Gennaio, Due mila sette

I have arrived in Florence, Italy.  Consumed with the anticipation of living in a foreign country and learning a new language, we make our way to the apartment - home for the next 4+ months just two blocks from Filippo Brunelleschi's Duomo, the famous and massive cathedral in the center of the city.  Numero otto, via dell’Oriuolo.  One floor, four apartments, eight new friends.  Sounds like MTV’s Real World, right?

Il Duomo

Jeff (left) & I in 2009, revisiting our old home

Four years later, digging through my closet I was able to find a calendar where I kept track of the events of the semester.  Given the fact that this was so long ago, I’ll give you the abridged version of my travels throughout Europe, and highlight a few worthwhile stories.  

The first weeks of life in Europe consisted of exploring the city, getting lost and finding my way home, marveling at historic architecture, and finding a few local haunts to call our own - Full Up, Red Garter, The Lion’s Fountain, Twice, Maracana, Dolce Zucchero, YAB... if you stopped into Florence in the past four years and went out for a drink, you probably have heard of at least one of these places, and my friends and I stumbled home in the wee hours of the morning from all of them.  Now, it has come to my realization over time that my sole responsibility during this semester was to come home in one piece - the classes weren’t terribly hard and it was a time all about exploring and finding myself.  I’m still here, and I kinda know what I want to do with my life, so I guess I did something right.  

Me, Will, Jeff, Kevin: Moped rentals to Fiesole

The end of January included a day of moped rentals with the guys in Florence and a trip up to Fiesole, (the sight of the infamous ‘arm’ photo... we’ll get there) a small town in the hills overlooking the city.  As well as day trips into the Tuscan countryside to see a chianti winery, Sienna, and the small, walled medieval city of fourteen towers, San Gimignano.  Lastly, I began a weekly cooking class that enhanced my love of food and was a catalyst for my passion in culinary arts.  I’ll come back to this later, but for now, lesson one, we prepared coniglio (rabbit), and that little bunny was delicious.  

Chianti Classico

San Gimignano