First week in Florence

Ciao famiglia e amichi!
 After traveling a straight twenty-eight hours from Nashville to Florence, I have finally arrived! We arrived to the villa around 8:30 pm on Wednesday. After a long day of traveling everyone piled into the student center to await our room assignments. First thing I noticed was how decorated the student center was. The walls are covered with some decoration from each past group that has stayed in the villa. The decorations range from a glass collage that make up the doors that lead into the dinning area to a painted mural of the last supper. Each group gets to make their mark on the villa so I am excited for what our group is going to do!!

After going over a few things, Elizabeth, the director, began calling out room numbers. Kate, Jody and I got room 26, a three person bedroom! We were so excited to finally see where we were going to live for the next eight months of our lives! We lug our suitcases up three flights of stairs and come upon our room. We insert our key, turn the lock and walk inside. What we find is a small room with a single bed and a bunk bed with three wardrobes crammed altogether. As we begin exploring our room we figure out that we have a window with a nice view and a really nice bathroom! After getting acquainted with the room, we excitedly begin to unpack and settle in. When I was done settling in, I decided to explore the villa. What I came to find out was that I live in a really cool place. Part of the villa is made up of rooms that are very Italian in design with marble or wooden floors, patios with olive trees, stucco ceilings and a beautiful library with every book you can imagine!

Now it has been three whole days and I am absolutely loving this city. Everything is withing walking distance so there has been many excursions that have taken place. I love walking down the narrow streets of Florence and seeing cafes, markets and shops. One of my favortie shops is this 99 cent store that has practically everything you need. Going to these stores has forced me to use the little amount of Italian that I know. While is was extremely intimidating, I loved it!

I have also taken a walk to the Duomo. While I have seen the Duomo before, it has never been more breathtaking than when I saw it for the first time being Florence this year. As I walked up to it taking in its size and beautiful colors of the green, red and white marble. It is just magnificent! It has this stunning contrast against the sky and the buildings around it. It amazes me to think that men could have built this ginormous cathedral!

I thank God everyday for this experience that he has provided for me! I have truely been blesse by Him.

Ci vediamo!