Un Viaggio Italiano: Week 6 Activities and Nathan's arrival!

Once again, another week has flown by and I am still in awe of this place. There are moments when I get homesick or feel the need to complain about something, and usually when this happens, I go look at the view through my bedroom window and I am reminded of this experience and how special it is to me.

Okay, enough of the cheesiness.

This week was probably the most stressful out of the bunch, so far. Why? Oh, we just have some dumb tests called MIDTERMS next week, which no one has seemed to taken schools seriously until now. Yes, I am learning quite a lot and soaking it all in, but I will admit...it isn't easy to "study" when in such a beautiful country like this one. So, everyone is pretty much panicking and unsure of what the next week holds for us. After my professors went through midterm formats and expectancies, I definitely know the things I do and don't need to be concerned about. I was surprised about how difficult my Pairing Food and Wine midterm will be (memorize typologies of wines and recipes...such nitty gritty stuff!) and how easy my Italian Renaissance art history test will be. Wish me luck!

To summarize my school week...

Monday: Had class. Probably cleaned a lot. Bought some food at the market. Worked on 2 projects and had a delicious kebab (I am officially addicted) for dinner.

Tuesday: Had class and learned new things in Pairing Food and Wine. Researched classes to take for the fall. I am credit-wise a senior and on track to graduate in the Fall 2012....YIKES!! Definitely not ready to think about that yet.

Wednesday: Class all morning. Finished HUGE paper...14 pages on Astrology in the Medician Court for my Lost Symbols and Secret Codes in Art class. Skyped with momma. Trivia Night at Finnegan's Irish Pub...I won a t-shirt but my team placed 4th or 5th overall...eeek, better luck next time. The bartenders at Finnegan's know my name and my friends have become "regulars" there. It's definitely one of my favorite places to go in Florence.

Thursday: Class in morning until 11:30AM and it was officially the weekend. Checked my mail and I received both a letter and package from my sister, Claire! She sent me socks, soap, Chips Ahoy, Gardettos, Cheez Its (my favorite), candy bars, and taco shells! It was ironic because just the day before my roommates and I were talking about how much we missed eating tacos. We had another successful family dinner that night, followed by gelato and a round of kebabs (mhmm, my favorite).

Friday: Got to the train station at 7:15AM to take a bus to Perugia (with my cooking class) for the Eurochocolate Festival! It was definitely a fun place to be. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate like most girls, but I got a lot of great samples and the town was truly beautiful. It was a bit creepy knowing that this is where the Amanda Knox drama occurred, so we tried hard not to think about it all. I didn't buy any chocolate, mostly because I am trying to save money and I bought a ton in Switzerland. I did, however, buy a cute red headband-thing. I got back around 6:30PM, made some dinner, and my OCD brain decided to clean the apartment and study for midterms late into the night.

Saturday: Slept in till 10:45AM...that was wonderful. I was expecting Nathan's arrival, but due to Delta Airlines being a twit and overbooking his flight, he was not able to make it, and was set back by a day. This was depressing, but waiting a day did not kill me overall. Instead, I went to Gusta Pizza with my friend Sam and we visited Santo Spirito cathedral to see Michelangelo's Crufix. It was wonderful to catch up with her and have a relaxing afternoon with the refreshing fall weather. Later on, I went to Tijuana for Danica's birthday, and we had half-off margaritas and delicious Mexican food. After that, we got some celebratory Prosecco and watched the Princess Bride, a true classic. Half of us have the movie memorized down to every single line, and the other half had not seen it before. No more rhymes now, I mean it! Anybody want a peanut? It was definitely a hilarious situation, with people repeating lines verbatim and others having no idea what was going on, and thinking we were all nuts. I also met a girl here who is an Alpha Gamma Delta in California! It's so nice to finally meet a sister here!

Sunday (aka TODAY): Slept in again and did some more studying. Figured out more plans for trip to Venice. Waited anxiously for my dear friend Nathan Riley, who is finally HERE!!! Words cannot express how happy I am to see him. He gave me the biggest hug and we've been laughing all day. He got settled in, and we left the apartment to explore. I gave him the usual tour around Florence. Since I have been here for a while and have been studying lots of Renaissance art, I can pretty much be anyone's private tour guide around Florence, and Nathan got a full dose of my nerdy history talk. We walked all the way to the Duomo, around Piazza Signoria, onto Ponte Vecchio, and past the Arno River. Poor guy isn't used to all the walking yet! After that, we found this great Italian restaurant called ZaZa's. The tap water was FREE (free water in Europe?) as well as the bread they put on our table. I had delicious gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce (mhmm) and Nathan had Sorrento style pasta with tomato, basil, and buffalo mozzarella. So worth it. We walked home, and Nathan helped me study for my Italian Renaissance Midterm, which consists of many dates, Donatellos, Brunalleschis, and more. He passed out around 9PM while I continued to study and finish this blog post.

Plans for the week:
1. Show Nathan around Florence
2. Take 5 midterms (eeek!!)
3. Taco Night (for family dinner) on Wednesday, followed by Trivia Night at Finnegan's Pub
4. See Giotto's frescoes in Padua on Thursday
5. Go to VENICE on Thursday-Saturday!
6. Finally see my mom and sister on Saturday!!

Definitely going to be an exciting week.