YOFO.

You're Only in Florence Once.  The phrase that instigates our adventures.  Good gravy.

WELL.  Here's my life:

Yesterday, we woke up at 5:30am to get ready for our Cinque Terre day trip excursion! We were all so tired.  This week has been long.  We were supposed to meet in the Piazza San Marco at 7:00am to catch the bus.  To be safe, we left around 6:35 to allow us some time to get lost... Man, did we get lost.  We ended up on the opposite side of Florence.  We were following some girls in our program who were following some people who looked like they were in our program... but they definitely weren't in our program.  We realized we were probably not going the right way... so the girls asked an Italian lady for directions.  She was really nice, but only spoke Italian.  I told her we had to meet with a group to catch a bus in the Piazza San Marco.  She took us to a bus stop and told us to take bus 6... Nope.  Sorry lady, that's not gonna work.  We took off in the other direction heading back towards the Duomo.  We were calling every number we had of every person in our program.  We finally got ahold of the director and she told us to run... Run we did.  Sprint is more like it.  So we were sprinting through the streets of Florence yelling "PIAZZA SAN MARCO?!" at random people who were pointing us in the right direction.  We ran through one of the markets and the venders were saying "Look at those Americans! Run Americans, run!" ... I felt like Forrest Gump.  Longest run of my life.  We finally reached the bus that we almost missed, got on board, and fell asleep after we stopped sweating.  About two or three hours later, we were in La Spezia!

Reppin' my F2B family!

When we arrived in La Spezia, we got off the bus and walked right onto a boat that took us to Porto Venere.  It was absolutely amazing! The towns are so quaint, and the scenery is gorgeous.  When we reached the first village, we went on a walking tour.  The area is known for its pesto.  There was a lady handing out samples of bread and pesto to all of us outside of her shop.  It was amazing! We then reached an old church and lookout point from waaaay back in the day.  The view was breathtaking! The church was so cute and looked out over the water.  We had to take a gig 'em picture.  Couldn't resist.

Gig 'em!

After the tour, we had a tiny bit of free time.  We walked back through the village to a little ristorante by the port.  I had some pizza.  It was pretty good, but it seems like all the sandwiches and pizzas here are all bread.  After our little snack, we had to use the restroom...  that was also a nice little adventure.  The toilet was a hole in the ground... What? We are in the 21st century... I think we can put big kid toilets in modern bathrooms.  These kinds of toilets are all over Europe... I guess we had just hoped we wouldn't be faced with one.

Yeah...

After that ordeal, we headed back to the boat that took us to the village of Monterosso.  When we got off the boat, we had another guided tour.  The village is super tiny.  The tour went by pretty quickly.  Our tour guide was awesome.  She showed us all of the good places to eat and gave us some useful tips and facts about the village.  After the tour, we had a few hours of free time.  We decided to try some of the local wine.  These villages are also known for having some really good wine.  Indeed they did.  We had some local white wine at a cute little ristorante/wine bar in the village.  We then walked down to one of the bigger beaches to take some pictures and hang out.  It was so beautiful! The water is the perfect shade of blue, and the mountains and cliffs jetting out into the water is definitely something to see.

Trying the local wine!

Touching the Mediterranean Sea!

When our free time was over, we met back at the port to take a train to Manarola.  We had another walking tour.  The best part was walking down lovers' lane.  This is a long pathway on the side of the cliff that looks out over the water.  It is known for being super romantic.  There is an old story about a couple from two different villages that would meet in the middle of this pathway every night.  In their spot, there is a chair that looks like the profile of the couple.  Also, people put locks all over the place on lovers' lane, usually with their name and the name of their significant other written on it.  They are everywhere! There is also a long stretch of wall that people write on... It was super gushy.  Loved it.  After we walked along lovers' lane, we had some free time to rest or walk around.  We got some pizza from a pizzeria that was playing a Nelly song... Again, it seems like all of the pizza is all bread.  Oh, well.  We then took a train back to La Spezia to get on our bus to head back to Firenze.

We're EVERYWHERE! ;)

The chair. :)

So many locks everywhere.

We. Were. Exhausted.  We got some sleep on the bus, but oh man.  So tired.  We had some time to hang out and relax, buuuuuut it was our first real night in Florence! We had nowhere we had to be the next day.  We were going out.  We all share a bathroom, a straightener, and a blow dryer, but we make it work. :) We just have to be careful not to blow a fuse.  It's definitely easy to do here because the apartment is only allowed so much voltage.  Same with water.  For showers, we turn it on and off throughout the shower to conserve water.  Just another adjustment.  Soooo we jammed to some Bieber and got ready for a night on the town! "Duomo at 11."

Boy banding at the Duomo.

We had way too much fun! At one of the discotecas we went to, the DJ was playing some really good music.  We danced like the silly American girls we are. :) They play American music everywhere - much more than Italian music.  But I'm not sure if they know which songs are popular though... Many times we will be in a ristorante or a bar and we will hear some random 80's song, and some Italians are just straight up jamming.  I have heard more non-top 40's pop than what is actually popular.  Do they know? Another thing.  Italian men.  I have never been harassed as often and as intensely as I have been here.  Especially last night.  It was so constant.  It's like they have never seen a blonde before in their entire life.  They are super presistent.  Even if you completely ignore them (which we do), they keep trying.  A group of about ten Italian men cornered us on a street cat calling at us.  Scary.  We yelled for the rest of our group.  It was ridiculous.  Also, some of them were trying to take pictures of us.  It was the creepiest thing I've ever experience.  We stay in large groups, safe areas, and well-light areas, but there is only so much you can do about creepers.  Aside from that nonsense, we had a great time! We headed back to the apartment where we would experience the best sleep of our lives.

In da club.

We woke up super late this afternoon.  We definitely needed the sleep.  We ate lunch at a place close to the apartment.  It was actually pretty good.  The weird thing about ristoranti is that you never know how/where to order and how/where to pay.  It's different everywhere and sometimes it is different every time at the same place.  The salad I ate was pretty good! We got a student discount, too! WHOOP.  Then we were harassed by some more Italians.  Geez.  They are so blatant, and they aren't afraid to say exactly what they are thinking and some try to touch you.  That's rather uncomfortable.  After lunch, we went to the supermeracto to get some food for the apartment.  It was difficult shopping because we didn't recognize a lot of the food.  BUT! I found cheerios and the milk is okay!!!  YAY! Day.  Made.  But I am basically surviving off of fruits, veggies, peanut butter, and rice cakes.  What I would do for a steak right now...  After taking the groceries back to the apartment, we did a little shopping and stopped by the Gelato Festival! Diane and I saw the dancing Mickey Mouses again.  Funniest things ever.  Theeeen we came back home to relax.

Gelato Festival!

Dancing Mickey Mouse and Pika.  Funniest thing of my life.

After shopping and walking around for a while, we headed back home to relax for a bit.  We had dinner here.  Meaning, I had Cheerios (YAY) and apples with peanut butter for dinner... heh.  We'll see how long I can keep this up...  Around nine or ten, we decided to go have a glass of vino! We walked around looking for a cute, reasonably priced bar or restaurant where we could enjoy the weather and drink some delicious vino! We found a ristorante semi-near our apartment off of some piazza with the fake David.  We all split a bottle of vino rosso.  Christin and I were starving! We got a lasagna.  SO GOOD! Then, I convinced the waiter to give us a free bottle of vino and a free dessert... hee hee... :) We had so much fun! I absolutely love these girls.  We are now back at the apartment.  Bed time soon! Church in the morning... Nighty night amici!

Love this ristorante!

Arrivederci!