Italy!

Like I said, we arrived in Florence at 6am.  Our friend Dave, who we were staying with, graciously offered to come pick us up from the station, even though we were arriving hours before we had originally planned and even though the sun had barely risen.  When we got off the train, I grabbed my phone and dialed what I thought was Dave's number, only to hear a recording that the number was out of service.  After a few more tries, we had no idea what to do apart from standing in front of McDonald's and trying desperately to connect to their free Wifi to see if we could contact Dave via Facebook.  Suddenly, we see someone running toward us, ready to ambush us with hugs.  It was Dave!!  We were saved!  He definitely gets major friend points for waking up so early and showing us the way back to his apartment, because as we walked, I realized we never would have found it on our own.

After dropping off our things and showering really fast, we set out to explore Florence!  At this point, it was still before 9am.  We were pretty hungry, so Dave suggested going to one of his three favorite gelato places.  Unfortunately, apparently gelato shops aren't open prior to 9am..  so we had to wait.  Instead, we walked up to the top of a huge hill (what else is new?), enjoyed a beautiful view of Florence, and stopped at a grocery store to get some breakfast foods.

Orientation partners reunited on the Ponte Vecchio!

Typical Florence solo-shot

After hanging out for a little bit, we met up with our friend Courtney at Gusta Pizza, which was delicious.  Amy and I had been avoiding Italian food during our trip in preparation for the real deal, so it was much anticipated and it definitely didn't disappoint!  Afterwards, we finally got our gelato!

Tiramisu and coffee.... nom.

Later that night, we got to stop by Courtney's apartment and see more Stonehill friends.  The four of us went to ZaZa's for dinner, which Amy and I have heard so much about from anyone who has studied abroad in Florence.  Obviously we were super excited, and once again- it didn't disappoint.  Even though I had literally been eating all day and wasn't even really hungry, my pasta with pesto was delicious.  After dinner, we met up with some friends for happy hour at a Mexican restaurant, and from there we went out to a few more places around the city.  Dave even got to sign the Stonehill t-shirt that's on the ceiling of one bar, despite getting reprimanded by the bartender.  Worth it.

Amy, Courtney, and me at ZaZa's

Being a rebel

The next day, a bunch of us climbed the Duomo, aka "the Duomzzz."  Over 400 steps later, we were at the top enjoying the gorgeous views and even more amazing weather.  It was the first time our Florence friends had climbed the Duomo, so it was cool to be able to share it with them!

Much love.

Stonehill on top of the world

Afterwards, we stopped for some of the best (and only) iced coffee I've found in Europe.  Such a lovely reward after all those stairs!  For the rest of the day, we relaxed at Dave's apartment until meeting up with Courtney and going to the market.  Amy got some good shopping done, despite being sassed by a vendor, and I picked up a nice "Firenze" t-shirt and more Pashmina scarves.  They're my weakness.  

To save some money, we decided to cook dinner that night.  We made stir-fry, which was delicious.. however, we went a little overboard with the amount of rice we cooked.  Oh well..  again, worth it.

After dinner, we met back up with Courtney for one last gelato and one last walk around Florence.  

Proud of ourselves!

Guess I'll be going back to Florence...

In the morning, our Florence friends were off to Venice, and Amy and I were off to Rome!  AH, finally our last stop of our adventures!  We said our goodbyes then caught the express train from Florence to Rome.  We got there around 10am and attempted to navigate to my friend Sean's apartment.  We got really close, but eventually he needed to come meet us.  After being rescued, we dropped our things at his apartment and headed out to go see his campus.  Sean goes to Temple University and also happens to be an amazing artist, so we explored all of the studios and got to see some of his amazing work.  Eventally, we met up with a few of his friends and we all went to the Colosseum.  It was their first time there too, so again, it was super cool to share it with them! 

Who would have thought when I met this kid sophomore year of high school that I'd be visiting him in Rome :)

Oh, and we also went to senior prom together!  How precious.  

In celebration of our last night of travel break, we went out for one last Italian dinner and to Sean's favorite gelato place.  Later that night, we went out to explore Roman nightlife, had another experience on the night bus, and went home to get some sleep before flying back to Copenhagen in the morning.

Ahh, home sweet hygge.  :)