Fall Break in Florence!

So last time we chatted, my sister and I had just spent a lovely weekend together!  And the *spectacular* grand finale of the festivities, I will remind you... two final exams and a final paper.  Oof.  That's a kicker.

But have no fear!  I have to say, I showed those finals who was boss. :-D  Since I really enjoyed taking the classes and learning about marketing for the first time completely and advertising from a UK point of view, I feel I retained a lot of the information, making the finals easier to handle.

After finals, BU gives the Internship Program students a fall break before we start our work placements.  So with no classes from Wednesday through Sunday...

I was off to Italy!

Back around mid-September, when I realized I had this near-week break in October, I started pondering how I could make the most of this extended time off.  Since we usually only have the weekends to travel, thus limiting our feasible destinations, this was a good opportunity to spend more time in a further place.

So, feeling a bit of a homesick itch back in September, I reached out to a friend of mine, Allison, who was also studying abroad for the fall semester, in Florence.  We had talked throughout the summer about possibly getting together at some point during the semester, so I asked if she would be around Italy during that weekend.  Lucky for me, she said she would be!  Unlucky for her, it was the weekend before her program's midterm week.  But she said she would still love to host me, despite the fact that she would probably have to be studying for a lot of the weekend.  How sweet, right?  Long Island girls are just cool like that. :-P
And I'm a pro at entertaining myself, so I knew this was going to work out great!

I took a mid-morning flight on Wednesday the 12th out of Stansted Airport, and after a few hours in the air and a few trains out of Pisa International Airport, I arrived at Santa Maria Novella train station in the heart of Florence!  I met up with Allison after her class in the Piazza Republica, and we headed back to her apartment to get settled in.  It was so great to see a friendly face from home!  Not to mention have somebody speak to me in English.  Other than "pizza," "gelato," and "spaghetti," my Italian isn't that extensive."  Allison was able to get by for the both of us, thankfully.  During the times when I was exploring on my own, it was a lot of waving, pantomiming, and holding up fingers to represent numbers.  #I'mclearlyanAmerican. :-P

After meeting Allison's five other roommates, we went out for dinner at one of their favorite pizza spots! (Oh come on, you knew this was coming.  It was only a matter of time).  We headed over the Ponte Vecchio, one of Florence's most famous bridges, to the villages on the other side of the river and got personal-sized pizzas at Gusta Pizza!  It was absolutely delicious!  I've been quite homesick for my New York pizza, and haven't really had pizza of any sort since being abroad.  This definitely hit the spot, and reminded me of one of my favorite spots on Arthur Avenue near Fordham (called Zero Otto Nove-- another place I would recommend to anyone passing through the BX!).  To top the night off, we all went for gelato afterwards.  I knew after that night that Florence and I were going to become goooood friends.

The carousel in Piazza Republica!

Piazza Republica

My dinner-- margherita pizza from Gusta Pizza!


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I rubbed the boar's snout and put a coin in his mouth!  This tradition means that you'll come back to Florence someday.

Cuppy and I enjoying our first Italian gelato

Over the next few days, Allison had some studying and schoolwork to get done, so I set out to explore the beautiful city of Florence!  It's a place of such rich history and beautiful architecture.  The entire city just felt like something out of another world, and I can't believe all the amazing things I saw within just a few days.

The Piazza di Santa Croce is one of the main squares in Florence, and is home to the principle Franciscan church in Florence, the Basilica di Santa Croce.  The Basilica is also the burial place of some of the most famous Italian artists and figures, including Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli.

Basilica di Santa Croce

Galileo's tomb

Machiavelli's tomb

Michelangelo's tomb plaque

Michelangelo's tomb

That day I met Allison after her class for lunch at The Oil Shoppe, a little sandwich place she had heard about from a friend.  Our paninis were the perfect lunch :)

My delicious panini!  Chicken, tomatoes, pesto, and mozzarella cheese on brown panini bread.  Oh, and a side of parmesan-spiced chips.  Yes, we were in lunch heaven.

Hello, Allison!

One of Florence's most famous attractions is the legendary David statue, located in the Galleria Accademia.  So I spent an afternoon wandering around the museum and taking in David, as well as all the other beautiful sculptures and works of art.

Because photography isn't allowed in Accademia, this was as close to a picture as I could get.  But I'll tell you, seeing the David statue was something else.  It truly is a work beyond words, I was speechless just looking at it.  It is just immense in size, I cannot imagine how any person could possibly do anything so massive all by hand.  And the details-- from the curls in his hair, to the subtleness of his sword to highlight his innocence, right down to the raised vein lines on his hand.  The David is such a lifelike and incredible piece, and I'm so glad to have gotten to see it.

Later on I took a walk over the Ponte Vecchio and checked out all the jewelry shops and vendors on the crossing.  A bit out of my student price range, but hey, looking is free, right?

One of the last stops on my whirlwind weekend, and one of my favorites as well, was a trip to the Piazzale Michelangelo.  This famous square sits on top of the hill of San Miniato, and offers amazing panoramic views of Florence.  It was one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen... I think you'll be able to tell why.

This is one of my favorite pictures I took all weekend.  The blue of the water, the green trees, the red roofs-- every color is so distinct and vibrant in the Florence afternoon sun!

I picked up my awe-struck jaw off the floor long enough to have a nice tourist take my picture for me.

From the Piazzale, the city seemed to go on forever.  The red roofs and yellowy buildings have such a romantic, Shakespearean feel to them, and seeing them all in front of me like that was unbelievable.  Looking at Florence like that, it's amazing how this city of art, beauty, and history has stood against tests of time and strife and remains today.  Standing up there kind of made me feel small; I couldn't believe I could exist in this vast place that has stood for centuries and held the world's greatest artists and scientists.  The entire city was stretched out before me, and I'm just a small part of it.  The roots run deeper than I could ever fully grasp.

Before I knew it, Sunday had come and it was time to make my way back to London.  But not without one last Duomo photo shoot!

It was a fantastic weekend in Italy!  It felt like stepping into another world for awhile, I've never seen anything like it.  But as great as it was, I was also happy about going back to London.  Florence is beautiful city, and I definitely appreciated the art and history, but I know I'm a suburban/city girl at heart.  I missed the hustle-and-bustle of London streets and South Kensington daily life.  I get to have a happy mix of the two during my time abroad here, and it makes me feel right at home-- I love my city that never sleeps, New York, and a part of my heart will always be in my tiny suburban town on Long Island.

I really feel like I got to see so much in the short amount of time I was in Florence.  The art, museums, cathedrals... aaand the pizza, gelato, and cannolis.  The true tourist attractions.
I hope to go back to Italy someday and see Rome, Vatican City, Pisa, Sicily... and anywhere that Buddy Valastro and his family have been.  #cakebossjunkie #wannabeItalian.

But until then... Arrivederci, Italia!