Am I actually living here?

The idea that I am actually living in Florence for 4 months has just begun to hit me.  Everyday I find a new street or shop or café.  I feel as if I could live here for ten years and still discover new things despite the fact that Florence is relatively small.

I wore a step-o-meter (thanks to my dad!) just to see how much I was walking on average a day and it’s about 6 miles…so bring on the pasta!  This must also be why Italians are so thin!  With gelato shops on every corner and no gyms, it’s amazing how few overweight people there are here.  The portions are also much much smaller so people just end up eating less. 

This week I started classes (I forgot I had to go to school here!).  I can already tell my favorites are going to be travel writing and professional food writing.  All my teachers seem great and know the city very well.  A lot of my classes also involve walking around Florence to look at museums or attend food markets too!  

There were many other highlights of the week.  My roommate celebrated her 21^st birthday and we went out to a nice dinner with two of our other friends from BC.  The food was delicious; complete with complementary champagne and appetizer sampler that had stuffed zucchini and bruschetta.  The best dishes were balsamic filet mignon, spinach ravioli and of course tiramisu for dessert!  I’m definitely taking my family there when they visit in March.

We also hiked to the top of Piazza Michelangelo and saw the amazing view of all of Florence.  I liked it so much I did it twice!  When I stood up there and looked out over Florence it took my breath away.  I was in awe of the city’s beauty and felt so blessed to be able to live here.  My next goal is to see it at sunset.

Florence is hosting festivals all the time in one plaza or another.  This week it’s the chocolate festival and it’s VERY close to my apartment.  They had everything from chocolate covered fruit to chocolate rum to chocolate that had hints of lavender!  Samples were everywhere but I settled on the classic chocolate covered strawberries.  However, the festival is here all week so who knows what I’ll get tomorrow!

We just came back from a weekend trip all through Tuscany!  I’ll blog about that soon and put up pictures!

I forgot to mention that it was 60 degrees and sunny here on Friday!  And I have to say that I don’t miss snow one bit!

Talk soon

Ciao