The Run-Down of a USUAL week in Florence, Italy with Veronica

Sunday’s start off lazy.  It religiously rains every Sunday in Florence which is convenient because we usually stay in on Sundays doing homework and watch Glee.  (Tealy and I are ALL caught up :)  [possibly inconvenient when getting back from a weekend trip on Sunday and you have to walk back to the apartment from the bus/train station in the RAIN]. I go to mass at the Duomo on Saturday evenings so I don’t even have to worry about going to mass in the rain on Sundays. 

Monday’s are my catch up days for homework and/or cleaning days.  If there is anything I need to buy from food to design supplies, I usually get it on Mondays.  (when in town, I also attend morning 8 am mass with the SSTM group)

Tuesday’s are my LONG days.  I am in class from 8 am - 9 pm with a 3 hour break in the middle.  I start off my mornings with 8 am Italian class.  Then I move onto Italian cooking; which is FANTASTIC and filling!  Thus, I get to work on projects or homework during the 3 hours because I am already so full from what ever we cooked that day.  I also have a 30 minute dinner break around 6 pm.  Teal, Sarah and I usually go to our favorite little buffet spot called “Il Pirata”.  It is ALL you can eat along with a bottle of water (or a glass of vino for a euro more).  The old man that owns it is typically playing his guitar when we walk in.  All the wall tiles in the restaurant are covered with people’s signatures, many of which say they were recommended by Rick Steves; that is how you know it is good.  We haven’t signed it just yet, but we will. Anyways, it is delicious!  By the time we get back to our apartment around 9, all we want to do is get ready for bed and pop in a movie. 

Wednesdays are a bit shorter because I go from 8 am - 2:30 pm.  The usually VERY early 8 am Italian class and then we have our Design AutoCAD class.  During our 5 hour CAD class we get a 10 min coffee break (Italian’s love their coffee) and a 30 minute lunch break.  We also have a regular lunch place that just happens to be next door to Il Pirata called Il Forno.  Their pizza is cheap and INCREDIBLY amazing.  Although, we did discover a great kabobs place nearby as well that we have begun to frequent.  On Wednesday evening, SSTM (Society of St. Thomas More group I am involved in) has bible study or holy hour (adoration).  During Holy Hour, we say the Rosary in 3 DIFFERENT languages!  [decade in English, decade in Italian, decade in Latin, then Italian again, and finishing with another decade of English].  It is really neat and definitely helping my Italian :)

Thursdays seem like my easy days because I finish class before noon.  At this point in the week, I have my very hard to get up for 8 am Italian class.  I still go to it, I just may not shower until after I get back from class on Thursdays.  I also have my Modern Architecture class and every other week we have a field trip for the 2nd half of the class.   You wouldn’t think there would be so much modern architecture in Florence do to all the old churches and government buildings, but there is!  

Friday mornings when I am in Florence, I go to morning 8 am mass with the SSTM group and then we do breakfast.  First it was at Christie’s with Lucy making Banana Nutella Crepes, then it was at my place with an American breakfast of eggs, toast, fruit salad, and cereal... too bad it was the first Friday of Lent therefore we had to pass on the bacon I had bought.  We ate it later... mmmmmm tasted like AMERICA!

Now I am back to my weekends which are filled with church, rest and relaxation... when we are Florence that is.  Otherwise, we fill it with sight seeing, exploring and CRAZY FUN MEMORABLE ADVENTURES!  :D

Few Italian Comments:

Teal, Sarah and I were off to class one night and this street vendor goes “Hey Charlies Angels” Classic thus we had to take a picture once we got to class...

The other week we were going to the same class and another street vendor whispered “Ciao Ciao” near my face.  EWWWW CREEPY

As we were walking through the street leather market, a guy starts talking to Sarah (the only blonde in our group).  Going “do you want to buy a jacket, I give it to you for free, free jacket, heck I am free for you!”  He even linked arms with her for part of the time.  It was PRICELESS (bwhahaha)