Pomodori secchi. Dried tomatoes.

Hello everyone! I'm sorry that I have not posted the last few days. I had 4 midterms this week, 3 of which were in 24 hours. I can happily say that they are all finished and I think they all went really well, especially my art history midterm. (After that test I think I could actually become a tour guide. We had to recognize the picture, know the official name, the artist/architect, the date, original location, original function, who it was dedicated to if applicable, and for some we had to know a few important characteristics about it. It was definitely a lot, but I feel really good about it.)

I am also happy to report that since my bus mishap, I figured out how to get to school. I take my usual bus from my street and then get off at a stop, where I then get on another, much smaller bus, which then takes me 1 block away from my school. I now have to walk less, which I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad about. It is nice, but I do enjoy my walk along the river. Luckily I still get to walk along it on my way home after school. It was especially beautiful today.

I absolutely love the Florentine sun! There really is something about the way it bounces off of the buildings and hits the streets. It definitely gives me a high when I walk through the city.

This is a little park that I pass by on my walk everyday. I like it because it is cute and sits right in front of the a tiny little Lutheran church (which you don't see many of). Also, it was really exciting to me when I was reading one of my books for class and the main character talked about taking a nightly walk with his wife and stopping at this park! Despite all of the time I have to spend reading, I really do like my literature class. The more we read about Florence, the more that I notice around the city. Unfortunately, the next book that I have to read is Hannibal. I'm not very excited about this one. :(

Well, I decided to combine the last 3 days into one blog, seeing that not much happened, except for my studying and classes. One thing to note is that last night I was watching the final Harry Potter movie with my mother. While we were watching the power in the entire neighborhood went out! We were able to get it on after a little bit. I saved the day with my travel clock that has a flashlight on it!! Other than that things have been pretty uneventful.

I will do my best to catch you up on all of the food that I have been having, which is anything but uneventful.

On Tuesday I decided to be adventurous and try something new on my sandwiches! As I have mentioned, I'm not a big fan of raw tomatoes, but I decided that I would try and embrace them. So, I settled on an alternative, pomodori secchi, dried tomatoes. I went to my favorite panini place and got turkey, philadelphia, lettuce, and dried tomatoes. Philadelphia on sandwiches is incredible, and all of these flavors went really well together, so much so that I went and got the exact same thing on Wednesday!

Tuesday night for dinner we had pici, which is a very thick spaghetti that is popular in Siena. I didn't take a picture of ours, but this is a picture I found online so you can see how thick it is. You literally take one single piece and wrap it around your fork and your fork is full! It took a very long time to eat. (Also, they kind of look like worms, but they were very good.) I can't remember what we had for our protein, but then after dinner we had freshly squeezed orange juice!  :)

Wednesday night we had a piece of bread that had sausage and cheese on it that was then put in the oven. This was the highlight of my meal. Then we had a risotto that was very good, as well as some fried chicken.

Today I decided to treat myself after I finished my art history test. You're probably thinking that means I got the largest cup of gelato possible. Well you'd be wrong. No, I did not get chocolate or gelato. Instead, I got a 7 euro panini from Mama's Bakery!!

(And it WAS worth it!)

I got the 'Mama's Club' which had mayo, turkey, bacon, 2 kinds of lettuce, tomatoes, and avocados, all sandwiched between 3 slices of warm toasted bread.

It was heaven! (I think this was the first time that I've had whole pieces of fresh avocado.)

Tonight we had minestrone soup, and then bread with an assortment of meats and cheeses, and some smiley face fries! (I felt like such a little kid- I turned all of my smiley faces the right way so they were smiling at me! I definitely had fun during dinner.)

Now it is time for me to pack! I leaving tomorrow morning for Rome where I will meet up with my Dad and Uncle. We will be spending the next 10 days visiting our relatives in Calabria and Piemonte. I am very excited! Words cannot even express the excitement I have. The whole reason that I am studying abroad in Italy is because I'm Italian and I wanted to be able to fully experience my heritage. So to be able to meet my relatives that live in Italy, where my obsession begins, is sort of the climax of my journey. Not only am I in the motherland, but I'm going directly to where the two sides of my family come from.

Stella wants to come with me!

I'm not sure if I will have any internet access, so I will be keep everything written down in a journal so I don't forget anything, and then I will report back to you all sometime around the 10th or 11th of March.

Have a good week everyone! (And enjoy your snow!)