Out and About

Had a great week. Went to the San Lorenzo market with my culture class. It was awesome! Its huge! Its inside and outside with tons of fresh fruit and veggies and meat and cheese. The outside as all kinds of leather bags and coats. And everything is very cheap! Its so Florence! I think this is where I am going to do all of my produce shopping from now on. Plus, its definitely one way to learn the language because not everyone there speaks English. And its near school so today we stopped on the way home and picked up some things. I got a really cute new purse.

The midterms are over! They both went well. It Italian class today we had a Saint Valentina's Party! Everyone brought in chocolate and we hung out and they played Justin Timberlake and Madonna in the background haha. It was a lot of fun though. After lunch, myself and a bunch of my roommates decided to go see Michelangelo's statue of David (Francesca says we have to see it at least 6 times before we leave Florence) at the Accademia Museum. After walking there we were disappointed to find that the museum was closed due to the workers on strike. While we were standing outside trying to figure out where we should go now (we wanted to take advantage of our Museum card that lets us cut the line and get into most of the museums in Florence for free), a couple probably in their 50's came up to us and asked us where we were planning on going instead. We decided to go to the Uffizi Museum instead since its very big and takes a few days to see everything. They asked if they could tag along because they had no barrings of the city. They were very nice, from Chicago, and when we told them we we're from Rutgers the husband said, "oh some smart ladies I see" haha. They were only in Florence for 2 days (totally not enough time to see everything). So anyways, we walk across town to the Uffizi to find that it too is closed!! The employees are on strike at this museum too! It was very disappointing. Good thing I live here and can go back whenever I want! I felt bad for my friends from Chicago! They weren't going to be able to see any of the big exhibits! I was surprised to see that both big museums were closed. There were tons of tour groups and kids on class trips just sitting outside. But as Jes said, "those Italians are very temperamental!" Since it was such a lovely day we decided to walk around and do some window shopping.

Tomorrow I am going to Roma! Our school is having a trip to all the famous landmarks in Rome. We leave at 7 in the morning and take the train (its about a 1 1/2 hour ride) and don't come back 8pm. But we get to see pretty much all the big attractions in Rome. I'm really excited! Tomorrow is also one of my roommates, Morgan's 21st birthday so we are going out to celebrate when we get back tomorrow.

Jes and I have had some interesting experiences with not knowing the language at the market (but we are learning!) Everyday in an adventure for sure!

Happy Valentines Days!