Spotted: Gypsies.

Ciao, Ciao!

Okay so the first day of classes complete. Everyone woke up on time and I left with the 9:30 group to get to the Institute and figure out where to go (nerd, I know). So then I had an hour to wait for my Cultural Identities class. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my roomie Kristie was in that class, as well as a few other students I had gone out with a few nights ago. The teacher, Prof. Birindelli seems very enthusiastic about this class, which makes me extremely excited to dive right in.

I had a two hour break until my Italian class so Em, Jess and I decided to venture to the Mercato Centrale.

We successfully found it, as it's very very close to our apartment (lucky us!). We wandered around the indoor market looking at all of the fresh produce, meats, and cheeses. It's heavenly. We bought fresh bread for 4 Euro that is the size of a small child, prosciutto to last us a week (we thought - turns out, it'll last til tonight, yum) and fresh mozzarella! The cheese is the greatest, I think I can live off of just that for the next four months. Best part of the mercato: witnessing a gypsy begging for free bread from the baker while talking on her cell phone at the same time. Ironic? I think so. So deceiving.

So the three muskateers dined on a delicious homemade lunch and then I was off again to my next class, Italian. I was looking forward to learning to language until we began class and my professor spoke little English. I am certainly intimidated by the first class already and am unsure if my learning style is compatible with her teaching style, seeing as though she rarely explains the meanings of what we're saying and rarely uses the wipeboard for us to take notes. We will see how tomorrow goes, but as of right now, I am absolutely dreading that class.

So after my two classes I was free for the day! Jess, Emily, and I went off to explore a little more and to get pasta for tonight's dinner. I am looking forward to frequenting the Mercato Centrale to shop for new and interesting foods. Unfortunately, I'm hesitant to go in by myself because today the three of us got "HI! HI! HI! BELLA BELLA BELLA!" from the vendors. Hmmm. We made a couple stops up near San Luca and went into the what I call "Tutti Frutti" (the dollar store) for a few things. We accidentally discovered a Chinese grocery store, but we found that they have an American Grocery shelf full of cake mixes and wonderful things to bake. But alas! We have no oven. List!

So now the roomies and I are all done for the day. I had my nutella snack to hold me over until dinner time. I've skyped with a few people so if you want to skype me...do it! I miss all of my friends in the US very much and I hope you are all enjoying Florence from my perspective. Feel free to leave any suggestions/advice/comments/whatever on my blog posts. I look forward to hearing from everyone!

So, it's almost 8:00pm here, so we'll be starting the pasta with prosciutto and bread soon. Then out for happy hour, most likely, and we will see where the night takes us! An early day tomorrow, but we're only here once! Oh, the options!

Buonasera!

Note: I am gaining weight at an alarming rate so I hope that my "big girl bed" is ordered! ;)