Ciao frizzy bella!

Ciao! Today was wonderful despite its rocky start. I woke up at 10 and for some reason didn’t get dressed and venture out till 2. BUT, once I did it was wonderful. I went on a walk by myself, and saw lots of wonderful things. (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2045944&id=47302243&ref=mf)

The duomo was stunning, but then again, so is….everything. One of my favorite parts of the walk was stumbling upon this huge building that had doors open on all four sides. I wasn’t sure I was allowed in, but I thought it looked cool so I went. There was an art display in the middle with sets of stairs leading down to other displays. I wasn’t positive that I was allowed in there so I didn’t push my luck going down the stairs, but the art in the middle was pretty cool. There are a couple pictures, but it was basically a maze set by silhouettes of deer with different art pieces along the way.

I walked along the via tournabouni which is basically a street for all the major fashion names. Too expensive, but the windows were cool (see Armani in the album). I saw ferragamo’s store. It may not mean very much to others, but he was the first shoe designer that really took a woman’s whole body into consideration when designing a pair of shoes (he took anatomy classes to understand how the feet, the legs, and the back all work with each other). Not only did he make shoes that work for women, but they are stunning! I hope to get to his museum before I leave.

After I stepped in gum while marveling at Ferragamo’s veritable castle, I found myself by the river with the ponte vecchio in the distance. Guys. It was walking along HERE, that I had my first all Italian conversation. My side of the convo went a little something like this.

(I was buying a bottle of water)

“ciao!”

“si”

“grazie”

“ciao!”

AWESOME RIGHT? Right.

We had a little get together to end orientation at ganzo, where Brittney and I met Lily. We ended up grabbing dinner at the incredible little restaurant. It was delicious save one thing: my pasta had crab in it. Still in the shell. Covered in pasta sauce. How are you supposed to get that out? We ended up sitting there talking for awhile. Then afterwards we walked to the river and across the ponte vecchio, stopping to see a street musician and getting some gelato. Tiramisu!!! I haven’t had tiramisu here yet, but I will say the tiramisu gelato is amazing.

Tomorrow, the three flat mates plus Lily are climbing to the top of the duomo. Pray for me!