WEEK 1

Welcome, dear readers, to my SACI blog from Firenze (the city, not the centaur)!

I will briefly recount the week, accompanied by some pictures:

After an actually not-that-bad 11 hour flight to Munich, then a shorter one to Florence, I found myself in a mostly broken, not working apartment in Florence. By the next day we would have hot water, but not until 3 or so days would we have actual heat in the apartment. And let me tell you, Italian apartments are COLD. especially emotionally. Also, there are like 6 flights of stairs up to my apartment, followed by 2 more up to my attic-like room. however, my room has a phenomenal view of Florence, with such sights as the Duomo in plain sight.



I seem to be getting along with all of my housemates more or less really well. We are bonding over our lack of Italian prowess (some more than others), over the lack of heat (until very recently), and over the lack of history in this super-modern industrialized metropolis. One of those statements was false. Can you guess which one?

So we had two amazing but tiring as hell tour of the city, and Florence is even more of an art-rich city than I had imagined. There are statues, niches, cathedrals, and amazing architecture absolutely everywhere. I live around the corner from Santa Maria Novella, for instance. (located inside is a fresco by Ghirlandaio on which a young Michelangelo worked).


Other stops on the tour included of course Santa Maria del Fiore/the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio/ Piazza Signiorina, hosting a copy of Michelangelo's David, and some original Donatellos!



There was heinous rain yesterday, Which I bravely forded searching for a cell phone, but alas twas for naught. However, the weather is in general quite nice, if a little wet.

And with that, I leave you!

The central market here is an awesome trove of fresh meats, cheese, and vegetables. The Italian food I have tasted so far is amazing. That said, I have not yet had the following: gelato, pizza, pasta from a restaurant. I will update when I do.