In Florence!

Hi everyone! It's been super busy and I've barely had time to breathe. I've already traveled all around Florence and I'm very glad there are so many monuments and landmarks that make it easier to navigate the city. Which I'm glad because the street names all sound about the same. My apartment is very close to the river and very close to my school, Accademia Italiana. Which, by the way, is where you can send any mail that comes my way. It's Piazza Piti 15, 50125 Florence, Italy. My apartment is Via Dei Neri 33, Florence. The apartment is quite old, but has been maintained well and my 4 other roommates and I have even already hosted our first party for some classmates last night. Hopefuly I'll get some pictures up of my place soon. 

So far I've loved going into all the shops and restaurants and finding good deals on wine, paninis, pastries, and gelato. I lucked out actually, with no apartments having internet, there is a gelato place down the street with free internet. I'm sure it will help greatly through out the semester. We also had a tour of the hills and small villages on the borders of florence. There were gorgeous little villas and streets carved into the hillside. We got a beautiful 3 course meal and home made wine at one of the more famous little restaurants on the outskirts. He made his world famous gnocci in cheese sauce. 

Which brings me to my next interesting job of the semester. I got in contact with a small newspaper at U of I before I came and they're making a book for students traveling abroad, made for students by students. This semester is the first time they've done it and I get to write city, restaurant and bar reviews for them. So I've been carrying around a small notebook to take notes and then later I will send in reviews each month. In the end i get paid a small percentage of book sales. My teachers heard about the project and they wanted to help and may even give me credit for it. One of the teachers wants me to focus on restaurants that students wouldnt know about normally slightly outside of Florence and even hidden ones within Florence. So there going to show me all the great restaurants they found through the years and i get paid and i may get credit for it as well. Not bad. I'll update soon and hopefully i'll post some pics soon like the ones i took from the hills overlooking florence. Ciao till then and I hope all is going well at home.

btw, google search my place and you can do the street view and walk around my neighborhood if ud like.