My First Few Days in Florence - Molto Bella

After traveling a few thousand miles I finally made it to Florence! I left Boston the night of Sunday September 2nd and arrived the next day in the afternoon. I haven't had much down time with orientation and exploring the city but I have a few hours so here I go! My apartment is about a block away from the Santa Maria Novella church, which is also very close to the train station. I'm hoping to volunteer regularly giving tours and talking about art with tourists at the Santa Maria Novella, the Duomo and some of the other churches around Florence. I also signed up to volunteer at our own SACI gallery helping to put up visiting artists' exhibitions, as well as at a children's library close by.

SACI's main building where most of my classes will be held is about a five minute walk from my apartment which is amazing because there are other students who have to walk much farther. Speaking of walking - I feel like I could eat gelato three times a day and still lose weight, we walk absolutely everywhere and it's great exercise. The weather has been perfect, about 80 degrees everyday and only a little bit humid, but it's not the 90+ degree days that I remember from when my mom and I traveled around Italy last summer.

I will be taking High Renaissance Art History (which has a classroom portion and an on-site part so it is considered two classes) from Helen Watterson, who actually also taught my advisor at DU, Scott Montgomery. This is the class I am most excited for, as I hear she is one of the best art history professors around. I will also be taking Museology, and Italian Fashion Design. In addition, I signed up for a cooking class which is held every Wednesday night and only cost me eight euros. I think my parents should be impressed by how little I am spending - I'm shocked and proud of myself and I'm hoping I can keep it up! (obviously I haven't hit the stores.. yet)

Now on to the best part - the FOOD! In my first few days here I have eaten some of the best food of my life. A favorite of mine already is a caprese salad (with buffalo mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes, basil, and some of the most delicious balsamic vinegar in the world) that I had from a restaurant my roommates and I went to on our first night here, along with the chocolate mousse gelato from non other than Gelateria La Carraia, a short 10 minute walk from my apartment and across the Arno River. Their gelato is what I think my mom was most excited for me to experience coming back to Florence and I'm sure she is jealous of how often I will probably indulge there. The wine is delicious and I'm hoping to expand my knowledge and appreciation of wine while I'm here, after all Tuscany has some of the best wine on earth (and it's pretty cheap)!

Here are some photos I took walking around with my iPhone, I will upload more pictures soon (and from my new fancy camera, too!) That's it for now, I start classes tomorrow and I'll try to post as often as I can, I want to make sure I remember absolutely everything... Ciao for now!