Today was the first day of classes of my senior year. Wow. I had a bit of an earlier morning than usual, with breakfast in the hotel (bread and jam plus coffee) and then getting upstairs to Linguaviva by the start of class at 9am. Stacy, Isa, and I are in the same Italian class, which means we can do homework together - thank goodness! We meet our teacher, Luigi, who is possibly the coolest person in the world (the entire group has labelled him a badass); Luigi is really funny, telling jokes and silly stories during class. At one point he told us what our personalities were, based on our horoscopes (Isa and I are apparently "forte! forte! Very strong women.")
After class there was a reception for all the Linguaviva students (where we were meant to mingle and no one did). We ate some snack-y lunch foods (lunch really isn't a big meal around here, which is taking some getting used to) and talked, using the time to get to know the other ACM-ers more. Once lunch is done, Ian, Isa, Gretchen, and I took a walk to a park (just to explore the area surrounding Linguaviva, which is in the same building as Hotel Duca D'Aosta) and got gelato. My record is still going strong - gelato every day since I've gotten to Florence.
Post-gelato, we headed back to Linguaviva for our group assignments for dinner (more on that later) and a presentation by a Florentine police officer (polizia stata) on safety during our stay here. Once that was finished, Ian, Isa, and I went out to run some errands: I needed cash from the ATM (or bancomat), Isa needed to look for some sandals, and Ian wanted a new wallet. Success on two of three fronts - no new shoes yet :(
We headed back to Linguaviva to talk cell phones: a guy from the WIND store came to sell us phones and SIM cards as well as talk about cell phone plans. I was pretty much set; I brought a phone with me from the U.S., so all I needed was a SIM card. This was MUCH faster than getting a whole new phone, which couldn't be used immediately because of an activation period.
Our dinner assignment was an exercise in map-reading and working as a group when you're in a group of people that you don't know very well. We drew straws to determine the groups, after which all 5 groups were handed a map, the name of a restaurant, some money, and the instructions "go forth and eat." I was the group leader for group B, which meant that I had the map and was calling all the shots. Funnily enough, I had walked past our restaurant earlier that day, so I knew exactly where it was and didn't really need to use the map.... whoops. Anyway, we succeeded. Dinner consisted of pizza, a bottle of wine, and for me, a dessert called "torta al cioccolata con gelato," which roughly translates to "heaven in the form of chocolate and gelato." But seriously, it was good.
Once we got back from our pizzeria, my night consisted of Italian homework, packing, and reintroducing Gretchen to the music of Whitney Houston (Ian and I were a little upset when she didn't recognize the songs we were playing).
Tomorrow we meet our host families. I'm a little nervous about meeting the host (or hosts, for all I know), but I am curious about which other ACM student I'll be living with. Guess we'll find out tomorrow!
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