Va Bene!

Just to inform you, I'm not coming home. Ever. I have devised a plan along with a few of my classmates to suction cup ourselves to Italy. You will have to get over it.

The days FLY by here, and I've been in Italy for almost 4 weeks. What?! I can't even believe it. It might be the fact that I only have class 3 days a week, or it might just be the fact that I'm ridiculously happy.

Wednesday I made sushi in my cooking class. I know I know, "you're in Italy, why are you making sushi?" Well it just so happens that my sushi-making ability will probably save me approximately 80 dollars a year ;)

Thursday was one of the busiest days I've ever had. I had class from 9 am until 4:15. However, for my Archaeology class, we went to a small town called Fiesole for the day! It's got archaeological ruins, and an archaeological museum. The town itself is up on one of the hills that overlooks Florence, and the view is absolutely breathtaking. My internet is spotty at the moment, so I can't upload the pictures on here, however they ARE on my Picasa site.
After my third and final class of the day (Italian - had a quiz, got 100 WOO) had to FLY home and eat.. and then get ready for Slow Drink Club. Basically we go for wine tastings and learn how to pair foods with wine. We went to a cute little trattoria next to the Ponte Vecchio, where we tasted Chianti Classico and a white wine that I can't remember the name off the top of my head...
When slow drink club was over, we headed over to the Piazza della Repubblica where we met up with our program leaders and we headed about 30 minutes down the Arno to go see Il Pagliacci, a pretty well-known opera. I honestly have no clue what was going on, however what I CAN tell you is that the music was fantastic.

Today, Jess and I woke up at 8 am (gaaaaah) and met 5 of our Stonehill friends at the Florence train station. We got our tickets (..and remembered to VALIDATE them this time since we neglected to do so for Pisa thus we got a free train ride) and hopped a train toward Lucca. It was a pretty train ride, however we sort of missed our stop. And clearly by "sort of" I mean "completely". Right after we stopped blaming Stonehill for our lack of map-reading abilities, we ended up in Viareggio, which is a beach town - so clearly not all was lost. We hung out at the beach for an hour, illegally jumped on the train heading toward Florence, and got off at Lucca, our correct stop.
Lucca is a town that has its ENTIRE city wall still in tact, and its a 2.5 mile loop. The first thing we did when we got there was eat, at this place called Trattoria dal Leo, which was absolutely amazing. However, to get there, we had to make friends with an Italian guy (thank GOD Tony speaks Italian).. instead of giving us directions, he took us there. Then he told the owner to take care of us because we were his new friends... so we got discounted meals (Spaghetti with clam sauce for 6 euro anyone?). We then decided to rent bikes (only 2.50 an hour!!!) so we could ride around on top of the city wall. When we were done with that we went to the giant tower that has oak trees at the top, and climbed that. AMAZING view! We had SUCH a good time, and Lucca is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been.

So now you know why I don't want to leave. Time is going by too fast! Okay it's bed time, we all have to be up at 5 am, as we are going with our program to Milan tomorrow and Venice sunday for Carnivale!

Oh! Also, Jess and I have booked some trips. Next weekend, we're heading to Athens. The weekend after, I'm going to visit my friends Monica (who was a friend of mine that moved there when we were 11) and Sam (a friend from Mount that is studying there for the semester). And, for spring break, Jess and I are going to Prague and Vienna! I'm really excited... I mean really broke, but really excited!

Oh one more thing, thanks to everyone who has been sending me recipes! We've tried a bunch of them out, and we're not eating pasta every night anymore!

Night!