Today was a good and full day in Florence. It was our first official day of school, or studio with Elena. Since Meghan, Susie and I had slept for 14 hours on Sunday because of serious jet lag, trying to get a good night’s sleep was pretty difficult last night, so we were all pretty tired getting ready this morning. We woke up early so we could walk the thirty min walk to class to hurry to take use of the wi-fi in our studio. Since we don’t have it in the apartment, this time is full of clicking away and emailing to get in touch with everyone back home in the states. I think its going to take awhile to get the schedule down pat, esp with trying to figure out how to get in touch with everyone at the right time, since the time difference is so far ahead here.
After Elena talked for awhile in studio about our upcoming projects, a few of us walked a pretty long distance north to find this restaurant that Elena mentioned. She said it was good food, large helpings, and for cheap. So of course, we were there. After a good walk, and getting lost a few times, we somehow wandered our way into this large market…. Somewhat similar to a super market in the states, full of meat, cheese, and more meat counters. Right in the middle was a small glassed in box, packed full of people eating lunch. Almost reminded me of our own Waffle House. The doors on the outside opened right into the tables, so we slid on in to our seats… and was happy to see that the menu was indeed cheap. Cheap to us means 3 euros for a first course, and about 4.50 for the second. That’s how the Florentines eat… usually three courses, but that’s a little much for me at lunch time, unless I want to sleep the rest of the day, which the people here in Florence usually do.
After an exciting home-cooked meal of lasagna and roasted chicken, which a glass of the local ‘birra’ or beer, we were on our way to explore some more, making our way back to the apartments.
Forgetting that we still needed some things from the market, Meghan and I wandering down Via Del Romana, which is a street nearby packed with ‘supermarkets’. Everywhere you walk, there are amazing shops… from tile making, to many antique shops, to clothing stores, and to jewlrey stores, its always something new to look at. Its pretty interesting to see. The owners own there shops, work downstairs, and live upstairs in the apartments.
It still catches me off gaurd to see a family, with a dog, as all people here have, to make their way to the street from their apartment upstairs… Its crazy that that’s where the family’s live here. No houses, unless you are the upper class… and they are rarely in plain view. Usually hidden behind a large gate, and amazing gardens.
Tonight we went to one of the boys apartments where we usually go hang out since they have a lot more living space and cooked dinner. We brought over our pasta, and things for a salad and made our first meal here in Florence! We made a stewed tomatoes, zucchini and onion sauce with local pasta and a tomato mozzarella salad. It was so good.
We decided that we were going to go out on the town since we heard that Monday nights were busy here. So we left around 11:45 since places don’t get started until about 12:30 here. We aren’t quite used to the timing here, since dinner doesn’t start until about 9. We found one ‘bar’ as we called it and had a drink, saw a few Americans and decided we should keep exploring. There wasn’t much happening until we found a club called Yab. Probably the most crazy place we have seen. It looked like a castle, yet filled with so many people, dancing and partying like crazy. We took a step inside to find it was about a ten to fifteen euro cover charge, and about ten euros per drink. We weren’t ready for that, so we decided to save our money, and come back next week. Should be interesting.
Tomorrow is our first day for our History and Graphic design class, so we will be there from 9-6. Yikes. Another long day. Hopefully I will get my phone and internet working during the lunch break.
Until next time. Caio.