first day at l'accademia

Almost forgot we were here for school, as well. We woke up this morning, had some breakfast, & finally learned how to use our stove! Messiah came & nicely laughed at us because we didn't know that we would have to light a match to light the flame.. At least Alyssa is brave enough to try. So, tonight for dinner we finally made some pasta! We (Caroline) have also figured out bruschetta & bread/oil/vinegar/parmesan, Julie made hard boiled eggs, we're here!!

Our first class was Italian, where we learned il alfabeto & numeri. I think we can all agree the 40 cent cappuccino machine will be our best friend. After Italian, we had a half hour break & walked to get lunch. They had chicken salad! Surprisingly, I think I'll be sticking to prosciutto or tomato/mozzarella (strange). Then we had History of Renaissance Art, in which we went on a walking tour around the city. Our teacher showed us some of the museums & told us a lot of history of different buildings & Florence in general. Fun fact..During WWII, a Nazi general bombed all of the train stations, main political buildings, & bridges in Florence, but decided to spare the Ponte Vecchio because of it's historical meaning. What a nice guy. We're all really excited for this class because we're given a free/unlimited pass to all of the museums. Going to be so cultured!

Thought I'd put up more stolen pictures from people (thanks princepessadiaries, twentiteen & thedailyflorentine), in case our daily life is not as exciting through words. Sunset from the Ponte Vecchio trumps all anyway. 

dedicated to you, ms mcneela! 14 years later!

along the arno

euro/mature? or got into our mom's makeup? don't answer that

the lion's fountain. clearly frequented by abroad students

4000+ miles away, at least we're still the same..

making firenze in firenze! (emma's clever)

outside l'accademia

in front of the piazza pitti, across from school; yes this was before a (failed) jumping picture

walking in a group of 9-12 at all times

can't get enough

will there ever be a time we cross the ponte vecchio & don't stop to take pictures?

outside of the uffizi

the baptistry; was a common symbol of firenze when it was the capitol (before rome)

after months of looking at this on google images/pinterest, here we are!