Florence, Riccone, and Milan

What an unusual weird week it has been. I have been finishing classes, prepping for finals, and soaking up the last little bits of Italy before my program is over. So here's a quick little recap of my week, and I promise there is a lot more exciting adventures to come.... just maybe not this week. ;)

After our class last Monday, Christina and I left for a short little adventure to Florence to do some shopping. Christina's sister Hannah is studying abroad in Florence this semester, so we took a late afternoon train to Florence and met up with Hannah for dinner in Florence. We had dinner at this traditional Florentine restaurant that was super cool. We got to try the famous Florentine steak! The Florentine steak is known for being a delicacy and a particularly thick cut of beef from a specific Italian cow, that is grilled for 4 minutes in total, so it was super rare. I know... a little specific for a steak, but I was so good! It is also super expensive, so when we told the waiter that we wanted to split the steak between all of us, he thought we were absolutely nuts! But we ordered other food and assured him that we "just wanted to try it". That satisfied him. 

That night, we went back to Hannah's apartment in the city center, where we spent the night. The next morning we got up super early to be the first ones in line at the Uffizi Museum. The Uffizi is known for being one of the largest Renaissance art galleries in the world. Each of the pieces was either collected by the famous Medici family of Florence, or was donated to the gallery by a private owner. In other words, it's an amazing collection of some really cool old paintings. 

After exploring the gallery, we went to a local cafe for some paninis to go... yes I said to go! This may not sound exciting to you, but in Italy, and especially smaller less touristy spots like Reggio, there is no such thing as "to go". So it was mind-blowing to Christina and I that we could walk the streets with a panini in hand. We almost forgot how to eat and walk at the same time! That afternoon, we walked the streets, visited the leather markets, did a lot of shopping, and tasted some amazing gelato! Unfortunately I had class in the late afternoon, so we had to hurry back to Reggio, but it was a  nice quick trip to Florence for some steak and shopping ;). 

April 25th is Italian liberation day, so we didn't have class. It was essentially their independence day... except they don't celebrate like the Americans do. There were no parades, no BBQs, no firework shows, it was kind of sad actually. Instead, there was an open market and a ton of people walking around the city enjoying gelato and their day off. That was about it. Nothing too special. It was kind of disappointing. 

Unfortunately I had class on Friday, so when all of my friends left to visit Barcelona, Lauren, Lizzie, and I were left in Reggio. After class Friday, we came home to work on homework and prepare for finals (which are next week. What?!). On Saturday morning, we had an appointment with the immigration office to pick up our residence permit. It seems a little weird to pick up our permit to live in Italy about a week before we leave... but that's the Italians for ya. They work on their own schedule. 

After becoming an official resident (yay!), Lizzie, Lauren, and I had a relaxing day in Reggio. There was a local art fair that was going in the main piazza, so we shopped around there, had lunch in the city, visited the farmers market, and really enjoyed being tourists in our own little city. It's sad to think that we will only be here for another week, so it was fun to explore Reggio for one last day. 

On Sunday, Lauren and I went on a day trip to Riccone, Italy. Riccone is a cute beach town on the Adriatic sea. We got there in the mid morning, enjoyed a coffee at a cafe on the beach before sitting on the beach for a few hours. The beach was packed, as it just so happened to be their "work day" aka labor day weekend, but it was still super fun to people watch. We are definitely not going to miss seeing old, unattractive men in speedos..... 

Because of the holiday, we didn't have class on Monday or Tuesday, so we cooked some gourmet dinners, went out for drinks, did some homework, etc. I know it sounds kind of boring, but it was kind of nice to be in one place for more than 10 minutes at a time. 

On Tuesday, Lauren and I took a day trip to Milan. We had been through there many times on trains and planes, but we had never had the chance to go and explore the city. We got to see the main piazza with the famous cathedral and duomo, walked down the famous shopping streets of Milan, and had some mediocre gelato. As we were walking around the main piazza these street vendors came up to Lauren and I and offered us handmade friendship-type bracelets. We turned them away, knowing they were asking for money, but one guy grabbed Lauren's wrist and tied the bracelet on and said "this is good luck for you to find boyfriend"... great! Just what we needed! It was so weird. There were a few other weird things we noticed about Milan: Everyone is super dressed up, even on a holiday when they don't have to work. Men were wearing suits while walking the city. It was a little strange. Also, there were pigeons EVERYWHERE! I have never seen so many pigeons in one place in my whole life. It was crazy! Visiting Milan was cool, but it was definitely not on my list of favorite cities. I'm sure there are some exciting things to do and see in Milan, but we didn't really have the time or the chance to go and visit them. Maybe next trip! 

I know this weekend seemed kind of lame and I didn't do a whole lot, but it was actually kind of nice to be around Reggio and soak up the last little bit of Italy before the semester ends.