Pisa and the British Invasion of Florence

 Sam came back to Florence! Granted, it was with an ETS class, but I treasure every moment, and it's like seeing the city in a new light every time I'm with him! Here's what happened:

Thursday Sam got into Pisa at 8, and the original plan was for me to meet him at the hotel his class was staying at at 9:30 (by the time they got to Florence, and got situated, this seemed like a reasonable time). Haha well after a few delays and traffic and the class's stop at the Leaning Tower in Pisa, I got to their hotel on a 10:45 bus (the buses come once an hour after 9:30, so that had to be planned meticulously), arriving at the hotel around 11:15, right when they were walking in the door to check in. Va bene. I took Sam and his best friend from abroad Erick near the Duomo to get some food, and we ended up hanging around one of the bars/cafes/clubs (it's like a mix of all three, the going out places here serve multi-functional purposes) for a little just for something to do. We ended up running into a group of SUF students who knew Erick (small world!) so the group of us enjoyed the evening until late (dare I tell you?--3am) and instead of taking a cab home I crashed on the floor of the boys hotel room--seriously. Think Palm Springs back in the day when our family would go and Jackie/Tori would make a bed out of the cushions haha. I told Sam I'd leave early so I could get home (I didn't tell Anna I'd be sleeping out, otherwise it wouldn't have been a big deal) and slipped away at 7am--woof, brutal. But it was sunny with a few clouds, and I was glad the SUL class would have a sunny day to explore the city.

Wrong.

I went back to bed as soon as I got home and got a restful 2 hours of sleep (made all the difference in the world) and after preparing myself to conquer the day, headed out to meet the class at the Medici Chapels at San Lorenzo. And it was pouring rain. And continued to rain all weekend. Relentlessly. I didn't mind, obviously, but when I met up the with the class Erick said to Sam that I'd never fit in as an Italian, I was a) too happy b) too colorful (I was wearing my trench coat and a red scarf, that's not that colorful!) and c) too blonde-curly-haired.

I followed the class along the rest of the day, and Forbes, the professor of the class who Sam had introduced me to Thursday night at the hotel, overheard me "teaching" Sam about the Medici's and ended up having me speak my piece at every monument we went to thereafter. I was kicking myself for being such a know-it-all. But Sam said he's never been more proud! After the Medici Chapels the class broke for lunch and we went to a favorite sandwich place of mine where we saw three Italian women with wine that was steaming. I had no idea that they served mulled wine here, so Sam, Erick,

Buonanno's Cathedral doors in Pisa

and I tried this "hot wine" and while it certainly wasnt the same as mulled wine with the spices and such, it was a warm pick me up after splashing around Florence. Kinda warms you up from the inside out. Interesting!

The class proceeded with a look inside San Lorenzo, a trip to the Duomo, and ended in the Baptistery where I accompanied them and got in free thanks to the generosity of Forbes and SUL (my museum pass only covers certain entrance fees, the Baptistery and most churches are not included) so I earned my keep by talking about the great mosaics of the Baptistery for the class, and I think I'm really lucky. The SUL kids who are art history majors/in art history classes (I talked to a few who were) sure, they'd have class at the National Gallery, but they don't get to study their stuff in the original context like I get to. Mom, you said in a previous email that maybe I was actually going to remember something from this semester of schooling. I absolutely agree, it not only helps to have that interactive learning where I'm on site for most of my classes, but even in the classroom, I can easily go into the city and apply what I learned to the things around me. They're like constant reminders, so how could I forget? I guess my point is that I was really easy to talk about the things Forbes was nudging my way, and I really enjoyed talking about them!

View of the Pisa Duomo from the Baptistery

After a stop at their hotel to change into try shoes (did I mention it rained all day? You'd think these London kids would be used to it/own a pair of boots. Every single one of them had sneakers! Big thanks to Gram, the boots she got me at the end of the semester last year have been my life saver! They're adorable and waterproof without being rainboots!) Anyway, we headed to Villa Rossa where Forbes kind of MCed a discussion among SUF professors and/or local Florentines and his class. This was an event where he'd told his students to tell us, the SUF students, to come and participate. Except none of the questions he asked applied to us, or were directed at us. I'd invited as many friends as were in town (there was a Paris trip this weekend hosted by the school much like this Florence trip for the SUL kids where it was optional and you had to pay for it--Hannah went) and Sarah and Cynthia came. But regardless they served an AMAZING apperativo after with crostini and bread and FRESH olive oil (the harvest was last week!) and cheese and olives and Chianti wine and it was just delicious! We tried to formulate a plan for dinner for the group after, but realized a group of 22+ people was a big extreme to descend upon a restaurant without a reservation, so we broke off and Liz and I took a group of 8 SUL students to our favorite local student cheap great variety place, Il Gato e Il Volpe. Everyone was more than content, but really full from our apperativo (I'd told them--my vote was to skip a sitdown dinner and grab a slice of pizza or something...) so Sam and I were the smart ones who split gnocci! Especially since Italians don't believe in doggy bags...sorry Abby.

Pisa Baptistery Pulpit

That night we were all filled to the brim with food and tired, so I headed home around 11:15 because I had a field study trip the next morning and had to get up early early early. Sam said he crashed as soon as I left. Anyway, so Pisa/Lucca was on my agenda for Saturday, and after a brutal 6:40 wake up call and my tendency to run late, I made it out the door with my breakfast in one hand and key in the other (I knew when I returned Anna was going to be mad I didn't wake her up to make me breakfast, but first of all I refuse to disturb the woman's sleep for something so selfish, and second of all I was late myself). But everything was fine and within two minutes of being on the coach bus for the trip I was asleep.

In Pisa we checked out the main complex, the Cathedral, the Baptistery, and of course, their bell tower, or the Leaning Tower. I took one of those adorable touristy photos of me holding up the Leaning Tower--yeah just wait til it goes up, it's precious! Anyway, we learned about why its leaning, and then went to the Baptistery, which is much plainer than ours, but has an important pulpit we learned about in Black Death, and then at 11, a monk came in and called out notes--he didn't sing, but he called out different notes. And based on the acoustics in the Baptistery and the timing of his note-calling, it sounded like there was a whole choir in there!!! That was really really cool, something the Pisans have on the Florentines. All Florence's baptistery's good

Pisa Baptistery from the second story

for is shiny gold stuff. We spent some time in the Cathedral which also has an important pulpit and some important bronze doors, and then were told we might not do the second part of the day trip because of the crummy weather. Well my heart skipped a beat because that meant I'd get to go back to Florence and join in on the SUL tours! After that idea was put in our heads, an idea which 90% of the group was in favor of, the leaders said, just kidding, we're going to Lucca at least for lunch. Well ok. I mean, we were out and about anyway, when else was I going to get a chance to see Lucca?

We were dropped off within the city walls of Lucca, every fourth person was handed a map, and told, ok, you have two hours for lunch. When you're done, we'll let you know if we're going back to Florence or walking around the city on a walking tour. Sarah, Cynthia, and this new guy John (who reminds me of Bob Saget from his Full House days) and I meandered around this Medieval city with its twists and turns around markets and

Pisa Cathedral Pulpit and Interior

such--it's a very pretty and very quaint little town, I really enjoyed it--until we popped into a cafe to grab some lunch. We reconvened at the meeting point, tired, full, and ready to get on the bus to take a nap, when the field study leader of the day said, well the weathers holding out, we're going to stay for another hour and a half and go on a walking tour of the city, but it was optional. Most of the kids didn't go, but Sarah, Cynthia, Bob Saget aka John and I figured why not, and I ended up being really glad we went! We went to three different churches, one of which has the un-decayed body of Santa Zita (Saint Elizabeth, we think), which was really cool and really weird at the same time! People were taking pictures, I felt like that was kind of sacreligious...but wasn't sure. She looked a little worse for wear...kind of mummified...but it was pretty cool nonetheless. We finished at the Lucca City walls, which are now preserved as a park/running path/biking path and enhances the city's beauty. The walls were kind of a joke back in the day, since Lucca was a peacefully little city with the big fat squat walls. But now they're really very lovely.

Anyway, we headed back to Florence, I crashed like the narcoleptic I am in moving vehicles, and arrived in Florence early still around 5:45. I headed home, cleaned myself up, and headed out to meet Sam around 6:45. After a major major lack of communication between the two of us (I blame myself, I'm the local, I shouldn't have expected him to give me directions to where he was, I should have designated a meeting point!), I found him with a group of other SUL kids at 8. They were trying to go to this restaurant called Dante on Oltrarno (YAY!!!! MY side of the Arno!!!! SUF kids avoid Oltrarno like the plague for no good reason) that serves free wine for students. They were glad to see me to

Walking along Lucca's wall

have someone who knew where they were going, and to have someone who spoke Italian. Unfortunately, Dante's was packed. And I panicked, I didn't have a back up plan for this area of the city. So we walked along the road and found an osteria a block down with a promising menu and very reasonable prices. It was a GREAT meal!!!!!! I love Oltrarno, it's so much less touristy and has so much to offer, and I loved that the SUL kids didn't know any better that it wasn't the "center" of the city, they were just as content to eat there as anywhere else. In fact, Sam said if he was every to come back to Florence in the future (i.e. with his parents, in future travels), he'd want to stay Oltrarno and see the more Tuscan side of the city, rather than the main attractions. God love him. Everyone at dinner was mad I wasn't with them all day, Sam said every single person in the group, including Forbes, asked him where I was that day and if I'd be joining them later, because it was more enjoyable to listen to me (showoff, in my opinion/talk, in theirs) than to listen to Forbes and his Florentine counterpart. I thought that was very sweet of them, and Sam said he was beaming with pride all afternoon. Awwww. Following dinner, I'd planned to crash at the hotel that night and go with the class to see the David and go to the Uffizi early the next morning, I was ready for bed, but Sam wanted to go out to a club we'd been to when he first came to Florence. It was the first time he and I had some alone time, and we only went out for an hour or two, but we had fun! When we returned, we'd found Erick had ended up going out with a group of SUL boys, and returned even later than we had. But we got a solid night's rest.

Medieval Lucca city wall

After a nice breakfast at the hotel and me pretending I'd just arrived at the hotel that morning when Forbes came to collect the group, we headed to the Academia to check out David, who I actually hadn't seen before. My museum pass got me in for free, and not only that, but I was able to cut the line, so I was ready to go a little before the class was! We spent about a half hour in the Academia with this GIGANTIC statue (I underestimated him---wow, big piece of marble), and then made our way across town to see my favorite gallery of art. A little unimpressed at how Forbes was presenting the information (ok, now I'm being an art snob, I know), and Sam still a little tired, and with the permission for the class to wander the galleries alone, we broke off from the group after moving from

Pisa's Campo Santo--literally "Holy Ground" brought from Jeruselum and planted here

pre-Black Death to early Renaissance art, and took our time to look at images as I pointed out my favorites to Sam. I mean, I go to the Uffizi on rainy Sunday afternoons for hours and hours just to have something to do occasionally, so after Palazzo Vecchio this was home.

When Sam complained of image overload (there's apparently a syndrome for that...) we tried to wait out the rain (nope, just kept raining) and walked along the Arno and locked a padlock on the Padlocks of Love by the Arno (awwwwww). After that he wanted to get some earrings for his mom, but the earrings place that I got the girls' earrings at was closed, so we made out a deal for me to pick them up, after he asked his mom if she still wore earrings (they're going to be in London for Thanksgiving)...anyway, that's just a side story. We strolled along Oltrarno and Sam wanted to try Dante's again, we were seated immediately and he treated me to a lovely fedaccini alfredo lunch (for me) and lasagna (for him) for lunch, which was very much the Italian version of comfort foods after walking around in the rain. The SUL kids had free time until they had to meet at 4:15 to leave for Pisa, but Sam didn't want to go to another museum, and instead we started heading back to the hotel to watch a movie in the lobby or something, but en route stopped at the olive oil festival in Piazza della Repubblica, where we tasted some really interesting oils and cheeses!!! Apparently we weren't the only ones who were looking to warm up at the hotel, and several other SUL kids had camped out out of the rain there.

I walked with Sam to the train station where they we catching a train to Pisa before their flight, and said goodbye and waved and cried (I'm such a baby) until their train pulled out of the station. I headed back home, arranged my schedule and rested for the remainder of the evening, and then joined Anna and Antoinetta for a delicious dinner of minestrone, our favorite chicken and vegetables, fruit, and panna cotta. Hannah walked a little after 10 and Anna warmed up a plate for her. I'm exhausted, and was looking forward to a good night's sleep in what feels like the world's now comfiest bed.

Inside Campo Santo

America's Got Talent?

I finally got the MacAvoy/Shalom package!!!! The slip for it was in the "I" mailbox and not the "J" because someone wrote the J looking like an I, but anyway, I went to pick it up (it's BEAUTIFUL by the way! It's a frame the Dr. Shalom made from sea glass she collected in Cuba with a picture of me and Sam in it) and Beth, the Student Life Coordinator, was talking to my friend Liz about how this semester is the most uninterested semester she's ever seen, i.e. only a few people had signed up for the talent show. And so as I was trying to get my packages, she was asking me, "so you're going to sign up?" and I laughed and said no, I have no talent. Beth told me that that was ridiculous and said I could sing something. Right, I only sing in the shower or the car. And Liz pipes up and says, "Well you know there's a 50E prize." And I jokingly said, oh ok I'll sing Christmas carols. And Liz lit up and said that she'd vote for me if I did sing Christmas carols. So Beth put my name down with "music" underneath.

Ok, so my idea was to find a guy to sing Baby It's Cold Outside with me, because, duh it's my favorite Christmas song EVER. Tim bailed, but he texted me wishing me good luck right before I went on. So did Andrew, who was my back up plan, but he's Jewish and didn't know the words anyway (JK Andrew you're the BEST!). But no surprise. So I was going with Santa Baby.

I recruited a handful of friends to come cheer me on, (Sarah, Sarah W., Liz, and Nora but she left early, and Hannah went home early from school cuz she wasn't feeling well so she the wasn't there either). So Sarah's giving me a pep talk as soon as I arrive, though I'd been sitting in my Leonardo class earlier and I was like, who am I kidding, I'm not winning anything, I just should go straight home, Anna wants us home early anyway for an early dinner, forget it. But I went downstairs and Beth ushered me right into the room, and there was Sarah and Sarah, as well as two other professors, one other student, and Beth. At that point I thought, well ok, maybe I'll be winning this by default, it'll be nothing, it'll be like singing in the shower. Then all the other 6:10 classes got out. And the room filled up. Most of them freshmen--good for them for showing up! And then the rest faculty members. Was I really about to do this?

Jim, the assistant director, warmed up the crowd as the official MC. The director (Michael) began with a lovely rendition of "The Way You Look Tonight" on the guitar and singing, followed by a student who played his guitar (no singing though). Then a freshman girl got up and recited a Maya Angelou poem. Then it was me. Jim apparently knew the other three performers and introduced them nicely, he got up and said, "Next we have Stephanie. Stephanie are you here? I'm going to let you introduce yourself." Gee thanks. So I get up. "Hi, I'm Stephanie, though more of you may know me as Stevie. And I'm going to be honest, I've never sung in front of a room full of people, I tend to only sing in the shower. So please be generous, please be nice, and on that note I'd like to do a song about generosity and giving." And I start singing Santa Baby. The line where it goes "Think of all the fellas that I haven't kissed" I went and sat on my friend  Harrison's lap (he's one of the two freshmen boys here), and the crowd was ROARING. I mixed up two verses (ring/platinum mine) but really no one cared, they were in stitches. Quite honestly I'm surprised I didn't black out. But it was great. After I sat down, I got a standing ovation and Jim had A LOT of great things to say after that little performance, he wont be without an intro for me next time (haha he was really sweet)!!!

After me, Beth did a song on her guitar for her brother who recently passed, a girl Morgan sang a beautiful Sarah Barielles song, another professor played an Irish jig on her fiddle, and another girl Lenora did a dance, but Anna really did want us home by 7:30, and it was 7:10 and goodness knows it takes me forever to get home, so I went up to Jim and told him my situation, and he said to go, and that they'd let me know if anything happened. So I missed Lenora's dance and RAN to the bus stop and RAN home, only 5 minutes late for dinner. I'm sitting on the bus getting close to home, and Sarah calls me, screaming "YOU WON!!!" And I said "I won what? Honorable mention? Third?" And she was like "NO, you won FIRST!!!!!!!!!" HAHAHAHAHAHA I was almost screaming on the bus I was so surprised and amazed and happy! She told me to go to Beth's office in the morning to pick up my prize (which someone alluded to wasn't a straight up 50E, but a 50E gift card to a restaurant...hey, that's my meals for the weekends for the rest of the semester, I'm ok with that!!!!!!!). Oh my goodness, I'm still riding such a high. Why don't I do that more often?

Anyway, so that was the highlight of my busy day!!

My Crazy Italian Life

 Mondays sure know how to start the week with a bang! I headed to Palazzo Vecchio because Roberta, one of my internship coordinators, said to stop in and chat with her. I got to the Piazza around 8:40ish but no one was in (things dont open until 9 here) so I sat outside in the Piazza and did some Italian homework. When I made my way in, Roberta and Giaele, my other internship coordinator, were chatting, and I think something got lost in translation, because that check-in meeting turned into my internship test with Giaele! So instead of being there for a half hour like I thought I was going to be, I was there for 2 hours! Oops! But great news...I passed! And I should be on the tour schedule this week. I'm about to email Roberta about it now. And I had 15 minutes to make it to class on location at Santa Maria Novella, and I was 3 minutes late, and therefore successful!

From my Black Death class on site I ran back to Villa Rossa for my Italian class, in which we watched a movie about the mafia. It was in very fast very Sicilian Italian...3 minutes into the movie Donatella (my professor) left the classroom, and Tim went up and turned the subtitles on. Thank goodness because I ended up really enjoying the movie! Hannah didn't like it though (she watched it in her Italian class also). It was like the Italian version of Milk, you know, about Harvey Milk, but the main character wasn't gay, and was a communist, and his family was part of the mafia. So, you know, something along the same lines...

Anyway, I ran from Italian back to Palazzo Vecchio for the class tour of the museum, and it went GREAT. Unfortunately the class had to be split in two, and I couldn't be in two places at once, but I gave the tour to one group and was shadowed by a regular museum tour guide Stefano because it was a secret passageway tour and I wasn't expected to give the secret passageway tour but I was allowed to give the tour and he just unlocked the doors. It was great. It was a little weird, because for this class there are presentations given, so we often stopped in one room for a long period of time to discuss one particular fresco or something, but otherwise the tour went well on my end, and I'm looking forward to getting more comfortable with the material so I can give tours without any reservations!

After my final class, we were dismissed early so we could make it back to Villa Rossa for a lecture by the museum director of Palazzo Strozzi, the only rotating exhibit space in Florence (i.e. without a permanent collection, so there are always new shows coming in and out). But I learned a lot about art curating and creating interesting and interactive exhibits, and I'm hoping I can use him as a contact in the future.

Apparently this week is just relentless, and packed with fully, busy days! Tuesday morning I made my way to the library to finish up my FINALLY LAST NEVER HAVE TO DO ONE AGAIN Leonardo presentation--yay! After scanning images for two hours, I made my way to Italian, which was a short class, and we studied some works from Puccini's La Boheme because that night the upper level Italian classes were headed to--you guessed it--the opera!!!! But first, I had to head back to the library and finish my presentation, meet with my TA, get my presentation approved, fact check, etc etc. After finishing most of my work, Hannah and I headed to Spazio to speak with the Italians, and since it was a kid's birthday (the one guy in Hannah's class, kind of like the Tim to our class), Donatella made us two giant pans of tiramisu and brought spumante! It was perfect, because since we weren't going to be home for dinner, Anna had packed us little sandwiches and oranges, so Spazio served as the perfect dessert for our take-out meal! Plus this Spazio was really fun, we talked to two Italians (one a young working man, one a university student) who wanted to hear more about American universities i.e. Greek life. So we were amused trying to explain sororities and fraternities, and then talking about SU back home and our families and our brothers and sisters.

Sarah, Sarah, Dani, and me at our favorite restaurant, Gato e Volpe

After Spazio I headed back to the library for a little to squeak out a little more work, while Hannah went to a lecturer for her photo class. Tim came and met me in the library around 6:50, and we were going to make our way to the opera, which was on my side of the Arno at St. Mark's English Church. Hannah refused to be left behind on her own, and it took us a while to get her to leave the lecture, but we had to go, and she wasn't a happy camper. Oh well, you can't please everyone. Tim told me I should be the one mad because she was going to make us late, but I didn't want to get into it. I let it blow over and by the end of the night it was like nothing happened.

Anyway, the opera: it was held in a small church (which apparently always has mass in English! Good to know!) about 6 bridges over from our house (aka not close, even though it was our side of the Arno). There were about 50-80 people there for the performance, and there was a grey-haired gentleman narrator (from Austria, so he sounded like Arnold) who would come out and describe the scene we were about to see in English before it was sung in Italian. The performers did four scenes from La Boheme, which is what Rent is based off of, who knew! But it was beautiful, and a lovely authentic Italian experience. Mom you're right, Sam does come here this weekend, and I'm thinking about taking him, they have a second performance Saturday night of Puccini's Wedding of Figaro, so I'm going to ask Donatella for more information today in class. But over all it was very very fun, and a great experience!

The opera ended a little after 10, so Hannah and I had to catch the night bus (ugh....only bad experiences with that bus...) and as usual the 10:07 bus didn't show up, so after waiting another 10 minutes for it, we decided, hey, now we're only about 3 bridges away, we can walk. So we walked home together from our bus stop, and we got in around 10:50, so it wasn't terrible, especially since it was a nice night. But we got in, and were wipped out, so we headed to bed shortly after, especially since MoWe are our early days.

Night at the Opera!

Two Months Left

WEDNESDAY

Hannah told me we have exactly two more months here. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It got really cold really fast here. Last weekend was cool, but Wednesday it was COLD. No rain, just wind. Freezing. I wore my coat IN my classes. It's apparently illegal in Florence to turn the heater on before Nov. It's so cold. And I think it might be colder in our stone and marble apartment than it is outside. We had my Medici class on location, as usual, so we spent three hours sitting on stone benches in the Bobali Gardens. I'm still trying to warm up. Have I mentioned it's cold here?

Midterms are sneaking up on us next week, so Hannah and I are doing some serious cracking down. I have 36 slides to ID and memorize. But that's not a lot compared to past art history classes so I think I'm fairly fortunate.

THURSDAY

But it was absolutely gorgeous out Thursday. I'm not saying I wanted to sun bathe, but it was a beautiful fall day and the three (count em) layers of clothes and sweaters I wore to school all under my trench coat totally weren't necessary. I'm a nut.

I went to my museum to do some research in the morning. The creepy security guard told me I was cute and if I had a fiance. I said yes I did and that I had to leave for class bye. I met my friend Tim for lunch that afternoon and we chowed down on Chinese food done Italian style. That was interesting!  

Thursday my only class, Italian, was kinda canceled because my professor couldn't be there, but we took a practice midterm which was sort of helpful. I made study guides for my other classes and did some research for my internship. Thursday afternoon it was a beautiful day so I went for a run along the Arno (I'm edging out of the 10k-5k shape I was in, and I'll be the first one to admit that. Ruh-roh).

Later Thursday afternoon I went to Spazio Conversazione to talk to practice my Italian (next week is our midterm eeeek!). The theme of the night was "perche no pesto?" so we had pesto and papa e pomodoro, which was like a tomato stew it was SO GOOD. Afterwards Hannah and I went to Tim's wine tasting at his internship enoteca, and then returned home for another lovely dinner (Anna gets 2 gold stars in a row for being so spot on with what I wanted for dinner those two nights) of pasta pomodoro, pizzeta (cuts of red meat with tomato sauce and cheese on top, like chicken parm but with red meat) and green beans.

I have postcards to send out, but I cant find a mailbox in this crazy little city! Welp  

FRIDAY
Today Hannah and I signed up for a walking tour of Florence through the school. Tim said Thursday that he'd signed up for it too but it sounded lame and decided not to show up. He got me all nervous that it was going to be lame, but then Hannah reminded me, hey, this is going to be something really cool to do on our Friday morning, why not go? She was right. It was SO cool. We went to four different artisan shops on Oltrarno, aka our side of the Arno, where most of the craftsmen work. First we went to a guy who makes Florentine marble paper and leather/goldleaf embossed book covers. Apparently he's been on Martha Stewart, he's a big deal! Then we went to another world famous artisan, a metal smither. We didn't spend much time there but it was cool to see his designs. Next we went to a jewelry maker, who works in brass mostly. He pressed euro coins for us into the Florentine insignia. We had a ball in his shop, he was the most personable as well. Finally we went to a tanner and leather shop. We didn't see the tanning process like we'd seen the processes of the other artisans, but I did do a my leather shopping there, especially since we were given a 15% discount on the goods!

Later Hannah and I met up with three other friends to buy soccer tickets to go to the game this weekend. But apparently it's such a big game that only Tuscans are allowed to go this Saturday! Oh no! So we all went out for lunch, and then we took Sarah, Caitlin, and Dani to the brass artisan to show them his shop, and they loved it as much as we did.

Hannah and I strolled around Florence for the rest of the afternoon. Now I'm a little tired, but we're making our way out to Il Gato e Il Valope for dinner (I took Sam here, and we'd gotten lost. But he ended up loving and wants to go when he comes back to Florence with a class in Nov).

Just Running Around Italy

Today, I ran Corri La Vita, a 10k race for cancer that takes you throughout the beautiful city of Florence.

I finished without walking (though at times I ran slower than I think I've ever walked before...that's sayin something because I'm a slow walker) and I wasn't the last person to finish the race! I think there were about 15,000 running the 10k, and then some thousand walking a 5k course.

The 10k course started in Piazza Signoria (by the Uffizi Gallery), wound around the Duomo, then ran across Ponte Vecchio, then twisted and turned (uphill the whole way, may I add, on like a 65 degree incline) through Boboli Gardens, past Piazzale Michelangelo and the basilica of San Minito, then down hill (like 90 degree decline..oye my knees) and back across the Arno, along the Arno, past the Florentine Library, and ended in Piazza Signoria. I've attached a photo of the course map.

There were 6 or 7 other girls from SUF who also ran it: two of them were like hardcore marathon runners so they were off at the gun, another, Natalie, (from Nor Cal, goes to Harvard, art history major) was supposed to be my running buddy but we got separated in the bustle of the starting line, then three other girls and I ran together for the first 2km. Nicole and I fell behind the other two, and so Nicole and I ran together for the first 4km. Then we got separated in a hairpin turn/crowd, so I was on my own for the last half or so. But I had Jen's pilates playlist blasting on my iPod and I did it!!! We all reconvened at the Ristorate, the refreshments booth, where the iced tea and lemonade were flowing and there were oranges and bananas to be had. Hannah was there to snap pictures of me finishing as I crossed the finish line too!

I didn't care about time for the 10k, whereas my 5k this summer I was in it to win it. But this 10k, I just wanted to finish the damn thing. It honestly was one of the hardest things I think I've ever done. But I finished. I'm so happy!! I can say I ran a 10k in Italy!! My official time was 1 hr 11 min 24 sec. I'm very very happy. Endorphins still pumpin'!