The Sweet Life...My first week in Italy

Hi everyone!

I'm officially an Italian- I have eaten delicious pizza and drink wine instead of water with meals, I have perfected my pronunciation of "grazie," and bartered with the locals to purchase a gorgeous authentic black leather purse. And now that I've been here for 5 days I've finally pulled my life together for a moment to begin my blog! I can't help but feel like Julie in the movie Julie and Julia. Who will read this? Is anyone out there? Hopefully this will be a great way for everyone back home to keep up with my adventures and let me know there's still life over the ocean by leaving me some comments :)

The beginning of the journey was quite eventful with the blizzard that hit southern Wisconsin and Chicago the night before my plane was supposed to take off. Thanks to my dad, we made it safely to the airport in Chicago (with one stop at Culvers for my last butterburger (!)). After a bittersweet goodbye to my parents I was on my way with my life packed into 2 suitcases and a backpack. The first flight was not delayed on the schedule, but due to the time it took to de-ice the plane, the 9 other students from my program and I missed our connecting flight in Munich. We had no trouble finding a different flight into Florence, and after a quick wait in the airport we were in the air again. Seeing the Alps from the plane and the green countryside of Italy was unreal! Although it was dark by the time we left the airport via taxi to the villa and couldn't see Florence, we had made it to our new home without any major crises!

I live in an historic and massive Villa surrounded by gardens that are world-renown. I've nicknamed it Hogwarts because of the great number of staircases that just seem to appear every time I explore. Inside the villa is a dining hall, 4 libraries, a computer room, many classrooms, a study lounge, and a large basement with a tv space and room to hang out and play games. I share a bedroom with a great girl named Kayla. Our room is situated in a cluster of other rooms, so that a few of us share a bathroom, closet, and refrigerator. The view from our window is phenomenal, overlooking the gardens of the Villa and the countryside of Sesto. Everyone in the program gets along really well. We change up who we eat with at dinner to talk with everyone, chat about travel until too late at night, and someone even paid 25 dollars so that we could watch the Packer game in real time video on the computer...too bad the Pack let us down!

To clarify, the city I live in is actually not Florence. Sesto Fiorentino is located 6 roman miles outside the center of Florence. This works out to my advantage as I get the benefits of living in a "real Italian town" and being close enough to travel into the more "tourist-friendly" city of Florence.

Bruno, our chef keeps me full with the most gourmet meals anyone could wish for. Some of the dishes I've eaten include pasta, pasta, pasta, and oh yeah...dessert. I am not joking, I am living in a swimmer's paradise filled with piles of noodles and loaves of bread. Breakfast usually consists of fresh bread with homemade peanut butter and cherry jelly, juicy oranges, and if you really want to get crazy...cornflakes :) Lunch is the main meal of the day and is served in courses. Soup or salad is first, followed by a type of meat drenched in a sauce and fresh vegetables. Dinner is a pasta dish, and dessert. My favorite has been a cake-like dessert with pear and apple filling, drizzled with a custard topping and finished with powdered sugar. Or maybe it was yesterday's crepes filled with cheese and spinach. Or maybe it was... :) I am always a member of the clean plate club.

Sesto is adorable. It has everything you need, including a supermarket, post office, shopping, the Coop (aka Italy's Walmart), running paths, and restaurants/bars. Our first night out, we went to a bar called the Drunken Ladder (commonly referred to as Drunk) where the locals play board games at the tables and American music plays overhead. We have also tried out a wine bar, but decided against going back for awhile as each bottle of wine was 30 euro (equal to about 44 dollars!!!) Right now is the "sale" of the year. In Italy, the days following Christmas and before January 20th are the only days of the entire year when store items go on sale. People shop the streets like there is no tomorrow! My purchases have been a bit more needs-based so far: kleenex, a wine opener, and wine :) With just 3 euro, a bottle of fantastic wine can be purchased!

Florence, on the other hand is massive. I've never seen so many cathedrals, sculptures, and gelato shops in my life. Florence is also where the large market is held. For 3 large streets, you can find beautiful leather goods, fancy scarves, and colorful artwork. It was very entertaining as Italian men seem to think having blue eyes entitles me to receiving a discount on their 200 euro leather jackets ;) Don't worry mom, you don't have to take me to shoppers anonymous yet... On Sunday, our Art History professor took us on a tour of Florence which started at the highest point in the city, the San Miniato Church, (with the most amazing view) and wound all through town. She told us fact after fact about what we were seeing through a microphone that we hear through headphones. We looked super tourist-y but what we learned, was way worth it!

Classes started Monday. I am taking an Italian Film class, a Shakespeare class, Art History, and Italian. They all seem very interesting, and even though they are long (an hour and a half), it's just a 4-day week, leaving us a long weekend to travel.

And speaking of school, sadly we still are assigned homework, so I better get back to reading Hamlet. I miss you all and hope everyone is doing well, staying warm and enjoying the last few days of break (to my college friends).

I promise the next post won't be so long :) but I just get so excited to talk about my new life!

XOXO- Sarah