Rome-ing Athens: Thanksgiving in Florence!

Hey everyone,

Its amazing how fast time is flying here. I've had hardly any time to keep up with life here, so sorry for the delay in blog posts.

Last weekend, our whole group made our way up to Florence (Firenze) for the Thanksgiving holiday. The trip was also for the art class, so they had a few long class sessions during the trip (Every day these poor classmates of mine have art, I try to look sympathetic towards their note-taking and lectures, but inside I'm bursting with joy, constantly giving thanks that I'm not in art).

It was a beautiful thing. I was able to go to all the museums, and just look at everything on my own while they had class.

Thursday morning, we took the Eurostar train from Termini Station and a one hour train ride brought us into Florence. We dropped off our luggage for the morning at our hotel, "Hotel California"... (Oh, the Eagles. Try getting that song out of your head now). It was a running joke in our group all weekend, because no one knew the words beyond the first couple lines of the chorus.

We all split off and took some time to explore the famous Florence leather market, and the Duomo (The Florence Cathedral).

Thursday evening, we had a great Italian version of the American thanksgiving we were all missing from home.

Actually, the food was terrible, I didn't realize you could make cake with mint toothpaste and vodka, or that turkey could be shaped like a baseball... but the attempt was really touching. Our servers were very into it and they were so sweet, and we all dressed up for the occasion, held hands and shared what we were thankful for.

All in all, I really appreciated the thoughtfulness of our directors Greg and Janine who organized it, and the cooks in back doing all the work. What a great memory.

I don't say it very often, but I'm really thankful for everyone who supports me here today. Thank you to my parents, my whole family, Andrew's family, my great friends from home and from school, everyone on my program, and all my readers. You are all wonderful and its humbling to know that you are all behind me. For you, I can't be thankful enough.

Friday was a long day, everyone (minus me!) had a scheduled lecture with the art teacher in the morning. It was at a museum though, so I tagged along to check out some Michelangelo and Donatello works for myself. As soon as they were done, we got a tip for a great Mexican place, where we could get burritos.

Let me tell you, I've been missing Mexican food like nobody's business. I can't believe how hard it is to find in Europe. I'm always craving Chipotle, Taco Johns, Baja, anything... There's not even a Taco Bell here.

(*side note: all the places I've been to have all had a soft spot for KFC though. Weird. Of all things, Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants all over Europe).

My lunch burrito of guac, rice, and chicken was fantastic. So good that I got it for lunch on Saturday too. I might be Scandinavian, but I think my stomach is Mexican :)

Pinnochio

Cupid!

I spent the day Friday wandering across Ponte Vecchio, the famous Florentine bridge with shops on both sides, and exploring other areas of Florence.

I tried on some boots, but definitely didn't buy any (sooooo expensive), but I splurged a little on a small leather purse!

The Saturday and Sunday in Florence were a fun blur. There was a marathon on Sunday morning that was great to watch! We spent a lot of time walking around, and going to the museums with our Florence pass. We made it to the Pitti Palace and the gardens behind. It was a great holiday weekend to be with friends.