Firenzeeeee.

So, like the smart person that I am, I didn't get to bed till around 3 am Friday morning, and had to get up at 5 am to catch the train to Florence. It was hell to say the least. And any of you who know me, KNOW how much I hate the morning. It was the 5 of us; Nick, Lauren, Katie, Nika and I. It was still dark as we wondered the streets of Rome, taking the 990 to the Cipro metro stop, and the metro all the way to Termini. We wanted to get on a train as soon as possible so we went to the desk to buy our tickets. We had been told by friends that the tickets were only 15 euro for the slow train, which was fine by us because we wanted to sleep so we could be well rested to explore the rest of the day. Unfortunately the attendant had no idea what we were talking about, and ended up having to pay 38 euro for a ONE way ticket to Florence. We were all bummed, this was supposed to be a cheap weekend! Not only did we pay 38 euros, we got there within less than an hour and a half which meant very very little time to sleep.

Fortunately our hostel was only 2 blocks away from the train station. A wonderful characteristic of Florence, everything is within a 10 minute walking range. We got to our hostel "Archie Rossi," but couldn't check in until one. There was a place to store our things and there was a free walking tour around the cities main sites at 10 am. So we grabbed some coffee and were on our way. We had looked up the weather and it was supposed to be raining all day Saturday and Sunday, but to our pleasant surprise it was blue skies and sunny all day Saturday. It was perfect weather while we explored the entirety of Florence. First we saw the market, which was just around the corner from our hostel, and then San Lorenzo. The interior of the church is supposedly one of the most magnificent churches to ever be seen, but for some reason we couldn't go in. The exterior leaves little to be desired, but there is reason for this! Michaelangelo had a whole plan to decorate it with white marble, and make the outside of the church just as magnificent as the interior, but he was sent to Rome to work on the Vatican... NOT by choice. Rome had threatened to attack Florence, so Michaelangelo was forced to do his pieces at the Vatican which I found incredibly interesting.

The Duomo was next. Literally the most incredible exterior of a church I have ever seen. It is pink and green! So much detail and beautiful marble. It was massive! Fourth biggest in the world... depending on who you talk to. But the Vatican is first, then one in London, and than the church in Milan, and then the Duomo in Florence. It even had an ancient clock that told time by the sun. It had 24 roman numerals. If I knew more about god (I choose not to capitalize intentionally -- I also am going to start writing woMYN this way... by choice, I was informed it still considered correct spelling even though on Word it says it is incorrect), but yes, if I knew more about god I could tell you all that was depicted on the ceiling of the Duomo. I think it was some variation depicting judgement day. The art inside the church was a combination of both the Gothic and Renaissance style. The windows were from the Renaissance and the pillars were Gothic because of the grey colors. Fascinating stuff.

We ended in a Piazza with the statue of Neptune. It was a gorgeous piazza filled with many other statues as well. We met Nick's high school friend there Andy who Nick stayed with for the weekend. We went back to an organic market we had passed on the tour. An organic market only open on the first Saturday of the month, with only cheese and wine. It was pretty neat. Any wine and cheese lovers heaven I'm sure. We then stopped at a cute pizza cafe off the Piazza before we did a full loop and tour all over the city of Florence. Nick searched for his leather messenger back which was his #1 purchase in coming to Italy. We walked all across town, did a million and photo shoots, stopped for some gelato before we finally headed back to our hostel for a nap around 5.

We were all so overly exhausted we couldn't fall asleep and had a somewhat dullisional conversation until we could no longer stay awake and napped for a short hour. We got up, got ready, and headed out for a nice Florence dinner. I heard from a friend that Florence was known for its steak, but it was too expensive so I got Pork Ribs and Potatoes. It was delicious. Still on my sober binge I drank about 3 glass bottles of water to myself (you are usually supposed to share them with the whole table). After dinner, we got some pre-gaming materials and headed back to Andy's apartment. I bought juice. Blood orange juice, the most favored juice in all of Italy. We got in some heated political debates after listening to an annoying girl from Tish brag about her life and how many famous people she knew and had worked for. I guess she has gotten high with the kid from the 6th sense? Who knows. We were tired of it after a solid 5 minutes of her banter.

We managed to make our way to the "Space Bar." A huge discoteca in Florence. It was quite the scene. First discoteca I have been to in Europe and I had a blast! Everyone else was wasted, and I probably had the best time of anyone, sober! I danced my pants off the entire night. I had decided I could either be bored and sit down while watching drunk people get more drunk all night, or have the time of my life. And in choosing the latter, I definitely made the right decision! Lots of music, lots of fun, lots of raving. It was a jolly ol' time.

We got home around 4:30 am, and passed out immediately. Being up for 24 hours on only 2 hours of sleep can really do you in. We had set an alarm for 9 but didn't wake up until 11. Fortunately the hostel didn't charge us for an extra day. We got a slow start to the day, and went out for a phenomenal breakfast. So much food and deliciousnes all at once. We all miss breakfast a lot. That took us another couple of hours, and by the time we wanted to head to Pisa it was too late. The museum where David is, also closed by 2 on Sundays, so we missed seeing him as well. Plus we had already been screwed with expensive tickets so we decided to shop around the markets and stores in town. I bought myself a pink scarf!

Once we finally made it to the train station we had JUST missed the Regional train which was the 15 Euro train rather than the 40 Euro train. So we had to wait another 2 hours before catching the next train at 7:15. We sat in a Mcdonalds and had some fun conversations for the remaining time. There was also a weird pattern of people eating in Mcdonalds and taking pictures of themselves there and eating the food? We weren't sure if they thought it was cool or totally absurd. But it was weird for us none the less.

We made it back to JFRC by midnight and were completely exhausted. Monday and Tuesday were easy and relaxed, class and homework. Naps somewhere in there too. We had to play major catch up since we are leaving for Brussels and Amsterdam this weekend! Tuesday we watched the film Bicycle Thief. I think its a pretty well known film, good, and much less depressing than the others we have watched so far. Not that this film was depressing as well.

Today was class and homework, it hailed today? I am confused by mother nature. She is just so upset she wants to throw us all off I guess. Manic little lady she is. Its above 60 in Chicago, and pouring hail on our heads over in Rome. To say the least it was chilly outside, so I skipped out on Calcio tonight. Decided to stay in, get some homework done, get caught up on this blog, and even do laundry! Lauren and I switch off doing the full load so it was my turn this time. Time to get packed up before we head off for the outrageous weekend! I will come back with details galore. Only the appropriate ones of course. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Valentines Day!

Love,
Nora.