Firenze and I have a love/hate relationship...

There is so much that I LOVE about Firenze. (the Italian word for Florence...don't get me started) But there are a few things I could do without.

I love that the Italians are so concerned about their consumerism. (Except when it comes to Gucci...) It is obvious that they have to be because water and electricity is so expensive. But, they only use the minimal amount of water, and the couple that we live with doesn't usually use much electricty...except for the TV, Loriana can't live without her soaps!!

I love that the city streets are bustling everyday with tourists from all over the world. I love listening to the different dialects when I walk down the streets. I love to walk past the bakeries and smell the fresh meats, cheeses, and breads.

I LOVE GELATO!! They are going to have to roll me out of this country because I am going to try every flavor. So far my favorites have been caramel, raspberry and lemon together, and cheesecake. But I have tried a ton already...

I hate it when you walk past someone and they blow smoke in your face. This actually happens alot. Everyone here smokes, but it is a national law that they cannot smoke inside, so they all walk around the streets with cigarettes...everyone.

I hate it when you walk past someone and they smell rank. This also actually happens alot. Mom, you were right, the Europeans (mostly the older ones) don't believe in deoderant.

I hated the heat until today. It had been so hot here, and they do not use air conditioning, so I would lay in bed at night losing weight while I slept from all the sweating. However, today, a breath of fresh air landed over the city and it has felt amazing! I can only hope that this cooler weather is here to stay!

I love my host family! The Biliottis are a crazy old couple that are possibly they nicest people on Earth! Loriana is really trying to learn more English. We (Me and Christy, the roommate) taught her how to say 'oh my gosh' and now she says it all the time. Everytime she says it she looks over at us to see if we caught it.

I really REALLY hate the noise. The vespas make such a racket, and because the city streets are so tall and narrow, the sound just bounces off the walls and reverberates into the room. All. Night. Long. Not ok. The older generation here rides bikes everywhere or walks, which I love. But the younger people are all into the vespas, which I hate. And they use their horns WAY too liberally. (Go ahead, Aunt Colleen, insert a joke about them being 'horny'...)

I both love and hate that we walk everywhere. I don't mind allowing extra time to get everywhere and walking along the city streets. But, I have the worst blisters on my feet, sometimes it's almost impossible to put shoes on in the morning. I hate that I only packed shoes that are fashionable, and no hiking boots. I have been living out of my Chacos, which looks really tacky, especially with my really cute dresses and slacks, but my feet are refusing to go into any other shoes.

I love Italian game shows. Every night before dinner Mauro and Loriana watch this game show that's some kind of word puzzle. I don't really understand the point of the game, but I sit there with my dictionare and learn new vocabulary. And they yell at the people in the TV.

I hate tourists. But I am still technically one. Mauro says there is no longer a 'tourist' season, it is just year round craziness. I have to walk past the Ponte Vecchio and Uffizzi Gallery on my way to school, which is a beautiful walk, but once you get to those two points (which are basically at the same spot) it bottlenecks and is almost impossible to miss the tourists and avoid being missed by the vespas. (They drive FAST...TOO FAST!!)

I love the food here! I am in heaven with the mozzerella, fresh vegetables, olive oil, and PASTA! But, the bread here is bad. They say American's have horrible bread, but I am a fan of the soft breads, and here it is all hard breads. But, if you put enough fresh cheese on anything, it's fantastic!

I hate the fact that l'Arno (the river) is filled with river rats. Ok, they are actually Nutria, which being the daughter of a marine biologist actually paid off on this one, because I am in the only one who knows what this is. Mauro spent forever trying to convence me that these GIANT animals are not rats, but really nutria. But I don't believe him. They look like rats.

I love my classes. My professors are hilarious! Most of them live in the area, either Pisa, Rome, or smaller outlying cities and ride the train into work. My Italian language teacher is crazy!! He's a 40 year old man who plays American 60's music while teaching Italian. Gotta love that... And my photojournalism teacher is a 28 year old freelance photographer who's work is published by some magazines around the area. He's really talented but he says he is too artistic to make money.

Oh, and I love my roommate!! She is too much fun!!

Well, we discovered the free internet (and by free, I do mean stolen) doesn't work on the weekends, so unfortunatly I could not write. I have so much to tell everyone and so many pictures to show already! I will write again soon. This weekend we are hoping a train to Pisa, which is only 1 hour away, and we can jump on for 5 Euros. So, amazing! Then we are spending the day at the beach and coming home. I really wish I hadn't taken my swimsuit out of my bag...