It has been exactly one week since I left New Jersey for Florence! After a layover in Munich, a lesson in European hand towel dispensers, a beautiful view of the Alps via plane, and some lost (but now found!) luggage, I am finally in Florence and settled with my wonderful host mom.
The weather here in beautiful Firenze is not what I was expecting at all. It is HOT. All the time. My host mom, Annamaria, repeatedly wipes her forehead saying "caldo, caldo." Unlike the United States, here in Italy use of air conditioning is very rare. In fact its almost nonexistent. There is no escape from the constant heat. But it's beautiful, not muggy. The sky has been so blue and cloudless, and their are palm trees next to pine trees.
My host mom lives in an apartment five minutes from my school and ten-fifteen minutes from the duomo. It's like a dream to just be able to wander over to one of the most magnificent buildings in the world. We go drink wine and have coffee casually around the Duomo. So. Cool. Annamaria has two daughters, Duccia and Rafaella, both fully grown and married and each with a child, Leonardo and Olympia. Rafaella speaks extremely good English, so when she comes to visit her mom it's great to have someone to translate for us. Annamaria speaks only a couple words of English, and despite my couple years of Italian classes, its still difficult to communicate sometimes. We do our best. Every day she cooks the most incredible food. I cannot express how delicious everything here in Italy is. Every meal is so fresh. Even the simple things just taste better. Maybe it's because I'm looking at such a beautiful city while I eat them. We eat prosciutto and melon, meat, chicken, fish, vegetables, fruit, and ALWAYS pasta. The way they eat here in Italy is just so different. We start every meal with pasta, where Annamaria threatens to have us eat it for breakfast if we do not finish it (I'm pretty sure she's kidding.) We then eat meat and some side and whatever else she cooks up. Anyway, Annamaria is hilarious. She is probably about 75 years old and is so sassy, I love it. When describing girls going out she hikes her nightgown up her legs and puts her sleeves off her shoulders. Last night during dinner there was a mosquito and she whipped out an electric tennis racquet (read: TAZER). "Ciao, ciao mosquito" she said. My sweet, Italian host mom clad in her nightgown tazed a mosquito during dinner. It was meant to be.
Yesterday Annamaria and Duccia brought us to the Piazza Michelangelo, where you can overlook the entire city of Florence. It is so incredibly beautiful. I'll post some pictures soon. We could see the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, and Santa Croce. She then drove us around the city and up the hills that surround it to give us an idea of where we are in comparison to everything. It was wonderful. Everything is so special and gorgeous.
I'll try to be more consistent with my posting here now that I'm settling in! It's been a crazy week in Florence, but Im happy to be here!
The weather here in beautiful Firenze is not what I was expecting at all. It is HOT. All the time. My host mom, Annamaria, repeatedly wipes her forehead saying "caldo, caldo." Unlike the United States, here in Italy use of air conditioning is very rare. In fact its almost nonexistent. There is no escape from the constant heat. But it's beautiful, not muggy. The sky has been so blue and cloudless, and their are palm trees next to pine trees.
My host mom lives in an apartment five minutes from my school and ten-fifteen minutes from the duomo. It's like a dream to just be able to wander over to one of the most magnificent buildings in the world. We go drink wine and have coffee casually around the Duomo. So. Cool. Annamaria has two daughters, Duccia and Rafaella, both fully grown and married and each with a child, Leonardo and Olympia. Rafaella speaks extremely good English, so when she comes to visit her mom it's great to have someone to translate for us. Annamaria speaks only a couple words of English, and despite my couple years of Italian classes, its still difficult to communicate sometimes. We do our best. Every day she cooks the most incredible food. I cannot express how delicious everything here in Italy is. Every meal is so fresh. Even the simple things just taste better. Maybe it's because I'm looking at such a beautiful city while I eat them. We eat prosciutto and melon, meat, chicken, fish, vegetables, fruit, and ALWAYS pasta. The way they eat here in Italy is just so different. We start every meal with pasta, where Annamaria threatens to have us eat it for breakfast if we do not finish it (I'm pretty sure she's kidding.) We then eat meat and some side and whatever else she cooks up. Anyway, Annamaria is hilarious. She is probably about 75 years old and is so sassy, I love it. When describing girls going out she hikes her nightgown up her legs and puts her sleeves off her shoulders. Last night during dinner there was a mosquito and she whipped out an electric tennis racquet (read: TAZER). "Ciao, ciao mosquito" she said. My sweet, Italian host mom clad in her nightgown tazed a mosquito during dinner. It was meant to be.
Yesterday Annamaria and Duccia brought us to the Piazza Michelangelo, where you can overlook the entire city of Florence. It is so incredibly beautiful. I'll post some pictures soon. We could see the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, and Santa Croce. She then drove us around the city and up the hills that surround it to give us an idea of where we are in comparison to everything. It was wonderful. Everything is so special and gorgeous.
I'll try to be more consistent with my posting here now that I'm settling in! It's been a crazy week in Florence, but Im happy to be here!
:-)
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