Ciao to all my loved ones! It has been a fabulously busy week, filled with the first few days of classes and weekend trips. Starting classes was a little rough for some of us, because we definitely felt like we were on a four month vacation until Monday morning came around- I guess a little dose of reality is good for everyone. As promised, I wanted to show some pictures of our apartment!
This is me and two of my roommates in front of our apartment door.
This is mine and Katie's room.
This is our bathroom; I love the blue tile. A fresh bouquet of tiger lilies (my favorite flowers) were waiting for us when we arrived!
This is our living room! It is very cozy and the four of us love spending nights together here. On rare occasion, we can be found watching Jersey Shore in italian here.
I don't have pictures of the kitchen or living room, but they are cute, and very small. We really love our apartment and are starting to get to know the people and the area around it very well!
The weekend before classes started was a full weekend. On Saturday my roommates and I were feeling very adventurous. So we went to the train station and got on a train to Forte dei Marmi, a sea town in northern Tuscany:
It really became an adventure when we got off the train and found that no one in sight spoke English. So we figured out how to ask "Where is the beach?" in Italian. A kind storeowner told us it was about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). Since a taxi was very expensive, we walked 45 minutes to the beach in our flip-flops. The long walk was absolutely worth it, however, when we reached the beach:
We spent a significant amount of time on the beach, and then walked along the board-walk:
There were lots of people fishing along the boardwalk, and it was fun to watch them reel in fish after fish. The coast of Italy is so beautiful and unique to me; it is unlike anything I've ever seen. I think it's because I have never seen such huge mountains (some of which are snow-capped even!) and such beautiful, blue water. The Italian coastline is the meeting point of such a rare duo.
On Sunday, our neighbors from downstairs, who are also study abroad students, asked us to go on another adventure. So we went on this beautiful hike through the ritziest part of Florence up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. Along the way we saw many fabulous things:
This is Sam and I in front of Galileo Galilei's house.
Part of someone's property in the rich area of Florence. It's so lush and green, it's beautiful.
This is the church of San Miniato al Monte. The doors open to an incredible view of Florence.
We also ran across another wedding :)
Then we finally reached the Piazzale Michelangelo, which has the most incredible view of Florence:
Isn't it beautiful?
This is a picture from the Piazzale at night, taken by my roommate Katie.
We just got back from our weekend excursion in Pisa and Cinque Terre, which I will blog about soon. I miss you all and hope you are doing well!
Ciao,
Sarah
No comments:
Post a Comment