Day 3

Classes officially began today for us in Florence. We started the day at 9:40 with beginners Italian. Since we will only be here for 4 weeks, there is a lot of information packed into a short time period. The professor is from Italy, but speaks fluent English and seems very nice. You can tell that she really wants us to learn the language. The first day of Italian was a little intimidating, but exciting at the same time! I have a lot to review tonight. I forgot how much grammar is necessary for languages. In Italian there is three different ways to use articles “the” and most of language is built around masculine and feminine pronunciations. Hopefully I will be able to catch on quick! After class we had a lot of time to roam around the Florence before heading to our other class for the day. We began our break with lunch at two different café’s, where we all picked up sandwiches and then met at the Duomo  (a old historical church, in the middle of the city) to eat. I got a sandwich with cheese, tomatoes and balsamic. It was great, but so small, that I felt like I was starving after. After lunch, we went to the best gelato place! This man makes homemade chocolate and uses it in his gelato! I got strawberry and hazelnut and let me tell ya’ll, it was exquisto! With a lot of time to kill, we made our way through the leather markets spotting items to bargain for and future later on. Their leather jackets are gorgeous and I may have found the one Italian leather purse I want! Once we finished class for the day, our next stop was a wine tasting! If you have never been to one of these, it is a must! I personally do not really like wine, but its Italy; you just can’t pass these up! To begin we were escorted down to this smaller cellar like room that I believe was originally a 1300^th century prison. We were given bread/cheese and offered 12-year-old balsamic and olive oil, both were delicious and rich! Then the wine came, first up was a light white wine that we ate with the Parmesan cheese given to us. It was ok, but not my favorite; the second red wine was my favorite! They taught us that before drinking the wine you smell to see if it has a recognizable scent of fruit, spice, etc. With your first sip you are to swish the wine around your mouth so that you can taste all the flavors on every sensory point on your tongue. This red wine hit every sense and left this sharp taste that I found myself to really enjoy! The best part was how easily it went with food, they suggested eating fatty foods with this, which I surprisingly really enjoyed! The last wine was a red desert wine, which was a lot to sweet for me. Overall, the wine tasting was a great experience! Pinot, the man serving our wine was wonderful as well! He has a small café that is open during the day and tomorrow our plan is to have lunch with him at his café, which I am definitely looking forward too! Ciao!

wine tasting with Pinot!