Our first full day in Florence began with a 10:30am orientation at La Pietra, NYU's campus. David and I got up around 9am, with a planned departure time of 9:30am. We had been instructed to take some bus to the number 25 bus using a bus pass given to us by the staff, but in keeping with my usual nature, I decided it would be a great idea to walk. I charted out an easy route (right on Borgo Pinti, left on Via Giacomo Matteotti, right on Via di Ponte Rosso, which becomes Via Bolognese, NYU is 120). The walk was great, and we only got derailed a bit around a huge arch at Piazza della Liberta. It took about forty minutes, and the last part of the walk is a pretty steep uphill, but I think forced uphill walking is probably a good thing. We passed the stop where the #25 bus lets off at about 82 Via Bolognese, right near a gas station. We learned later that we should actually have entered at 106 rather than 120, so our uphill walk won't be quite as bad since we can enter earlier on and a bit lower.
We walked into Villa Sassetti to search for our orientation group, the green group. I noticed some lunch set out for us, and was delighted to properly translate the word 'carciofi' as artichoke. I have no idea how I remembered that one (my most recent Italian class was last spring, and I haven't reviewed at all since then). David and I proceeded into the same room where we had waited for taxis the day before and sat down. It was just us and two of the staff members, housing assignment coordinator Antonello and housing supervisor Nicola. We waited and waited as no one else came for 35 minutes. At 11:05, about 60 students strolled in, fresh off the very delayed bus. Lesson learned from this: walking is clearly the better way to go. I'm very glad I did it, and plan to do it every single day I'm here.
Orientation was quite amusing, as Nicola was hilarious and constantly spoke of us blowing up if we left our gas on or killing old ladies if we put stuff on our windowsills. It was long, but thoroughly entertaining. Antonello's presentation on getting around Florence was considerably shorter and rather madly dashed-through. It was still informative, and though he didn't say it out loud, I caught the important bit of information that a monthly bus pass (23 euros) means for the month of January or February, unlike the Manhattan subway system where you get 30 days from the day you purchase it. Any NYU in Florence students reading this, keep that in mind. I plan on taking the bus a grand total of very few times, so I doubt I'll need that, especially if, as they said a number of times today, this is pretty much the worst the weather is going to get.
Lunch was next, which included that sandwich with the artichoke and another one I went for with tomato, mozzarella, and some pesto. I was not into it and barely ate it, therefore becoming quite hungry after consuming only an apple, a banana, and the exterior of a hamantaschen-like raspberry pastry. I'll have to work on finding a way not to get too devastatingly hungry during the day, or perhaps I'll attempt to expand my pallet, though I doubt pesto will ever fall under my acceptable foods category. I was able to purchase a small snack from the bar in Villa Ulivi later, which was a decently satisfying wafer-sandwiched chocolate snack. After lunch, we walked around for a bit before proceeding to our next stop, the aforementioned Villa Ulivi, and we saw some very pleasant, nice gardens which we'll explore to a much fuller extent in the coming days and weeks.
The next part of the orientation included information from the academic director, who I found very interesting, and pitches from some teachers whose classes have very few people registered for them. I was particularly interested in a class about immigration in the United States and Europe, and one about Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Italian Cinema. I think I'll probably swap my Intro to Marketing class for the immigration one, since the cinema course would mean a straight 9am-8pm schedule on Monday for me with only an hour and a half break, and still having class Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I don't think I want to do that to myself. I'm abroad; I'm supposed to be taking in my surroundings and getting to explore, not staying in class all the time. Classes don't begin until Monday, so I have some time to think about it. Orientation activities for the day concluded with a Survival Italian intensive for an hour and a half where David and I wrote unimpressive dialogues in the formal and informal. It was somewhat useful and a good refresher for the intensive intermediate course to come.
Our walk back to our apartments was less successful than on the way there. We had to travel the 'valley of death' across from Villa Ulivi back to where we entered, since we had bypassed that section of the trip by exploring other areas on our way over. It's a remarkably thin, steep-on-all-sides path that really puts a lot of stress on the knees, as pointed out by one Laura Krule. I think it's most tasking than the Via Bolognese hill to get up to La Pietra. I'm not too worried; I'm sure I'll become an expert in no time. The walk back, where we were accompanied by Laura Krule, Alana, Ilana, and Leora, was very difficult because we had so much trouble finding crosswalks. We ended up in areas where there was no crosswalk or traffic light, and traffic was likely never to stop or even thin for any reason at all. We found a way around it, and will be more ardent in the future in our planning to minimize our travel time and brighten our collective moods.
On the way back, we stopped in at Ruth's, the Kosher restaurant in Florence, and alerted the very friendly owner, Simcha, of our plans to return with a party of eleven at 7pm. He directed us to the Kosher market, which is a small outlet right around the corner and next to the Chabad. These places are literally two or three blocks from our dorms, which is terrific. After stopping at the Kosher market, David and I proceeded to search for a larger supermarket and located a 99 cent store to which we'll surely return. We found a big supermarket where I purchased several different types of granola bars and chips. Anyone who's planning to be in Florence over the next few months, do me a favor and line your back with a few Chewy granola bars for me, I should have brought them as a reliable snack. We passed an even bigger supermarket on our way home, and returned there later that evening only to find it closed. We'll be back.
We stopped off briefly at our apartment to drop off our groceries, and proceeded to head right back out to go to Ruth's. We turned out only to be nine people, but invited someone else who walked into the otherwise empty restaurant to join us. He recognized Laura Krule from Ramaz high school, and every subsequent group of people (mostly students) who entered the restaurant knew someone from our group (not me, sadly, but that will change soon! I always run into people I know). Simcha came over and talked to us a lot, showing us mementos from previous students and guides to what's Kosher in Florence. He explained to us his Wednesday night deal for students to have a dish and a dessert for 10 euros flat. Upon hearing that penna alla vodka was the pasta of the day, seven among our party decided that we knew what we wanted. Someone shared a pizza, and Evan boldly ordered the salmon, which he said was quite tasty. The penne alla vodka was also good but somewhat small. Everyone else for dessert tried the chocolate cake or the cheesecake, but I adventurously opted for the cheese blintzes with cinnamon. They forgot about my order and it turned out to be only one crepe-liked blintz, but it was nonetheless exciting and I imagine I'll be ordering it again if we receive a similar deal the next time we go to the restaurant. The restaurant was nicely decorated, and we noticed a bizarre but cool thing: the clock is completely backwards so it ticks backwards and time seems to move in the order direction. I was personally fascinated.
After our lengthy dinner (we arrived at 7pm and departed shortly after 9pm), we returned home. After some brief Skyping with Lara, all the girls came over to our apartment to use our Internet, since theirs is not working. All the guys in our apartment seemed quite impressed that six girls just flooded into our room. We couldn't get all the computers connected, but with eight computers, everyone managed to get on for at least a little bit. After they departed, I created this blog and am just now beginning to wrap up to go to sleep. It's past 1am here, and I must wake up at 9am. Oh dear. It's worth it, I suppose, since you can read all about my adventures! I'll be posting at least once a day if possible, so check back and hear more about my exciting time here!
Again, please leave restaurant recommendations in the comments!
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