Well friends about half way through our stay in Florence, the internet decided to stop working….cool. We did get our money back surprisingly but I haven’t been able to update the blog as much as I had hope anddddd as per usual, we’ve been crazy busy!
So! Last Saturday the 7 of us went on the horseback riding through Tuscany trip! It was quite the day! We met our guide by the train station, where we all hopped on a van and ventured to (while blasting rap and dance music…thru Tuscany mind you) about half way between Florence and Siena. Our guide was absolutely hilarious. We get to the stable and have a wonderful trot thru the Tuscan countryside….aka not real life! It was gorgeous! My horse’s name was Drake which was so funny since my brother’s lab is named Drake. He was super lazy though. He didn’t even want to bring me into the pin to walk around and then when we would try to go up hills he would walk as slow a possible and then run…very interesting, but I loved it! After about an hour on the horses, we returned to the stable where they offered us red and white from their vineyard. It was divine!
After our ride, we vanned it (music still blasting) to a beautiful hilltown with unbelievable views of the countryside and then arrived at a restaurant called White. It was situated at the edge of a beautiful lake with practically all outdoor seating and up the hill from the lake was the vineyard from which the wine served at the restaurant was grown! The meal was..I know you’re shocked….amazing. 
Fun fact before I start my next story: Soccer was born in Piazza Santa Croce…nbd. I have full details if you want them later. But anyways, Florence is divided up into 4 areas and a team of 26 players is made. Once a year, they have a tournament to commemorate the way it was. I was the most insane sporting event I think I’ve ever been to. It’s basically like soccer and rugby combined with no rules. The field is all sand, the players wear jester-looking pants and are shirtless, and just beat each other to a pulp. The game lasted for may 45 min-1 hour and there were 5 men taken out on stretches, half of them were covered in bandages, one guy was bleeding from the head. Then, imagine a gillion Italian screaming all around you with the backdrop of white and green marbled Santa Croce church. I was insannnneeeeee.
Afterwards, we all went to Moyo, which had something called apertivo. You basically order a drink alcoholic/non, and you get unlimited appetizers. This week was crazy, crazy, crazy because it was our last week of classes and last week in Florence. In sewing, I made white asymmetrical skirt for myself and I wore it yesterday! I’m quite proud of myself! In illustration, we created a mood board, collection of 4 outfits (completely colored, shaded, detailed with background and fabric swatches), 1 flat drawing, and a customized t-shirt. It was all quite stressful but of course still loved it!!
Monday, we had a delicious dinner at a place called Casa Linga that was suggested by one of our guides. Delish of course but the waitress was super rude. Tuesday, we had a farewell apertivo provided by our program, which was the only thing we had to complain about with our program this entire trip. There was barely anything there, so we wandered nearby and found a hole in the wall restaurant that was legit. Wednesday, our group wanted to do a final, fancy, group dinner. We went to a place across the river called the Holy Drinker. It was unreal. The restaurant was sooooo beautiful and we had our own little room for the 7 of us. I got a soup with truffled scallops and some type of mint and pea puree (aka right up my alley) and then I got some type of raw fish with a bean/pea something and sage gelato….sounds freaking weird but it was great. Thennnn, cells and I both got a chocolate souflee with melted chocolate on the inside and apricot puree-ish underneath. It. Was. Sexual. (as Kelsey would say) haha!
Thursday, was just completely insane, Kirby and I were frantically trying to finish our project for illustration, it was five hundred degrees, I was sprinting around town trying to find the right colored pencils to colors my collection. Ridic. But all went well! After class we had a farewell dinner provided by, LdM (our school) that was actually pretty good. That night we all celebrated our last day of classes and went out and had some fun together.
Friday, my mom, sister, and aunt were arriving from Rome! I took them to Gusta Pizza across the river, which is supposed to have some of the best pizza in town…which it was! And just showed them all around my home J We perused the leather market with hopes to do some damage in the morning. We also went to Accademia to see Michaelangelo’s David. It was unreal. Ooo and I also introduced them to Grom, the best gelato in Italy I’d say! That night the fam and my friends all went to a restaurant Liza’s friend had suggested. It’s famous for it’s pear pasta so naturally that’s what I got. It sounds weird but was delish!! Friday was also St. John the Baptist Day which is kinda like their 4th of July so we watched a 45 yup 45 minute fireworks show on the bridge next to the Ponte Vecchio! 
Liza, Hillary, and Morgan all had to leave this morning at 4 am for the program transport back to the Rome airport, so we stayed up all night with them and took them to the bus in the morning, cleaned and packed, and slept for approximately an hour and a half! Kirb and I met the fam at the leather market and dominated. Then we made it on our train to Venice at 1:30. About 15 minutes in, something happened with the train and I broke down in the middle of the tunnel and we sat….in the tunnel…with no air conditioning….for over two hours…running on 1.5 hours of sleep. It was rough. But we finnnnally made it here and we’re in a beautiful hotel on Lido (the island between Venice and the Adriatic! Can’t wait for Venice round 2 tomorrow!
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