We have been having orientation on campus.. long meetings about safety and living in Florence. We had an intensive italian class as well to get us ready for the country. Only one other girl in the class had taken Italian, so I had to take the lead. Luckily I remember the basics. I am starting to feel a little more confident. I can say "I want this (or that-- whatever it is)" or "I want a table for ..so many.. people." at restaurants. If I try a little Italian, they are usually pretty generous with their listening. We have only had a few incidents where the servers did not care for loud Americans.. even if we weren't being loud. At one ristorante, Alfredo, a large group of Americans left before us, so even with three of us, they did not tend to care for us. The restaurant scene is much different from America. You do not need to tip because they usually put a 2 euro or so charge on the bill for each person.. There isnt a tax listed either. The numbers are usually easy to divide-- 10.50 o 11.00 euro per person, instead of 10.53 or 11.34 per person. In New York, we always had trouble splitting the bills considering the restaurants did not like making seperate checks for each guest.
The long 25 minute walk to campus uphill is still killing us. Our legs are hurting, but we still manage to explore at night. We have spent a lot of time near the Duomo, even though it is near the center city, so it is more expensive. At night though, the city is not alive like in New York, so we try to find more populated places like that area. The duomo is only about 10-15 minutes to walk to from Piazza Isidoro. Here are some photos so far..
(above) Kristine, my roommate, on campus the second evening.
The building, La Pietra, in the distance.
The Duomo
The campus on one of the only sunny days so far.
un cappucinno! Fernando at the coffee bar on campus gives kristine and I our daily dose of caffeine..
(Above) This is me, very excited for the walk to Villa Natalia, one of the buildings on campus.
This is my roommate Kristine and me with the campus in the back ground..
This is Villa Ulivi, which is where all of my classes are located.
This is the church connected to the Duomo..
The hill at La Pietra.
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