"McDonalds, Mcdonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut"

Early morning on the Tyrrhenian sea (ML and Katie got up to watch the sunrise on Sunday morning)

Elba Island!

San Gimignano!

View from the top of the Tower!

Katie and I on the top of the tower!

Boboli Gardens!

Outside/Back of Pitti Palace

Baby Dancing!

On the beach :)

Ran into Eliza (my friend from FOCUS camp) at Art bar!

Hello family and friends! So sorry I’ve been slacking off on this thing. As I sit here stuffed to the brim, I will do my best to remember most of what I’ve been up to in the past week! Last Sunday ML, Southie, Katie and I went to San Gimignano, which is a cute small town in the countryside of Italy. It is known as the “town of towers” because it is made up of…you guessed it…a lot of towers! We were pretty tired when we got there, but were rejuvenated when we climbed up to the top of the main tower and saw the incredible view of the countryside. We could have stayed up there for hours! After we climbed the tower, we enjoyed a Bellini at a cute bar!

The school week began and we did our best to power through our classes. Fast forward to Wednesday when Mary Scott Neil, Katie and I went to see the famous statue of David in the Academia Museum. No words can describe how incredible it was. Michelangelo carved this statue of David out of one massive piece of marble, which is so hard for me to wrap my head around. Never in my life have I seen a statue with such amazing detail. While we stared at it for 30 minutes, we could see the veins in his arms, the obvious dirt on his feet, his fingernails and every other small part of a living person’s body. We read that David’s sling over his shoulder (that is practically hidden), his relaxed stance, his head turned to the side, and the look in his eyes, represent his innocence, humbleness and wisdom (from the Lord). Absolutely amazing. After seeing the David, Katie and I ventured over to Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. On our way we discovered a new obsession…nutella croissants!! If it seems like we are eating our way through Italy, you are thinking correctly :) When we made it to Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, we walked through the beautiful gardens and just enjoyed the peace and quiet. Such a great change from the hustle and bustle of the city that we are used to here in Florence. 

This past weekend ML, Southie, Katie and I we went to Elba Island, which is right off the coast of Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea! We stayed at the greatest hotel called Le Acacie and were the only Americans there! We loved a break from all the tourists in Florence. Yes I guess you could say that we are tourists ourselves, but we are definitely not the ones who walk at a rate of .05 miles per hour, in lines of 50 people with earphones in our ears haha. I do blame them for being late to class on many occasions :) When we got to Le Acacie, we realized quickly that this hotel is very kid friendly and there were many activities for kids, one of which, was baby dancing!! After our four course Italian meal, Mary Louise introduced me to Kahlua and Crème (new favorite drink) and then all four of us watched three college-aged Italians (I’m guessing this is there summer job) leading all the kids in dances to Italian children’s songs. We couldn’t figure out if we were watching the Wiggles or if we were in Disney world. It was absolutely hysterical and extremely entertaining. Our favorite dance was the Mcdonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut song, which was the only one in English haha. If it didn’t take hours to upload videos on this blog, I would provide you all with some quality entertainment. On Saturday morning we spent the whole day (all 7 hours!) lying on the beautiful beach right next to our hotel. Once again, the combination of water and mountains was breathtaking. The Tyrrhenian Sea is a beautiful dark blue, but it is perfectly clear when you get in. We all read our books, listened to music and basked in the sun, and it was exactly what we needed. I read a whole Nicholas Sparks book, which is a piece of cake for some people, but a huge accomplishment for me, haha. That night we had so much fun talking to our Italian waiters who a) didn’t understand why American girls were at their hotel and b) absolutely loved us…and I will say that the love was mutual! We later realized that our waiter, Paolo was placed at our table because he is from England and he is the only one who can speak really good English! During dinner, the children’s program counselors (also known as the baby dancing instructors) came up to each table to tell us the programs offered that weekend...and that is when one of the guy instructors invited us to go to the Elba discoteca at 1am when he got off work ahhhh! I could not help but bust out laughing, which was not the best response to a nice guy who wanted us to experience a good time on the island… haha whoopsie. We declined the offer, but were later very flattered that he asked us. That night (you guessed it) we watched some more baby dancing and it was better than ever! On Sunday, we were able to soak in some more rays at the pool and swim a little bit before we headed back to Florence. It was the perfect weekend of relaxation and rejuvenation. We seriously debated whether we were going to go back to Elba this weekend, but decided that we needed to stick to our originally plan of hiking in the Alps :)

Last night we went to another restaurant called Za Za's that was another great recommendation from other friends who have studied in Florence. We then headed to the Art Bar where we ran into some clemson girls. One of them is a friend who went to Focus camp with me four years ago!! It was so much fun to reconnect with her! I am so thankful for the lifelong friendships and connections I have through FOCUS.

Today, we went to class and did a little shopping at the School of Leather (a real leather market) and the central market! We did our usual Tuesday night routine of dinner at Gusta Pizza and tonight we had even more fun talking to Alle (the cute Italian bus boy) :) We then went to our favorite gelato place called La Carriarra. We LOVE the cookie’s flavor and are trying to figure out how to bring tubs of it home with us!! I guess we will keep dreaming…

Tomorrow we are planning on using one of our excused absences from photography class and sleeping in. Cannot wait.

I can't believe that we have only a week and half left. Time has flown by. I could not be more thankful for all the laughs, all the moments that have taken my breath way, all the challenges, and the friendships that have been made and strengthened day in and day out.

I will do my best to be better about updating this in the next few days :)