The Final Countdown: my last week in Florence

Seriously, I can't believe it's all over. It has been such a great experience and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. I have met some amazing people, learned more than I thought I could in one month, and seen some of the most incredible sights. I would have to say Florence Study Abroad has been a success. :) Today is my last day in Italy, and I honestly don't know what to do. I have seen everything I wanted to see, bought more than I needed to, and eaten like a Queen :)

This week has been pretty amazing, especially after the "study" in study abroad was over. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start with Monday. On Monday morning I had to finish up my visual analysis for class before running some errands. I attempted to visit the Uffizi but after walking all the way down to Palazzo Veccio I realized its closed on Mondays. I ended up just wandering around and doing a little shopping. Of course it wouldn't be a day in Italy without some gelato. I decided to venture out and try a new place Elyssa recommended, Riva Reno. And it was amazing like all the places she recommended! :) In class we finished up the end of the Renaissance, finally. haha. Then it was time for my last cooking class :( We had another good meal, really can't wait to cook some of them for all of you guys at home! It was kind of sad to finish up. Really wish I took the everyday cooking class, because now that it's over I don't really feel like I learned much about cooking. At least I got some great recipes to take home.

After cooking I wanted to go out, but never managed to make anything happen so I just laid around the apartment and stayed up to go to Secret Bakery.

Tuesday was a great day in Florence! Probably one of my favorites. I woke up and watched Glee while I ate some breakfast. Breakfast consisted of leftover Secret Bakery--my absolute favorite! I met up with Hope and Jordan later on to walk around a bit before have a delicious lunch at Gusto Leo by the Bargello. They has some amazing sangria and pizza.

Afterwards we went to the Uffizi, which was actually open this time. The Uffizi was actually pretty amazing. I got to see my favorite painting, the Primavera by Botticelli. So amazing up close and personal. It was really cool to walk around the museum with Hope and Jordan and name all the works and talk about them-- our own little review session. I really have learned a lot of Italian culture and Renaissance history. Before going to class we decided to stop at the Longchamp store, oh that was a mistake. Longchamps are so much cheaper in Europe and I went a bit crazyyy. At least Mom and Karly got one out of the deal. I mean come on they are the "rainbows of purses" according to Karly.

Class was just a review session, which was really helpful. After class Jaclyn and I did some tacky souvenir shopping. We were getting sentimental about leaving at the end of the week. Once I got home I skyped a bit, and cooked some dinner for myself, watched some tv online, pretty much anything to procrastinate studying and I successfully did!

Since I didn't study at all on Tuesday, I woke up early and crammed a lot of Renaissance history before taking a break to climb the Duomo. It was really cool to see the work of Brunelleschi up close and personal. I'm really glad I waited so long to climb the Duomo because I feel like I could completely appreciate it, at the top it was so cool that I could name all the buildings, and know where I was in relation to everything I've done and seen. Really an amazing feeling--just shows how much I've learned!

Daniel, Billy and I decided to grab lunch at L'Antico Noe after climb up and down all 468+ steps. Afterward Billy and I did some last minute studying before taking the final. It really wasn't bad at all, three essays out of like 16 topics so I'm sure I did well :) And boy am I glad to be done what that class. It wasn't really terrible, I just didn't like sitting in a classroom while in Italy--there's too much else to do.

Wednesday night LdM hosted a Farewell dinner for all there students. It was really nice to all go out together, plus a free meal (even if it was buffet style.) Also ran into Adam Troxell randomly there--didn't even know he was studying in Italy. haha

After dinner we all got ready and like our entire group decided to go on an adventure to Central Park Club. Turned out to be like a 30-40 min walk but it was a lot of fun!

Secret Bakery is always on the way home :)

Thursday was Saint John the Baptist Day in Florence so lots of places were closed, with a parade in the morning. I was not awake for that one. I ended up sleeping till noon, the latest I've sleep in Italy. It was a lazy day filled with Glee and Secret Bakery leftovers. When I finally managed to make it out of the apartment I met up with the girls and got some gelato and just wondered around all the palazzos, walked up to ponte veccio and shopped a bit. At 4pm we went to The Clubhouse for an early dinner to watch the Italy World Cup game. Italy ended up losing and getting eliminated from the World Cup :( But at least USA's still in it.

Later on I got more gelato before going to watch the historical soccer game at Santa Croce. We didn't get tickets beforehand, so once we got there the guard was like 20 euros each. So of course we said no and walked away, defeated. A few mins later the guards started yelling at us and we were confused, but they ended up letting us in FO FREE! So nice to be an American girl :) haha The game was crazy. I couldn't tell you what it was--some sort of mix between, soccer, handball, and wrestling in crazy customs. But it was fun to experience.

Since it was Saint John's Day once the sunset they have fireworks from Palazzo de Michelangelo over the Arno. So we just headed to the river after the game and hung out till fireworks.



Fireworks+Florence+Good friends= the perfect way to end. :)


After fireworks Ali and I came back to my apartment to eat the rest of the food I had in my fridge.

Today was my last day in Italy. :( So sad but now I'm ready to go home. I did a few last minute errands,had some gelato, by accident bought another pair of shoes.. (I just couldn't resist.) Took a nap and then it was time for our last dinner in Italy. We had a group dinner at Acqua al 2 and it was pretty good, yet disappointing since we didn't get their famous blueberry steak. But we got some great words of wisdom from Luca, "Don't drink a lot of wine and spend a little time with friends, Drink a little wine and spend a lot of time with friends"

Now it's just packing, cleaning and secret bakery! Staying up all night for my 6:30am flight. No use sleeping when I have 18 hours of traveling to make it back to the U.S. of A :)