After a conversation with Liz tonight about how we need to continue to spend time with Florence and not just in it, I felt compelled to share my weekend of half-Italian and half-American glory.
The adventures actually start on Wednesday when the program paid for us to go to a Fiorentina soccer game! We were so so soooo excited to get to go, even though we don't know anything about the soccer team at all. It was a lot of fun and we won! Here's a few pictures (you know you love the jerseys we bought)
The fun continued on Friday when we got up and walked over to the Pitti Palace to check out some of the museums inside. We looked at the costume museum and the silver museum, but no pictures because they weren't allowed. Let me just say that the palace is enormous and I can't believe any one family could live there. We'll most definitely be going back.
Also on Friday we decided it was about time to give in to our cravings for American food. We had recently heard talk of an American diner (being from NJ I was skeptical but excited nonetheless) and hunted it down for dinner. It was a delicious change from pasta and chicken. I had a huge chocolate shake, clearly made with gelatto, and a bacon cheeseburger and fries. I know it seems like a sin but I enjoyed every second of our meal.
Saturday we got up early and decided to take a stab at the train station, making our way without trouble to Viareggio where the beach is. We spent a short time at the beach (we didn't really account for travel time in our plans...fail) and returned home to Florence feeling relaxed but tired. We came home early because we wanted to go to mass in English inside the Duomo. It was really cool to get to go inside and so nice to finally get to mass (and we got ourselves on the email list for the youth group so that' awesome). I must say, though, the mass was a bit scary. The homily was super serious and there was a little notation in our readers that said only those without "grave sin" were permitted to recieve Eucharist. We went up, hoping for the best haha. We spent Saturday night hanging out and went out to a local bar for some good times and great tunes (aka the "Friends" theme song).
This morning we woke up and walked in the Corre la Vita, basically the equivalent of Relay for Life back in the states. There were a ton of people and we didn't really know what was going on, but we walked a 10k, passing some of the major tourist spots on the way and actually getting to walk through the gorgeous Boboli Gardens at Pitti Palace. We felt really great after we finished the walk, especially since our donations went to a great cause. After delicious sandwiches at our favorite sandwich shop, we headed back to our respective apartments for a nap. Earlier tonight Liz and I ventured back out to one of the Irish bars in the city to watch the Yankees/Red Sox game. Long story short we only got to see a few innings before the game was turned off to be replaced by soccer (typical) and the Eagles game (ew, why?) but we still had a good time and met some nice people.
This ends my play by play of my weekend. Sorry it's a bit dry and uncolorful, but I figured I'd continue to update everyone on my life over here in Italy. This is going to be a pretty busy week for me in the classwork department, but I'll try to remember anything interesting that happens and report back. I'm also working on an article to send home to the Defender/Echo that's a comparison of Italian and American men. It's interesting, to say the least, but moving along slowly. As soon as I finish, however, I'll get it up here. So that's all for now.
Buona Notte!
-Christine
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