Florence Frenzy

Buongiorno (good day) from Italy. This week was a typical week in Rome with some fun twists and our final art trip to Florence. We had a typically Monday of classes. We had lunch as a group and then headed to the grocery store in search of supplies for our nacho feast that night (instead of our normal Monday night meal at Gustos). We bought the store out of corn chips and salsa and headed to a few other stores in search of other things wee needed. After a short break I helped with setting up for the Nachos. We wrapped the table in tin foil and laid down the chips. Then drizzled the cheese and added the toppings. We then had a Mario Kart tournament with the Chaplains. I lost in the first round, but it was still fun to watch. On Tuesday we had history class at Santa Stefano Rotundo and headed back to campus to study for our art history quiz the next day. Wednesday started off with our quiz followed by an excursion in the city for art history. After arriving back on campus, we got ready for Convivium and worked on our final Italian presentation speeches. Thursday was our groups turn to present in Italian. After the presentations we watched a movie for Benedict class. After class we all hammered out our Search for Happiness essays and packet for the upcoming weekend trip.

Woke up super early and boarded the bus for Florence. We all slept most of the way there and then dropped our bags at the hotel before class started at 9:30 am. Our large group was split up into two and the me and the first group headed towards the Duomo and the attached museum. After exploring the museum and learning about the art we headed to San Marco for a self-guided tour. We had a short lunch break which wasn’t enjoyable because of the horde of pigeons that wanted our food. After lunch the first group headed to Accademia and saw the famous David statue. After our final class of the day, we headed to the hotel for a short break and then got Florentine steak for dinner.

Saturday morning was slow with class at the Uffizi followed by Santa Croce. A group of us went to Hard Rock Café for lunch and then we had free time to explore the city. We went back to the Duomo and explored the underground excavation and tried to stay out of the rain as much as possible. We visited an ancient perfume shop and enjoyed sniffing every scent. We had dinner at the Christmas market outside Santa Croce and headed back to the hotel for bed.

Sunday was spent further exploring Florence in the morning by visiting the gold bridge and spending some time enjoying the Christmas market without the rain. We boarded the bus back to Rome after lunch and got back to campus where I unpacked and relaxed.

Ciao, Ann