Ciao Bella!!

Wow! I can't believe I am actually in Florence! I have been here for four days now and it just keeps getting better and better! I keep thinking that I am going to wake up back in my bed at Stonehill with this past week being a total dream!

Since arriving, I have taken tours of the city, meandered the Mercato Centrale (the large central market for produce/meat/delicious foodstuffs), and generally learned my way around the city! It seems like a big maze at first but I was talking to one of my roommates today and we agree that we seem to be getting the hang of it now.

We spent the first few days at a nice hotel near Piazza Santa Maria Novella, which had a rooftop garden overlooking the city and an awesome breakfast every morning. When we first saw the rooftop restaurant/terrace, none of us believed our eyes. The view was incredible and we arrived just as the sun was setting. I wish I had had my camera at that moment if just to capture the look on everyone's faces as we gaped open-mouthed at what will become our city.

On our second day in the city, we were treated by API to a dinner at a restaurant that is directly next to the ponte vecchio! it was a great view and seems to be a pretty nice, reasonably priced restaurant so perhaps we will make it back there.

We finally moved into our apartment yesterday and it is MUCH nicer than I expected it to be. It is in a quiet, pretty safe neighborhood with a park right outside that we predict will be perfect for doing homework on nice days. My roommates are all very nice and it's good because we all have our own groups of friends but everyone gets along. We had a bit of a housewarming party last night and it was fun to get to know even more people in our program!

Classes start on Monday, but since I don't have monday classes I will be spending the day relaxing or perhaps getting to know the city a bit better.

I hope that all is well with whoever (if anyone) reads this blog! Love and miss you all!

Ciao
Liz