What Exactly Have I Been Up To Lately?

Clearly, not writing on this blog, which is unfortunate. Luckily, I've been doing a number of exciting things with my time. I'm in the midst of midterms now, but spring break is a mere two days away and I'm jetting off to Paris only a few hours after my last exam. I'll try my best to recount all the exciting things I've done lately. I haven't taken many pictures lately, but I do have a few good ones.

I used my student museum card to get into the Uffizi for free, and walked through the entire gallery with Leora. It was really nice outside, so we walked along the Ponte Vecchio over the Arno and explored some of the pleasant-looking shops and sites along the bridge and over the other side. I sampled a number of different gelato places, favoring tiramisu, banana, and my new choice of cantaloupe. I certainly plan to go back and see more of that area, especially when it's warm.

I participated in a far rarer opportunity through NYU to tour the Vasari Corridor, a secret passageway built by the Medici family in the 1500s. It's lined with portraits of dozens of renowned artists and extends for more than a kilometer. It was certainly cool and it's amazing to walk over the whole city of Florence and hear about how it's easy to see out but near impossible to see in. The weather is getting warmer, and with the exception of nonstop rain forecasted for the next five days, the lowest the temperature gets now is 45 degrees at night, so after spring break I'll be doing a whole lot of walking around and exploring Florence on foot. I stil have a lot to see here, including the David and the inside of the Duomo, so I'll be prepared to do all that on my weekends in Florence during March and April.

I took a day trip to Pisa with NYU in Florence to see that famed leaning tower. It turns out Pisa isn't all that exciting, and the tower looks sort of cool from certain angles. It's very expensive to go up the tower, so we didn't, and otherwise the city is rather bland and the street vendors with their sunglasses and flowers are devastatingly pushy. It's good that I went to go see it, and we did have some decent pizza. Unfortunately, our stop later that afternoon at a Vespa museum in between Pisa and Florence were derailed (quite literally) by missing not one but two trains, waiting at a sketchy train station in the middle of nowhere that looked as if it were taken right out of the Old West. It wasn't a big deal to skip it though, since we were tired and we got to see Pisa. Perhaps I'll go check it out sometime in the future. NYU is planning more trips for our last two months here, and I'm hope they're exciting, because after this and Lucca, I'm certainly in.

This past Friday, I went with friends Nicole and Drew to quite an interesting experience - Florence's own serial killer museum. We saw it one of the first days we were here and it looked intriguing. Nicole, a PA, wanted to plan an event but NYU thought it might perhaps be too violent. The sign outside, hanging above a wax statue of Hannibal Lecter, says it closes March 18th, so we wanted to take advantage of it now. It turns out it's an exhibit devoted to 10 different serial killers as well as a panel focused solely on Italian serial killers. For each famed murderer, the audio guide details an extensive history of their killings, and then moves on to a scientific method that was used to catch them. It's interesting, sure, but otherwise more than a bit long-winded. They even have chairs set up so that you can sit down while listening to the stories. I expected freaky wax serial killers to jump out and scare me, and instead I found it somewhat...lackluster. We also skipped the ending part which showcased different methods of execution, which just isn't something we needed to see. We got a parting shot of each of us with the wax statue of Hannibal, and we're content to declare it an exciting enough experience. If you are in or ever go to Florence, it's probably okay to skip it.

I must say that I've found some terrific restaurants here that I plan to return to several times during the remainder of my time here. La Ghiotta is a mere five minutes away and offers a choice of any pasta with any sauce for only 5 or 6 euro and no cover charge. I of course have ordered penne ai funghi porcini each time, and that is now my favorite dish over my initially preferred tagliatelle ai funghi porcini, since I am a fan of penne pasta over spaghetti. I went to dinner with several freshmen from my Italian class and Drew at a place called La Bussola, where I ordered an extremely delicious and delectable veal cutlet. Others ordered pizza with pecorino cheese, pear, walnuts, and honey. Some interesting food they have here in Italy. Walking home, we located a place with signs that screamed "milkshakes" outside. We went in and asked for milkshakes, and we were told they didn't have any by the clueless waiter. It turns out they do, they're only 3,90 euro, and the banana one is incredibly tasty. I've already been back once, and I plan to return several to many times throughout the semester.

The single greatest food find, however, has been Angels American Brunch. Originally scouted by Lara through some enterprising Internet research, it is, as advertised, an American brunch place. It looks quite fancy inside, and for an affordable 10 euro, you can get (and I did!) french toast, cereal, yogurt, muffins, milk, and fruit salad. It's simply scrumptious, and I plan to go back every Sunday I'm here. I've also heard great things about the Florence Diner, so I imagine I'll try that sometime soon as well.

Speaking of great food, the Chabad has started a weekly Tuesday night meal for Jewish students. It only costs 8 euro and I eat more there than I likely do the entire rest of the week. There's a pasta appetizer, meat entree, and delicious dessert, as well as wondrous bread rolls. A few weeks ago they gave me a whole bunch of rolls to take home, and last night I left with 8 or 10 pieces of cake (I ate maybe two or three and shared the rest with hungry Borgo Pinti residents). I've been attending Chabad Friday night dinner and Saturday lunch the weekends I've been here, and I've made a new Italian friend named Shimon who's there every week. We (the NYU students) have befriended several non-NYU people, including Valerie, who's a few years older and currently working in Florence, and two guys, Tamir and Andy, who go to Indiana and are here on a different program. This past weekend we had a special treat - Simcha, the owner of the Kosher restaurant, made us an excellent dinner which was held upstairs from the restaurant. There were about 20 or 25 attendees, and it was terrific food with some truly supreme potatoes and fruit salad as side dishes. It was a nice community event, and while it may not happen again, I enjoyed it thoroughly. A few quick photos:

Valerie and Jenn

Shayna, me, and Leora

The whole table

I have only an Italian written midterm coming up on Thursday, and before that I'll be watching Slumdog Millionaire in my Italian cinema class in lieu of a midterm. Pretty cool, right? On Thursday, I depart for Paris, and then I'm headed to London on Sunday night. Tuesday is my 21st birthday, which should be fun, and then I'll be back in Florence on Thursday night, with Lara arriving on Friday morning. I'm in the midst of attempting to organize trips to locations such as Cinqueterra, Venice, Naples, Pompei, Capri, and wherever else I find people are interested in traveling. I'll try to update more frequently in the future, but for the moment, I'm headed to France without my laptop but with my camera reading to take many, many pictures.