Buongiourno!

I have no idea where to begin and it has only been three days. I guess I'll start from the flight...

So, the three flights went relatively well. Our first plane was late so we had to run to our Paris flight. I watched the Lion King on the plane and slept. I took some AMAZING pictures of clouds (that's for you jenny!) and the sunset and when we first crossed over France. It was beautiful.
Four hour layover in Paris. Ate a french baguette and had a coffee. Delicious. Our flight to Italy took us over the Alps. Sooo amazing. Words are not enough. I took 116 pictures from the air. I'll try to get as many of them up as soon as possible. The internet is down in our apartment so I guess monday I'll take my laptop and use the internet there.

So we finally got to Florence and everything has gone great until.... our baggage doesn't show up on the carosel. It got lost in Paris. I just got my stuff today, so all is good now.

My apartment is awesome. There are 11 girls total. There's a room of four, and two rooms of three. I'm in a room of three. All of the girls are so great. They are so nice, everyone has gotten along really well so far. We go most places together and they were all willing to let me borrow stuff when i didnt have my luggage. They're awesome.

Our apartment is about a 25 minute walk to the study center. It's not too bad. I'm sure we will hate it by the end but I'm trying really hard to take any of it for granted. I caught myself walking and staring at my feet so I looked up and there is this random, gorgeous fresco on the side of a building. It's unreal. It still hasn't hit me that I'm in Florence.

All of the other students seem really nice. A lot of them are not from FSU. Some are from other colleges in Florida and there are even a couple from out of the state. We all have gotten along really well so far.

We took a walking tour of Florence yesterday. I've never been to a place more gorgeous than Florence. It's unbelievable. Our tour was led by Frank Nero who is also my art history teacher. He is so enthusiastic. You can tell he really loves Italy. He was actually a student at FSU and went on the Florence program in 1999 i think and he says it changed his life. He switched his major, became an art history teacher, and moved to Florence. I'm starting to think that might not be such a bad idea, ha!

We went to a town up on a hill next to Florence called Fiesole. We saw ancient Etruscan and Roman ruins. It's weird to think that we are walking on the same streets as the Romans and great Medieval and Renaissance rulers, thinkers, and artists.
After the ruins, we climbed a rediculously steep pathway to get to the top of the hill/mountain where a monastery was. The view from there was.... there are no words. You look down on Florence and you can see for miles. (pictures will be up asap I promise!)

Tonight is the first night of the festival that is this weekend. I can't remember what it is called but it's to honor the patron saint of the city. So we are going to dinner tonight then on the other side of the river are all kinds of activities. It should be really fun!

Oh! I forgot to talk about the food. I don't think I'm going to ever be able to eat american sandwiches, pizza, pasta, or basically anything ever again. I got the "pizza margharita" the other night. SOOOOO good! And there is this little sandwich shop in this sketchy alley way near the school (the school recommended it so i'm safe ha) and they are delicious. Everything I have had so far has been delicious.

So that's about it for now. I'll update this as often as possible.
I miss everyone a lot!
Ciao!