February is my favorite.

3 days in and I remember why February is my favorite month (not just because my birthday is on the 8th, but that does play a big role).

February 1st: starting finally feeling better from this head cold, wandered around the city with Sarah, signed up for our Best of Tuscany tour with FlorenceforFun on Sunday, went to two museums for my fresco class (private tour with just me and my professor!), got back in time for dinner, and celebrated one girl's 21st birthday at Astors, which was a blast AND I ran into yet another girl from my high school who is in Florence for the semester- such a small world!  There are also SO many fabulous birthdays to look forward to this month!

Yesterday, we slept in because we didn't have class until 10:40, enjoyed an Italain class that involved wakling around Florence seeing some historical houses and practicing our Italian at the Mercato Central (a huge Pike's Place like market in Florence where you can buy the best meats, cheese, wines, fruits, and vegetables- it made me wish we had access to a kitchen here!), wandered around the city/leather market with Britt, helped an American student find a building (she eloquently said, "So I just pass the bubbly thing and then turn left?"  Well, that bubbly thing she was referring to was the dome at Basicilica di San Lorenzo... Who said Americans are embarrassing/ignorant?), sat out on a bench near Piazza San Marco for some great people watching with Britt, came back for lasagna for lunch (yummm), read the US Cosmo (yep, it cost 9 euro), went on a photo adventure around Florence with Hannah for the afternoon (We ended up on the other side of the Arno and found some delicious 1 euro gelato that is most definitely worth the walk!), had History and Culture of Italian food where he gave us samples of some traditional Italian deserts, went to YOGA at school, and came back to the pension to watch the Social Network with the boys.    (Sorry for the poor grammar/formatting- there was just too much good stuff in this day!)

Today, when class was over, we went to the Mercato Centrale (again) and bought some delicious dried fruit), came back for one of the best lunches yet, and took a longg afternoon nap. Time for happy hour, dinner at Dante's, and 1 euro gelato tonight! Ciao!