Our voyage to Florence started with a stop in the town of
Assisi. Located on a hill top in the middle of the Italian countryside, Assisi
was a quaint-yet-intricate village that was both tiny and beautiful. The
streets were cobblestone and barely large enough to fit cars. They weaved up
the mountain-top, which we were able to walk through on our tour. We saw the
Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi, the cathedral, and the Basilica di Santa
Chiara, as well as all other monuments along the way.
Along with these famous landmarks honoring some of Italy’s most celebrated saints, Assisi was home to probably THE most gorgeous view we encountered the whole trip (and trust me we saw A LOT of beautiful views).
SIDENOTE: none of my pictures will come close to doing the
beauty of this country justice.
After our tour we ate lunch and continued our trip to
Florence. We arrived in the city late afternoon where we were all driven to
settle in our respective apartments. My two roommates and I lived in a lovely
apartment on Via Sant’agostino, a tiny street right across the Arno River,
which gave us some nice views on our walks to class/dinners/central Florence.
Not too shabby of a commute, right?
Once settled in we all met back up for a welcome dinner,
which included (big surprise) PASTA! It was delicious (as was all meals that
were provided for us) and afterwards we crashed early, having had a super busy,
travel-filled weekend and classes starting the next day.
Our school, the Instituto Europeo, was located on what was
basically Florence’s 5th Ave. Look for the street with Tiffany’s,
Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, Prada, and Louis Vuitton and you’ll find our school.
It was also right across the street from a small café, where we would all enjoy
cappuccinos or croissants before class and on breaks.
Every day from 9-12:30 (with one break 10:30-11) was Italian
language class. We took a placement test and were divided into one of three
classes: beginner, intermediate, or advanced. The class ended up being very
enjoyable, I feel like we all improved our Italian a lot. It’s much easier to
learn a language when you’re surrounded by it 24/7.
After our first class we would walk to the restaurant “Il
Teatro” where we would eat a majority of our meals. There, they prepared for us
a menu consisting of (guess, just guess) pasta, pizza, risotto, various meats,
and salad.
Surprising, right?
I’m probably not the best person to talk to about the food
experience since I am a vegetarian. I always received some type of specialty
meal that differed from everyone else when there was a meat dish; however, the
restaurants were always extremely accommodating and provided me with awesome
meals. For example:
Yes, most of these meals included a ball of mozzarella (approx.
the size of a baseball, which yes is just as amazing as it sounds). The mozzarella
in Italy is truly life-changing, as is the olive oil. Also the tomatoes. I
could probably write a book on how great the Italian food was but I don’t have
enough room in this blog.
Anyways, after lunch we would head to class number two where
we had the option of an English class on Dante, a class on Italian culture
where you would take daily trips to different Italian landmarks (both of these
classes taught by the lovely Noni Wanger), or a religion class with Brother
Rob.
I took the religion class, which appropriately focused on
several saints that were prominently featured throughout the city of Florence. We
started off every class with meditation, which was much needed for the whole
group. Life in Florence was so busy and non-stop that this type of relaxation
was necessary, as Brother Rob said the first day “we needed time for our souls
to catch up with our bodies.”
This class would be from 2-4:30, giving us a three hour
break typically before we would meet again for dinner at another restaurant.
This was the typical schedule we would have every day throughout the month; although
every day was a new adventure with some type of trip, excursion, or visit to a
new part of the city, and we couldn’t wait to see what was next.
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