Today was the Fourth of July, which meant I needed to go out of my way to celebrate my country’s Independence Day. Just because I am in Italy does not mean that I can’t celebrate.
I started off the day by going to lunch with a couple of my roommates to Ganzo. I ordered a frittered cod with a lemon sauce. It was definitely a great choice because the sauce mixed perfectly with the fish. While there we decided to see how many baskets of bread and pitchers of water we could consume. For some reason this made everything more funny than it actually was. By the time we finished our third pitcher of water we decided to be adventurous and try sparkling water. We all tried it and all did not like it one bit. It tasted like carbonated vinegar. It was not a pleasant taste, but at least now I know I don’t like it. I figured I would try as many new things as I could.
After lunch Courtney and I attempted to find a bank. We ended up getting lost and decided to head back to where our class was. We had a whole hour to spare so we ended up exploring in our school. There was a secret garden in the main building with a sign that read “DO NOT ENTER. This location is a school. Premises are private property.” We went in there anyway and kept very quiet. There were stairs that led to a balcony with plastic chairs. It was a prefect view of the river and the buildings on the other side. Later that day we found out that we were allowed in this area so we didn’t have to be extremely quiet when we were there.
We went to our Introduction to Italy class. We reviewed Italian for half of the class and watched a documentary on the Medici Family. I have a feeling I will know a huge amount of information on the Medici Family by the time I leave Italy. Once again, the documentary was not awful. I actually enjoyed learning more about the family and the Duomo.
Once class was finished all my roommates and I went to The Diner which was an american restaurant in Italy. It was nice going to a place with a menu that was completely familiar to you. The decor of the place was also really interesting. There were bright colorful walls, license plates from multiple states, and different bottles from drinks that are popular in the United States. I ended up ordering a coffee and chocolate milkshake with french toast which ended up being delicious.
Later on in the night we went to the Red Garter, an american pub in Florence, to continue celebrating. Outside of the pub there were red, white, and blue balloons all along the sign. Within the Red Garter there was a dancing side and a side to just sit and talk. We ordered drinks and just got to know each other more.
After a little while we walked around Florence and found a pizza stand that sold pizza for cheap. We ended up making our way to The Lions Fountain, the other american pub in Florence. This pub has a variety of colleges from the U.S. t-shirts on the ceiling. The first time I went there I saw the Central one but didn't have a marker so I didn't get to sign it. Tonight I ended up signing it. It was difficult to reach it, even when I was standing on the bar stool, but I managed.
Overall it was a great day and I had a lot of fun celebrating Independence Day in another country.
Until next time,
Jenn
