So I have officially been living in Italy for a couple weeks now and I finally feel like I have my bearings. There is still a lot of the city left to explore and things I want to do within Florence (food to try, monuments to see, etc..) but I feel like I have gotten the majority of the touristy stuff out of my system,  I have settled into a routine and have a pretty good idea of how to orient myself in the city (although its pretty easy if you can see the Duomo from where ever you are.) That being said, life is pretty good right now. Monday- Thursday my classes start at 11:00, I usually get up around 8:30 to start the day off right. Back in the states I could never get up that early for anything. I think while I am here, while it sounds really cliche, I am just excited to get up and see what the day has to offer and don't want to stay in bed. Once I am ready, I set off towards school out of my residential neighborhood and decide which of my favorite cafes I want to patronize that morning. Usually it is a Pasticceria called "Minni" on via Giancomini (on my way to school). This cafe has wonderful quarter sized pastries, I usually get a tiny fruit tart for breakfast and then wash it down with one of the best cappuccinos I have ever had in my life. Prior to being in Italy, I needed a lot of sugar in my coffee which made me feel like a very silly Seattleite. However, coffee here is so good I don't even usually put any in. I am also developing a really bad caffeine addiction I think... I never used to drink coffee on a regular basis but I have not gone a day yet where I haven't had a least one... if not two... cappuccinos. This won't be a huge problem when I come home and can go to local coffee shops like Vita, Vivace, and the Victrola. However, when I have to go back to Los Angeles... coffee there is dismal. And apparently I am turning into a pretentious coffee snob... 

Anyways. 

I go to school and my classes are really interesting and fun. It's  really great to be in the middle of the subjects I am learning about, and also really intimidating. It's one thing to critique and throw out your opinions about art/architecture in class when it is thousands of miles away but when here, when we go on site visits and the art is right in front of you, its can get pretty overwhelming. But that is the amazing part, knowing that the pieces really do exist and being able to take them in for what they actually are in their full form. I also had never seen a real fresco before (if you don't know what a fresco is, it's a painting done on walls from wet plaster that dry to become part of the wall). After having seen a few of them now in churches, I am in complete awe of Renaissance painters. It already boggles my mind the detail and intricacy that goes into a panel painting but these frescos seem to take it a step further as they span entire walls, are on a time frame as they need to be finished before the plaster dries, and also I have trouble hanging things evenly from the wall yet these painters were able to paint scenes with such precision at strange angles. 

I got side tracked, I was talking about classes. 

Then, if I have time I head towards the Duomo to get a panino. My favorite is a prosciutto crudo with mozzarella and lettuce from a Cafe called Coronas. 

After school, I am going to be volunteering by reading "Green Eggs and Ham" to little italian children every so often, also taking a class on Gnocchi that the school offers, and I also joined a gym that I am proud to say I have gone to the past two days I have been a member. 

Last week I went to Siena and Pienza for my first day trip around Italy. That was interesting to be able to compare another city to Florence. Florence is much flatter, and while I complain that florence seems so much less spacious than American cities, Siena is even tighter except for its huge piazza (which is shell /amphitheater shaped and realllllly cool.) Pienza is a tiny little town built by Pope Pius II that was done in only 4 years. It never grew after that because the Pope died so there was no one left to patronize it. It was really cool to see my first small Italian town. They specialize in Pecorino cheese... I definitely got a huge hunk of that and ate it on the bus ride home. 

Over all, life is really great here and I am feeling very independent and happy.