Firenze: the birthplace of the Renaissance

Since the last time I updated this blog, many exciting things and experiences have happened. Besides the changes in weather, I’ve been to a theatrical performance (all dialogue in Italian by the way), met the two other Australian exchange kids in the area, done a presentation on Australia – in which we may or may not have told everyone that we eat echidna, and after doing so, finish it off by using its spikes as a thrifty substitute for toothpicks haha – had a massive dinner party with unconscionable amounts of food, and finally been to Florence (with the exchange kids from Victoria!)

Again, like Rome – Florence is such a beautiful city! It was a completely new vibe with different monuments like the Ponte Vecchio over the scenic water views of the Arno River and Piazza della Signoria, but in general everywhere I go in Italy has been so amazing!

First off we explored the markets, and I finally had my first nutella crêpe in Italy! It was a bit weird though, even before we’d started speaking we’d been immediately spotted as foreigners in one of the market shops. When asked how they knew, we were told that besides obvious language hindrances and racial dissimilarities, it was our outward appearance that gave it away in terms of gestures, fashion, clothes and even the way we walk…what?! Well evidently this whole cultural immersion and integration thing only really works on a basic level haha!

We spent the most part of the day walking around and seeing the extraordinary city, but towards the end we had our highly anticipated hot chocolates in an apparently famous café on the Ponte Vecchio. Given it cost a dear 5,50 euros, it would only have made sense for it to be buonissima. Unfortunately it was anything but! It turned out to be a really bitter, dark chocolate fondue under the guise of ‘hot chocolate’, which was honestly way too intense to drink by itself. If it had come with about fifty strawberries, it would have been ideal – and that is the extent to how strong it actually was! Even though I only had a little bit, I felt a little lightheaded afterwards – and I can’t believe I’m saying this but – too much chocolate…

The three-hour roadtrip there and back was also an extremely fun part of the day. Sure, we did spent a lot of the time discussing the complexities of Italian grammar and phrases with the questions ‘come si dice..?’ and ‘che cosa significa..?’ repeated numerous times, but it was so lovely to have such enjoyable conversations about anything and everything with such a nice group of friends both Australian and Italian!

Today was a really exciting day and I definitely had a great time in Florence! Once we got back to Rome at around 11pm, it started snowing outside which was so amazing in itself! I’m absolutely loving Italy!

xxxxxxx

Serena

[Florence]

[Florentine markets]

[Piazza della Signoria]

[River Arno]

[Oh, and here's one of me...finally!]

As white as snow

Well, first of all I must say the fleeting combination of snow, sleet, lightning, thunderstorm, rain and brevity of sunshine yesterday should have made its own exciting post. But as I write this, the fact that it’s legitimately snowing right now with everything outside covered in a fresh blanket of white snow makes yesterday seem like nothing comparatively!

By the looks of it, it’ll continue throughout the night so it’ll be interesting to see the dramatic changes in scenery tomorrow morning! And as I look out the window, it’s so surreal – snow falling rapidly from the sky against the dark outline of trees in the haze of the night sky.

So I guess the long awaited Italian winter has finally arrived, perhaps a little earlier than anticipated, but nonetheless I’m so excited!

It’s been a long day, I actually went to Florence today and have much backlog to write about – but seeing as school is most likely cancelled (because it’s snowing!) I’ll update this space tomorrow!

Buona notte!

xxxxxxx

Serena

[View from my balcony the next morning]