I’m in Firenze! I apologize for the lack of postings, but my wifi was on the fritz and adapter was nowhere to be found. If I’m slow to respond to a Facebook message or email, it’s because wifi is precious gold here! Firenze is beautiful. That’s all there is to it. There are about fifty gorgeous churches in walking distance of our homestay, which also makes for great landmarks when trying to navigate.

On the flight from Dulles to Frankfurt I sat next to an elderly lady who was on vacation. She was actually an alumni from Sweet Briar, and the school does alumni trips every year to cool places in Europe. She was telling me all about her life, and her cat, Maggie. What a sweetheart! I honestly did not sleep a wink on the plane because I was chatting with this lady. The flight time flew by and all of a sudden we were in Frankfurt.

In Frankfurt airport, we had to go through security again before getting on the plane to Florence. The candle that I got my host mom apparently set off the scanner, so they had to search my bag. Well, wouldn’t you know, they pull out my teddy bear! The German TSA guy – “Is this your best friend?” Me – “Yes.” No shame. Oh, and I also got frisked. Blondes can be dangerous, ya know!

We went out for the first time in Firenze! We went to this bar called Old Stove, where we met these students from Denmark. They were so nice – and basically my twins with the platinum hair! They were seniors in high school and just visiting for the week, so unfortunately we won’t be able to hang out again. After that, we went to this bar called Lion Fountain. It was like being in an American bar. We walked in and they were playing Katy Perry while U.S. college tee’s lined the walls. There’s a JMU one with summer student’s signatures – definitely got a picture! I might recognize a few names ;) They even had a special JMU shot – strawberry vodka and lime. It was delicious and tasted like Jello. After THAT, it was pretty late but we tried to find the last club that we had wanted to check out called Club 21. That place basically looked like something out of a movie. It was so gorgeous, but so hot! Literally, the walls were sweating. I think we stayed for twenty minutes and left! Pizzerias are open very late here, thank goodness! We went to a shop and got margherita pizza, which was super cheap. Five euros for a pie? Okay!

I also just booked a trip to Cinque Terra (?) this Sunday! So excited.

Ciao for now! XO