We arrived in Florence, Italy nearly a week before orientation began which gave us time to explore the city. This is my parents and I second time in Florence, Italy, however, it seems as though there's still an infinite amount of things to see and do. We began our time here by grabbing coffees and croissants from a coffee shop near our Airbnb called Coronas Cafe. We ended up coming back here the following mornings because of how much we enjoyed it. After our coffees and croissants, we walked to the famous Piazza del Duomo to take in how gorgeous it is. We continued to walk around until we strolled upon the Florence Leather School. We decided to check it out and it ended up being one of the highlights from our week. We got to see leather in various different forms including wallets, purses, coats, and more. It was the softest leather I have felt in my life. We grabbed dinner later that evening and I had a delicious mushroom risotto.
The following day, January 28th, we got tickets to see the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. This place absolutely blew my mind, it was so gorgeous and full of history. We walked around taking in everything from the flowers and fountains in the gardens to the paintings and artifacts inside the palace. After a couple of hours of walking around, we were ready for lunch and found a restaurant overlooking the Arno River. Forneria is the name of the restaurant and this is the best pizza we have tried so far. I will definitely be coming back here! For dinner this night we went to a place right next to our Airbnb that had a great ambiance and even greater food. I had the homemade lasagna that came in a steaming hot dish.
On Monday we went up to Piazzale Michealangelo to see the panoramic view of Florence. It was a beautiful day with no clouds in the sky. We walked up to the church on the top of the hill and then walked down through the rose gardens. For lunch this day, we got sandwiches from Sgrano. Their sandwiches are made on focaccia bread and each one is unique. I ordered the Salsiccina and was very happy with my choice. Later in the day we grabbed dinner and had some very yummy bruschetta.
January 30th was the day for check in at Lorenzo de Medici and it took me about 45 minutes to get through the long line. After watching the 15 minute orientation video, I grabbed my apartment keys and saw where I'm gonna be living for the next 3 and a half months. I'm living in a cozy, Italian style apartment close to the train station with 4 other girls. One of them is a good friend from the University of Hawaii, the other 3 being from all different universities. One is from Boston, another from North Carolina, and the third from Alabama. I absolutely love them and feel super grateful to get the opportunity to meet new people!
The following three days were scheduled orientation days where we covered different topics in each meeting. The first day, January 31st, we briefly went over safety & health. The next day we covered advising and classes. The final day we had two meetings the first in which we submitted our Permit of Stay and the second going over student activities during the semester. These orientation meetings were educational and critical for having a successful semester here in Florence.
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