It's hard to be us.

Me

Sarah

A Lovely Weekend

This is our first weekend after starting classes. I have met some wonderful people through my course and I can't get over how amazing my life is here. Life has been so wonderful that Sarah's lockjaw is starting to open.

It's funny because since we are constantly around teachers and in complete teacher mode, I have caught myself, numerous times, teaching to Sarah during our conversation. Last night we had some Italian friends over and our entire conversation was like a game of charades.

A Smidge of Free Time

I finally had time, two days ago, to just sit and relax while it was still light out. Sarah and I sat in our usual people watching spot. There are some trends that I see everywhere like fur-vests and brightly colored jackets (not to mention these two are coordinating) and then I saw the last photo out of nowhere. I just thought it was interesting.

This is what Sarah does while we are people watching. She is able to make friends with anyone.

No joke, while I was uploading pictures for this post I saw the most wonderful thing. There is a jewelry story across the street from us and I looked outside just in time to see the owner cleaning the window in a full length fur coat and a dainty hat . . . only in Italy.

I apologize . . .

School has started so you can't be mad at me for not posting as often. I will post tomorrow, it will be wild and crazy.

First Day of School

Today was our first day of school and the only appropriate thing to do on your first day of school, is to take a picture of your outfit.

Keep in mind that it was freezing in Florence today, so layering was necessary.

I guess studying is also appropriate on your first day of school.

A Lazy Sunday

Today was a wonderfully lazy Sunday. 

We went to our friend's, Alessandro, house for a typical fiorentina lunch. When we arrived all the guys were in the kitchen cooking. I wish I had a picture and a name of everything that we ate. The first was toast with sausage and soft cheese, then there was some bread with a different kind of spread on it. The main course was what looked like some version of a roast beef sandwich (This is the first picture). It was the fourth stomach of a cow with salsa verde and pepper flakes. It was actually extremely delicious. Alessandro had refused to tell us what it was until after we had eaten it. Then we hung out watching soccer until dinner when we went to GustaPizza. It was wonderful! 

(I only had my iphone to take pictures with)

I Forgot Two Important Things

The two cutest girls I know.

Things I miss

I know I am probably not allowed to miss things yet, but I do . . . mostly people (this is not in any particular order). 

This girl and this night. 

My bangs (but I am determined to grow them out completely right now).

The last night in the cottage.  

This girl and these dance moves.

The feeling when you first arrive somewhere.

The city I live in

I was able to capture a few photos of the city today while Sarah and I were on the search for gelato. Two things I have to confess: 1. My camera is excellent 2. I photo shopped all of these.

People Watching

I went on a photo-shooting frenzy today, so just expect at least one more post after this. Like I said before, I love to people watch. Sarah (see below) and I have a certain spot that we enjoy sitting and watching people (see the second picture below).

  

Sarah and I sit underneath the far right arch. As you can see thousands of people pass by for our viewing pleasure. 

This is Palazzo Vecchio and you can see part of the Uffizi. There is where the Damien Hirst "For The Love of God" exhibit is being held.

This man I have seen twice now and every time I see him he has a cigar in his mouth, a hat on his head and the coolest pair of dress shoes. I noticed him a little too late to get an up close picture of him, but I will next time.

I just love the all green outfit, quite uniform. 

A Great Surprise!

Drew came to visit! He has been living in Milan and finally had a day off to come enjoy Florence with us! We walked around reminiscing of when we studied abroad here and visited Elizabeth, our old director.

Drew got to see Enrico and Alessandro as well. We had planned to have them over for dinner a couple nights ago and it just worked our perfectly that Drew was able to take time off to come and visit Florence.

They were so stoked to see Drew! We sat around all evening talking and laughing. It was quite an enjoyable night!

Our Kitchen Mascot

This little guy now resides in a permanent spot on our kitchen counter.

 

A Stay-At-Home Night

Last night we were planning on staying in, studying Italian, making ourselves dinner and going to bed early. Instead, we made ourselves dinner, studied Italian and then got dressed and went out with our Italian friends. This is the photoshoot that occurred before we went out.

Jet Lag

I know we have been here for over a week, but we are still pretending to be affected by jet lag. After next week we will be so busy that we won't be allowed to be lazy, so we are taking advantage of our time off.

Almost every day we stop for an hour or so and people watch. It is by far a favorite thing to do of mine.