Day 20

         I cannot believe that I only have one week left in Firenze! Where has the time gone? I feel like I just got here and I don’t want to leave anytime soon! I have enjoyed this trip so much and have grown to love most of the people I am traveling with! I went in knowing no one and am coming out with just about 24 good friends. Anyway, so today was a very long day. Nothing too interesting happened in Italian class today. I still have my cold so I was getting up every 5 seconds to blow my nose and didn’t pay too much attention in class. My morning/early afternoon remained consistent, with lunch at the Oil Shoppe and a quick stop for gelato at my favorite place! Of course I got pistachio, but I decided to try a new flavor as well and had a little bit of the simple plain vanilla. Both were delicious! Tomorrow, I have a quiz in Italian and a presentation for my leadership class, so I spent a good few hours working away on my presentation and studying. Later today, our school in Florence led a hike to the top of Fiesole, an area in Florence. It was lead by Lorenzo, one of the head people at the school. Our hike consisted of many college students from all different schools; it was fun to interact with more than just Northeastern students. Let me tell you, this hike was beautiful! It started right near a very famous upscale hotel, which was originally constructed in the 15^th century. They were preparing for a private wedding, which we heard through the grapevine was someone very important. We went with Justin Timberlake’s and Jessica Biel’s wedding. The hike itself, felt like it was deep into the woods as we hiked up steep hills surrounded by trees and on a rocky terrain. Periodically, we stopped at high points to admire the view and take thousands of pictures. Eventually we ended up in an area of civilization, where we continued to walk through the streets and look admire the views along the beautiful terrain. We walked up steep streets and had fun running up them occasionally to get in our exercise. Fiesole was truly beautiful! It felt similar to Chianti, but without the thousands of olive trees, grape vines and vineyards. The hike consisted of good company and beautiful sites, so what is not to like!

            At dinner, Regina and I were introduced to our new roommate staying at our homestay. She is from Mexico City and is the nicest girl ever! She mentioned that four years ago she studied abroad in Florence and kept in touch with our host mom, and now has made her way back here for a month to study photography. She is fluent in Spanish and English and is almost fluent in Italian. Therefore, we were able to have some great conversations at dinner. I can’t wait to get to know her more over the next week! Its great to have a new face at our home :) 

Hiking in Fiesole! 

Day 19

      Today started off with a little bit of a debbie downer… We were informed that due to the earthquake in Northern Italy the previous day, we have to remain in Florence during our last weekend here. Many of us had already scheduled day trips and were really disappointed to learn that we could not go. However, while trying to stay optimistic, we did find a cooking class for the weekend. So hopefully that will take away some of the pain. Italian class was again combined with the other class, due to that the other teacher was in a fender bender on the way to school. Good news though, she was not injured at all. Class ended early this morning, because the lead person from the emotional intelligence conference in Bologna a couple weeks back, came to speak to us and follow up on the conference. We only met with him for a brief period, before going to a pharmaceutical production company in Florence with him. The pharmaceutical company, Lilly, actually is based out of the US, but has branches all over the world. Our visit consisted of a tour of the production building and a small informal meeting with representatives from their human resource department on their personal experience with emotional intelligence. Surprisingly, I found the tour to be very interesting. Because I do not have a strong interest in pharmacy, I initially did not have much interest in seeing the production of drugs. However, after walking in and being able to the process first hand, I suddenly gained interest and became very engaged. I feel that having the opportunity to get an in depth look at other health professions will help me in the long run during my career. In contrast the, sitting in on the emotional intelligence meeting, which focused more on the business aspect, I feel was very beneficial. Today I saw two very different parts of one business and was able to see the amount of work and people it takes to make one thing run efficiently. It was a great introduction to the real world and the work field, which I am about to walk into. 

     In addition, dinner was really fun tonight. It was just Regina and I, the Swedish student staying with us, and our host mom. Towards the end of dinner we started talking about all these different types of foods and had fun try to translate them between Italian, English and Dutch (which the Swedish girl speaks). It was fun and interesting! 

Lilly Pharmaceuticals 

Day 18

         Today I walked into class only to learn that about 20 minutes prior to class there was another earthquake. At the time I was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast with Regina and did not notice ANYTHING shaking. Supposedly, the earthquake was a 5.0 and killed 15 people in northern Italy. Hopefully, I will still be able to make it to Venice and Milan in two weeks. I did hear that the train system got a little messed up due to the earthquake. Anyway, the day began with Italian class as usual and then I went to the Oil Shoppe again for lunch. However, today I got a jumbo veggie sandwich. There was just about every vegetable you could think of inside with a feta and cheese and a pesto sauce. You seriously cannot go wrong with any sandwich on the menu. In the afternoon, we had another site visit. Our visit today was at the Red Cross in Florence. We were surprised they held their appointment with us, after the earthquake that occurred in the morning and the rush they made to be of assistance in Northern Italy. We sat in on a presentation about the Red Cross organization and its specific presences in Italy. Previously, I thought I had a broad idea of what the Red Cross does, but hearing a clear explanation and specifics about the components of the Red Cross was very informative and interesting.

         After our visit at the Red Cross, we had a few hours to kill before we had to be back at our homestays for dinner, so a few of us went to the Academia Museum where Michael Angelo’s statue of David is. The museum itself was very interesting; they mixed a lot of old pieces of art with modern art. Personally, for me I enjoyed that aspect, because staring at old paintings and statues of naked people is of no interest to me. I appreciated the dynamic of artwork they had, combining “the old school, with the new school”. Let me take a moment to comment on the statue of David itself. The statue was huge; people are really not lying when they say that seeing it up close is amazing! It truly was! I was fortunate enough to snipe a picture before a security guard caught me J I almost forgot, the weirdest part about the modern aspect of the museum, is that they spontaneously had runners, running around the museum to show the modern art of the body. I thought it was weird too, but it was different and interesting. The Academia Museum was definitely a fun experience.

         Tonight, dinner was joined by our host mom’s friends. It’s cute to see three little Italian ladies prepare dinner together. They are always giving us more food and not eating themselves. I don’t think I will even understand why Italian mothers just don’t eat, but want to make sure everyone else is completely full. Most of dinner was spent talking about the earthquake from this morning and ended with us all sitting around the TV watching the news coverage on the earthquake. 

The one Statue of David we were actually allowed to take a picture of @ the Academia Museum!

Day 17

        Well, today was not too exciting. It was basically a recovery day from Rome, this past weekend. Last night I went to bed with a cold and woke up with it again this morning. The first stop of the day, was the dollar store or in Italy I guess the “euro store”, to get a huge thing of tissues, before Italian class. Our Italian teacher was actually sick as well, so we joined classes with the other class (our group is split into two classes). I honestly did not enjoy this teacher as much as our teacher. It may have been because I was sniffling and blowing my noes a good 90% of the time, but she really did not explain herself well and it was difficult to understand her/pay attention. After class, it was back to the famous Oil Shoppe for lunch! I got the most delicious smoked salmon sandwich ever! Even the girls around me kept on saying how good it looked and they don’t even like fish! While eating my fabulous sandwich, Regina and I took a second to write in the Oil Shoppe’s guest book. We had to leave our mark at that place! The rest of the day was spent at school trying to finish our final projects while in Florence. We have two group projects left and I have learned that working in a group is definitely not the easiest thing to do. Today we did not make much progress at all, so hopefully tomorrow we can buckle down and finish things up.

            In our leadership class this afternoon we finished presentations from the previous class on our group papers. The group that spoke, compared both the US and Italian healthcare systems. There presentation lead to a heated argument on if the US should have universal healthcare. There were many different opinions thrown around, but I personally think universal healthcare in the US will decrease the quality of care and people will begin to take advantage of the available resources, leading to overcrowding in hospitals. I believe the discussion lasted longer than our professors anticipated, it lasted the majority of the class, so thats basically all we did. I can't complain.

            After class, Regina and I came back to our homestay to get work done before dinner. My work consisted of watching the new episode of the Kardashians from last night. It was a good episode, so it was definitely worth my time. However, dinner was great tonight! The food was great as always, but tonight I was actually able to converse a little more in Italian with my host mom! It was a great feeling to finally feel more apart of the Italian culture. Hopefully, I will become more confident in speaking the little Italian that I know, over my final two weeks here! Ciao!

The Oil Shoppe!

Day 16

       Today was our last day in Rome and we were given the entire day to do whatever we pleased. Breakfast at the hotel ended at 9:30, so I had to get up in time to eat, which made me get up earlier and start my day so it was a good thing! After breakfast about half of us went to the flea market in Rome, while the others went to get the Pope’s blessing in St. Peter’s Square. I followed a group of girls to the flea market. The flea market in Rome, is supposed to be the largest in all of Europe. I had to admit walking through it was very overwhelming. There were so many clothes, shoes and accessories. It felt like I was just looking at piles of clothes on top of each other and I personally had no interest in climbing over people to dig through the clothes. Luckily, Regina (my roommate in Florence) saw the cutest dress just as we walked into the market. We both ended up getting one and were able to bargain for a cheaper price. I guess, you could call that a success trip, but I did not last too long in the market.
       After the market, me and a couple other girls on the program who are Jewish walked over to the synagogue in Rome. Being that it was Shavuot, we weren’t allowed into the synagogue (services had already ended), but that did not stop us from admiring it from the outside. Being in a predominately catholic city, I had the lowest expectations for the synagogue in Rome. However, I was completely wrong, it was gorgeous! I wished I had gotten the opportunity to see the inside. However, it was fun to see a glimpse of all the members enjoyed Kiddush outside in what seemed to be a garden type setting. While we were already in the Jewish ghetto, we continued to walk around and get a feel of Jewish life in Rome. There was a long strip, which seemed to have many kosher restaurants. It was fun to look at their menus and she the Italian twist to Jewish food.

       Our train did not leave till later in the afternoon, so we just spent the rest of the day walking around the city and stopping for gelato. Overall, I have come to conclusion that I like Florence a lot better than Rome. Rome was too big and seemed not to have as strong of an Italian culture as Florence, but that could also be because I was only in the tourist areas of Rome.

       Coming back on the train to Florence was great! This time, I stayed awake most of trip and was able to admire the beautiful view of Italy. Italy is truly one beautiful country!

       We made it back to Florence just in time to have diner at our homestays. I do not know why, but diner was so delicious today. It was really simple, just pasta with spinach, a while fish and potato’s in olive oil with salt and pepper. But I enjoyed all of it! It must be something about homemade Italian food; there is just nothing better!

The Jews at the Synagogue in Rome!

Day 15

        After getting a great amount of sleep, we woke up to find a large assortment of pastries, bread, yogurt and fruit for breakfast at the hotel. I can’t say that this was the best breakfast I have had in Italy, but I sure ate like it was. I am pretty sure my goal was to eat at least two of everything they had and I know I succeeded. Its something about the food being “free” that make me eat more, I guess. In the later morning, we had a reservation to tour the Vatican City. I had absolutely no idea what to expect here. Basically, all I knew of the Vatican City, is that the Pope lives there. Before entering the city, our tour guide informed us that on average 20,000 people visit the Vatican City daily. That blew my mind away! However, based on how long the line was, I guess I could have predicted that. Walking into the entrance, I personally have no connection to the Vatican and did not have too much of an interest in visiting it. After walking through the Vatican after I while, it is hard not to be amazed at all of the architecture and artwork put into this city. Just from an outsider’s perspective, I thought it was beautiful. I had never seen anything like it before. Every painting was painted with such precise detail and care. It seemed as if there were no flaws throughout it all. In the Sistin Chapel, it was incredible to think that Michael Angelo had painted something that stood right before my eyes. I feel like that is something you just hear about in the history books and is just a story from the past. In addition, St. Peter’s Cathedral was very impressive. I believe it is the biggest church in the world and it definitely shows. It was amazing that the entire church was built by hand; no machines or anything of that kind was used. Then it was out to sit in St. Peter’s square, while we waited for the rest of the group to gather. I have to admit, it was pretty cool standing right in the square and looking at the balcony of St. Peter’s church where you always see the Pope come to stand, on the news during big occasions!

        Unfortunately, today ended a lot like yesterday, with a nap after touring, then diner and then back to bed. Today I think I started to develop a cold so I really just wanted to rest. Me and the roommates that I stayed with in Rome, all went to a random restaurant, which was actually really good. I honestly, do not think that there is a bad restaurant in all of Italy.

St. Peter's Square

Day 14

         The day started bright and early. I woke up at 6:30 to make it to the train station by 7:45 to go to ROME! The previous night was a very late night. So needless to say Regina and I both overslept a little and ended up getting a nice morning sprint in, while heading to the train station on time. Don’t worry, we made it just in time J We arrived in Rome at about 10:00 in the morning, dropped off our luggage and then headed out to start touring Rome. Our first stop of the day was the Colosseum. This place was ginormous; I would like to consider it to be the old version of Cowboy’s Stadium. It was insane to think that I was walking in a stadium that was over 2,000 years old! It just did not seem real. While, in the Colosseum I started to get a really bad stomachache, which unfortunately lasted the rest of the day, so it was a pretty big Debbie downer for me. However, I did not let it stop me from enjoying these amazing landmarks. In the Colosseum I really wanted to lie on my stomach so I found a big rock and decided to lie there in a plank for a couple minutes. I had to make the best of it! After the Colosseum, we met up with a tour guide, whom them brought us to the area of ancient Rome. This is where part of the Roman Forum stands today. To be honest, by this point it had gotten very hot outside and my stomach was killing me, so I basically just took a bunch of pictures to say I had been there. I was not in to the history of ancient Rome. After walking around the city, we found our way to the Trevi Fountain! I had seen the fountain in one of Mary Kate and Ashley’s movies many years ago and was so excited to finally get to see this! Unfortunately, it was really crowded, but I made sure to get many pictures and throw a coin into the fountain and make a wish. I cannot tell ya’ll what my wish was, but it was a great one! For your wish to come true you have to throw a coin with your left hand over your right shoulder, with your back turned towards the fountain and after throwing the coin you can’t look back. The chances of my wish coming true are not too high, because right after throwing my coin in, someone asked me to take a picture of them and I felt bad saying “no”. Just my luck!

         Then, it was a quick stop at the Spanish steps, which neither I nor anyone else had any interest inn climbing, because all of us were basically exhausted. The rest of the day I went back to the hotel to take a nap until diner. For diner, I actually went out to eat with one my professors, the staff member from the school in Florence and a peer of mine. We went to this smaller brick over pizza restaurant that was delicious! The company was great as well! For some reason I always really enjoy dining with people older than me, I guess it’s a sign of maturity. I got to know one of my professors really well and I love her! We had some great conversations and enjoyed some fabulous pizza! After diner it was time for bed and I could not have been happier about it!

The Colosseum!

Day 13

     Today I took my first quiz in Italian. Lets just say that it was ok... Grammar has never been my strong point; so trying to understand grammar in another language has been a struggle. However, I was sitting next to a kid that speaks Italian fluently, so lets hope his knowledge was passed to me for those good 15 minutes or so. The rest of class was good though. I am starting to really like my Italian teacher! She always keeps things real and is willing to tell us more about Italian culture and why they do certain things, from which we may have observed on the streets of Florence or in our homestays. Today we learned that Italy is a very masculine country, which lead to a further discussion on the many ways to call a female a prostitute. It was definitely interesting, not something I was expecting to learn here, but that is what makes this experience that much more fun! After class, it was back to the same sandwich place as we went yesterday. Which I learned it actually called the “Olive Shop”, it was delicious again! Then I took a trip across the street to the most fabulous gelato place there is, not the same one as yesterday. It is Vestri, one of the first places I went. Today it was exceptionally good! About 10 minutes later my roommate, Regina wanted to try a different gelato place she had heard a lot about. I didn’t want to be rude and not join her in enjoying her first gelato for the day, so of course I went with her and had some more gelato! This place was overwhelming; it was way touristier and had so many flavors to choose from. I am pretty sure my stress level shot up after standing there for 5 minutes deciding what to get. In the ended I got a small cup of banana gelato, which actually was really good. With in the past two days I have been eating an average of two gelatos a day! I couldn’t be more pleased with myself.

       Afterwards, it was back to the markets to look around. I had absolutely no intention of buying anything, but an hour later I purchased a beautiful leather/suede tote bag. I learned that you cannot go out and look for a specific style, shape or color; the bag has to find you! Following my spontaneous successful shopping trip, it was back to school for leadership class, where we gave presentations on the papers we had just written. We were all split into three groups and assigned to one paper per group. The best part of this story is that is complete and our presentation went well! One of the other groups discussed health informatics in the US and Italy and brought up HIPPA’s regulations. This brought upon a very interesting discussion on how their regulations are preventing healthcare professionals to be more compassionate towards patients and giving off an unsympathetic vibe. It was a great class to be apart of today. After class, we all sat in on a lecture on social media, which was held at the school and given by a professor from the University of Florence. I have never realized how many sources of social media there are in this world, its insane! Finally, by 7:00 we made it back to our homestay just in time for diner. Our host mom had three friends over for dinner, which at first made my really nervous, because I knew they only spoke Italian. However, between Regina and I (most Regina), we were able to understand the few questions they asked. Diner was great again, we had the wonderful quiche made in a philo dough along with tortellini and grilled eggplant. It was interesting our host mom and her friend’s barley eat anything and meanwhile I was stuffing my face.

      Tomorrow we our off to Rome for the weekend and I am very excited!!! Ciao!

The good luck pig near San Lorenso Market! Supposedly if you rub its nose and drop a coin in its mouth, you will return to Florence again! 

Day 12

        Today it was just Italian class in the morning and then we were given the rest of the afternoon to whatever we pleased. In Italian, we did not learn any new material; we just reviewed for our quiz tomorrow. Surprisingly, the review actually made me feel better about the quiz; I guess I actually know more Italian than I thought. That’s something that never happens! After class I was starving and went with a few girls to a new sandwich place near our school. I believe it is called Olive Oil, or something like that. This place was a little hole in the wall, but it was AMAZING! There were so many sandwich’s on the menu (including many vegetarian sandwich’s), that I had to do “ene mene mine mo” to choose which one to get. I ended up getting a sandwich on with pesto, regular and sundried tomatoes, lettuce and ricotta cheese (I think that is it). It was perfecto and may have been better than Pino’s… Then it was time to visit the San Lorenzo market. Me and another girl passed up the museums for shopping! On the way to the market, we came across one of the many areas in Florence, where the gelato festival was being held. Of course we made a stop there, but didn’t stay long once we realized there was not that much gelato and it cost six euros for five tastings. However, I did manage to walk away with a jar of a nutella like spread/cream, which was made from real pistachios! I bought it with my grandma in mind, I know she would love it and can make something great with it! After a few signature pictures with the festival signs, we finally made it to the market. I only ended up getting a couple gifts, but I guess you could say it was a successful shopping trip. Then it was to the other side of the Ponte Vecchio. This is when the search for a leather jacket began, as my friend and I walked into a leather store just to see what they had. We did not end up buying a jacket, but we did find one of the best gelato places nearby! I have learned that the best gelato is when the gelato is covered and not stacked in huge piles behind glass and also when the pistachio is true to the actual color of a pistachio. The gelato at this place was covered and the pistachio looked exactly like pistachios! It was a huge success! After walking around a bit more, we ended up on a street, which had leather shop after leather shop. In a store called Gabi, I did find a jacket I really liked and it even had half my name already sown into it “Gabi”! I want to say that it just might be meant to be.

        After a long day of wandering around Florence, I am completely exhausted. Hopefully, tomorrow I will be able to go out and tour some more. Right now I am thinking about visiting the synagogue here! Ciao!

Gelato Festival!

Day 11

        Starting tomorrow, my blogs should be a lot more interesting. These past few days have been busy with work and not much exploring of Florence. Today Italian class flew by. We started learning action verbs and are beginning to be able to form sentences. I am not too good and Italian, but it is slowly coming together. After class I met with the girls I am traveling with after the program. Today we went to a restaurant with Wi-Fi to try and book all of our travel plans. The restaurant its self was very americanized. I believe it is also a club, where in particularly the Jersey Shore cast spent a lot of time at while they were in Florence. One of their sandwiches on the menu was named “The Situation”… like the guy in Jersey Shore. I thought it was weird too. I ended up ordering a tuna sandwich wrapped in a salted crepe. It was interesting, but I am not sure that I would order it again. Later in the afternoon, we had another site visit. This visit was to the medical school at the University of Florence. A professor at the university talked to us about the differences in the Italian healthcare system versus the United States healthcare system. Most of the information given in the lecture was information we had heard in a lecture we heard before leaving for Italy. Therefore, it was really difficult to pay attention. We all did make it through and even came up with great questions to ask the professor at the end. Overall, it was cool to get to sit in on a lecture in a foreign university and compare the differences more or less, even though it was given in English.

        Probably the best news of the day is that I got a new camera! My camera that sat in a pool of water in a backpack for a couple hours on Saturday is completely gone. It was a sad loss, but I’m not going to let it ruin my trip, because there are too many great thing to see and experience over the next couple weeks! I almost forgot! Tonight diner was amazing! Right up my alley! We started with risotto, which I fully enjoyed and then we had mozzarella and tomatoes with olive oil and seasoning. It sounds so simple, but it was delicious and fresh! Needless to say, because of it I am in a great mood! I have a quiz in Italian and a presentation in my leadership class coming up on Thursday, so I have to get back to my studies. Ciao!

Day 10
      I apologize for the boringness of these past couple blogs. However the past two days have been overcast, so I have not gotten out to do much. Today in Italian class, we started to learn words to describe physical appearances. It is nice to finally start learning more adjectives and not having to focus purely on the grammatical structure of articles, etc. So Italian was good today. For lunch, a couple of us went to a new sandwich place near our school. This place was not as good as Pino’s, but I fully enjoyed my veggie sandwich. For desert, I skipped gelato and went for a pastry. I got a pistachio beignet, I am not a huge sweets person, but that was delicious! Then it was back to the school to finish our group paper that is due Thursday. We just have to finish editing it and then it will be one project down and two more to go. We stayed at the school until our leadership class started. In leadership, we developed our own healthcare system and decided what we felt the most essential qualities are and what we would develop in order to achieve those. After class, I met with the group I am traveling with after the program in Florence and we tried to book everything (hostels, trains, etc.). This may be the most stressful thing hanging over us right now. We have no idea what we our doing and cannot figure out anything! If you have ever done a Euro trip, I would greatly appreciate some advice, maybe even names of places. Ciao!

Day 9

    Well today was absolutely uneventful. Last night we did not end up going to the museums, because there was a school bombing in southern Italy yesterday and they closed down as a result. So it was just a night out on the town! Today I woke up late, did some homework and then woke Regina (my roommate) up to grab some pizza. Afterwards, we had parted directions and I ran into two other girls on my program who were looking to get lunch. Long story short I ended up eating some really good pizza with them. I am officially pizza(ed) out for the day! Later one I met up with the girls I am traveling with, post this program. We went to a bar that had free Wi-Fi to plan everything out for our two and a half week Euro trip! We did not end up getting to far, but hopefully we will have everything booked and ready to go by the end of the week. Today has been a pretty gloomy and rainy day. Many stores and restaurants are closed on Sundays, so we all decided to make today a workday. The most interesting part of the day may be that I just broke the toilet in my homestay… that was really embarrassing!

     Incase you were wondering, I was not effected by the earthquake early this morning. It was in northwest Italy, near Bologna, where I was on Friday. Some people said they felt it in Florence, but I must have been sound asleep, because I don’t remember feeling a thing! Ciao!

Day 8

        Today marked the first day of our first free weekend in Firenze! A large group of us took a group tour to Chianti, where we hiked around the vineyards and ended with another wine tasting at a local vineyard home. We had to be at the train station to leave for Chianti at 7:30, which was definitely a struggle, but we all made it on time, so I guess that was a great way to start the day. When we arrived in Chianti I reached in my backpack to find the water bottle that leaked in my bag earlier that morning had gotten all over my camera and basically broke. So currently, my camera is sitting in a bag of  €2.00 rice. Thankfully, everyone else had a camera on them and was glad to give me their pictures! Besides my camera issue, the rest of the day was amazing! We spent about 3 hours walking in the vineyards and taking pictures. We were even in the “heart cubed’ at one point. The heart of Italy is Tuscany, the heart of Tuscany is Florence and the heart of Florence is Chianti, or more specifically Panzano in Chianti and that is where we were!!! I have to add that the scenery was beautiful! It seemed unreal. I have never seen anything so green and smell so fresh. The area was draped with olive trees, grape trees and flowers. If felt like we were in a movie! After our hike through the valley, we went to a family’s home in Panzano for our wine tasting, which was only necessary because Chianti is known for their fabulous wine. We went to the home of the Sassolini’s. The house itself dated back to the medieval times and had been kept in the same family since then, producing wine. It was crazy to think we were sitting in a home that was over 1,000 years old. The wine tasting was very pleasant; we were given appetizers before we tasted our first wine. Our first wine was a red wine that was very smooth and I surprisingly really enjoyed it. I can proudly say it was the first glass of wine I had ever completely finished! I know my family is going to be really proud of me for that one (Mom, Greg, Sam…). We were then served our first pasta of the afternoon and given a white wine. This wine did not even really taste like wine; it was really sweet and smooth, however I did not finish the entire glass. After our second pasta was served it was back to a red wine. To be honest I don’t remember at all how this wine tasted, most likely because two desert wines were served right after. Both desert wines were so high in alcohol content that they were served in small shot glasses, instead of wine glasses. I personally did not like either, but the last wine served that was 43% alcohol, the classic grapea wine in Italy, was one that no one really enjoyed. The alcohol percentage was so great that it was almost unbearable to drink. Overall, the wine tasting in Chianti was really fun. It was not as informative as the previous wine tasting I went to earlier in the week, but it was good! My family will be glad to know that I bought a small bottle of all natural olive oil from this vineyard!

          Today was a great day and tonight a bunch of us our planning on going to museums around Florence. Every once in a while, they keep the museum open late for the public free of charge! That is the plan tonight, instead of bar hopping, we our museum hopping! Ciao amici!

The Valley in Chianti!

Day 7

        Ciao! Well today was an early start. We went to Bologna in northern Italy, as a group to sit in on a “medical conference” based on emotional intelligence. We left Firenze (Florence) at about 8:00 AM. My goal was to enjoy the view of Italy from the bus as we drove to Bologna, but that backfired quickly, as I feel asleep within the first couple of minutes of the drive. However, when we finally arrived at the medical conference, which was in a small city outside Bologna, it was beautiful! It didn’t see real, it seemed like were in the movies. The conference itself was interesting. It was not what I had expected at all. I pictured a bunch of men and women in suits, inside a large auditorium, with a professional and serious persona felt around the room. What I found myself walking into was completely different. The conference was held in a modern museum of some sort, surround by beautiful gardens. Before people took their seats to listen to the speakers, everyone was directed outside to this beautiful garden-like area to enjoy an array of cookies and espresso. Personally, I indulged myself in the cookies, I am pretty sure I consumed at least 12. Needless to stay I only had a small croissant for breakfast and was starving! Due to the large consumption of cookies, I willingly decided not to get gelato today… Going back to the conference and the topic itself. Emotional Intelligence is something we spent a lot of time discussing in our leadership class the previous day, so I found it interesting to see the first speaker (who is American and spoke English) to put it into his perspective. He showed to quick videos, that each displayed signs of emotional intelligence. Neither video had words, just actions, but it was interesting to see how one can still understand and respond to the videos by the emotions expressed in them. The video that really stuck to me was one showing the importance of wearing a seatbelt. A father was shown figuratively driving a car smiling, while his wife and daughter were sitting down smiling back. Then you see the fathers face turn to fear, where in response the wife and daughter rush to his side and form a seatbelt around him with there arms, prohibiting him from expelling forward. I have attached the link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM. The videos effect was very impactful, watch and see for yourself! In addition there were due (two) more parts the lecture, one in Italian and one in English. The portion spoken in Italian just flew over my head, but the other portion spoken in English was interesting. The same man gave the lecture, as the one I described before. However, this time he discussed how the importance of teaching emotional intelligence to children at a young age is something that can greatly lead to positive change in the world. He developed a school designed to cater to this idea. His approach to education was very unique and quite intelligent. After having been through schools designed to teach students in different ways, his idea was something I had never come across in my lifetime.

            Our next stop for the day was Bologna, for lunch! We went to this cute little restaurant in the center of the city as a group. We sat outside in this enclosed area with an open roof, which was gorgeous. It almost felt a little Spanish. The food was delicious! The bread alone was so good; I believe it was potato bread, which was really light, but so rich in taste! I definitely eat an equivalent of a loaf of bread today. I received the vegetarian dish, which consisted of potato noddles with some sauce and mushrooms. Needless to say I ate everything on my plate. Although, Bologna is known for their tortellini, so I was a little disappointed when we were not served any. After lunch, we were scheduled to go on a tour of the University of Bologna. Going into the University, I thought nothing of it, but I quickly learned that the University of Bologna is the oldest university in the WORLD and is over 1,000 years old. I couldn’t believe it either! After hearing this, I began to pay attention to the tour guide. Pertaining most to me was that the first medical school was established at this university. There was a museum showing replicas of what was discovered in the first cadaver dissections known and even a whole room displaying the birthing process and what caused certain deformities of children, while being delivered through the birthing canal. I personally loved the medical aspect of the university and Bologna itself was nice, just a little more quite and older than Firenze.

            When we finally made it back to Firenze, it was about diner time (8:00 PM on the dot). Regina (my roommate) and I made it back to our homestay, to walk into fresh mozzarella and tomatoes on plates waiting for us at the table. Anna (our homestay host) came out of the kitchen with bowls full of pasta with cheese and zucchini. Italians always seem to start their meals with pasta. So by custom is was necessary I eat the pasta first. There was so much pasta and all I wanted was the tomatoes and mozzarella. I was basically sitting at the table dying of pasta overdose and staring at the tomatoes and mozzarella the entire time. The good news though, is that I finally managed to eat everything!

            Today was a really long day and tomorrow will most likely be another long one, so bouno note everyone!

Center of Bolonga!