I gave in

Buonasera!
Well, as I was making my coffee today in this sweeet Italian coffee maker I thought, I want to show this to people so this is my blog :). Hopefully it will provide some entertainment and documentation of life here in Florence. I might share this with my amazing roommate Rebekah, she is in class so we shall see.

Italian coffee maker! 

Today was the last day of classes for the week, I can already tell this is going to go by SO fast. This week was the first week of classes. I am very pleased with all of mine! I can honestly say this is not going to be a "blow off semester" like people assume studying abroad is. I have 15 hours; Italian, Wine and Cultures (much more complicated that you'd think), Web Design, Fashion Illustration (5 hours in one day!) and an art history titled "Lost symbolisms and Secret Codes in art". One great thing I have notices so far just in the first day of classes, the teachers are SO enthusiastic about their subjects and life as a whole. At least 3 of them said "life is too short so I am doing what I love" or something to that effect in their introduction. For example, my wine teacher was previously a CEO of some local and international companies and one day just gave it all up because he said it wasn't fulfilling so now he is following his passion for food and wine. My understanding is that he is still very successful in what he does. I already have so much respect for him, how often do people have the courage to truly do what they love no matter what.

My successful cup of coffee

I had Italian this morning. I am very appreciative of the class but it is quite intimidating since she will not say a single thing in English during class. Afterwards I decided to walk back to my apartment but not before walking through the flower market! It's so beautiful, I bought two plants each only 1 euro. Rebekah and I were missing grass and trees....so I bought colorful flowers :). We are going to break in our kitchen tonight by making a chicken pasta dish. We bought chicken yesterday during my break between classes at the huge meat market. It was very intimidating but wonderful to experience. We finally found chicken through all the cow tongues, hooves, stomach linings and such. The butcher even sliced it and tenderized it for us, all for 2.50 Euro. Since we have all this chicken I searched for some recipes. If anyone has some suggestions on what we can cook with a toaster oven and a stove, please we need help!

My 1 euro flowers 

Well this is already a lot of writing, I have a lot more that has happened or more great experiences but I will not bore you. This weekend we are planning on taking pictures of Florence and visiting a site or two.

Love you all,
Ciao, Lauren