Wow, that was a horrible title, but I’m sticking to my guns and keeping it (aka I am too tired to try to think of something better.

Moving on.

Last weekend, Carter and I took a short trip to Florence. It is quite close to Ferrara via train, so we left Saturday morning and got home on Sunday night. After buying tickets for one train, and going rogue by hopping on a different one (seriously, no one checks tickets, as long as you aren’t on Eurostar or in 1st class, you’re good), we arrived in Firenze around 10:30. Thanks to my awesome Lonely Planet guide to Italy (thanks Leigh!) we navigated ourselves to the COOLEST hostel in Florence, Ostello degli Archi Rossi. We left our bags in a storage room until check in, and headed out to explore the city. Our first destination was Museo Accademia, aka home of the David. It was quite exciting to see the David in person, and I even got 3 good, illegal pictures of it! After Accademia we ate lunch at an AMAZING hole in the wall panini shop, I Fratellini. Good God, these sandwiches were great. 2,50 euro a pop on delicious homemade bread… mmmmmm. We finished up our lunch with tasty gelato from Perche No? (Hard to go wrong with gelato, obviously, but I found this place to be particularly good).

On Saturday we also toured the Medici Castle. I’d have to rate this as one of the best things to do in Florence, because it is an amazing building full of beautiful art, and you can get a great view of the city and mountains, all only for 4,50 euro. Afterwards we wandered the city some more, and went back to check in to the hostel. If you ever go to Florence, you MUST stay at this place. The walls are decorated with murals done by local art students, and there are certain walls which have been left painted white so that guests can sign and draw whatever they want (no dirty words!). It was really amazing to see what everyone had done, from giving advice (like, don’t pay to see the David, go to the exit of the museum and look through the window), to creating amazing designs, to repping their home country. I think I took more pictures of artwork in the hostel than I did of priceless works of classical art. No big.

On Sunday we started the day with our awesome breakfast at the hostel (they served us eggs… Italians don’t really eat much more than bread and coffee for breakfast, so it was a really nice change). Then we set out to see Ponte Vecchio, literally Old Bridge. And that is all it is, mostly, but we saw it, and took pictures… hooray tourism! Then we set out for the beautiful Boboli Gardens. There is an interlude of about an hour in which we kept walking past the castle with the gardens and not realizing it, but we eventually made it, and I am so glad we did because the gardens were gorgeous. I think that Grannie Karen would have loved to have seen them. Florence was really fun, but I found myself missing Ferrara. It was nice to just be a tourist, without responsibilities, but I am really getting attached to this place.

This week has been wonderful in Ferrara. I have been loving getting to know my new apartment mates, and meeting a lot of new people. Its so cool to come home in the middle of the day and to be greeted by homemade espresso and lunch with my roommates. :)

On Tuesday, I went with Stefano and Carter to Tsunami for a happy hour Erasmus event. It was so much fun to get to meet a lot of the other international students. I keep meeting a lot of Spanish people, (they are the majority of the Erasmus population), and they are always very fun and interesting.

Last night (Wednesday), Carter’s roommates invited us to go to a barbeque hosted by some of their friends, under the condition that we would help cook (because since we’re American we are obviously naturally good at grilling). While this may or may not be true, the point was moot because once we got to the apartment we realized that there was no grill, rather a fire pit…. um. I have no idea how to build a fire, and neither did anyone else, really, so after some time and a lot of effort we got the coals burning and the party really began. The get together was hosted in a magically beautiful Italian apartment with a huge backyard. Part of the yard was paved and had a makeshift table built with sawhorses and an old door, part is a vegetable garden, and the rest of the garden was lit with candles and christmas lights. There were seats and cushions set out under the lighted trees so that people could sit and chat. It was amazing. Carter and I grilled for part of the night, but then we were relieved by some kind soul, so we were able to enjoy really good food (homemade pizza, calzones, pasta, quiche, and grilled meat), wine, and company. Most of the guests were architecture students, which translates, as far as I have seen, to the “hipster” crowd. Everyone had amazing style and something interesting to talk about (I even met a girl who was wearing a threadless shirt!). It was such a wonderful time.

There is something so nice about being here and having the opportunity to really live the culture. As fun as it was to be a tourist in Florence, I feel so lucky that the Italian students I have met are so welcoming. It can be nerve wracking to be one of only two non-Italians at a party, but everyone has been so nice and eager to talk to me and Carter about our experiences and our points of view. I have only been here for a month, but I can already tell that my connections with this city and its people will run deep, and that when December rolls around it will be hard to say goodbye.

(?)