A Dream Date (or Week-date)...in Florence, Italy

I sincerely apologize for the lack of posts every week. Despite what everything may seem, I do in fact have course work to complete while I am in Italy, and so I have been pretty busy with that these past couple of weeks. It is my goal to finish this post and then continue posting every week as I was towards the beginning of the semester! Anyways...now to my past two weeks!

Following Fall Break, I went to the boathouse as soon as we got back to our apartment to get in a workout after the long break. After finishing my workout, I talked some with Freddy (Federico), who is my Irish-Italian friend at the boathouse, as well as Massimo who is our friend and also the personal trainer at the boathouse. We spent some time together and then I headed back to my apartment. After a quick shower, I went with Krista, Natalie and Nina to grab a panino from a local shop (it was amazing in case you were curious). When we got back to our place, all of us were pretty tired so we decided it would be early to bed.

On Sunday, I woke up at about 9:30am and headed to the boathouse for a little bit of cardio as well as a lifting session...(gotta come back to my team in great shape!). Once I finished at the boathouse, I headed to the grocery store to pick up a couple of necessities since the cupboards were quite literally bare. Once I got back home and showered, I made sure to throw my laundry in the washer and clean up because Zachary Tolles would be in Florence the following day! (I was only slightly excited... ;) ). The rest of the day consisted of me finishing up some homework and getting ready for the week.

I could hardly sleep on Sunday night. The funny thing about our long distance relationships is that no matter how long it has been since I've seen him, I still feel like a kid on Christmas Eve right before seeing him, and that feeling hasn't changed the past three years. I woke up at 6AM and did a few things for Marietta (what else was I to do?), then, I went to my Italian class early and then got back to my apartment shortly after. I made sure that my apartment was picked up some, worked on a little bit of homework, and folded my clothes. I left my apartment for the Santa Maria Novella train station at 12:35PM and arrived promptly at 12:50PM.

Once I got to the station, I checked the arrival boards to see which platform I should meet Zach at. I knew that he was coming from Rome where he and some classmates had been spending part of their fall break. I saw that his train, arriving at 1:17PM, was at platform 10 so I patiently waited to see him walking towards me. I was looking in another direction when I felt someone near me and it was him! Cheesy, I know, but I had crazy butterflies. He kissed me and then we headed back towards my apartment.

As soon as we got to my apartment, I introduced him to my roommates (who I am sure were getting annoyed with how much I was talking about him). I let him sleep for about two hours because he had had a long day, and I watched some Netflix. We decided to go and get panini at the same place that I had gone with my friends and we ate them while walking along the Arno. I showed him the docks to my boathouse and we walked around a little bit which was a lot of fun. When we got back to my apartment, we hung out with my roommates for a while and then headed to bed.

On Tuesday morning, we ran to the grocery store to get some stuff for the rest of the week. After putting all of the stuff away, Zach hung out at my apartment while I went to the boathouse to go on the water with Bryan. When I came back, we made some risotto that I learned to make in cooking class and it was delicious, seriously though. Then, I ran to my cooking class and Zach hung out at the apartment again until I was finished.

In cooking class, we were focused on the Tuscan region of Italy. Here, we got to make pan-fried veal cutlets with mushrooms on the side (SO DELICIOUS). When I got back to the apartment, Zach and I hung out with our roommates and a couple of friends while I worked on a pamphlet for my high school's soccer banquet for the night then it was off to bed.

On Wednesday morning, I wanted to take Zach to see one of the best free gems of Florence, Piazza Michelangelo. We woke up at about 9AM and got ready to take somewhat of a long walk to get to the lookout on the top of the mountain. Once we got to the top, the day was beautiful and we stayed there and talked about everything and nothing all at the same time for a couple hours. While we were at the top, we also looked at the Church of Michelangelo which was certainly nothing when compared to the Duomo but still beautiful in and of itself. Following our trip to the Piazza, I took Zach to Santa Croce which is another popular church in Florence and we got to sit outside and enjoy street performers, vendors, and the beautiful smells, sights, and people of Florence.

When we headed back to my apartment, I wanted to show Zach the boathouse so that is what we did. I got changed to go workout and he got his stuff together and then we headed to the boathouse. I'm pretty sure that he was surprised, as most people who are not members are, at how nice the boathouse was. Societa Canottieri Firenze used to be owned by the Medici family. The Medici family was one of the most prominent and wealthiest families to ever see Florence so it is kind of a big deal. After introducing him to Freddy, I went to go get in my workout for the day.

With my workout finished, we headed home and decided to make homemade pasta for dinner. After kneading the dough, Zach made spaghetti (or what he tried to make spaghetti) while I made some bowtie pasta. The only form of vegetable that I had readily available were potatoes. So we had rosemary and garlic roasted potatoes with pasta tossed in pesto....yeah I know, got enough starch?. Once we finished dinner, we got ready with Natalie and Krista to go to a local salsa dancing bar to meet up with Bryan. Called "Salamanca", the bar wasn't really our scene so after having a tequila shot each, and hanging out for a while, we decided to leave. As we were leaving, we ran into a crowd of our other friends and convinced them to come with us to Jimmy's, which is more of a local bar geared towards American students.

When we got to Jimmy's, we all signed up for the beer pong tournament and waited for it to get started. As we were waiting, Zach's friend, Colleen, from Miami, walked into Jimmy's! (What a coincidence!). I met her and we talked for a little bit before she had to leave and meet up with a friend that night. Zach and I were a force to be reckoned with at beer pong but we ended up losing, no big deal. Following Jimmy's, Zach, Krista, Natalie and I headed to the secret bakery to show Zach what we had all be raving about. Once we got our treats, he could see. Secret bakeries are the best.

On Thursday morning, we woke up mid-morning and decided to make a pizza. I was in charge of the dough....added too much water (oh boy). So, we ended up with more dough than expected but regardless our pizza was awesome so it was great! Then, I headed to the boathouse and got in a workout for the day. Once I got back to my apartment I took a shower and decided to take Zach to my favorite Gelataria in Florence. We got gelato and sat on the bridge next to the Ponte Vecchio (quite possibly my favorite place), and the weather was gorgeous, so we sat and talked for a while.

That night, I got to take Zach and two of his friends from school, Colleen and Maggie, to my cooking professor's restaurant. The food was delicious, as always, and we got unlimited wine and food for the night. I also got to meet some other people from Miami Universtiy at Jimmy's that night. It was cool to finally meet these people that Zach had told me about.

On Friday morning, we woke up and made some breakfast with the eggs and prosciutto and bread that we had gotten. Some of my roommates had gone to Venice for the day, so it was pretty quiet in the apartment. We ate our eggs and bacon with clementines and watched some episodes of Parks and Rec while I worked some more on the pamphlet for my high school. Afterwards, we headed outside so that I could show Zach where some of my classes are and we also explored around Florence for a bit. I was looking for some fabric to make our Halloween costumes. With no such luck, we ran into H&M and I bought a long-sleeved shirt and skirt for myself for that night. Once we got back to the apartment, I cut out a "P" and an "S" from an old plain t-shirt and stitched them on to each of our shirts...because we go together like salt and pepper, of course. We then headed to the Halloween pub crawl with one of my roommates that stayed in Florence as well. Halloween is not a celebrated holiday in Europe, however in Florence, due to the 40,000+ student population each year, Halloween has become more prevalent since it is a very Americanized cultural aspect of October. Parents were even walking children around the city in their costumes to go trick-or-treating. The pub crawl was okay but not good enough for us to want to stay the whole time so we left and met up at my friend's place and hung out there for a while before we headed to one of the clubs.

Once we got to club 21, since Zach and I had attended the pub crawl, our bracelets got us free admission to the club. We got in and waited for our friends. As soon as all of us were in the club, we danced for a while and had a good time. Zach and I left a little bit earlier than everyone else because of a group of obnoxious Italian men that kept trying to start a fight with Zach...which he was not having. We sat by the Arno for a bit and then headed back to my apartment and grabbed some food. Two of my roommates that met us at the club walked into the apartment shortly afterwards and we all talked about the night before going to bed.

On Saturday morning, we woke up at about 11AM and made breakfast. We then went outside and walked around a bit and I took Zach to Societa Canottieri Firenze's lawn along the water because it was closed inside. We played cards and he taught me how to play Gin rummy, (of which I beat him twice, no big deal), for a couple of hours that afternoon until the sunset. The Ponte Vecchio in the distance was gorgeous and it was cool to sit there undisturbed by other people. We walked back to my apartment and got changed to go to dinner at a nice restaurant. After getting changed, we took a bottle of wine to the steps of the Duomo and sat and talked and laughed for about an hour and a half and cheered to an awesome week together as we drank red wine together.

When we got to the restaurant, our dinner had so kindly been paid for by Mr. and Mrs. Tolles and we were very grateful. First, we got an appetizer of basically Italian meets with mushroom truffle spread. Then, I ordered rigatoni with meat sauce while Zach got the Lasagne al forno (lasagna with meat sauce). The third course consisted of roasted hen on cabbage for me and some sort of meat for Zach (I can not remember exactly what he ordered). At that point I was stuffed and so I took the hen home for leftovers.

The walk home was really cold and so as soon as I got back, I put on about three layers to stay warm. We planned on relaxing and getting gelato together one last time but ended up falling asleep at 9PM for the night. 

Sunday morning was difficult, as it always is when he leaves. We woke up at 6AM since we had gone to bed so early but I didn't sleep well that night. I woke up every hour on the hour (which my body seems to do the night before he leaves). Zach ate some breakfast, I wasn't hungry. Then, at 9:15AM, I walked him to the train station for his 10:00AM train. After figuring out his reservation, it was time for him to leave. I cried like I always do and it was very difficult saying good bye, but what a great week we had together :). I finished up the day by completing my fall break blog entry and then it was early to bed.

The rest of the week kind of went by quickly, I wasn't feeling the greatest this week so I went to bed early most nights and made sure that I worked out some everyday. On Friday, my friends invited me to go and get apertivos with them at the Odeon theater. Apertivos are basically unlimited appetizers and a drink for 10 euros. We got there and had a good time. We found out that it was only 8 euros for students (with a 20% discount), so that was great! I ordered a Moscow Mule to drink and was surprised when I found fresh ginger inside of it, (because normally it is made with ginger soda), but nonetheless it was good. We got gelato afterwards and then went home and talked while Nina dyed Natalie's hair darker...with a box kit. Nina then spent the night at our apartment and it was fun!

Saturday morning, Nina, Natalie and I went on an adventure where we ended up walking about 5 miles around Florence that morning. We found a jewelry shop where I was able to find a mount for some sea glass I had found in Barcelona! Following our adventure, we came back to the apartment, ate some lunch, I made my sea glass charm, and I took a nap (still not feeling totally stellar).  After my nap, I did some work and then watched parks and Rec, ate dinner, and went to bed early in preparation for my race the next morning. 

On Sunday morning, I woke up at 7:30 in preparation to be at the boathouse by 8:15AM. The annual 10k race (or what I thought was a 10k race), began at 9:30AM, which would give me plenty of time to stretch and warm up. I was running with my friend Freddy. As soon as he got there, he then told me that the race was actually a 12k race with 6k of it being uphill (to the highest point in Florence..........). So, I thought, 'what the heck?'. Freddy and I ran it together in just over an hour. Afterwards, we got ready for the awards ceremony. I ended up placing third in my age group and I won a bottle of wine, (in Italy, wine is always a prize), as well as a cool belt by Lee. It was a win-win situation for sure...plus I got a cool t-shirt!

Me after the 12k race

Me, Massimo and Freddy

The awards ceremony after the race

The rest of the day, I did some homework, took a nap, watched some Netflix and Skyped my Mom and sister. I watched Good Will Hunting for the first time, which was really a great movie, and then I headed to bed, because I was exhausted from the race. That's all for now though! Thanks for reading and get ready for next week's post!

Highs and Lows of the Past Two Weeks:

Highs

I got to see Zach for an entire week! I mean what could be better than that?! I also did pretty well in the race held by Societa Canottieri Firenze without any training whatsoever, so that felt pretty awesome. I am in the works of possibly planning one last trip so hopefully that works out!

Lows

I miss America. As Americans, we take some of the simplest things for granted and to be honest, I am guilty of it too. All I know is that I will be so much more thankful for things when I get back to the states. I'm also sad that this semester is getting closer to being over with, it has gone by so fast.