May 14th: solo expedition, splurge dinner

Going to bed at 9 o'clock was the best thing I could do for myself last night. I took a nice shower in our fickle shower, set up Under The Tuscan Sun, and let myself fall asleep. I woke up on my own at 830 and laid there for twenty minutes, enjoying the process, knowing I didn't have to be anywhere until noon. My body never wakes itself up, which means I got exactly how much sleep I needed. I took my time getting ready, doing laundry, eating breakfast, and cleaning my room. I decided to wander around the city by myself for the first time. I have been out every day, learning where things are and getting a sense of direction, so I wasn't scared. We live really close to the Duomo, which is the tallest building in Florence, so as long as I stuck close to that, I would be fine. I love shopping with my friends, but it's so nice to go at my own pace, browse a bit, and enjoy. I found a lot of cool shops and bought a kaleidoscope, some much needed art supplies, and lunch at a market. I tried currants for the first time, and had the best strawberry milk of my LIYFE. 

At noon I met my typography class at Eric's to go to a museum that was designed solely by Michelangelo. Or at least the room was. They had a famous set of stairs he designed, a library with tons of rows of benches with accompanying slanted desks. That's genius...around finals time my back always starts to hurt. I just substituted the word hurt with the word work. Subconscious truth? We also saw an exhibit on the evolution of books. There were papyri, illuminated manuscripts, Marco Polo's bible, small bibles, big bibles, and even an illuminated manuscript with asian men with HUGE penii. Black. Held up by sticks. It was gross and hilariously unexpected.

After that we all met Bethanne at the Uffizi museum. It's HUGE because it used to be offices for people in ancient times. We saw some Rembrant paintings there, the famous painting of the man and wife facing each other. The man's top part of his nose is cut off, I forget the name. We also saw some Goya paintings, a really famous Madonna and Child, and Baccius and Medusa. Medusa seriously looks exactly like Johnny Depp. Look her up. 

Amber and I went to the caffeteria at the Uffizi and sketched. We had an awesome view of the Duomo, and drew some customers there. It was an outside cafe with cute little tables and umbrellas. I love sketching people because they are so natural when they don't know you're drawing them.

After that Amber, Kelsey and I went shopping. Since I was in exile for almost a week, I felt like I needed to get out and see what Florence had to offer shopping-wise. We found a department store, the first one since we've been here. I bought an awesome dress for 80 euros. It was a splurge, but I haven't gotten anything for myself yet. I'm also on the hunt for some jewelry, or a leather bag, since Florence is mostly made up of those two kinds of stores. Don't worry, I am actively looking for souvenirs. If anyone has any requests, speak now or I've already bought your gift!

I got caught up on the real world at an internet cafe with my last tangible euro (money well spent), and went out to dinner with Amber. It's funny how people in our group gravitate to certain people. I wouldn't consider it cliques, because everyone here is pretty open and cool about things. We actually got really lucky. We just spend time with who we know we'll enjoy being around. Anyway, we wanted to go somewhere nice to get some good food. We didn't look at prices, and found a good place that Robert recommended. He does his research and finds great little places everywhere. I think it's helped that he's been here three, four times. We had AMAZING bottled water (I have been using tap water to save money), and an appetizer and two courses. Very unusual for us. My appetizer was polenta, and I had chicken meatballs in creamy tomato sauce for the second course. When we got our checks, I was astonished that it was 53 euros for one meal! But we said we weren't looking at prices, and I have been really frugal up until today with my money. I have been buying 2 euro sandwiches and eating at home every night with my roommates. So I feel like, even though I never want to spend that much money on food again, it was a good experience that needed to be done. We had a really good conversation about a lot of things. It was nice to sit outside in the perfect night air and talk to a good friend about personal things. 

After dinner we walked our meal off and explored. Then we went to Alexis' apartment for girls' movie night (Stranger Than Fiction). We were an hour late and we told people we'd go, so we stopped by. Now I'm in my room relaxing on my bed, since my pedometer says I walked ELEVEN miles today! I hope I start losing some weight soon, even with all the gelatto I'm eating. 

All in all, today was just what I needed. This last week has been so hellish, and today was awesome! I feel relaxed, and confident that my sickness will go away very soon. My breathing hasn't been troubled at all today, and I've just had a small but persistent cough. And don't worry, Dad...I took my medicine :)

I wish every one of you were here to share this experience with me. It's so hard to describe, even with these daily posts. Each moment seems like a memory in the making, since I know I have such a small period of time to take it all in. I've been taking pictures and videos, and will most likely only get caught up once I'm back in the States. I never have enough time on the internet to upload them on my blog since 5 pictures takes so long! I hope everything is well with you guys. I sure do miss you and can't wait to get caught up on everything! I can't believe I've been gone 18 days and have 35 days left. That means I'm 1/3 of the way through almost fo the day. I feel like I've been gone much longer than I have. Also, I think seven weeks is perfect. If I were gone for a full semester instead of a quarter, I think it would be too long. I miss America too much! 

I'm grateful for the turn of evens in the past few days, and am excited for some more new experiences. Tomorrow my typography class is taking the train to Parma to visit the Bodoni museum. Bodoni is the man who invented the Bodoni font. It should be really cool! Buona notte!