I never thought I would eat mexican food in Italy but last night I did! We decided to try out this mexican place last night that was right around the corner and it was actually pretty good! We were the only people there aside from a couple and it was a pretty large restaurant (bigger than any italian one we've been in, interestingly enough). Instead of water, which you can't find anywhere for free, they gave us sangria's for drinks! Then we tried to order some cocktails (mojitos and margherita's) but apparently the place had just reopened and the bartender was at a wedding so they couldn't make some of them. To apologize for that, they gave us more sangria...can't complain. I got chicken quesadillas and they were good! It was a lot of fun. After getting dinner we walked to this random place on the opposite side of the Duomo to try a canoli that our friends claimed was 'the best'. We went back to our apartamento and drank some cheap wine. We decided earlier that we wanted to find the cheapest wine at the grocery and see if was any good...we found one that was 1.80 Euros and I guess it wasn't too bad. Nothing compared to the cheap wine in the U.S. though. My friends and I were planning on going to this club called Central Park that apparently a lot of International students go to. We didn't realize, when we decided to walk, that it would take almost an hour to get there. We kept asking for directions and would continue to get more and more lost. Eventually a few of my friends and I decided to jump in a taxi and get back to the city center. I ended up grabbing a beer with my friend Joci in a Piazza and then I went home. A pretty bust night in the end.
Today, was great! I woke up at 10:15 (BELLISSIMO!) My friends and I signed up for a red bus tour around Firenze and it was really nice to see everything from a different angle. The best part by far was the 5 min stop at Piazzale Michelangelo across the Arno. It was one of the most incredible views I've ever seen. (Refer to the photos to check out the view). Following the bus tour we wandered around for a bit to find a cheap place to grab a panino for lunch, which ended up being a harder feat than we had imagined. Everything in Italy is SO expensive and we keep ending up in touristy areas which doesn't help the situation. We gave into a 4 Euro panino and a 1.50 bottle of water...about 8 dollars...so I guess not too bad.
Following lunch we checked out H&M (not good) and then starting wandering everywhere! We finally walked across the Ponte Vecchio and ventured across the Arno. It seems like it's a bit cheaper over there so we might walk over for meals occaisionally. It was such a nice day today which made wandering around so nice. It was sunny and beautiful but there was such a nice breeze. My roommate Shelly and I decided to finally get our butts running and while it was a bit challenging to get going since we were so tired, I'm so glad we did.
It was amazing. Running in a foreign country is incredible. Not only do you get to explore the area but you notice a lot of stuff you otherwise wouldn't notice by walking. Usually when we've been walking we've also been talking. When I went running I was really able to listen to everyone and everything around me. Plus, the view running on the Arno was breathtaking. Then sun was getting low and beginning to set (we ran around 7) and it seemed like the city was covered in this red glow. It was beautiful. So far, one of my highlights.
Dinner tonight was quite the experimentation. I had no idea what I was doing and just freestyled my way. I decided to try and cook farro (a type of grain native to Italy). The package I got from the supermercato had a picture of farro with vegetables, but when I opened it I realized that there were no vegetables. So I improved and took out a bent out of shape pan, lit the gas stove and cooked the farro. I added garlic salt, oregano and parmesan cheese and it wasn't too bad...until I sat down and realized I was eating a bowl of grains and that was it. It took me about 3 mins to realize that I had bought some frozen vegetables yesterday I could put in the farro! A little olive oil and reheating later and voila! a perfect little meal that actually wasn't that bad. We have a stove in our kitchen but no microwave or oven, so cooking might get a little tricky. We might try and get a toaster oven...
So...tomorrow classes begin! I have to be up at La Pietra at 1:30 for Italian and then at 3:00 I have my History of Italian Jews course. I have all morning to dilly dally and I'm not sure what I'll do...maybe sleep...
Sorry the freakishly long posts. I'm thinking that once classes start I'll have less to talk about. We'll see though. This is basically my travel journal so I'm going to document everything! Until next time...
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