Well I finally have a moment to update the blog! School has been keeping me very busy. I have my first graded teaching lesson tomorrow (there are 3 total). And I had my first 'real' student today (usually it's other classmates pretending they don't know english). There are multiple papers, interviews, portfolios and grammar to work on every day! I have been able to fit in some fun times though! The first weekend I didn't really write about but I went out with some classmates to apertivo, it's like Italian happy hour, you buy a drink and then help yourself to free buffet all night! I was soooo full but still managed to make it to an Italian karaoke bar which was pretty cool. There was an even mixture of Italian and American songs being sung. 2 classmates did have the courage to go up and sing a song, I have pictures up of that up, I did not do any singing. Sunday I took the long walk up to piazzale michelangelo, which you can see from the pictures has an amazing view of the entire city and country side. It was quite a hike up to the top but the Italians are very clever people and have about 5 gelateria's right at the top :) I spent a lot of time at the top just enjoying the beautiful day and people watching, then wandered the city a bit more, I love all the tiny little side streets.

This past weekend one of my roommates, Hailey and I took a day trip to Pisa and Lucca. It as about an hour train ride to Pisa. Pisa is a small city so we pretty much went straight to the leaning tower, which exceeded my expectations. It was beautiful. I tried to hold up the tower however we couldn't get it just right :) (see pictures). We then hopped on a bus to Lucca, another small town about 30 minutes from Pisa. There are no 'sights' to see in Lucca but it is an older hill town with a wall surrounding the entire city center. It was a perfect day to just wander the streets, have a leisurely lunch and 'just be' in Italy. The train ride back to Florence from Lucca was about an hour and a half, not bad, I don't mind the trains (buses are what I hate:).

I almost forgot about the most important thing, Thanksgiving! It was great, as good of a thanksgiving away from home as I could have hoped for. The girl that lives/works for the landlord had her sister in town, they made the most delicious turkey and chicken (so good). I made Suzy's famous artichoke dip (they are still raving about it!), we had sweet potatos, mashed potatoes and amazing desserts. I really missed being home but it was a good time.

Oh and I am now a regular at Dante's, the pizzeria on the corner. I go in there so often Dante usually greets me with a smile and limoncello. It's great pizza!

That's about all I have for now, I will try to update more often I promise! :)

Miss you, Love you- Coly