We went on a day excursion to Lucca, a town outside of Florence. There we walked around the city. Josh, his roommates Evan and Pete, their friend Savana and I walked around Lucca. We found a fabulous pizzeria and gellato shop! After our snack, we rented bikes. Lucca is a medieval city with very narrow streets and is largely pedestrian. The medieval walls around the city are about three stories high and are several meters wide. On the top of the walls, there...

Easter in Florence is an Extravaganza! I went to a 10am Catholic Church service in the Duomo with my roomies, Josh, and his buddy Mike. After church (which was in ITALIAN! So I only understood some of it), we went outside the church and watched the parade and cart event! In Florence since forever, every Easter they have a parade with a HUGE cart (12 feet tall?) that is drawn by two white ox. The ox are lead away when the cart reaches the Duomo. The cart is HEAV...

On Saturday, April 3, I took a 15 minute bus ride with my friend Ashley to Fiesole, a town just north of Florence. Fiesole is an adorable small town that is on a hill overlooking Florence. We had the most breathtaking views of Florence from there. You can see down to the city center and off to the mountains on the other side of the city (where Piazza Michelangelo is that I like to run to). We walked around town, enjoying the quiet. Tons of tourists had come...

I'm feeling under the weather this week. The random rainstorms brought a cold to give to me, which is a bummer. Yesterday I went to the pharmacy to buy cough drops to suck on - hopefully it will help a bit while I'm in class - I'm also making sure to take remedies that Papi sent with me (I did bring almost an entire pharmacy with me when I arrived!). Yesterday I went on a really fun run with my friend Josh. We ran along the river, up to Piazza Michelangelo an...

I'm now back in Florence and school has resumed. I received my Flamenco midterm back as well as my Italian and Renaissance Civilization and Culture class midterms. To my surprise, I did well on all three. I though for sure I didn't do too well on the Flamenco one, but I remembered more than I thought! Today I will have yoga club again (which I'm really enjoying). The class is so relaxing. Some days are more workout style and others focus more on relaxation te...