Presentazioni. Presentations.

Ciao tutti! Well I'm sure you have all recovered by now from the epic blog from the other week. I am sorry for not getting anything out the last week. Nothing too exciting happened. (I'm sure you are all sick of hearing me say that. But perhaps that just means, that I really am becoming a Florentine, and am getting used to this way of life.) 

Well,  the weekend of the 22, after I finished writing my blog for you all on Friday, I headed out in the afternoon to meet up with two of my friends who were in town that weekend. 15 people from our program had rented a house in Malta, so there weren't that many of us left in Florence. So the 3 of us met up and we went to do some shopping for the dinner we were going to make that night. We decided to meet at the Duomo, which gets harder and harder every day, because more and more tourists are coming. Now let me just say, these tourists are really starting to get annoying! They're everywhere!!! The streets are packed! Anyway, on my way to the Duomo, I decided that I would finally try and find the seat of Dante. I had randomly saw a little blurb about it in an english florentine newspaper. The paper described the slab of stone that marked the spot as being on the south side of the Duomo. Well, the Duomo runs east to west, so there's a lot of south side to the Duomo. I knew that the stone used to be on the ground, where the bench used to be, but had been moved up to the wall, because people simply didn't notice it. 

Here is the spot where Dante often sat and did his writing. I have walked past this exact spot countless number of times and have looked in the shops as I walked for 4 months, and I didn't notice it! I'm glad I finally found it though, and was able to cross it off my list. 

I then took a moment and faced the Duomo, taking in the view that Dante had. I wonder what he would've thought when he was sitting there in the shadow of the large dome. 

 This is the view Dante had from his seat. As you can see, the dome looks extremely overpowering from that spot, so much so that it doesn't even fit in the picture! (You can really tell in person, though.)

So I finally met up with my friends. We had to call each other to find one another. In January we would've been able to spot each other, no problem. 

We decided on having a taco night. So we went to the store and divvied up the ingredients between us. We went to an asian market, which also has a lot of other ethnic foods. (Yes american food is considered ethnic in Italy.) They had BETTY CROCKER CAKE MIXES! AND PEANUT BUTTER! I wish I had found that place earlier in the year. Oh well. 

 We went to my friend's apartment and cooked everything up. They were really good! (Except for the queso. That was just disgusting. But everything else made up for it.) Also, I tried the guacamole, and I loved it! I could not have enough. Now, for my sister, this is a big deal. She likes to make homemade guac. all the time (as I'm sure some of you know) however, I'm usually not a fan. Now, that's not to say that hers isn't good, because I know plenty of people that love it. Well, my tastebuds must really be changing during this trip. When I get home, I will have to give her guacamole another chance. :) 

Saturday I worked on a lot of homework, and then met up with the same 2 friends again for dinner. We decided we would check out the food fair that was going on. We had seen it being set up Friday night. There was all sorts of food, which all looked and smelled delicious! 

I decided that I would go for a gyro. There was a greek stand, and I figured, hey, I had tacos last night. I'll switch it up this weekend so that I can then fully enjoy the last 2 weeks of pasta that I will have! 

 Me and my gyro! (Not to be confused with the monetary unit of a euro.)

 COOKIES COOKIES COOKIES!!

I also got some really good french fries from another stand. They tasted like Italian potatoes. (That really is a thing. Italian potatoes taste different, but they're so good!) Then I decided on a chocolate filled doughnut for dessert! It was heaven. A little bit of crisp, a hint of orange flavor in the doughnut, some glaze and powdered sugar, and then a creamy chocolate filling! 

That night I had quite the adventure trying to get home. I was going to take the bus from the train station, instead of walking through the city to the stop I usually take, since I was right by the station. Well, I found my stop, but the sign wasn't showing that my bus was going to be coming. So I was freaking out, and had no idea what I was going to do because it was already almost 11:30. Slowly more and more people came and were looking for the same bus. So I decided to wait a little bit and see what happened. Luckily, all of a sudden the sign showed that our bus would be coming! I was so happy. So I had to wait 20 minutes, and then my bus finally came! I made it home safe and sound. :) 

Sunday I went back to working on homework! I was going to have a busy week ahead of me. I only had 3 classes this week because Thursday was the liberation of Italy, so it was a national holiday. So I had 3 classes, and 3 presentations. 1 for each! First I had Literature on Monday, where I had to turn in a paper and give a presentation on a book I read. Then in class we went to Palazzo Vecchio, which was the town hall. 

 This is the spot where Savonarola was burned. I'm not sure if I had put up a picture before of this. It is outside the Palazzo Vecchio. Most tourists are looking up at the statues and the Palazzo and don't notice this. 

Tuesday I had consumerism and had a presentation on why brands cause problems. The article I read was really interesting, and my presentation went well. 

I didn't have Italian during the week because since I am in advanced Italian we do not have a written or oral final. Instead we have to write a 4 page paper on a topic of our choice. So we got time to work on that instead of going to class, where the other students were reviewing for their tests. 

Wednesday I had psychology, where I presented about the Monster of Florence. 

By Wednesday afternoon I was dead tired. I could not do anything Wednesday or Thursday. I stayed in my pjs and slept and watched some movies. I needed time to recharge for the last week of class! Then later in the weekend I worked on my final projects and papers. 

Friday afternoon I met up with a couple friends and we went around the city doing some shopping. :) Then we headed to a little bar/restaurant called I 5 Tavoli. (The 5 tables.) Yes, there really are only 5. We got some drinks, and DELICIOUS burgers!! They were just to die for. Everything just blended together. 

 My delicious mayo, ketchup, and cheese burger. It was messy, but was well worth it.

 Then after dinner we were walking back home and decided to stop for some ice cream! I chose chocolate and coconut. They were delicious together!

Well, I am starting to get sad that I will be leaving soon, and Stella and I have been inseparable the last few days. I have taken dozens of photos of her, which I will spare you all from looking at all of them.
By far this was one of my favorites from this weekend. She just looks so cute!!

Well, that is all for now! Today is my birthday, so I need to get out and go enjoy my day!
A dopo!