Upon arrival

Checked out the apartment, pretty spacious- living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. I was last here of my flatmates- Brittany (my roommate), Lauren (you can check out her blog "How I Met Europe" here: http://laurenlucile.tumblr.com/- love the title!), and Christine (also CHS '08). I'm travelling with Brittany, Lauren, and also Sarah after the program (Paris, London, and Dublin- stay tuned!). You can see some pictures of my apartment on Facebook, as well as other stuff (I'm sure I'll be taking tons of pictures, unsure of how quickly I will update them though). Today is rainy, thus me here talking to you all. It is nice to have a bit of a break after the last two days...
   Friday- welcome dinner with the whole "Purdue Summer in Florence" crew. Started my new "being adventurous" and "trying new things" goal there- tried clam Tuscan soup, which, to be fair, I figured I would like since I love clam chowder (props to Red Robin). Anyways, here, it's different. It was basically a pile of clam shells on top of a piece of bread soaked in a semi-spicy sauce, not much of a soup. I enjoyed our later gelato trips more- we've already made three! Wondered around on our own that night (luckily Christine knew her way around since she got here a day early and had already explored).
   Saturday- orientation then a walking tour with Lorenzo. In the evening we hiked up a hill to Piazzale Michelangelo where there were amazing city views. Also, the Uffizi Gallery was open late that night for free so a group of us went but only got through half of one floor in the hour we managed before it closed. I'll be back- we buy passes for lots of museums for my Art History class. Did see the Birth of Venus though! BTW- I obviously did not take that, no pictures there! But that's what I saw :)