it on the way there and saw Remzi in the window and waved. Definitely need to go back there soon. Like right now. Of course I’m already hungry again. We’re leaving early tomorrow morning to go to Prague for the weekend! Our first trip! We have a 7:38 a.m. train to Rome so I need to go to bed soon. I’m worried about how cold it’s going to be there but I’m excited to see new places and people. I won’t be able to post everyday there so I will just recap the highlights when I return on Sunday. Or maybe I’ll do it Monday after a good rest. Wish me luck!

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 7, 2017

    I am very behind on posting here and it’s starting to stress me out! I will do the best I can to recap. So starting where I left off at 12:20 pm on Tuesday, Courtney and I had our first class of the semester at 3 so we left early to go get sandwiches for lunch. We wanted to go to the place we went on our first real day here right by the Duomo but it said it was closed until February 28th! I don’t understand why. That’s like the only good place to eat in that vicinity. So we had to wander and find another place. We found one and it was okay. Then we had class from 3-5:30. “Lifestyles in Renaissance Florence”. The professor was the guide on our Pisa trip and he was really nice and funny. He made it, well I wouldn’t say easy, but definitely not as hard to pay attention. After class we ran some errands and of course had to stop to get GELATO.

    Courtney and Paige both had dinner plans so Sabrina and I went on a date. We wandered around and found a random restaurant. I got gnocchi, of course. We got home and immediately had to get ready to go out. We met some boys Paige and Sabrina knew from home and school and then made our way back to Yab. It was packed because Waka Flocka was performing there. You might be thinking, “I have no idea who or what that is.” Well you are not alone. I didn’t really want to go in the first place but it was apparently the place to be so I just went with it. Too bad my first instinct was correct. I don’t know if I regret going but I really did not have a good time. I was also stressed about staying out late because Cart and I had class at 9 a.m. the next day. I almost got in a fight with a girl, helped a random girl who was hysterically crying look for her phone, and was talking to this guy for a little but and I could not figure out his name. I asked him what it was and he answered but I didn’t get it so I said, “Sorry what was it?” He repeated it. I still didn’t get it. I go, “How do you spell that?” I swear his answer sounded like “R-y-m-a-m”. So basically I still don’t know it. We left like 3 minutes after that. We got home and I ate a bag of Ritz crackers before going to sleep as quickly as possible. Over and out!

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 6, 2017

    I’m writing this at 12:20 pm on Tuesday because I didn’t have time yesterday to sit down and write! It was the first day of classes but none of us have Monday class so we slept until 11:30. I could’ve slept all day but I set an alarm. We went to meet Jordyn at Gusta Pizza but found out that it is closed on Mondays. We were so upset. We ended up just going to this pizza place across the street from our apartment, Mangia Pizza, that turned out to be really good. I got the #12 which had mozzarella, pecorino, and onions. Sabrina got hers with burrata and it looked amazing. After that we came back to the apartment to work on booking more trips. After much struggle we were all able to book an AirBnb and flights to Amsterdam. This struggle included research into the Schengen agreement and multiple calls to Lufthansa so hopefully we all make it! Courtney and I also attempted to do our first load of laundry! We started with towels incase we messed it up they are easily replaceable. We could only fit 6 large towels and 2 small ones in the washer at the same time. Then we tried to use a translator to figure out how to use the detergent pods we bought. We turned the machine on and it said the wash would take 2 hours and 18 minutes. Great. We watched it start to spin but were a little panicked when we didn’t see any water. After a few minutes we saw water and decided to just let it run. It was around 4 so we set out to do some more errands.

      The first thing we had to do was figure out how to do our garbage. Italy has a very intense trash and recycling system where you have to separate your trash into organics (food, etc.), multi-material (plastics, glass), paper, and then just garbage. I only know this because we spent actually hours trying to figure out how it worked. I still don’t really understand. Our landlord had marked for us on a map where 2 disposal sites near our apartment were so we went to look for them before we took the trash out just to know where they were. We found the 4 bins behind the Galileo museum so we thought we understood the process and said we would bring out the garbage on the way to dinner. Then we went to look for where our classes were so we would know for the following day. Our first stop was Via de Pucci. It was past the Duomo so we headed that way and that was when we stopped for GELATO at Don Nino. If you look at the picture you might be confused because most of you probably know I don’t like whipped cream. Well I didn’t ask for it, they just gave it to me and it looked pretty but I didn’t eat it. The gelato was really good though. The chocolate had chunks of hard chocolate in it. It was pretty cold out so we sat inside and ate for a little. We found Pucci and the LdM classrooms inside the building and were then off to Palazzo Strozzi to look for the next building. Paige needed to stop at Longchamp on the way so we did that. We found the next building and then went to Coin for some shopping. We finally found cheap fuzzy blankets for our beds and I got myself a towel. Paige and Courtney once again could not find a hair straightener there but were given the name of a place they could find one. We went to the place and, after a week of searching, they had success.

        When we got home we had to sort our garbage. We’d been dreading it since we found out it needed to be separate just a little too late. Apparently they go through the trash and if you do it wrong they look for anything that has any information about you on it and track you down to fine you. So we had to put our hands in the garbage. We ended up with 2 bags for multi-material, 1 for paper, and 1 for trash. We each took a bag when we left for dinner and first went to drop the trash. We got there and realized that of the 4 disposal containers there, 1 was for trash, 1 was for organic, and 2 were multi-material. No paper. We dropped the other 3 bags and decided to go look for the other site marked on the map to see if that one had a paper bin. It didn’t. A guy came to drop a cardboard box and we asked him where you dispose of paper. He just said “here” and dropped the box on the sidewalk. We were going to leave our stuff next to his but saw a sign on the wall that said you could not dispose of paper here or you could be fined up to 5000 euros. So where were you supposed to put it???? We had no idea where to even look and it was after 8. We decided to just look around for something on our way to dinner. And guess who was the one lugging the trash bag full of paper? Me! I literally walked around Florence holding a trash bag for 20 minutes. I was really over it by then so I just dumped the whole thing in a public trash can. I’ll let you know if I go to jail.

      We finally made it to where we wanted to have dinner and it was a half hour wait. I looked on maps and saw the name of a restaurant that looked familiar from seeing it on one of the guides (Il Gatto e la Volpe) so we walked there. It looked really busy too but right when we walked in everyone left. We got a table and opted for the family style deal. Every person pays 20 euros and for the table we get a tray of appetizers, 4 pastas, and half a liter of wine per person (we did the math and since we were 5 people that means we got 3.33 bottles of wine for the table). The pastas were incredible. There was a gnocchi in a cheese sauce (basically mac and cheese on steroids), penne vodka (a crowd pleaser), a thick spaghetti in a peppery-cheese sauce, and, my personal favorite, ravioli Bolognese. I ate way too much I was so nauseous after. Totally worth it though. Since we were like the only people there we were bonding with our waiter. When I made a picture of my meal my snapchat story, Niki (coming in clutch again) recognized where I was and also knew the waiters there. I told them I knew her and they brought us free drinks. It got crazy from there. Ramzi and Paige became “honeys” and he said he was also going to Yab later and had a table so we said we’d meet him there. We also said we’d be back to have dinner here at least once a week.

      We went home, got dressed, and made our way to Yab. The promoters outside the club let us cut the line and we noticed we were probably the only Americans there. It was a weird night but so fun. There was a man there who was probably 70 years old wearing a suit just wandering the dance floor. We found Ramzi at his table and spent the night hanging out there. At the table next to him Sabrina pointed out a guy who was an amazing dancer. We pulled him over and danced with him all night. He was so fun. We didn’t know his name so we called him Chris Brown because he danced like him. He said it was a big compliment. We got home around 3 and were off to bed for our first day of school! Courtney and I don’t have class until 3 today so we slept until 11:30 again and are now going to get lunch. Dreading class but it is finally sunny today!

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 5, 2017

       Okay. Last night. I’m trying to think of where to start and how to tell this story. There were a lot of people visiting Florence from other places abroad this weekend. Mostly people from Barcelona. This meant seeing some people it was really good to see (like SDT girls) and some people I would rather not see ever. But you win some, you lose some. So we planned to go to dinner with some SDT girls and then go out after. We found out on our way back from the wine tour that the reservation was for 9 pm. We were all like “This isn’t Barce! We don’t go out at like 4 am!” So the reservation was at this restaurant La Giostra that is famous for being amazing. My big (shoutout to Niki Fleshner!) was in Florence last year and was best friends with many of the staff at the restaurant so the day I left she put me in a Facebook group message with them so I could be friends with them too. She said they gave her free food and drinks so why not! I messaged them and asked if we could get an earlier reservation and he said our reservation was at 7:30. Then began a semi-fight of what time people wanted to eat. We wanted 7:30 because we thought we were just going to go to dinner and then go back to our apartments, get ready, and then go out. The other girls were planning on going to dinner ready and then just going straight out afterwards. Our reservation was also bumped up to 12 people because we decided to go with all of the SDT girls who were in town so we knew the meal would definitely take longer than 2 hours. After a lot of back and forth, we settled on 8:15. Sab and I decided to just go to dinner mostly ready so we could be quick when we got back incase dinner ran long. When we got there I asked for Leo and Sal (the waiters Niki introduced me too) and they were very welcoming. It was nice to see everyone and be together for a little. Foodwise: we ordered 2 burrata appetizers for the table and 2 dishes of Giostra’s signature pear ravioli. The burrata was literally just a giant ball of cheese. Like probably the size of 2 fists. Everyone seemed to agree it was the best burrata they had ever had. The pear ravioli dish comes with 6 pieces of ravioli so we order 2 for everyone to try it. Leo brought me an extra one for free so my side of the table got a few extra pieces. Sorry not sorry! It was so good. I don’t even like pears but you couldn’t taste it. Courtney’s reaction to trying it was the best thing I saw all night. Her whole face lit up. Obviously the rest of the dishes we ordered were amazing as well. I got penne alla sorrentino which was penne with pomodoro sauce and 2 big globs of mozzarella. I was so full by then I could only eat half of my dish even though I wanted more. Then Leo brought us free dessert! Chocolate cake and tiramisu. I had to try the cake but couldn’t have more than a bite. I told my waiter friends I would definitely be back!

      After dinner there were more differing opinions. Everyone wanted to do different things. We wanted to get VIP wristbands and heard the guy who had them was at this bar near the restaurant. Some people wanted to go straight to the bar but we weren’t fully ready to go out yet. We comprised and went home to get ready while everyone else waited at the bar to get wristbands. It ended up taking a lot longer than we thought so we just sat around our kitchen table, just me, Sab, and Cart, for over an hour just talking. We somehow got into a really deep conversation. Moral of the story: we think we should all be more “go with the flow”. We’re going to try to keep each other in check with that one. I’ll let you know how it goes. We finally got the text that the wristbands were purchased so we headed out to the club.

     Right when we got there, who did we see waiting in line? Leo and Sal! Our Giostra friends! We asked them if they were in the line for people who bought a table and they said they were and invited us to join them. We did and got in quickly. We met Jackie and Olivia right inside and they gave us our VIP wristbands. We made our way to VIP and found the Giostra table. We spent the whole night there and had so much fun! We got those basic pictures with the sparklers (finally!) and danced the night away! We finally had leave towards 4 a.m. when it started to get empty in there. Sal told us to come to Giostra and he’d pay for our meals so we’ll definitely be back! We said bye to our new besties and peaced. On our way home we ran into some boys that Sab and Courtney knew who were visiting from Barce. They were sitting on the sidewalk because they were locked out of their AirBnb. We tried to help them for a little bit but there was nothing we could do so we wished them luck and left. When we got home we were starving but we had no food. Being here is like being an Olympic athlete. You walk around so much so you have to eat so many more calories to compensate for it. I literally had a 4 course, 3 hour lunch and dinner and was still hungry (actually starving) a few hours later. I think I should go on the Michael Phelps diet. Would that make me more athletically capable? Ask me again in a few months.

      Anyway…this morning we set our alarms for 11 a.m. So late! Although not actually so late when you go to bed close to 5. We were still starving so we went to find a brunch place. We went to Le Vespe Café but we were not the only ones and ended up having to wait 30 mins. It was kind of worth it though because I got eggs, toast, bacon, and home fries and cleaned my plate. Then we went grocery shopping and ran some more errands. Courtney unfortunately dropped her phone and it shattered so we had to make an unscheduled detour to the Apple Store. She got it fixed for free though! Thank you Apple Care! We went back to the apartment for a period of rest and tried to make plans for our future trips. When we were once again starved we went out to search for dinner. We found a random place on a side street and sat down. The food was really good and they gave us free limoncello again! We were all laughing so hard we were in tears. Everyone probably thought we were so obnoxious. Afterwards I needed to go get GELATO (for this blog because I hadn’t done it in the past 2 days and also for my own sanity and personal goals. Always stay true to yourself everyone!). We went to Grom and this chocolate was super rich. #$$$$$ Now were are back in our apartment hanging out on our couches. We just booked our trip to Prague for next weekend. Woohoo! I wonder what it’s going to be like when we start travelling every weekend. Probably crazy. I’m actually starting to get hungry again I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. Can’t wait to try Gusta Pizza tomorrow! Talk later!

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 4, 2017

      Changed the look of the blog because I thought it might be easier to follow. So now you just click on the pictures to read the posts. Also I thought I should dating them. I’m currently blogging while waiting to shower and in the midst of a lot of dinner confusion. More on that later.

    This morning we were up and ready for our wine tour. After a stop for coffee and another chocolate muffin, we met the group and it was definitely a lot more people than the Pisa trip. It was weird to us that people wouldn’t come to this because yeah I guess you can go anytime you’re here but this was free! So why not? I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks! The drive was up and down the hills of Tuscany. Beautiful of course but also nauseating. I forgot to take Dramamine this time. The bus was literally almost hanging off of a cliff throughout the drive and Sabrina and I were clinging to each other (like that was going to help). We go to the Verrazzano Castle and split into groups for tours of the cellars. Our tour guide had a really cool accent. We could’ve listened to him talk all day. We learned about the different barrels wine is kept in and what that does to it. Then at 12:15 we sat down in a beautiful room with a view of the countryside for lunch and wine tasting. They poured us each 3 glasses of different wines and taught us how to hold the glass, how to swirl it, what to look for, how to smell it, and a lot more about differentiating wines. At school we drink wine out of a box so this was a nice change. Then the food started coming. They brought out the plate in this picture first. The bread with the olive oil was amazing because of the olive oil. They also make that there but it is extremely expensive. I could see why because it was so good. Also the bread with the white stuff was incredible. I have no idea what it was. It could’ve been cheese or meat or anything. I didn’t want to know because it was so good and I didn’t want it to gross me out if I found out it was something really disgusting. We also all got a piece of pecorino cheese and a spoonful of balsamic vinegar, which they also make. We were instructed to sip the vinegar and then take a bit of the cheese. It was interesting. I liked the cheese but didn’t love the vinegar. It was very syrupy. Then they brought out pasta with tomato sauce and dishes of spices and cheese to add to it. So so good. I had two servings of it. Courtney dropped some pasta into one of her wines while she was putting some on her plate and had to ask for a new one. After the pasta we were told there was another course but I was already so full. The next course was some kind of meat (it looked like turkey) and potatoes. I could never pass up potatoes so I had a few but was stuffed. We were then given a dessert wine and biscotti. Everyone else tried it before me and did not recommend it so I did not partake. Lunch ended 3 hours after it started. We were sitting there forever. Everyone passed out on the bus ride home. Need to shower and figure out dinner so signing off for now!

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 3, 2017   

        Okay I already messed up this blog in so many ways. So here’s the deal. There’s no way for my followers (#famous) to get notifications when I post something new if you do not have a Tumblr account (because I know you all live and breathe to hear about my life). So if you want to know when I have a new post please contact me (if you are reading this and don’t have a way to do that kindly leave because I do not know you) and I will text/email/etc. you after I post. Second, there is no way for you to comment on my posts if you do not have a Tumblr account and I would like some feedback from time to time. If you want to help me with this, please contact me and let me know what you think. I know at this point you are probably thinking “Tumblr seems to suck, why are you using it?” and I asked myself the very same question. The answer is that I just spent the last hour trying to make a new blog on various different sites and it wasn’t working the way I wanted so I’m just sticking with this. Finally, third, I hate to admit that I did not have gelato today. Yes, I am feeling just fine but when you hear about my day you’ll see that it just did not fit in. I did however eat this very fine sandwich (”dope” as the young people would say), which I will also elaborate on later.

       So to start where I left off yesterday, we went to dinner at Zaza with Jackie, Olivia, and their 4 other roommates. It was honestly underwhelming. I got fettuccine Bolognese and it was basically pasta and meat. No sauce. It wasn’t bad but I like my Bolognese #saucin’. I also got my first bruschetta of the trip (PV friends you feel me). After dinner we once again raced home to get ready. Me, Sab, and Cart walked across the bridge to meet Courtney’s best friend Jordyn at her apartment. We got a little lost on the way but we figured it out (the numbering of the buildings makes zero sense. It’s not in any order). Jordyn is on a different program here and lives in an apartment of 10 people, all with very interesting personalities. Think my dorm room freshman year. Jordyn got in a fight with Shmarra (one of her roommates) about the noise level and it was very uncomfortable for everyone else there. But also very funny. Proud of Jard for holding her own! It was Ebony’s 21st birthday (another roommate) so we headed out to Yab to celebrate. That is in fact the name of a club. We left to go there at 12:30 and were still somehow like the first people there. The music seemed to be catering toward American college girls (Miley Cyrus, Drake, good throwbacks) so we liked it there right off the bat. We danced, had some fun, ran into a bunch of boys who go to Vanderbilt who are friends with Grant. I actually recognized a few because I had met them before. One asked me what my name was and then asked me where I was from. I said “New Jersey” and he said “No I mean where is your family from? Your last name sounds exotic.” I said “It’s not.” He asked me to spell it and when I did, he told me he thought it would’ve been like Gabeé. Maybe I’ll change it. Justin showed up again later and once again took me and Cart into the VIP section. So nice of him but I’m still waiting for the day I can get in on my own and be the one to say “They’re with me.” We left way too late and I was once again starving. When we got home I google “late night food in Florence” and found one place open til 4am. Going to have to try it sometime.

        Woke up and 8:30 for another orientation session. Just why? Got another chocolate nutella muffin on the way which was the highlight of the morning. We were freaking out about being 5 minutes late and then other people casually strolled in like 25 minutes late. Kk. They spent over an hour repeating everything they’ve been telling us for days while everyone around us was just talking to each other, not paying attention, and not even trying to whisper. The whole room was echoing and it was just so overwhelming. When Amy starting asking trivia questions again I was so done. When we were finally released we had to go to the post office to get a Permit of Stay. The post office was so beautiful and had a much more efficient system than post offices in the U.S. However, no one working there spoke English (except to tell me that my credit cards were freezing the computer) and they scheduled all of our follow up appointments (apparently you need to go to the police station to get finger-printed if you’re living in Italy) for May after we leave. So that’s good. Still need to figure out what to do about that. Then we were free for the afternoon! After some misguided directions we made it to Antico Vinaio, the famed sandwich shop. We got on line but it was like being at the Millburn Deli; they moved really fast and you had to know what you were doing. I, of course, did not. I was the person you hate at the deli asking a million questions, looking confused, and not being able to decide what to get. I held up the whole line asking what the different meats were (how was I supposed to know? I don’t eat many meats) and just chose ham to keep moving. I couldn’t stop again to ask what the cheeses were so I just told them to give me whatever went best with the ham. I got pecorino. Never would’ve chosen it but it was incredible. Best part of the sandwich. We then had the most ~abroad~ moment of the trip so far. We ate our sandwiches while walking by the side of the Arno river and then sat to finish them on a bench outside the Uffizi gallery. It was amazing. Everything was beautiful and the sandwiches were so good. It was the perfect Florence lunch. (Only downside: we struggled to escape the birds who were after our food and screamed in fear multiple times).

        Then it was time to run errands. We probably went to 12 different stores and got maybe half of the things we needed to get. Apparently hangers don’t exist here. All of our feet were in so much pain we had to go home. Then it was time to prepare for my interview. I sent the roomies off to dinner and waited for the call. I think it went well. It was really quick. I met the roommates at dinner right next to our apartment where I ordered bruschetta and fried potatoes. The 2 most important food groups. The fried potatoes were actually French fries so we all had some. The waiter told us that pretty girls in Florence get free drinks so we took the limoncello even though we didn’t really want it. Can’t say no to free things! We finished at 10:30 so a lot of places were closed. I’ll have to try to get some gelato tomorrow. We are now just chillin in the apartment, even bordering on straight clowning with Courtney and her toothpaste fascination, and back to our roots reading horoscopes. Happy to not be going out. Need a night off and gotta get up early for our trip to Chianti. I hope it’s actually fun (aka worth it). I have to look trendy right? Like for wine vineyard/castle pictures in the Tuscan countryside? But I might still end up in leggings. We’ll see. I’ll let you know tomorrow! Night peeps

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 2, 2017

       It is just after 6:30 pm on Thursday Feb 2 and I’m very stressed. We spent all day in Pisa and I’m just sitting down now and have so much to do. But I’ll start with where I left off. So we went to our group dinner last night and it was okay. They just brought us food and it wasn’t what I would’ve ordered for myself but I still ate it. Dinner ended so late though and we didn’t get back until after 10. We tried to get ready as quick as possible for our first night out on the town. Our sources told us that we had to go to Shot Café (a bar) to meet Abraham who would give us VIP bracelets for Space (the club). We trekked to Shot Café and unfortunately followed some bad directions which took us on a really roundabout route but we made it. The place was tiny and packed. Also, no Abraham. People started leaving so we just decided to go straight to Space and heard that you could get wristbands right outside. We walked another 10 minutes there and couldn’t get wristbands outside. The VIP section is basically just a section of American students abroad. There’s nothing wrong with the main floor but the VIP section is just a little safer and you don’t have to worry about getting your stuff stolen. We wanted to go in so we decided to just slum it with the regular folk on the main floor. 

          As soon as we walked in we all had to go to the bathroom and obviously the line for the ladies room was out the door. We finally got to the front when this large girl pushed her way into the bathroom yelling “Sydney?!?” We turned around and she looked at us and goes, “You know when you just can’t find your friend?” Then as soon as a girl came out of a stall she ran in, cutting the line. I knew from the beginning she was lying. We were all making fun of her going “Sydney? Are you in here?” when this girl at the sink goes, “I’m Sydney.” We told her what happened with the other girl and when she came out of the stall Sydney asked, “Is that her?” If you guys were really friends I think you would know if that was her. Weird start to the night but I guess that’s Space. After that we had a lot of fun dancing and enjoying ourselves for over an hour when I ran into my friend Justin. He saw us across the crowd, called us over, and dragged us into the kitchen beneath the stage. He talked to a guy for a second and then the guy gave us VIP stamps! #connections! As soon as we entered the VIP section it was just like being at a frat. It was all people we knew in a cramped, sweaty space. The boys were out of control, being obnoxious and showy and spraying bottles of champagne everywhere. Sabrina was right in the wet zone. Someone happened to check the time and noticed it was about 2:30 am. We had to be up in 6 hours for our Pisa trip so we decided to leave. The walk home was surprisingly easy and we all went to bed immediately. I was starving though and need to make it my mission to find a late night food place here. 

        This morning was a struggle to get up but we did it and made it to the meeting spot basically on time. There was almost no one there because everyone went out the night before and couldn’t get up in time. Courtney and I somehow picked the worst seats on the bus because a girl in front of us and a girl behind us asked for a bag incase they threw up. Everyone was well. We got to Pisa in an hour and it was raining the entire time we were there. I was still starving because we didn’t have time for breakfast and then they gave us 20 minutes for lunch and to take pictures. We had to quickly eat gross pieces of pizza from a tourist trap place so we could get our typical pictures trying to hold up the tower. Then we had a one hour guided tour that was interesting but I had trouble paying attention because I was freezing in the rain and inside in the marble church buildings. I just wanted warmth. There was one cool thing in the baptistery where there was an arrow-type thing carved into the floor and if you stand on it and look where it’s pointing you see a little face carved into a column. It was like a clue from “The Da Vinci Code”. (Speaking of Da Vinci did you know that’s not really his last name? “Da Vinci” means “from Vinci” so he was Leonardo from the town of Vinci. Learning so much!) Oh and another cool thing was they demonstrated how the dome creates echoes so when you sing it sounds like instruments. 

        Everyone passed out on the bus ride home and then we were forced into another orientation meeting. You know that meme that says “Another meeting that could’ve been an email”? That’s what all of this has been. We were still starving so we stopped for the GELATO on the way home. It was the highlight of my day and I don’t even think that’s sad. I’m still hungry, I still need to shower, I still need to prepare for my interview that is in 25 hours and we are going to dinner in 45 minutes. Very, very stressed. Tomorrow we have more orientation stuff in the morning and then we have to run a bunch of errands for the apartment. I need to find free time in there somewhere. I can’t wait for Monday when I actually have nothing to do and I can just enjoy my time here peacefully. Off to shower!

[gelato-of-the-day-blog]

February 1, 2017

         Hello everyone! I want to use this blog to write about each day of the four months I’ll be spending in Europe. However, I will probably (I hope) be very busy, so I will post as often as I can. Today (Wednesday February 1, 2017) is, I guess, my second day here but the story starts on Monday. There were a lot of tears saying goodbye to my best friends (my dogs) but I made it through and was able to get to the airport in pretty good time. Both my bags were exactly 23kg which was an incredible feat until it turned out you only get one bag free even though I checked the website and it said 2. So I had to pay anyway. After getting rid of my bags and unsuccessfully ditching a selfie with my father, we said goodbye and I watched him go down an escalator while giving me a peace sign. At least he didn’t quote “Victorious”. We killed a few hours in by the gate, saw Hailey Baldwin get on a flight to Paris, and then we were off. I watched “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” on the plane and was extremely disappointed. Then I tried to sleep. I’ve come to the conclusion that I will just never in my life be able to sleep on a plane. I was extremely tired and took Valium and Melatonin and still I don’t think I slept for more than 10 minutes at a time because I had to keep readjusting my position. Those seats are just too small and uncomfortable. Unless you can sleep literally sitting up I don’t know how you could sleep on a plane. 

          We landed in Rome, customs was a breeze, and then boarded our next flight to Florence. As soon as the plane pulled out of the gate I’m pretty sure every single person on the plane was passed out. Too bad that flight was less than an hour. When we got off the plane it was the moment of truth: did our bags make it as far as we did? The first 2 flights that got in before us were not so lucky, but somehow all 55 Wells students on our flight got all of their bags. Miracles do happen. Cart and I squeezed ourselves and our 3 bags each into a cab and raced off through the streets of Florence. I know the culture is different but I’m pretty sure texting and driving is still dangerous here. Maybe even more so considering how people drive and how tiny the roads are. But I refrained from asking our cab driver to not literally read articles on his cell phone while driving us to our apartment. We almost hit like 3 cars and 15 people but we finally made it. The location of our apartment is amazing. It’s right next to the Uffizi museum, Palazzo Vecchio, and Ponte Vecchio. We can see the Palazzo Vecchio out our window. However, this is when our struggle began. 

        Our apartment is on the top floor of our building. Up maybe 7 flights of stairs, maybe more. And we each had 2 50+ pound bags, carryon, backpacks, and heavy coats. We probably spent over an hour dragging 1 bag at a time up the stairs. By the end we were all sweating, our legs were shaking, and my lower back and shoulder were killing me. I don’t see how I could possibly gain weight here if I have to walk up and down these stairs every day. Even worse, other people’s apartments have elevators. Anyway, the apartment itself is so cute and Italian looking. We have a big living room, a kitchen, 2 rooms with double beds, an empty room, and a bathroom. Sab and I are in one room (bunkmates for life) and Cart and Paige are in the other. We were all so hungry so went out to the streets to look for a place to have dinner. For some reason a lot of restaurants were closed at 8 pm on a Tuesday so we crossed the Ponte Vecchio and went to the first open place we found. We got a bottle of wine and I got gnocchi. It was absolutely amazing. I finished every last bit. I made a picture of the meal my snapchat story and multiple people responded to it saying “Omg”. We sat there for a really long time until Paige asked for the check with what turns about to be a universal hand gesture (think the scene from “Trainwreck”). We got back to the apartment and started to unpack. We don’t have great closet space so we each unpacked one suitcase, took showers, and passed out. Great discovery of the night: they have all 8 seasons of “Full House” on Netflix here! Couldn’t be happier! 

        This morning we had to meet at the Duomo at 10:45 but I could’ve slept for 5 more years. We stopped at a little café on our street on the way and Cart and I bought chocolate muffins that turned out to have Nutella on the inside! So good. I also was able to navigate our way to the Duomo based on my memory of being here in the summer of 2013. It’s all starting to come back to me the more I walk around. I already feel like I know my way around. We did our morning orientation session where they basically just scared us about all the terrible things that could happen to us while we’re here so that was really fun. Then we had a short lunch break before we had to meet back at the Duomo so we found a tiny sandwich shop right across from it. The owner of the place gave us a sample of all the meats and cheeses so we could choose what we wanted on our sandwiches. I’m trying to be adventurous here so I tried everything (including salami and ham!). For my sandwich I went with the first cheese (I can’t remember the name) and ham and then got some greens and peppers as toppings on crunchy bread. It was incredible. I ate the whole thing in 10 minutes. During the afternoon orientation I learned I could sleep with my eyes open. On the way home afterwards we stopped for GELATO! Finally! We went to Venchi (which I remembered from my last trip) and I got chocolate (shocking). We thought about running some errands but were way too tired so we just came back to the apartment. 

         This is my first down time since I left for the airport so I’m trying to enjoy it before our complimentary dinner tonight. I also just got great news because I finally checked my email. I got an interview for the summer internship at Madison Square Garden! I’m beyond excited because I already thought I didn’t get it. It will be a phone interview on Friday at 2pm home time (8pm here) so I need to try to find some time to prepare. Not really sure when that��s going to happen though with going out tonight, our day trip to Pisa tomorrow, and the rest of our orientation programs. Very stressed about it and nervous for the interview. I hope I come off #smart! Gotta leave for dinner soon so I will check back tomorrow (or as soon as I can)!  

xoxo Bagels in Florence