Ciao!!

I should be doing homework and studying for my midterms but I really don't feel like it.  So instead I decided to blog about being in Florence in general.  I haven't had time to blog about Florence too much, I've just been focused on blogging about traveling. These are the things that I like and I don't like! 

LIKES:

1) Beauty:  Florence is the most beautiful city I've ever been in.  Everywhere I walk is so pretty and I often have to remind myself that not all cities look like this.  The buildings are all so cute and I love how small the city is that I can walk everywhere.  
2) Markets: I like all the little markets with fresh food.  They're so easy to stop by on the way home and just grab some ingredients for whatever you're making for dinner that night.  The grocery stores here aren't very big because most Italians only buy their necessities and shop multiple times per week.  It's a much different lifestyle.
3) Cheap wine:  Wine is so cheap here compared to the United States.  It's only 3€ for a bottle which is really awesome.  They also have a wine filling store where you can bring an empty bottle and fill a liter of wine for only 1.50€.  America is much more expensive.
4) Slow pace: The Italians definitely have a slower pace.  When they say a certain time, they will take their time getting places, they're never in a huge rush.  Even just walking around town, they walk so much slower than I do.  I also think that none of them work and all they do is shop and buy food, but I doubt that's completely true.  It's nice having a change of pace.  I find myself to be less stressed out here, but that could also be because of my next like...
5) Not a lot of homework: My classes are all interesting and I like most of them.  I never find myself having a lot of homework.  Italian is the only class I have homework for each night.  It's a lot more writing essays and such, but it's a nice change.  I haven't written essays since probably high school.
6) Food: The food here is awesome!!!! I don't think there's something that I've had that I didn't like.  Everything is amazing.  I'm going to miss the mozzarella here the most. It's so much better than at home.  It's always so fresh.  It actually comes in water so it stays fresh.
7) Small school and staff: Coming from a huge school and campus, it's nice to experience the small school atmosphere.  I know so many people from my school because our classes are so small.  I like having 17 person classes, it's a good change.  The staff at the school is wonderful.  They are all so incredibly nice, and are so helpful with anything you ask of them.  They also have so many events that the students can attend for free or for low cost and they're all so fun.
8) City life: It's cool being in the city and being able to experience the night life.  It's nice having a semester of school in the city after being in a small town before.
9) Restaurants: All the restaurants here are so unique and cozy.  The restaurants are all very small.  I haven't seen a restaurant bigger than about 20 tables.  There aren't chain restaurants here like there are in the U.S. 
10) No classes on Fridays: After having classes 5 days a week, it's awesome to have a long weekend every single weekend!!
11) History: I really enjoy learning about the history of Florence.  I've already seen a lot of the museums but there's more I want to experience as well.  I find all the stories so interesting.  My one class is called "Story of the City"and one class we have a lesson and the other class we take a field trip to somewhere historical around Florence.  It's so cool to learn the stories behind everything with the ancient and medieval worlds.  

DISLIKES:

1) Dog poop: There's no grass here so the dogs just poop on the sidewalks (which are very skinny).  It's annoying because a lot of people don't pick it up, they just leave it there.
2) Little weird dogs: The dogs here are all weird mixed breeds, and they're kindof ugly.  Also, they're are little tiny dogs. I get really excited every time I see a dog that's normal looking and a bigger size.
3) No living room: Our kitchen is nice, but we don't have a family room where we can all hang out in so the kitchen becomes our hangout spot.  It's annoying because we can't have many people over since our kitchen really isn't that big.
4) Mosquitoes: Apparently the mosquitoes here are really bad in the summer.  Most of that cause is probably because the windows don't have screens.  But, we have had mosquitoes in the house, and it's annoying to wake up with bites on your arms.  
5) Bread: I expected the bread here to be great, but it's been so incredibly disappointing.  It's usually too hard and difficult to eat.  The best bread I've had here has been from the supermarket.  
6) Rain: I didn't expect it to rain that much in Florence.  In January, it seemed like it rained every single day.  It doesn't snow, but I would rather it have snowed than rain everyday.  It's been raining a bit less, so I'm hoping it will rain less and less.
7) Weird hours for restaurants: The restaurants here don't usually open til 7 PM, and I'm usually starving by 5 PM so it's really inconvenient.  I still haven't adjusted to their schedule.  Also, a lot of markets and stores close from 2:30-4:30 during the day.  It's such a random time.
8) Long classes: Although tuesday/thursday classes at Penn State are an hour and 15 minutes, for some reason, my hour and a half classes seem incredibly long.
9) Tourists: There have been more and more tourists arriving and I find it somewhat annoying.  They all travel in huge packs and slow me down on my walk to school.  They're usually pretty obnoxious as well.  

Despite all my dislikes, I'm loving it here and I can't wait to show Florence off to my family and Matt!

Now I better go get some work done,
Katie