Soo the first week of classes went really well. I like most of my classes a lot. Its cool because for a lot of the classes were in the classroom the first day and then the second class is a site visit somewhere around florence. Its great because this way i get to see most of the big, famous sites with a teacher (and we have a museum card that gets us to the front of the line and in for free!)Our host mom Luigina is doing great...shes excellent at understanding us and helping us understand her. Weve been able to have some good conversations at dinner about obama and the war and florentine politics andd gelato...last night we talked about the origin of chocolate.

Speaking of which....today Im going to the chocolate festival. It happens once a year in Piazza Santa Croce and its supposed to be amazinggggg. all of these Perugian chocolate venders come with this artisian chocolate...in the shapes of silverwear, animals, etc. Ill take a ton of pictures! What else what else...Ive been going out at night a lot with friends. There are a lot a lot of fun bars but theyre mostly targeted at american students so theyre prettyyy expensive. Weve found a couple that we like a lot and usually start the night with. There are also tons of clubs/discotecas but you have to be in the mood-and there are a lot of creepy italian men. But it can be fun.

Everything is on sale right now..like fifty percent off or more..its amazing. So ive done a tinyy bit of shopping. Apparentlyy its the time to do it. Also by walking around all day im getting to know the streets pretty well. And its nice not being completely lost with a map all the time.. But I did get lost for about fourty minutes trying to run to the stadium one day... I think I asked 8 people "dove lo stadio". Everyone was really friendly and nice. The streets are not grids like NY so if you take one wrong turn you will most likely end up on the other side of the city. Ive also gotten some Obama comments...like congratulations on your president and then just random people cheering Obama. Its nice to hear and I think its one of the better times to be abroad. Syracuse set up the Inaguration on a big screen and it was packed with students and teachers...so cool. Va bene. Ciao.

Firenze I

Quick update..Florence is so cool. i love my host mom she is amazing. The last few days have just been orientation meetings and organization but classes start on monday. Kelly is my roommate and happens to be the first person i met at the airport and my first friend on the trip (shes from LA and goes to UC santa cruz) and shes awesome and so cool and we get along perfectly. Im taking italian 102, italian culture class (that is mandatory and accompanies the language class) also an art history called The Mediterranean City (we go on 4 different prepaid field trips throughout the semester to places like Pisa, orvietto, Rome, sicily (for 3 days!) and other places i cant remember), an english called Literary travels, where we discuss and read about/ the journals of people who have traveled all over and specifically florence. my last class is an italian drama class...the teacher seems so cool and we even get to do a little acting! Hm what else..ive gone out a couple times with a good (big) group of girls that ive met so far who are from loyola, syracuse, tufts and a bunch of other schools. Its fun but the men are a little forward so we stick together. Ummm....everyday we walk for hours. literally sore from walking at night. its good though because im mildly obsessed with the gelato. i havent done all the museum stuff yet but im so excited. walking past the duomo everyday is unbelievable and i cannot not stare at it. its like my art history textbooks have come to life. Also this whole time ive been debating joining a gym bc its really expensive and i havent found a reasonable one that is close and i like...so this morning we walked TWO blocks over the train station (so close its amazing!) and into a huge sports complex with a public track, soccer fields (even a turf), tennis courts, and EVEN a playground...i was in heaven. its amazing and im so glad i didnt join a gym. it will be a lot better and ill just do body weight lifting. so yeah, everything seems to be working out perfectly im so lucky! Ok i think thats it for now!