After a ridiculously long and tiring trip, we finally made it. Our original flight from JFK was delayed about 3 hours, and we landed in Paris to discover that we had missed our connecting flight to Florence. Another 3 hours waiting in Paris, an hour flight and 2 one-hour bus rides later, we arrived in Florence around 2am. The Palazzo put us up in the hotel where we would have orientation the next day, The Hotel Aurora.

The place was basically a bed and breakfast deal, right outside of Florence. They had the heat on for some reason so it was pretty effin’ hot, but at least we had a bed. And we were almost in Florence. But, I’m pretty sure the view made up for it:

Next was orientation and our first italian meal at the hotel. The Palazzo arranged for a police officer to speak to us about all the stuff to watch out for, which was pretty helpful. Lunch was pasta with tomato and mozzarella, pizza, quiche, cheese, and bread. Carbfest.

We took a bus down the hill from the hotel and into Florence, which is literally breathtaking. We got a taxi at the train station to our apartment, which is also amazing. First of all, it’s huge, and we are literally on the street across from the Santa Croce. Also, you can see the Duomo from our sunroom (yes, we have a sunroom).

I’m getting lazy so I’ll make the rest of this quick… all of the roommates (8 of us, kind of like the "Real World") went out for dinner, which was obviously more pasta. Delicious pasta. I legally had a glass of white wine with that pasta.

We showered and went to one of the discotheques, which was sort of trashy and the Italian men are really scummy. It was also too American, but there are plenty of other places that we’re finding that are quieter and more local. There is a bar literally below our apartment. Everything here happens so late, the clubs are open until 4am.

Since everything is open until 4am, we didn’t get home until 4am… and were at orientation at school at 9am. Afterwards, Kristin and I got lunch at a really great local restaurant. I took a break from carbs and got mozzarella and tomato for a starter and grilled salmon for my lunch. Kristin made an attempt at ordering steak florentine, which is typically sliced very thin. What showed up on the table was a slab of meat, and although it looked delicious, it was humongous and very rare; Kristin wasn’t a fan.

We wandered around for a while and saw the Uffizi, arguably one of the most famous museums in the world, which also happens to be on the other side of our street. I am living less than a mile from the Uffizi. After walking around and generally knowing nothing about all of the art, I decided to read up on it a little. The students who were here before us left a ton of phase books and informationals, which is really useful.

Tonight we all got gelato by the Uffizi and did some chilling out (although I feel guilty about it) because we’re all absoulutely exhausted. Tomorrow I have my first class at 9am, which is still completely unreal to me.