Questions Answered, Experiences Had, and More to Come!

Ciao! Through talking to a lot of you over the phone, through Facebook, and over Skype [ps. if you're interested, please skype me! Its live video chat and its FREE!] I've gotten lots of general, yet interesting questions. I thought I'd take some time to discuss some of the things I've noticed that are just alittle different here in Florence than some things at home in the States.

First off, generally, everyone is alot better dressed here. On a normal weekday you would see people dressed in a way that would cause alot of Americans to beg the question, "Ooo! What's the occasion?" But there is no occasion, its just a normal day. Dress shirts, ties, slacks, and scarfs are extremely common, even for just walking to the store or sitting the park with friends. Plain T-shirts, sweat pants, shorts, and flip flops are a big 'no-no' and are an easy way to distinguish tourist [which I am, hopefully successfully, trying not to be] . Another thing is the fashions are generally tighter fitting. Tighter shirts and jeans [mostly because people are generally skinnier here I think]. But don't get too excited Emo boys! The jeans aren't skin tight!

Another thing is the dogs! There are so many beautiful dogs! I have not seen one mut or ugly dog since Ive been here. My apartment is next to a nice park and there are always beautiful, well trained pure bread dogs with their owners. Many don't even wear leashes. They simply walk right next the their person.

One of the most interesting, and usually funny things I've noticed is the language barrier. It is true, the majority of people here know atleast alittle English, but even with that there are so many things lost in translation. I consider of the craziest of these situations going to the grocery store, or El Centro [small chain of stores]. Its like seeing all of these familiar pictures but not being able to read any of the words printed on them. Its difficult to explain, but challenging and often fun to experience. Despite my Italian getting better with every class, there will always be something to throw me for a loop [and I kind of enjoy this].

Probably the most useful difference that Americans [especially students] enjoy is the open container policy. You can drink where ever and when ever you want. Some places don't like glass after a certain time, but other than that you can consume alcohol of any fashion indoors, outdoors, at a bar or a restaurant, or while you walk down the street. There's nothing better than having a cold one on the go, especially when bar hopping or between pre-gaming at home and partying at the clubs.

Speaking of cold ones!!!!!

=Birra of the Blog=
Birra Moretti is a very easy to find beer here in Florence, and I'm sure the rest of Italia. It is slowly becoming my "Natti" here. Not in the manner of tastes shitty and has the alcohol content of piss water...but more along the lines of easy to find [every convenience store], cheap [1 euro for 2/3 of a litre], and I drink alot of it[i dont wanna talk about it...]. I'm sure you can find this beer back in the States if you look at the right places. Enjoy.

So since my last blog I've had two tremendous experiences [amongst the hundreds of smaller awesome experiences ] that stand out in my mind enough to tell you about in this post. The first being the Florence Artisanal Chocolate Festival.







Just being immersed in an event that everyone [Italians, Americans, numerous other nationalities] was enjoying together felt amazing. I am not even a "chocolate person" and I had a great time! The combination of the massive amount of people, the beautiful setting of the piazza in front of Santa Croce, the festive Florentine music, the company of good friends, the investment of a balloon sword [im still 5 years old...] and of course the delicious chocolate made this day trip very successful and tons of fun!









The second experience occurred on my second Sunday in Florence. It was a muggy afternoon with ominous rain clouds looming over head. Despite the despairing weather conditions my roommates [Nik and Logan] and myself decided to search for the beautiful Boboli Gardens, which we read about in books and heard of from friends. We started our adventure with trigger happy fingers on our cameras, great excitement...and no map. Needless to say, we never made it to the Boboli Gardens, but it was the outcome of our 4 hours of wondering that was the true experience.








Somewhere after the Ponte Vecchio we made a [or numerous] wrong turns and found ourselves in a beautiful, higher end residential neighborhood. It was about this time that the ominous rain clouds opened up, soaking our walk with a light rain. We knew that the gardens were up hill from Florence, so up hill we continued to climb. As we climbed in elevation, more and more great views began to show themselves. At first we could only see the top of the Florence Cathedral [Filippo Brunelleschi's Dome]. And then all at once...the hillside opened up. We were standing at the steps of a beautiful hillside monastery [San Miniato al Monte] with an absolutely breathtaking view of the city. It being Sunday, we decided to stop in the monastery to listen to a bit of the mass and say a prayer [mostly thanking God for this astounding trip]. When we walked out the door we were rewarded for our small token of faith, I presume. We would have never imagined that the view of Florence could have been made any better, but as we left the monastery the night sky rolling in, the storm clouds rolling out, and the lights of the city turning on made for one of the best pictures [both physical and mental...even emotional] I have ever seen.
















After that we stopped by Piazza de Michelangelo to see the David and made our way back down the hillside to downtown. It had been a day full of excitement, tons of pictures, wet socks, and so many stories to tell. We had walked close to 5 miles, seen parts of Florence no other American student will get to see, been scared half to death by a sleeping homeless man, seen some of the most beautiful artworks, architecture, and views Florence has to offer, learned alot about the city in which we would be living for the next 4 months, and had fun the entire time!








Please, PLEASE click on these pictures to enlarge them! These thumbnail shots do not do them justice! Also, I post almost all of my photos on Facebook so there are alot more on there also!

Hope you can enjoy reading about these experiences atleast a quarter as much as I did actually experiencing them [not to brag...but you probably cant]. You simply just have to get here yourself and experience them yourself!

Next week should be a great post! Next stop...AMSTERDAM!!! For Super Bowl weekend no less! Im about to bring the BLACK and GOLD to the Netherlands! Ciao till then! GO STEELERS!