So last week, after I got settled in, we started exploring a little bit. I didn't know anyone on this trip, but I quickly linked up with a large group of girls who all knew each other. It's really easy to make friends on study abroad if you don't know anyone. Everyone always wants to do things and you can tag along for adventures anytime you want. It's also nice, because you're together for a month so it's some intense, speed bonding. I've gotten to know the majority of the 22 people on this trip fairly well after just two weeks (which has felt much longer and much shorter at the same time?).
The first couple of days, we walked around and got acquainted with the city, shopped and tried out some food places. I struggled a bit with the food here at first because it wasn't at all what I expected from Italian food. American Italian food is actually a mixture of five different cuisines from regions throughout Italy that have nothing to do with each other, all thrown onto one menu and labelled "Italian" food. Tuscan Italian food is WAY different: I had a really hard time finding chicken and fish, until I went to the supermarket (more on that later). Portions are much smaller here. Most places have only pasta dishes and pizza, which are staples and all I ate for about four days straight; all of those carbs really make you crave some protein. Here's some of the things I ate that week:
Dinner the first night; margherita pizza!
Lunch the second day; cheese gnocchi with bread (and spicy olive oil)
Dinner the second night; pesto penne
Dinner the second night; fresh bruschetta
This week, finally, I went to the supermarket and located the hot food counter where they were selling breaded chicken cutlets and potato croquettes (spiced mashed potato, breaded and baked into little tubes--think mozzarella sticks but with potato and less/no cheese). This was the first time I had had chicken in nearly a week and a half. My diet at home consists almost entirely of chicken with occasional fish, so I nearly cried when I saw this counter. Even better, the food was very cheap in comparison to eating out all the time (just under 5 euros for two pieces of chicken and three croquettes!). Suffice it to say, I will be returning for lunch here often, since it's cheap, close, and delicious.
Another weird thing about eating here is the actual set up of the restaurant paying system. Water is not free like it is in the US; you can only get bottled water which is about 2 euros per bottle. They basically don't understand if you ask for tap, even though I'm pretty sure the water here is potable. You usually pay for bread for the table, by the basket. There's also usually a cover charge per person for sitting down at a restaurant (can range anywhere from 1,50 to 3 euros per person). However, there is no such thing as tipping here, since it's included in the price of your food and I guess in the cover charge (coperto in Italian).
The first week was basically dedicated to getting to know the city. Sunday and Monday we explored the city and shopped. Tuesday, our class took a trip to Santa Croce, a Franciscan church right near our hotel, where we observed the beautiful Giotto frescoes on the walls. Right after the trip, we went over to the Duomo to see the Epiphany parade. Epiphany is a national holiday in Italy on January 6th, basically the equivalent of Three Kings' Day. Afterwards we got gelato.
Santa Croce
Courtyard of Santa Croce
A really cute street
The Three Wise Men at the Epiphany Parade (riding horses!)
(I'm short so this was a difficult picture to take)
Mango and berry gelato
The view from Palazzo Michelangelo
As you can see, the view is beautiful. You can basically see the whole city from this point, including the Arno, Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore (far right), and the belltower of the Duomo. Bonus points for beautiful mountains in the background.
On Thursday, a group of us went to the Jewish Museum and Synagogue which had a beautiful, Moorish design on the inside. The majority of the church's Jewish congregation had fled from Spain during the Inquisition, so they were mostly Sephardic and the temple was set up in the Spanish style. One interesting thing we learned was that the temple was designed in the image of a church, since they had no other models to base a Jewish synagogue on. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the temple.
By Friday, we were all wiped but my friend group had decided to go to Rome that weekend. I'll save that trip and the subsequent week for another post since this one is already packed with pictures and information! Hopefully I can get around to blogging in between all the stuff I've been doing here.
Ciao! (I'm seriously so Italian).
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