My Trip So Far

Hello all! It has been about two weeks since I left the states, and already I have been to so many amazing places. I arrived in Florence last night, September 15, and today I have my first day of classes. I love my classes so far, and the school is beautiful. The city, from what I have seen, seems absolutely amazing. I couldn't be happier to be here.

 I am living with my friends Shannon and Leslie, we have a triple in a penzione called "My Friend's House". There are about six different penziones that house the GIF students, each within walking distance to campus but spread out around the area. They are each their own little hotel and each are run by an Italian family. Our family is very, very nice and the food is amazing. They provide meals each week for us: 3 dinners, 4 lunches and 5 breakfasts. It's all homemade italian food.. very tasty! I haven't even been in Florence 12 hours and I already love it. Here is a look at my last two weeks traveling between 5 different cities:

PARIS

On the 2nd, I flew to Paris with five friends who are also in the GIF program. We stayed in a pretty nice hostel and met a lot of other student travelers. Together, we all took tours of the city and experienced the nightlife and I was finally able to put my four years of French class to good use! It definitely helped get us around the city.

The metro was a little hard to get ahold of, considering I have never been on a subway without my parents before, but once we got the hang of it we realized what an amazing tool it was to navigate the city. We climbed the eiffel tower by foot, prayed in the Sacre Couer ( the Sacred Heart church, located on the highest peak in Paris, measuring out to the same  height  as the eiffel tower!), drank cheese and wine in the park, stood in the center of the Arc de Triumph, and went out for drinks by the Moulin Rouge. It was an amazing three days. But, by the end of our Parisian adventure, I was definitely ready to meet the GIF students and staff in Berlin to start the school's Opening Tour.