Home Sweet Firenze

It is Tuesday morning in Florence (Italian name: Firenze) and I have been in the city for just over 48 hours. I have moved into my apartment (very cute! pictures to come soon...) and attended my first class. It has been a fun, slightly hectic two days, and I am falling more in love with the city every minute. I have not gotten many pictures here yet, but I will take more today and try to do a post with pictures in the next day or two. After the business of last week, it has been great to slow down a little and spend some time exploring on my own.

Since I don't have any pictures to post (my favorite part of every blog), I'll share a few interesting things I have learned since being here that you might not be aware of...

1. Italians love their sparkling water! When you are served water at a restaurant, they bring sparkling (gassato) and regular (naturale) water. They even have both in all of the vending machines.
2. Chicken alfredo doesn't exist here! It was invented by someone in Los Angeles and is no where to be found anywhere in Italy.
3. It is completely acceptable for salesmen from the street to walk into a restaurant and around to every table to try and sell you things. Roses are the main thing I've seen, but they also sell toys, souvenirs, etc. They don't say anything, but they get right beside you and hold out dozens of roses in hopes that you will buy one.
4. Italians ONLY drink cappuccino in the morning. If you try to order one in the afternoon, they will oblige because you're obviously a tourist and they want your money. But a real Italian would never order a cappuccino in the afternoon. They would order an espresso (served in a tiny cup and saucer), add a packet of sugar, swallow it in two or three sips, and then leave it on the counter and continue on with their day.
5. Right now is peak tourist season in Florence and there are currently more visitors here than there are residents.
6. Breakfast is the LEAST important meal of the day. Italians generally drink a cappuccino and eat something very light (melba toast, biscotti cookies, etc.) and then eat a large lunch and dinner.
7. A pre-dinner "aperitivo" is very common in Italy, particularly in Florence. People go to a restaurant for pre-dinner drinks and snacks, and then go to a different restaurant for dinner. Certain drinks are acceptable as pre-dinner (mimosa, mojito, and bellini, to name a few you might know), and others are acceptable after dinner as a "digestive" (espresso and limoncello, among others).
8. It is quite common to eat a four course meal for dinner (antipasti, pasta, meat dish with a side, dessert). With all this and a huge lunch, I have no idea how these people stay so thin! They walk a lot more than Americans, but it still blows my mind.
9. Many women in Italy (particularly in the Southern regions) do not work, and the country as a whole has a very high unemployment rate. Naples, for example, has 60% unemployment!
10. After 8th grade, students must choose a "major" for high school that will determine what school they will go to, and ultimately, what they will do for the rest of their life. The choices are art, classics, sciences, and a few others.

Those are just a few of the things I have learned... I hope this post wasn't too terribly boring! I promise to post pictures of Florence and more tales of all my adventures very soon.

Love y'all.