A Firenze!

So it's been an incredibly busy/intense couple of days. I finally got over that nasty cold (after staying home one more day from school) and was able to study for and take our second Italian test on Friday morning. I actually feel pretty good about this one. After the test we went to a second museum in Siena, this time the museum of Santa Maria della Scala. It was just as interesting and as beautiful as the first. Friday afternoon continued with an hour long Opera Workshop, taught by one of SIS's guest professors, and Friday evening it was off to Florence (Firenze) to see Don Giovanni, an opera in two acts by Mozart. Oh, I forgot, during one of our breaks on Friday I found an awesome new pair of shoes (black, ankle-length, high-heeled boots) for only 20 euros! So I bought them and then wore them to the opera that night. Love my new shoes, hated them after about two hours of walking in/wearing them. Oh well, anywho, upon arriving in Florence we walked (when choosing to wear my new shoes I did not realize how much walking was involved in this trip) to the opera house and then had to stand outside for over a half hour. Another task that added to my feet hating me. Finally we were let in though and found our seats. The performance was incredible, or rather the singers/performers were incredible and their voices were breathtaking, however the rest of the experience was a bit of a let down. The theatre itself was kind of dingy (the Craterian at home in Medford is ten times as nice) and the stage set/technical aspects of the show were pretty awful. The set was nothing exuberant or really note worthy, and the lighting was very poor. A majority of the stage was completely in shadows most of the time. However, despite it not being the awe-inspiring experience I was hoping for, getting to see one of Mozart's most famous creations, in an opera house in Florence, Italy, is an experience that I am truly grateful for and will never forget. After the show, the eleven of us who decided to stay in Florence for the night started making our way to the hostel. We were able to reserve one room for all of us, so it was basically like having one giant sleepover. And, being in a hostel for the first time surrounded by people that I know and trust made the experience an easy and comfortable one. The hostel was called Euro Student Hostel and, all things considering, was pretty nice. The beds were comfortable and the room was bright and spacious. We checked in then headed out on the town. Well, what we thought was going to be a fun night of going out and drinking in Florence turned into us just walking around looking at cool stuff for about an hour and then going back and going to bed. It was still a lot of fun though! In the morning we had to check out by 9:30am so we got a pretty early start to our day in Florence. We began by going to the Saturday market in one of the squares. Kayla (the other Kayla on the trip for those of you that don't know), Nina, and myself split the cost of a bottle of wine. Sometime in the near future we will enjoy it together. The market was awesome and I wish I had more money to spend there. Actually, all the shops and street vendors in Florence were amazing and I wanted to buy so many things. I'm definitely going to set aside some money to splurge on some gifts for when we go back. Kayla, Nina, and I ended up breaking off from the rest of the group and had a fun, adventure-filled day of sightseeing. After a nice breakfast of cappuccinos and pastries of course. We began by going to the Duomo and seeing the main cathedral. The painted dome inside was phenomenal. We then went to some other little churches and made our way to Palazzo Vecchio. This was by far my favorite part. The statues in the square are so beautiful, I took so so so many pictures. We also went to the Museum di Palazzo Vecchio, which was once the palace of the Medici family. This is my favorite museum that we've been to. The ceilings, frescoes, paintings, fireplaces, everything was so gorgeous. And the fact that all the rooms were once actually lived in by the wealthiest family and former rulers of Italy is incredible. For lunch we did the typical "college students traveling Europe" thing: found a covered area (it was raining) next to another huge palace which we commented on and took pictures of, sat and ate our homemade/packed lunches, and then left because actually going inside the palace was too expensive. As the afternoon was quickly drawing to an end we decided we should probably go find the bus station and figure out what the bus schedule was for returning to Siena that evening. Well, this was not an easy task. The bus station is not marked, there are no signs anywhere, and it is completely tucked away around the corner from the other main bus/train station. Luckily, we were able to call a friend of ours who took the bus from Florence last weekend and he directed us to the correct place. We then finished our time in Florence by going to one more church/museum: Santa Maria Novella and getting gelato before catching our bus home. The 36 hours we spent in Florence made for very sore feet, little sleep, and a lot of art/history in a very short amount of time, but every moment was fantastic and I'm so happy that we went. Of course, there is still so much to do/see there so we've made a list for when we go again in the next couple of months. Even though our adventure in Florence came to an end, Kayla and I still had a few more exciting things happen to us on the way back to our houses. We realized that we still had a half hour to kill before our bus home arrived, so we decided to go sit and get something to drink at the cafe that we've now termed "our usual." We've been there 4 times in the past week and are determined to become "regulars." Well, on our way to the cafe we passed an Italian man who we had a conversation with a couple of weeks ago, he recognized us, said hello, and asked how we were doing. Pretty cool. Then, in the cafe, the owner (who's always there when we go in) served us and then brought her little dog, Simba, over and introduced us to him. So, pretty much she now knows us and we got to meet the dog. Aka we're regulars. Awesome. Like I said, it was a full two days and I'm completely exhausted. Tomorrow will be a restful but work filled day because we have a twenty minute research presentation to give on Tuesday (all in Italian of course) and a bunch of other homework to do. Then I GET TO WATCH THE 49NERS PLAY IN THE SUPERBOWL. Even if the game doesn't start until midnight here, nothing will keep me away from that television. Alrighty, buona sera a tutti!