cliff jumping and ash people!

wooh! another great week here in florence. where to start...

monday was another regular day of classes, and we went to watch a famous festival downtown in florence. i imagined it would be a big parade type of celebration, but it was more low key...just a few old men playing instruments. But it was still a nice night out- little kids came out with small candle-lit balloon things and they were all dancing together. You never really see a lot of kids during the day...a friend told me that the average number of kids is 1, so there's not too many. After the festival we went to a popular pub, The Red Garter, and it was fun. They had karaoke!
Tuesday is my easy day, with only 2 classes, so Cara and I hiked up to Piazza Michaelangelo for the amazing view of florence. i could honestly just sit up there and stare at the city, it's so pretty! we got paninos and enjoyed a relaxing day. that's when the weather was still nice...that night we went out with a few Italian friends for drinks. i'm getting better and better at italian...hopefully by the end of this i'll be good enough to comfortably talk with an Italian!

wednesday was my second cooking class! it was actually a crazy day...i had class till 5, then an interview with EuroAdventures at 5 30, and then cooking at 6. I was a little late for cooking, but the meeting went well. I am now a student rep for Euroadventures! They're host student trips to several places in Europe for really cheap prices...they get you transportation, accomodation, guides, everything. It should be a really good internship, and I'm so excited! I also get to go to the French Riviera the week of Sept 24 to really see how the company works. seems like a pretty nice perk...anyway, the cooking class was another amazing lesson. we made foccacia bread with onions and olives, homeade thick soup with chickpeas (AMAZE.ING.) and turkey friccasse. then for desert we made a homeade blackberry torte. I plan to make everything again when i come home. we also got our own cookbooks this week, handwritten by our teacher with all of her little tips. i am so excited to whip it out when i come and make mom and dad the turkey dish! I've already used some of the recipes at home for the roommates and they're all pretty useful and easy. then after the cooking class i came straight home and got ready for Central Park, the wednesday club we go to for only 3 euro. the club is so cool, its all outside and they play great music...again, we met up with our italian friends, but this night we just relaxed at the club and came back pretty early. they are helping me so much in my italian class!

thursday marked the beginning of our crazy weekend. after class we immediately boarded the bus for our weekend trip to Sorrento, Capri, Positano and Pompei. the bus was packed of other students (mostly girls) and a few young tour guides. after the 6 hour bus ride we arrived in Sorrento to a reallllly nice hostel. it looked like a hotel. we got a 10 person room for all of our friends, and passed out that night..but friday morning we left for Positano bright and early! it was SO BEAUTIFUL. right on the coast of southern italy, with these amazing cliffs surrounding the beach and tons of little colorful houses lining the mountains. we spent the day relaxing at the beach and shopping in the small shops- then in the afternoon we rented a boat and took a small tour around Positano and stopped at a big cliff. and then I WENT CLIFF JUMPING. we all did it, but it was so scary! we had to hike up the side of a cliff until we were 40 feet high, then you walked to the corner and jumped into the ocean. it was something i didnt want to do but i knew I had to do it just for the experience. it was such a weird feeling! so exhilaring. it did KILL my butt though. once i hit the water i grabbed my butt and basically screamed underwater..the pain went away that afternoon but the next day we all had bruises! after that the boat took us to a local cave in the water and we jumped ship and went swimming in the ocean for a few hours...such a relaxing day. that night we ate at another so-so restuarant (we're gettin frustrated with our dinners here! either great or really bad..) and then i walked around the town of Sorrento with some friends. it was a really cute little town- reminded of florence.

saturday we took a ferry to the island of capri, which seemed like a fairytale place! literally a tiny, rocky island off the coast of italy and it was absolutely amazing. the ferry was an hour ride, and then we stopped at the Blue Grotto, the famous cave where the ocean water is this amazing turquoise blue-color. we had to take small boats and get into the cave through a TINY little hole (pics on facebook) it was such a cool experience. they said the water looks blue because of the sun relfecting off of the white sand below. we arrived in capri and took a 40 minute hike up to the top of the island, to Capri town, where there was a lot of tourists..but then we took a small bus to the VERY top to Anacapri, which was so nice. it was quaint and had windy roads and tiny little shops and houses, and of course incredible views. we got to try the limoncello and lemon cream, which they're famous for, and it tasted like desert. after another relaxing day on the beach, we took the ferry home to sorrento and had a nice quiet night in the hostel (mexican for dinner!) the hostel had a nice rooftop lounge so we popped open some vino and laughed the whole night.

sunday was pompei. and let me just say, it was so creepy to be in the ruins. everything is still in tact from 2000 years ago...the roman houses, supermarkets, BODIES...after the volcano erupted in 79 ad, the ash melted over the suffocating locals and preserved their bodies in their exact form. it was really interesting overall, and i'm so glad i got the actual tour! again, pics on facebook.

thats all that's gone on this week, sorry if this blog is a little short, i've just been really busy with school lately. we're trying to plan the rest of our weekends here (you know me, planning way too early) but its all so exciting!

miss you all, hugs and kisses xoxo