going to Rome tomorrow morning for the weekend with Sarah, Marah and Annie. i have to be at the train station at 7:30 am! yikes...should be a good time though. I'll post pictures Sunday/Monday.
also, i had the BEST almond gelato today from a place called Grom. it had actual little pieces of almonds in it. i guess they have a bunch of locations, even in the U.S...they have seasonal sorbetto too so all of the fruit they use is super fresh and it looks like it's from they're own organic farm? check out the website http://www.grom.it/eng/index.htm ...yum yum yum.
ciao!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Visuals I
This is Piazza Signoria at night, the shadows are pretty dramatic.
This is the Arno, kinda murky but pretty none the less.
This is Santa Croce, it's huge inside, much bigger than you would think.
This is a statue of Dante that's right to the left (our left) of Santa Croce when facing it. Pretty intense.
Last Thursday-Sunday there was a chocolate festival in Piazza Santa Croce (infront of the church). All these chocolatiers and venders from around Italy came to Florence to showcase and sell their goodies. It was incredible and gave me the best stomach ache I've ever had.
The view from the vender tents up at Santa Croce, that's me and my friend Marah...I stole this one from my friend Meg.
Yummmm
How cute are these?
And these...little chocolate mice on chocolate cheese.
Me, very happy and very full.
On another note, this is my school. It's pretty, but it doesn't beat Baskin Engineering.
These are EVERYWHERE and becoming quite a problem for me. Haribo=heaven.
This is the devil cat I live with, Canaponne. It's super senial and tries to attack me on a daily basis. Look at it's devil eyeballs. In front of it is a vegetable torte that my host mama Luigina made. Delish.
This is me and my roomate Sarah...
And this is me and Marah...she's actually ridiculous...convinced 5 Italian guys to "get low" during that song when we went to some dance club/bar...it was amazing.
Evidence of project "get low" even though it's hard to tell,they all did it. She had them wrapped around her finger. Never would have happened in America...stole this from Sarah.
Found this store on a random street Sunday, hence why it's closed: "Who Jah Bless. Jesus is the Winner"...I'll have to go back.
Another store...racist much?
Well this took my forever so I think that's enough for now.
This is the Arno, kinda murky but pretty none the less.
This is Santa Croce, it's huge inside, much bigger than you would think.
This is a statue of Dante that's right to the left (our left) of Santa Croce when facing it. Pretty intense.
Last Thursday-Sunday there was a chocolate festival in Piazza Santa Croce (infront of the church). All these chocolatiers and venders from around Italy came to Florence to showcase and sell their goodies. It was incredible and gave me the best stomach ache I've ever had.
The view from the vender tents up at Santa Croce, that's me and my friend Marah...I stole this one from my friend Meg.
Yummmm
How cute are these?
And these...little chocolate mice on chocolate cheese.
Me, very happy and very full.
On another note, this is my school. It's pretty, but it doesn't beat Baskin Engineering.
These are EVERYWHERE and becoming quite a problem for me. Haribo=heaven.
This is the devil cat I live with, Canaponne. It's super senial and tries to attack me on a daily basis. Look at it's devil eyeballs. In front of it is a vegetable torte that my host mama Luigina made. Delish.
This is me and my roomate Sarah...
And this is me and Marah...she's actually ridiculous...convinced 5 Italian guys to "get low" during that song when we went to some dance club/bar...it was amazing.
Evidence of project "get low" even though it's hard to tell,they all did it. She had them wrapped around her finger. Never would have happened in America...stole this from Sarah.
Found this store on a random street Sunday, hence why it's closed: "Who Jah Bless. Jesus is the Winner"...I'll have to go back.
Another store...racist much?
Well this took my forever so I think that's enough for now.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
La Prima Settimana: Eating for Two
Ciao!!! So I decided to make a blog because in the end it just seems like the most practical thing to do in order to keep you fools up to date on my life here in Italy. I'll still be sending actual letters cause it's fun and I don't want to put EVERY detail on this.
Alright, so it's been exactly a week today that I've been here and it's wonderful to say the least. Adjusting to the time change was shitty cause Italy is nine hours ahead of California, but I think it's safe to say that I'm on the right schedule now. I took a group flight out of JFK in New York and met three really chill girls on my flight, Meg, Amanda, and Sarah. When we got to Florence we stayed in a hotel for the first two nights and us four girls all roomed together which was super fun. The second night Meg and I decided to take a walk around Florence...cool that we ended up walking to the complete other side of the city. We crossed the Arno (the river), look on a map and you'll understand. We ended up going into a pizza place and asking for directions and they basically laughed at us and called us a cab haha...woops. Needless to say, everyone is suuuper nice here, even to Americans. The weather here is in the 40s-50s and I'm so cold. All my friends are from the east coast and think I'm crazy. They walk around in fleeces and I look like I'm about hit the slopes haha.
This past Thursday we were assigned our homestays(who was our roomate and with what family we would be living with). I was freaking out, totally avoiding looking at the list they had posted with all the info, when I get a call from my friend Sarah telling me that we were roomates. TOTAL coincidence, pretty crazy. She's super cool though, goes to Williams college, plays soccer for their team, really laid back and fun. We were placed with the sweetest lady named Luigina. She's in her mid-sixties and lives 15 minutes away,walking, from our school. We have a huge room that we share, with plenty of closet/shelf space,thank god, and a large desk for two. The only bad thing is that our room is freezing and since utilities are really expensive here they don't really put on the heat. Basically I wear eight layers 24/7. She makes really yummy food but gives me huuuge portions, more than her and sarah haha. I told her that I love food but I have a small stomach, so I think she got the hint haha.
Our neighborhood is really nice too. It's farther away from the city center where it's touristy and more hectic/unsafe at night. Sarah and I went exploring around our home the other day and we came across this little knitting shop on a corner with an equally small saleswoman. No joke, this woman was around 80 years old and probably four feet tall. She spoke no English whatsoever but we managed to buy some yarn and now we're making scarves haha. Our house has no internet and the TV is kind of hard to watch since it's in Italian, so we thought it would be fun to have something to do when we weren't going out or doing homework. Plus it was just kind of cool to connect with the people in our neighborhood. I'm going to take a picture with the little lady eventually and post it, I just have to wait till I have an excuse to go back there haha.
The guys here are out of control, the Italian guys that is. I have never laughed so hard in my life. This past weekend a bunch of us went out to this place that was a bar at ground level but a dance club downstairs. My friends and I decided to go downstairs and check it out and we ended up sitting down there since it was more entertaining. By entertaining I mean hilarious and at some points embarrassing. So here I am, sitting on a couch against a wall, minding my own business, when I look up and I notice that standing three feet infront of me is an Italian guy. He's actually not just standing, but rather doing a little side step, left to right,FACING me, and LOOKING right at me. This went on for about two songs, no joke and was probably one of the more awkward things I've encountered in my life. Not only could I not look up (if you do they'll advance toward you and think you want to dance), but I couldn't stop laughing(this actually encourages them cause they think it's a positive response). Another guy decided to give me the back view while doing a little side step just for me...the jeans couldn't have been tighter. It's seriously like an SNL skit from back when Will Farrell and Chris Katan were in it.I was not wooed. Although you'd be surprised at how many girls are, not my friends here, but sooo many others. It brings shame to the young female American population...oy.
Anyway, this was an epic first post but I wanted to fill you all in. I'm having a great time but I miss all of you so much. And almost unbelievably, I miss Santa Cruz alot. Eat burrito and laugh at a hipster for me. If you feel so compelled to write me a letter, my address is:
Kelly Broffman
Syracuse University in Florence
Piazza Savonarola,15
50132 Firenze
Italia
xoxo,
gossip girl
Alright, so it's been exactly a week today that I've been here and it's wonderful to say the least. Adjusting to the time change was shitty cause Italy is nine hours ahead of California, but I think it's safe to say that I'm on the right schedule now. I took a group flight out of JFK in New York and met three really chill girls on my flight, Meg, Amanda, and Sarah. When we got to Florence we stayed in a hotel for the first two nights and us four girls all roomed together which was super fun. The second night Meg and I decided to take a walk around Florence...cool that we ended up walking to the complete other side of the city. We crossed the Arno (the river), look on a map and you'll understand. We ended up going into a pizza place and asking for directions and they basically laughed at us and called us a cab haha...woops. Needless to say, everyone is suuuper nice here, even to Americans. The weather here is in the 40s-50s and I'm so cold. All my friends are from the east coast and think I'm crazy. They walk around in fleeces and I look like I'm about hit the slopes haha.
This past Thursday we were assigned our homestays(who was our roomate and with what family we would be living with). I was freaking out, totally avoiding looking at the list they had posted with all the info, when I get a call from my friend Sarah telling me that we were roomates. TOTAL coincidence, pretty crazy. She's super cool though, goes to Williams college, plays soccer for their team, really laid back and fun. We were placed with the sweetest lady named Luigina. She's in her mid-sixties and lives 15 minutes away,walking, from our school. We have a huge room that we share, with plenty of closet/shelf space,thank god, and a large desk for two. The only bad thing is that our room is freezing and since utilities are really expensive here they don't really put on the heat. Basically I wear eight layers 24/7. She makes really yummy food but gives me huuuge portions, more than her and sarah haha. I told her that I love food but I have a small stomach, so I think she got the hint haha.
Our neighborhood is really nice too. It's farther away from the city center where it's touristy and more hectic/unsafe at night. Sarah and I went exploring around our home the other day and we came across this little knitting shop on a corner with an equally small saleswoman. No joke, this woman was around 80 years old and probably four feet tall. She spoke no English whatsoever but we managed to buy some yarn and now we're making scarves haha. Our house has no internet and the TV is kind of hard to watch since it's in Italian, so we thought it would be fun to have something to do when we weren't going out or doing homework. Plus it was just kind of cool to connect with the people in our neighborhood. I'm going to take a picture with the little lady eventually and post it, I just have to wait till I have an excuse to go back there haha.
The guys here are out of control, the Italian guys that is. I have never laughed so hard in my life. This past weekend a bunch of us went out to this place that was a bar at ground level but a dance club downstairs. My friends and I decided to go downstairs and check it out and we ended up sitting down there since it was more entertaining. By entertaining I mean hilarious and at some points embarrassing. So here I am, sitting on a couch against a wall, minding my own business, when I look up and I notice that standing three feet infront of me is an Italian guy. He's actually not just standing, but rather doing a little side step, left to right,FACING me, and LOOKING right at me. This went on for about two songs, no joke and was probably one of the more awkward things I've encountered in my life. Not only could I not look up (if you do they'll advance toward you and think you want to dance), but I couldn't stop laughing(this actually encourages them cause they think it's a positive response). Another guy decided to give me the back view while doing a little side step just for me...the jeans couldn't have been tighter. It's seriously like an SNL skit from back when Will Farrell and Chris Katan were in it.I was not wooed. Although you'd be surprised at how many girls are, not my friends here, but sooo many others. It brings shame to the young female American population...oy.
Anyway, this was an epic first post but I wanted to fill you all in. I'm having a great time but I miss all of you so much. And almost unbelievably, I miss Santa Cruz alot. Eat burrito and laugh at a hipster for me. If you feel so compelled to write me a letter, my address is:
Kelly Broffman
Syracuse University in Florence
Piazza Savonarola,15
50132 Firenze
Italia
xoxo,
gossip girl
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