I'm finally here!

After lots of issues with plane tickets and hotels, I'm finally here in Florence!

The city is absolutely beautiful. The first morning I was here, we went on a walking tour of the city. The first sight of the Duomo absolutely takes your breath away. We saw all of the major attractions in the downtown area, including the Piazza della Signoria, the Ponte Vecchio, and the Piazza della Reppublica. Everything is much closer together than I thought it would be, but it's still a lot of walking!

I'm all settled into my apartment. We're about a 20 minute walk north of the Duomo. The apartment is spacious with really high ceilings, but the furniture is obviously meant for transient students. Still, we have everything we need, including a kitchen. All of my roommates are really great, and we all love to cook! We're going to be Italian chefs by the time we leave!

One of my favorite things to do is shop at the market. The Mercato Centrale is very close by. It's an Art Deco building that was built in the late 1800s. There are two floors. On the ground floor are the butchers and cheese sellers, as well as some restaurants. On the top floor are th fruits, nuts, and vegetables. It's a lot of fun comparing prices at the various stands and buying things at each one! Plus, you get to interact with lots of people. I'm picking Italian up pretty quickly, and I already try and order everything in Italian. Plus, the food is fresh and quite cheap, so I don't feel like I'm spending too much!

Saturday we took a cooking class from professional chefs. We learned to make gnocchi, ragu, caprese, and tiramisu. Best of all, we got to eat it afterward! It was delicious and a lot of fun.

Sunday, the roomies and I went to the Boboli gardens in the morning. Located behind the Pitti Palace, they're really extensive and quite beautiful. The views of the city are amazing, since it's all uphill. Check out my photo album. Sunday afternoon I saw the Uffizi gallery, Florence's largest art museum. Housed there are "The Birth of Venus," "The Madonna with the Long Neck," and "The Venus of Urbino" (which was my favorite.) BONUS: We have a museum card, so our entry to all of these places is free!

Today was the first day of classes, and I'm really excited. I can't wait to meet all of my professors and find out what the classes are going to be like. I still have textbooks to buy and dinner to make, so I'm going to go now.

Love,

Katie