Day 4

Mary Shannon: Hello again! It is 2:30pm here, and Kelsi and I just got done hunting for a hair dryer and straightner for 2 1\2 hours. Nice. However, the walk was not bad if you consider we had to walk over the Ponte Vecchio (literally 2 min from our apartment) through the Piazzo Della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio, past all the amazing stores, across the Piazza Del Duomo, the Piazza Della Republica, and around the Santa Maria Novella and train station... Yeah, I guess hunting for things here isn't that bad :) I also just had my first taste of gelato, wow!
The other night, after getting off this computer, we went to the Piazza Santo Spirito behind our building and ate at the Banto antico where I had the Raviolli with spinach and riccota cheese - it was just as good as you are picturing it right now. Kelsi had great spaghetti, while our roommates had pizza and this potato pasta? which was also great. Afterwards, we met up with some other SAI girls Kate (roommate from TX) had met on the plane also living in the Oltarno district. They were from Oregon, California (Orange County!), TX, and New Jersey. We had decided to follow them to meet some friends and ended up walking at least over a mile in POURING rain, we were soaked to the bone by the time we FINALLY found their friends. (Needless to say, we have decided not to hang out with them anymore haha)
Yesterday, we had orientation at a hotel on Via Fiume, near the train station. There were a little over 200? kids there. Everyone we have met is a yankee! They are all from the North, or TX, but we are definately the only true southern girls here! So not only are we dealing with Italians looking at us strangely, but the students here too! We are both so loud together, laughing at everything, up-front, blunt, a little over-the-top, extremely outgoing, and did I mention loud?? The other kids have bombarded us with words to repeat in our 'southern drawl' which we don't necessarily hear. They've also been extremely intrigued by the fact Kelsi is from the 'rice and duck capital of the world' and that my dad is a doctor with cows and a tractor! However, we also think their accents are hilarious, 'Joe' sounds like 'Joel'. Its been great getting to know everyone so far, there are SO many American students here. Last night we met some friends from Ohio-Nick, Seattle-Kellen, and Wisconsin-Joe and John. Kelsi and I split the white cheese pizza!!mmmmm, so much better here! I was eating my pizza and enjoying the conversations when Kelsi started laughing, pointing out that ONLY she and I were eating our pizza with our hands! Everyone here eats pizza with a fork and knife! (Dr. Ford, you might REALLY like visiting here then haha). Once again, Kelsi and I stood out like a sore thumb! We went to the Red Garter too, where they played American music, and danced all night. We had so much fun!
So far, being in Florence hasn't really given us much culture shock, maybe because of the many American students and tourists, or because Italians are really unaffected by us, or because Kelsi and I's room is actually bigger here than it was in the Chi O house...but we've really made it home in just 4 days. I can almost get around even without a map already because everything is very close!
The only things to really know are common sense: I walk with my purse inside my jacket, zip my pockets, lock my backpack (and even going out last night, tho I didn't take my purse off, we put locks on them!) You can never be too careful. Also, we ignore men yelling at us and watch each other's backs for suspicious people eyeing our bags. At the grocery store last night we DID find peanut butter and jelly, but there was also a cop who had to warn us about this pick-pocket who came in there (which Im not even sure he was a real cop...)
Odd things Ive noticed so far: North Face is the international sign for an American student we've decided, the stores go far back but are so skinny, no slices of cheese just mozzarella balls, no slices of turkey or ham :(, everything in general being smaller here than in the U.S. except for churches of course, Duomo is MASSIVE maps do not do it justice, lots of fashionable stores but not a lot of fashionable people, old women with huge fur coats hats and shoes, a lot of the women look like they are wearing wigs and draw on their eyebrows, lots of tours going on around every corner, Hotel Lungarno ('along the Arno') from the Travel Channels Passport to Europe-Florence is right next to where I live...
Love you all, miss you all, keep in touch!