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After spending almost a week in London, I have now returned home. For the time being, I will be staying in my room to quarantine since it is a mandatory travel requirement. My schooling will continue online, and I should be graduating on track. I’m upset that my trip abroad has been cut short, but I have some unposted travel experiences that I am excited to share! Thanks for being an audience and I’m sure I will share some more about my crazy and hectic past few weeks that I have experienced. For now, a dopo Firenze!

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I have midterms next week, but after midterms, I am planning on going spring break. Venice again, Lake Como, Cinque Terre, Genoa, Positano in 10 days. I am going with a friend, and pictures will be uploaded of the following events.

As of thus far, I am studying for my anthropology, history, and Italian courses. I plan on studying by going to visit the corresponding museums to the art pieces I have to study for Cultural History of Florence and some famous geographic locations to study for Political and Economic history of Europe class.

The weather is an absolutely beautiful 60 degree weather day. No cloud is in the sky. Happy Valentine’s Day to all, and I love you very much!!!

Hot air balloon past the duomo and cathedral depicting the beauty of the day.

Word of the Day: biglietti- tickets

Fact of the Day: Hitler loved the Ponte Vecchio so much that he decided not to bomb it in WWII because the art was simply too beautiful (justified being an artist himself ). Instead he bombed both sides of the city to show the power of the Nazi regime.

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Inside of the baptistery of the Duomo. Byzantium style dome proving that Greek influence is ever present in every aspect of Renaissance life.

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A picture of Ikarus that was sculpted on the original side of the Duomo making it ironic due to the nature of the church being religious and resisting paganism. The Duomo now is filled with replicas of these amazing stones sculpted by Pisano.

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St. John the Baptist’s Finger as well as a tomb dedicated to his story

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A beautiful view of the Duomo from the Duomo Museum

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The real doors of the baptistery as depicted by Ghiberti

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Dogs of Venice

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Siena Cathedral

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San Gimignano

Pictured is the best gelato that exists in the universe! Gelateria Dondoli in San Gimignano

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Me recreating Niko’s pic, my roomate (Alex) , and me again!

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We are our own gondoliers and cantanti!!

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Rialto Market, Venezia, IT

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Punta della Dogana, Venice, IT

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Catching up

So busy! I apologize for not posting in a while but it has been a very hectic week! I was sick for virtually the entire week, and I was trying to manage that. Side note: if you take one drop of oregano oil in a shot glass with water, it will cure you of a sore throat and Mae you feel better during illness.

I am going to try to post when I am on transportation to chip away the time! Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to go to Siena and San Gimignano where I had the absolute best gelato in the world. The gelateria has won world gelato competitions, so our program leaders recommended it to us! I had saffron, passion fruit, grapefruit, and pistachio gelato! It was so good that we went for a second time! Siena was fun because we got to inside the church of St. Catherine of Siena and went inside of the Siena of Cathedral. It is some of the most beautiful internal designs of a church that I have seen! Surprisingly, there are a lot of historical elements to that church including works of Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, and Donatello in the same room! I saw some landmarks of some famous Papakirk pictures, and it made me so happy to take such a great with the entire family a few years ago.

After taking a day trip to Siena with my program, 3 girls and I went to Venice for the weekend. Since they had never been, I let them guide the trip to see the tourist attractions and main spots in Venice. We ate at this great place called il Parlamento (2 nights in a row), and I had 3 cappuccini at this place called the Torrefazione Cannaregio which also happened to be the best cappucino I have had. Venice overall has a better food scene than Florence in my opinion. We also did the Venetian tapas called cicchetti which were really delicious!

Venice looks well after all the flooding that occurred over the summer. I was honestly worried that such a beautiful city would be damaged by the waters. Fortunately, everything was as beautiful as I remember it being. The girls and I rode a gondola, bought some Murano glass, and admired the Rialto Market. San Marco remains busy and filled with pigeons, the canals remain skewed and beautiful, and the people as sweet as ever.

As I am speaking to you now, I am on a bus on my way to Milan. The public transportation makes me so happy, and it has become a lot easier to understand the more that we use it. Milan should be fun! Some bucket list items are the Last Supper and to see Vittorio Emanuele II Galleria. I also would like to check out some shopping and enjoy the city life. From what I have heard, it’s a lot faster pace than Florence and is more similar to a United States city like New York. I am extremely excited. Well that is it for now! Pictures from the past week are soon to follow!

Fact of the day: Siena is divided into 16 districts similar to the hunger games. Whatever district they are born in, they get inducted to their district and are assigned a scarf and a mascot. My favorite district was the Forest District for obvious reasons.

Word of the day: albero~ tree

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Hike to Monte Ceceri

Yesterday, my friends and I went on a hike to Monte Ceceri with our program leader. It is by a little city called Fiesole just outside of Florence that has incredible hiking and views. Our program leader said it was just a little walk, but it had the hiking terrain equivalent to Polimnio waterfalls but on an incredible uphill climb. Our program leader’s dog, Navi, came along for the ride, and he was making these incredible almost wolf-like runs every time he threw a stick. What a gorgeous Golden Retriever!

Mistakenly, I didn’t wear my hiking shoes since it was an uphill climb. Our program leader said it is quite uncommon for Italians to get out and exercise through hiking. While they are sporty when it comes to soccer games, they don’t actually hike throughout the countryside or really explore nature. However, we did see an 80-year-old lady doing the entire trail which was quite impressive being that she had a cane and how dangerous the hike felt.

There is a bit of historical significance to the climb. When Florence was bombed in World War 2, soldiers retreated to the caves and dense forest that characterize Monte Ceceri. Up until a few years ago, they could still find weapons in bullets hanging around in the cave. Additionally, it is said to be the place of Leonardo da Vinci’s first flight for his experiments.

The 9-mile hike was finished at the best pizza I have ever had in my life, called San Domenico’s Pizzeria. My friends and I got four different pizze, and we each got a slice, so we could try as much of the menu as we could (post about the best pizza in the world will come shortly). After finishing our meal, we headed back home on the bus (public transit) and went home at about 4 o’clock. Each of my friends took a nap that lasted till about 8 o’clock, and we decided to get sushi at 9 o’clock at our favorite sushi restaurant. After that, we all headed home and went back to sleep to cure our exhaustion.

Words of the Day: Navi: snow  Cecero: goose

Fact of the Day: The entire point of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian man is to encapsulate the wholeness and appreciation of the human body. In conjunction, his theory of proportion can be executed simply by drawing a large circle on your wall and measuring yourself to see if you are proportional ;)

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The city around me!

To paint my everyday scene, I walk down a flight of stairs, exit my indoor gate, and walk down a long hallway to reach the outside. Nextdoor to my apartment, there is a small caffè, across the street is a dog park, and on the other side is a bookstore. I live three blocks from the Piazza Santa Croce, 5 blocks from the Arno River, 10 minutes away from Duomo, 6 minutes away from school, and 2 minutes from the Sant’Ambrogio market. Thus far, I have really been able to enjoy Florence. Tourism is present, but not noticeable, and it makes the city that much sweeter.

The art and architecture around me are phenomenal. Italy rarely destroys art due to the strong sentiment of preserving their culture, so all the buildings are old but adapted. In fact, my school has frescos on the ceiling, has smart boards on the walls, and lives in an ancient piazza. Older buildings and newer buildings work in conjunction with one another, and this brings a variety of people to these neighborhoods from all types of backgrounds and goals.

Quite honestly, this city is an urban planner's dream. Mixed-use housing that characterizes every building around the city center. The ability to walk to the super mercado that is 2 minutes away at any point in the day. Being able to have olio tartufo (or as we know it, truffle oil) being freshly created in front of you while you wait for a panino. The little old signori that walk hand in hand down the cobblestone path as people walk, bike, and drive around them being careful as to watch where they are going.

After I attend school, I make my daily trip to the 99 cent store because it is the only place I have been able to find school supplies, and quite frankly, the only place that sells basic house supplies. The girl that works there is already starting to recognize me. After I leave the 99 cents store, I run around looking for a milk frother for my morning cappuccino. Stumbling upon an appliance store run by 3 old non-English speaking men, I try to communicate that all I want in my morning coffee is a little of schiuma (foam). They give me a hand pumping milk frother. I run home to get away from the brisk weather that continuously gets colder when it gets dark around five.

I go through 4 keys to open 4 doors (often getting each one of them wrong) to get to my apartment (very similar to the security of Fort Knox). I jump into bed as soon as I can to rest from the long walks of the morning and 3-hour classes that took place earlier. After I start making a bowl of tomato soup from scratch, I realize I am missing key ingredients like flour to make the soup thick and a food processor to make my ingredients liquid. So tired from hand puréeing my tomatoes since technology does not exist in Italy, I just sit at the table and settle with a clementine that will substitute my well-planned dinner poorly shopped for dinner. After that is finished, I head off to bed, restless, as the next day is to come and I start over again at the beginning.

Fact of the day: Santa Maria Novella was the first great basilica in Florence. (A subjective fact: it is out of this world beautiful)

Word of the Day: farina: flour