The Villa

So, on Sunday I arrived in Florence. To beat jetlag, I stayed awake as long as I could just wandering the city and taking pictures and people watching. It's such a pretty city-full of narrow, winding streets with apartments that have terraces overlooking you and vespas speeding by. And then you'll go around a corner and have the Duomo right in front of you, or insanely famous statues in the Signorina Piazza. Needless to say, I passed out by like 9pm and woke up to the Tuscan sun shining in my room. An amazing way to wake up each day.

Monday morning I moved into the villa. It is technically in a suburb of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino. Taking the bus with my luggage was quite the adventure, but luckily an Italian man took pity on me and helped me by telling me the correct stop, and even getting off and carrying my heaviest bag to the door of the villa for me. From the outside, the villa looks like nothing. It is just this huge tan colored wall that goes down the street with random doors here and there. I honestly didn't think we were at the right place, until I went inside. It is gorgeous. Full of frescoed ceilings and huge doors and courtyards with fountains...and the garden is amazing. I could wander around it forever with the flowers and ponds and lemon trees all perfectly landscaped together. My pictures don't even do it justice.

Yesterday, I discovered how amazing our chef here is. We have these huge 3 and 4 course lunch and dinners, and they are SO good. Also, gelato really is as good as people say it is. The chocolate and vanillas are MUCH creamier, and the fruit flavors taste exactly like you're eating the fruit. I've had chocolate with walnut, vanilla, raspberry, lemon, and Nutella flavors so far, and loved each of them.

After orientation all day, we went into Florence and saw the most amazing sunset over the city. We had gelato on the steps of the Duomo, and ended up going to a bar for some wine. As we were leaving, I ran into one of my housemates from Ann Arbor!! I had NO IDEA he was in Europe, let alone Florence, let alone the exact same bar on the exact same night. It was crazy. Such a small world...

Today, classes start, but to be honest, I'm really just excited for another fabulous lunch and dinner :)