View from the top... of il Duomo! :)

Here is my update from yesterday which I was unable to upload because of severe lack of internet:

Before I begin, let me assure you that this entry will not as long as the last. Promise! Well, promise is a strong word…

We got a little bit of a late start this morning… just enjoying our last chance to sleep in before classes begin tomorrow morning. I am at least a little terrified about being immersed in Italian for 4 hours every morning, but I am really hoping that I will somehow just magically pick it up… with the help of a professional, that is.

We got going a little bit after noon. We were afraid the weather would be cold and rainy like yesterday, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was sunny and beautiful… just the way Florence should be. We were all starving because we slept through breakfast. We walked down our street and found a little store with relatively cheap food. I had a bottle of water and a panini with lettuce, tomato, and A LOT of mozzarella. Yum! And all for less than 5 Euros, which is better than I’ve been paying so far. Italy is expensive, especially in places where there are so many gullible tourists like myself.

We ate our lunch while sitting on the steps of Il Duomo, or the Cathedral of Florence Santa Maria del Fiore… I’m a little confused if Il Duomo refers to the entire church or not, but it is much easier to type and say, so that’s what I call it.

After Jessica bought some hot purple sunglasses, we stood in line for a little while to get inside the cathedral. It was beautiful! There were beautiful stained glass windows and a lot of paintings, most of which I knew absolutely nothing about since I don’t really know anything about art at all. But I did recognize one called “Dante and his Divine Comedy” by Domenico di Michelino. I assume I saw at some point when I read La Divina Commedia in Maurizio’s UH 300 class first semester. And the fresco on the ceiling of the cupola (if that makes sense… I am reaching a little out of my comfort zone in an attempt to describe these things) was gorgeous!

When we finished looking at the inside, we got in line to climb the 463 steps to the top of the dome. I guess that sounds like a lot, but it felt like even more for my poor legs. I am out of shape! Before we got inside, we met a guy In front of us whose daughter goes to Alabama. Can you say random? And there were two guys behind us who actually go to UGA. The world just feels like it keeps getting smaller and smaller…

After climbing what felt like millions of steps, we finally reached the top. There is simply no way to describe how incredible the view was. I don’t think anybody could understand by looking at my pictures. It was too beautiful. I could see myself in a scenic home in Florence. Yep, sounds like a plan to me. :)

We stayed up there for a while; Sara wrote in her journal, and Jessica and I just sat there in awe of the amazing buildings and hills and sky and etc. Che bella! We descended the 463 stairs, which seemed more complicated even though it was much less physically demanding. I was feeling a little claustrophobic, particularly when I had to suck in and let people pass who were making their way to the top. When I finally got to the bottom, I noticed my legs were shaking. Kind of pathetic but true. If I didn’t have to pay 8 Euros to climb to the top, I would totally do it every day and call it cardio.

We figured a workout like that surely deserved some kind of reward. So naturally, gelato! I truly believe Americans would be SO much happier if there were at least one gelateria on every block. It is amazing to see Italians out after work talking, walking their dogs, and simply relaxing. It sounds like a pretty sweet life to me. Unfortunately, Americans are not as active as Italians, and a happy thing here such as gelato may only contribute to America’s laziness and obesity epidemic.

To work off that gelato even more, we walked around for a while looking for the post office and a few random stores. Then we met Laura (who is finally in Florence and awake at normal times!) and her roommates on the steps of Il Duomo. We went back to see their apartment, which is amazing, and we all hung out and talked there for a little while.

We came back to our apartment where I totally crashed. I am a huge fan of pre-dinner naps. No real surprise there.

Huge family dinner, again… although with a few less people. I tried to talk to my host family in italiano. Can you say FAIL? I just wanted to ask if Laura could come over for dinner one night. Pretty easy words, right? Well, apparently they just don’t make sense coming out of my mouth. But I will not give in! I will try again tomorrow.

Now it’s time to be super lame and go to sleep early before my first day of classes at Centro Linguistico Italiano Dante Alighieri. Good luck to me…