Buongiorno, Italy!

We're finally in Florence! After a long weekend of plane flights, layovers, and bus rides (on about three hours of sleep), it feels good to settle in. I am completely exhausted... don't really know how I'm functioning properly at the moment. I think I'm running purely off of excitement!

Airport in Rome
I must admit, my first "real" experience in Italy was kind of intimidating. On the bus ride from the airport in Rome to our hotel in Florence, we stopped at a rest area for lunch. Some of the girls and I went to use the bathroom, only to find that the toilets had no seats! You literally had to squat over what was basically a porcelain bowl to use the bathroom. Gross haha.

Ordering our food was another adventure. The workers at the rest stop cafe didn't speak any English, so we literally had to point and say "si" to order our food. Luckily, one of the girls in our group knows some Italian, so she could at least help us communicate the basics. The experience did make me feel a little nervous about living in Florence though... guess my background in Spanish isn't as helpful as I thought it would be haha.

Although the rest stop induced a bit of culture shock, getting into Florence was a sigh of relief! The city is absolutely beautiful and everything I imagined it would be. We're staying at the Palazzo Ricasoli hotel, which is actually really nice! Not only do we have the basic room with beds and bath, but we have our own little sitting room complete with kitchenette. We're even picking up free Internet in our room near the windows, which is an added bonus! (It costs about 3 euro per hour at an Internet cafe!) Oh, and I can't forget to mention the heated towel rack in our bathroom. Definitely putting one in my house when I get older, it's amazing!

Hotel sitting room
After getting settled in, we explored Florence throughout the afternoon. Our hotel isn't too far from the center of town, which holds several shops, markets, restaurants, and the Duomo. The Duomo is a HUGE church covered in intricate carvings and paintings. It's truly beautiful, and the sheer mass of the building itself is breathtaking.

The Duomo
City exploration was followed by group dinner at a nearby restaurant, which had the most amazing pasta and chicken! After that, we all headed back to our rooms to get some rest before class the next morning. This entire trip has seemed like a vacation so far, it's weird that we actually have to start studying again! Oh well... I think I can handle 2.5 hours of class per day when I get to spend the rest of the afternoon experiencing Florence!

More to come soon - ciao!