Getting settled...

Ciao Friends!

It was a perfect day in Florence today because it was finally not too hot! It was a perfect day to walk around and explore the city! Tricia and I had a "survival tour" scheduled with our program API at 9:00. At 10 til 11 a.m. when we woke up and realized we had missed our tour - my favorite quote of the trip came out of Tricia's mouth "Ughahswaha we're not going to surviiveeee".

Well, it turns out we didn't miss much (we asked the other students) but we still felt bad about oversleeping - and we're not quite sure how it happened! Still the power of jet lag I guess!

So we decided to give ourselves our own little survival tour so we got dressed and headed for a supermarket. We found a great one only about 2 blocks away and bought a few things for our apartment. After unloading our bags at home, I set out by myself for a bit to mail some postcards and buy some cold water. I ended up doing both of those things quite easily and I also bought some perfume for our apartment and a small fan! I am currently sitting on my bed and I have a nice breeze and the smell of fresh cut roses all around me! Perfecto!

At 3 this afternoon we had a group cooking class which turned out to be a lot of fun! Tricia and I and 4 others were able to go back to a private kitchen with our own chef/teacher because we happened to be in the right place at the right time. So, we were in the back kitchen learning how to make Tiramisu, Gnocchi, Eggplant Caprese, and an amazing tomato sauce!

Despite the chef's unending stream of inappropriate jokes, it was a great time! After cooking, we sat down at a big table to eat our creations! Not to brag - but it was the best I've eaten so far! The eggplant caprese was a layered stack of bread crumbs, tomato, eggplant, mozzerella, and basil leaves. After baking for 20 minutes or so - it all melted together and the flavor was amazing. The Gnocci was great too - a potato noodle dish that is popular in this part of Italy.

(Lindz, Mike, David if you are reading this - yes - I could not stop laughing about our Rava-loy, Gnocchi experience back home..... HA!)

After dinner Tricia and I shopped and explored the city on the other side of the Arno river - and we found a lot of great shops and sights. We both bought some great paper products at a little stationary store. My favorite purchase is a little pack of colored pencils that I can easily stick in my bag and use to sketch/doodle whenever I am out and about. Wow, I am sounding like such an artist, but really it will be stick figures and little hearts on the page! :) 

After walking a bit, we met up with some girls from our apartment complex and talked with them for a while. They just moved in and are going to be attending the same school - Lorenzo De Medici. They have an AMAZING terrace so we plan to visit them upstairs often.  The rest of the night, Tricia and I have been talking and settling into our apartment more. I also talked to Dad and David on Skype - which I have to say is taking the homesick level down to almost nothing! Being able to see and talk to everyone so easily has been great - I even got to see Jackson for as long as he could sit still!

The question of the night for Tricia and I was - To be or Not to Be ... Connected Online that is. 

We have taken advantage of the luxury of internet (free internet because we "steal" it from the Art School downstairs) and we know we need to be out exploring, meeting people, etc. MUCH more than we need to be online/e-mailing/etc. It's just so darn hard when we can be looking at pictures/skyping/blogging and it's all so easy! Overall, I feel so blessed to be here and also to be able to keep in great touch with the people that I love. 

Well, now I better be getting to bed before our school's orientation tomorrow morning. 

We have to be up early - don't worry we have 3 alarms set! 

Love to everyone back in the states!

Ciao!

Kate