Has it only been one week?

I can't believe a week ago I today I was in orientation learning how to live here in Florence. Today in class I took a quiz and had a verbal presentation of sorts and I was speaking Italian in SENTENCES. I knew three words of Italian when I came here and now I'm starting to feel like I'm learning to embrace the language and culture here not as a tourist but as someone who really lives here. 
  
 Today's class was really nice. In the first half of class, Luca took us to the market and we did a worksheet activity but I ended up buying a chocolate croissant and a peach jukebox in our time there. Those bakeries are such a treat and a deal! What was nice today is that I have not been to the market in the morning yet and we got to see a little bit of a bakery making pasta! The fresh pasta looks amazing and is incredibly cheap; I hope to buy some soon!

 

Since we didn't have a cultural activity this afternoon, I stayed at home and worked on planning trips for the coming months. Planning is proving to be a little more difficult than I predicted but we are working through it and will hopefully be having some great adventures soon!

    

For dinner tonight my flatmates and I went to Pizzeria I Tarocchi, a recommendation from Kaitlin and Ainslie's teacher. We heard making reservations was a good idea so we thought we were being smart in making a reservation at 8. Little did we know the restaurant would be nearly empty then! We're still not used to this late Italian meal thing. We each had very good food at a good price. I got a pizza with grilled eggplant, mozzarella, tomatoes, and marinara. I finished the whole thing! Notice that the pizza is not sliced--you tear off your pieces and eat them with your hands... it was a delicious mess!

We're off on our first train adventure tomorrow... we'll see how it goes!